Prattsburgh Rambler Course Pre-Ride

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Wednesday was a beautiful spring day with blue skies, sunshine, and warm temps complete with a 20mph wind. Nine of the Hollow-Geneva crew got together in Prattsburgh to pre-ride the Rambler 30 miler course.

I chose to ride my Surly Karate Monkey with 700×38c cross tires (WTB Cross Wolfs) with 80psi, these worked great on most of the course. However, a few of the descents were screaming fast with lots of ruts, braking bumps, water bars, and mud. The seasonal roads can be pretty rough this time of year and those that chose to ride mountain bikes with wider tires and/or suspension were able to pull away on the downhills. Check out the photos from our pre-ride, be sure to check Mark’s blog as he will be posting a video…as soon as I let him use the computer;)

You won’t be seeing too many white or yellow lines on this course, just amazing views! At one point you can actually see the new wind turbines in Cohocton.

Stu at the top of Canen Hill Road, the next photos are the view behind him as Jim and Chad crest the hill. This is one of the steeper climbs with a few switchbacks that offers a stunning view and a very rewarding, long descent.

Yes folks, there will be bike casualties, be prepared with spare tubes, a pump, tire levers, and maybe even a QuickLink in case you hammer too hard up a hill. Jeremy’s pedal decided to completely explode leaving him with a 2mile walk back to the Hollow from Dinehart’s Crossing. However, we enjoyed basking in the sunshine as Jim tried his voo doo bike mechanic skills on Jer’s pedal. As future reference, gel cannot be used in place of grease.

Matt sticking the climb up Hungry Hollow Road on his brand new Fisher Paragon 29er. There was actually still snow, mud and ice on this ascent, only a few of us made it through this tough section. The snow will be gone by the time the race rolls around but I’m sure there will still be mud. Jim and I were the only ones smart enough to use fenders and it showed as everyone else came down with a serious case of monkey butt.

As you can tell from the photo, it was muddy. Be prepared. This could get interesting.  My only disappointment for the day was knowing that I won’t get to ride on the big day.

View the slide show of all of my pictures from the day. I suggest changing the time to 8 seconds.

Details of the event are available at www.pedalingproductions.com/ramblearoundprattsburgh.html