MA Overnight 200k – August 24th, 2024

Ride Information

Start Location: Sarah’s House, in West Medford (exact address to be provided to registered riders)
Start Time: 9pm
Length: 200k
Time Limit: 13.5 Hours
Ride Leader: Sarah Bergstrom
Controls: Derry, NH; Exeter, NH; Ipswich, MA
Sanctioning: ACP/RUSA
Cue Sheet 200k: Use the “Print Map & Cue PDF” link on the route to print the official PDF
Lighting & Reflective Gear: Required
GPS File/Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/47377178
Registration: On BikeReg

Overnight 200k

This ride is designed for riders looking for the added challenges and enjoyment of riding overnight. This is a great way to get accustomed to what is expected for riders of the 400k and longer events, particularly 1200k events such as PBP, and to try out an evening start. Your legs will be fresh and the course is forgiving (by NER standards, at least), designed for a fun and successful first night ride. It’s also enjoyable to be out on mostly deserted roads under a hopefully star filled night. This is also a great option for people with other obligations in the day on Saturday and Sunday.

Riders will need to comply with NER’s and RUSA’s regulations requiring lighting and reflective safety gear. This means a reflective vest or sash, ankle bands, and steady front/rear lighting. While not required, a headlamp or other way to light your cue sheet and see to fix a flat is highly recommended. Reflective gear and lights are required until after dawn and will be checked at the start.

Additionally, portions of the route will be slightly more urban than most NER rides, so bringing a lightweight cable lock is recommended if riders expect to stop in the first or last few miles of the ride.

Parking Instructions:
Woburn Street does not require a permit and should have sufficient space for parking near the start/finish.  Please be courteous to my neighbors while finding a space.

Route Description:

The updated route starts in West Medford and threads northwards on suburban backroads until it reaches Lowell. In Lowell, we dip into a few blocks of urban riding to cross the brand-new University Avenue bridge over the Merrimack river. Once across the water, we’re back into rural riding on Mammoth Road/NH-128, a winding, gently rolling road with great pavement. It was originally built as a major transportation artery (in 1837), but is now redundant with 3 and 93 running a few miles to either side, making it a great bike route.

Riders will need to use caution crossing Route 111, as the traffic light may not detect bicycles, but immediately after doing so they will turn onto even quieter backroads, sneaking under I-93 and into the small town of Derry, New Hampshire. A Cumberland Farms offers a no-frills quick control stop (restrooms available) before heading into the most remote section of the ride.

From Derry, the route follows NH-102, another small rural numbered road, gently climbing to the high point of the ride in Chester, a town center which is little more than a church and a cemetery. Soon after, it turns onto tiny Fremont road, which sports pavement of variable quality but impeccable quiet farm surroundings. After that, the route picks up Middle Road/NH-111A (another lightly-traveled scenic numbered road) to the town of Exeter, where it darts north on a slightly larger road to find an open Mobil station/convenience store for the northernmost control and halfway point.

From Exeter the route turns south and towards the coast, arriving back in Massachusetts on the outskirts of Amesbury. In Amesbury it meets up with a few roads that may be familiar to riders of the Somersworthit 200k. (The first Dunkin Donuts control on that route is not a control here, but is open at all hours and offers riders an additional option near the route for food, caffeine, and/or restrooms.) It then crosses the historic Chain Bridge over the Merrimack River and picks up scenic (and flat) MA-1A, cruising down the coast to Ipswich, where another Cumberland Farms hosts the final mid-ride control.

The route then leaves the coastal flats for gently rolling terrain, following the Ipswich River upstream through Middleton and North Reading. The route hops on and off on MA-62, hitting some new portions of an old NER standby state route,  and then cruises down through Wakefield back to the start.   (Walnut/Chestnut and the Baldwin Apple Monument are still on the route, but on the northbound leg due to the revised start!)

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Riders heading out in 2016. Photo by Rob Vandermark.
Riders heading out in 2016. Photo by Rob Vandermark.
Last minute chatting at the start. Photo by Rob Vandermark.
Last minute cue sheet checks. Photo by Rob Vandermark.
Riders about to leave RSC. Photo by Rob Vandermark.
Riders about to leave RSC. Photo by Rob Vandermark.

Ride Reports

Jake Kassen’s report from Aug 20th, 2016

Have a ride report from this event? Please email the text or a link to the webmaster!