An update, @Challengers… I biked the proposed Freeville Fling course today to check out a road that appeared on the maps but that I didn’t remember and hadn’t taken before and… it wasn’t there! (As the satellite map confirmed.) Hate it when that happens. I was also unhappy about the narrow shoulder on Hanshaw Road.
So I’ve figured out a new course that avoids Hanshaw and West Dryden Roads entirely and goes out past the airport. So the new name is the Freeville Fly-In (for those who love the East Hill Flying Club’s Fly-In Breakfasts), and here’s the course. I wish we could go up or down Pinckney rather than continuing on Etna Road to Wood, but it’s just not long enough then. And you have to end by running down to the creek at Campbell Meadows Park!
One of the things I came to appreciate (and I think many others did as well) on the Lickbrook Treman course from a couple years back is that the sign and associated official start and end point was somewhere in the middle of the course to allow for your vehicle to serve as a mid-course aid station. Particularly when doing the 100k and are required to scan in at the signs, its is nice having the car at a more central location on the longer courses. In the context of this years proposed courses, an example would be putting the start sign at the Tauhannock parking lot where the route intersects itself, effectively breaking the large “infinity” up into two smaller loops. In fact it could practically be in the identical spot as the northern Black Diamond sign was in last season. Just a thought anyhow.
And Liz … what’s not to love about deep gnarly mud?! Helps keep the bugs off your legs.
What’s the camber like on those roads on the Freeville loop? On a long route it can get uncomfortable and it doesn’t look like running in the middle of the road is really a good option out there. I found the Ludlowville loop last year brutal for that reason.
Good suggestion—I hadn’t thought about the sign location for that course too hard, and would probably have defaulted to the Kraft Road intersection with the BDT. But yeah, putting it in exactly the same spot as last year’s sign would be easy.
Since I’ve only really biked them, I don’t know for sure, but I have no sense that it’s unusually steep. Then again, I didn’t realize that was an issue on the Ludlowville Loop last year either. I would think there’s some sort of standard for roads such that they’d be more or less similar, but maybe not?
OK, @Challengers, I just rode the new proposed Freeville Fly-In course again, and while the distance works out, I’m increasingly unhappy with the section of Etna Road from Hanshaw to the Lower Creek. Etna Road is the largest and most trafficked of the roads used, and while it has shoulders, they’re poor. Plus, though I was on a bike and couldn’t tell for sure, it looked there might be more camber on it than on the smaller roads.
So I’m seriously considering switching to this out-and-back course. @tonya-engst always prefers a loop to a line, as she puts it, and I’m sure others do too. But in this case, I think retracing steps on the smaller and more scenic Neimi, Sheldon, and Wood Roads will make for a more relaxing and enjoyable long run. It would look like this. (And no, I can’t add that little loop at the far end on Warren because it’s too long, and besides, it’s not like Warren is nice to run on, even briefly.)
Personally, I’m ok with an out and back course that has safer roads and less camber. It is fun to be able to see who else is on the course at the same time as you. Next year, a loop course must be promised!
Hi Adam,
Thank you so much for taking the time to consider the best possible route. I am in favor of avoiding Etna Rd. I lived on it for many years and it is not reliably safe. I thin the out & back is a great alternative and the way home will be mostly down hill!
