It has been over a decade since Ohio last ran a 1000k event, so come enjoy the Buckeye State while nabbing the highest PBP2027 pe-registration priority! Starting in Cleveland, the route will use bike trails to exit the city, then head through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. You’ll veer off the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) before Akron to pick up rural roads before hopping back on the OTET until near Columbus. We’ll bypass the busier city trails and skirt north of Columbus to Marysville, where a drop bag, food (and a hotel room if you book it) awaits. Some more rural riding west of Columbus will eventually take you to Xenia and onto Corwin, where you will pick up the southern leg of the OTET all the way to Cincinnati. A quick crossing of the Ohio River into Covington will nab Kentucky for multi-state credit for our American Explorers, before you turn around and experience it all in reverse. At 622 miles, the route does not have too many bonus miles at nearly 1000k on the dot, and the 31 ft/mi of average climbing yields a pleasant, but challenging route rather than a sufferfest.
This is what I will call a ‘low to medium’ support ride. No dictated overnights or hotel reservations are included; you’ll need to plan how far you want to take each leg and make your own accommodations (I encourage you to use the forums to find roommates!). Most of the controls are merchant controls and unstaffed. Hence, the relatively cheap entry price for a 1000k! The one piece of support I can guarantee is a drop bag at approximately the 300k mark outbound and the 700k mark inbound, from Friday at 3 pm until Sunday at 11 am. Drop bag details are listed below. We will, of course, have food & beverages at the Drop Bag Control Hotel. This drop bag support at a hotel naturally lends the event to a 300k/400k/300k daily breakdown, but you are not required to take this suggestion. If you want to do a more traditional 400k/300k/300k, you can find accommodations in Xenia or Waynesville just off the route, as noted in the RWGPS route, while swinging through the drop bag control to swap out gear.
While the start/finish is in Cleveland, we do not have an event hotel, and we will start and finish at different locations!
Warning! This is an advanced, self-sufficient endurance ride. Entrants should either have a history of a successful 600k completion or the organizer’s permission.
Start:
- We will start in front of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1100 E 9th St, Cleveland, OH 44114) for an epic group start photo.
- 4:00 am; Late Bike Check/Bag Drop
- 4:40 Pre-ride announcements
- 4:55 Group Start Photo
- 5 am: Wheels Up!
Finish:
- The finish will be in Ohio City on Franklin Blvd at a local randonneur’s residence for a finisher’s cookout/party. (Address will be provided to registered riders)
- We will have Cleveland food fairs, plenty of beverages of various sorts, and general merriment to toast the victory of your finish!
- If you have local support, traveling companions, etc, invite them to join in the fun.
- Drop bags will be returned to you!
- If you stash clean clothes in your drop bag, showers will be available.
- The finish is a 5km, relatively pleasant ride from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Preride Bag Drop / Bike Inspections:
We will be available on Thursday late Afternoon/Evening for bag drops and bike inspections in Ohio City@ a residence on Franklin Blvd. I highly recommend you make your way over (<5k bike ride from Downtown Cleveland hotels) rather than waiting until 4:00 am!
Bike Check:
- I will be checking that you have: Reflective Vest, Reflective Ankle Bands, Functional Lights affixed to the Bike, (both front and back) that are capable of running Solid.
- No lights or reflective gear in low-light conditions or at night will result in a DQ.
Drop Bags:
- Location: Comfort Suites, Marysville – 1081 Lydia Drive, Marysville, OH 43040, USA
- One small bag; If you can’t ride a bike with it, it’s probably too big. Think backpack or spirit carry-on, not checked luggage.
- If you have medical/dietary needs, reach out! We’ll figure it out and won’t count that against your drop bag.
- Seriously, I will give you the drop bag back at the finish. If you are riding back to a hotel, you’ll need to carry it with you. Small backpacks, not giant suitcases!
Hotels/Parking?:
- Start:
- Hotel: There are many hotels in downtown Cleveland. (For example: Comfort Inn 1800 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115). I would try to stay west of i90. If you have any questions about the area or safety, reach out. I can share my opinions, but in general, this area is a pretty standard urban area with very bikeable infrastructure to the start and finish.
- Parking: If you are looking to park a car, you can park for a few days on Franklin Blvd and have your car handy at the finish (caveat: it’s the city, don’t leave anything visible in your car) or use a downtown lot.
