D2R2 post game

Here is the route - it looks rough until you see the scale and understand the road surface for a good part of the ride, then it looks really rough.

In fact, it is not very rough, if you have a thousand or so miles under you belt and you already like hills. I was surprised when we made it to the lunch stop and had 5000 of the approximately 8000 feet of climbing behind us. The road surfaces were generally very good and I had to get off the bike only once when riders piled up in front of me as we were powering through loose stones. During the ride I held back, often waiting at the top of many hills for parts of our crew. Bobby powered through everything faster, of course, and waited for me and the others in our group.

I generally liked this tour with the exception of the proximity of some of the riders. I road a Surly Cross Check with 700x32 tires. These are not the widest tires for some of the road surfaces and I am not an off road racer. In fact, I am not a racer and don't have a lot of experience with racing. And at some points on the course the ride felt like a race. I was often passed by riders racing (or riding very quickly) down hill. I'm sure they felt safe but I know I didn't. I tried to stay on the side of the road whenever possible but even then I was passed once on my right, after a rider announced he would do so (I was surprised to see the surface he passed me on - too rough for me to ride on, given my equipment).  The proximity of the other riders was, at times, intense and I often felt hassled by riders who needed to pass in narrow quarters.

The bottom line - I liked the route but didn't like the bike traffic.

I saw several of the IF folks on this ride (who didn't seem to mind that I rode my Surly and not my IF, which only accommodates 700x25c tires with fenders). They seemed to enjoy the ride.

Bike: Surly Cross Check 2009 custom build, 700x32c tires