- Storing A bike box? I’ll volunteer Jonathan Karpick’s garage off Franklin Blvd, but you’ll need to be there on Thursday before the ride. No 4 am drop-offs beyond a small drop bag on Friday.
- Drop Bag Hotel:
- Drop bags will be at Comfort Suites, Marysville: 1081 Lydia Drive, Marysville, OH 43040, USA. Book your hotel early! If they run out of capacity, there are a few additional hotels nearby, but that’s not as convenient for you.
- Overnight Hotels:
- On you! Figure out how far you want each leg to be and set them up yourself!
Weather: Late June in Columbus, Ohio, brings warm, pleasant summer weather, with average highs climbing from the low 80s to mid-80s Fahrenheit and lows in the low 60s, but heatwaves can push temperatures into the mid-90s, accompanied by increasing chances for thunderstorms. It’s likely you won’t be cold; you’ll be hot in the midday. I can almost guarantee you’ll get wet at some point and likely spend some time waiting for a storm to pass, unless we are exceptionally lucky.
SAG?: None. There is no event/volunteer SAG. Any volunteers you see on the course are a bonus, not a given. So here’s the deal: I will have one vehicle, and my duty will be to support riders still riding the event. I will do everything in my power to help you finish this ride. I want a 100% finish rate, so I will give you gentle encouragement, then tough love, and finally tell you to drink a Coke and have a nap. Only after I have denied you thrice will we start making any plans to abandon. I’m not saying I’ll leave you abandoned, but it might be a day+ before I can come get you, and then you will very much be along for my ride and put to work. My truck also has limited seating capacity, so the best I might be able to do is drop you at a bus station to make your own way back. Honestly, sometimes the best way back is to keep pushing forward.
Tentative Cost: $60
- Cancellation/Refund Policy: If you cancel before June 1st, you will receive a refund for your entry minus PayPal fees. After June 1st, there are no refunds.
Route Status: As of 1/6, Tentative. Final tweaking/submission in progress. Do not copy it to your GPS until this route is final!
Event Details
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Riders
It has been over a decade since Ohio last ran a 1000k event, so come enjoy the Buckeye State while nabbing the highest PBP2027 pe-registration priority! Starting in Cleveland, the route will use bike trails to exit the city, then head through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. You’ll veer off the Ohio to Erie Trail (OTET) before Akron to pick up rural roads before hopping back on the OTET until near Columbus. We’ll bypass the busier city trails and skirt north of Columbus to Marysville, where a drop bag, food (and a hotel room if you book it) awaits. Some more rural riding west of Columbus will eventually take you to Xenia and onto Corwin, where you will pick up the southern leg of the OTET all the way to Cincinnati. A quick crossing of the Ohio River into Covington will nab Kentucky for multi-state credit for our American Explorers, before you turn around and experience it all in reverse. At 622 miles, the route does not have too many bonus miles at nearly 1000k on the dot, and the 31 ft/mi of average climbing yields a pleasant, but challenging route rather than a sufferfest.
This is what I will call a ‘low to medium’ support ride. No dictated overnights or hotel reservations are included; you’ll need to plan how far you want to take each leg and make your own accommodations (I encourage you to use the forums to find roommates!). Most of the controls are merchant controls and unstaffed. Hence, the relatively cheap entry price for a 1000k! The one piece of support I can guarantee is a drop bag at approximately the 300k mark outbound and the 700k mark inbound, from Friday at 3 pm until Sunday at 11 am. Drop bag details are listed below. We will, of course, have food & beverages at the Drop Bag Control Hotel. This drop bag support at a hotel naturally lends the event to a 300k/400k/300k daily breakdown, but you are not required to take this suggestion. If you want to do a more traditional 400k/300k/300k, you can find accommodations in Xenia or Waynesville just off the route, as noted in the RWGPS route, while swinging through the drop bag control to swap out gear.
While the start/finish is in Cleveland, we do not have an event hotel, and we will start and finish at different locations!
Warning! This is an advanced, self-sufficient endurance ride. Entrants should either have a history of a successful 600k completion or the organizer’s permission.
Start:
- We will start in front of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1100 E 9th St, Cleveland, OH 44114) for an epic group start photo.
- 4:00 am; Late Bike Check/Bag Drop
- 4:40 Pre-ride announcements
- 4:55 Group Start Photo
- 5 am: Wheels Up!
Finish:
- The finish will be in Ohio City on Franklin Blvd at a local randonneur’s residence for a finisher’s cookout/party. (Address will be provided to registered riders)
- We will have Cleveland food fairs, plenty of beverages of various sorts, and general merriment to toast the victory of your finish!
- If you have local support, traveling companions, etc, invite them to join in the fun.
- Drop bags will be returned to you!
- If you stash clean clothes in your drop bag, showers will be available.
- The finish is a 5km, relatively pleasant ride from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Preride Bag Drop / Bike Inspections:
We will be available on Thursday late Afternoon/Evening for bag drops and bike inspections in Ohio City@ a residence on Franklin Blvd. I highly recommend you make your way over (<5k bike ride from Downtown Cleveland hotels) rather than waiting until 4:00 am!
Bike Check:
- I will be checking that you have: Reflective Vest, Reflective Ankle Bands, Functional Lights affixed to the Bike, (both front and back) that are capable of running Solid.
- No lights or reflective gear in low-light conditions or at night will result in a DQ.
Drop Bags:
- Location: Comfort Suites, Marysville – 1081 Lydia Drive, Marysville, OH 43040, USA
- One small bag; If you can’t ride a bike with it, it’s probably too big. Think backpack or spirit carry-on, not checked luggage.
- If you have medical/dietary needs, reach out! We’ll figure it out and won’t count that against your drop bag.
- Seriously, I will give you the drop bag back at the finish. If you are riding back to a hotel, you’ll need to carry it with you. Small backpacks, not giant suitcases!
Hotels/Parking?:
- Start:
- Hotel: There are many hotels in downtown Cleveland. (For example: Comfort Inn 1800 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115). I would try to stay west of i90. If you have any questions about the area or safety, reach out. I can share my opinions, but in general, this area is a pretty standard urban area with very bikeable infrastructure to the start and finish.
- Parking: If you are looking to park a car, you can park for a few days on Franklin Blvd and have your car handy at the finish (caveat: it’s the city, don’t leave anything visible in your car) or use a downtown lot.
- Storing A bike box? I’ll volunteer Jonathan Karpick’s garage off Franklin Blvd, but you’ll need to be there on Thursday before the ride. No 4 am drop-offs beyond a small drop bag on Friday.
- Drop Bag Hotel:
- Drop bags will be at Comfort Suites, Marysville: 1081 Lydia Drive, Marysville, OH 43040, USA. Book your hotel early! If they run out of capacity, there are a few additional hotels nearby, but that’s not as convenient for you.
- Overnight Hotels:
- On you! Figure out how far you want each leg to be and set them up yourself!
Weather: Late June in Columbus, Ohio, brings warm, pleasant summer weather, with average highs climbing from the low 80s to mid-80s Fahrenheit and lows in the low 60s, but heatwaves can push temperatures into the mid-90s, accompanied by increasing chances for thunderstorms. It’s likely you won’t be cold; you’ll be hot in the midday. I can almost guarantee you’ll get wet at some point and likely spend some time waiting for a storm to pass, unless we are exceptionally lucky.
SAG?: None. There is no event/volunteer SAG. Any volunteers you see on the course are a bonus, not a given. So here’s the deal: I will have one vehicle, and my duty will be to support riders still riding the event. I will do everything in my power to help you finish this ride. I want a 100% finish rate, so I will give you gentle encouragement, then tough love, and finally tell you to drink a Coke and have a nap. Only after I have denied you thrice will we start making any plans to abandon. I’m not saying I’ll leave you abandoned, but it might be a day+ before I can come get you, and then you will very much be along for my ride and put to work. My truck also has limited seating capacity, so the best I might be able to do is drop you at a bus station to make your own way back. Honestly, sometimes the best way back is to keep pushing forward.
Tentative Cost: $60
- Cancellation/Refund Policy: If you cancel before June 1st, you will receive a refund for your entry minus PayPal fees. After June 1st, there are no refunds.
Route Status: As of 1/6, Tentative. Final tweaking/submission in progress. Do not copy it to your GPS until this route is final!
