POST UPDATE AT 4:40 AM, Saturday, 30 Nov: Step-Up Ride for Saturday, November 30th IS CANCELLED: Currently raining at Shiloh and Renner area, radar shows this is currently all across the riding area. Sky cover, wind and humidity prediction, while better than yesterday's forecast, still indicates we'll likely have wet roads through at least 10 AM, so Step-Up ride is CANCELLED for today.
ORIGINAL POST: As of 7AM, 29 Nov the Saturday AM temps are predicted to be mid 60sF, which is great, but there is high rain chance for most of Friday and all through until noon Saturday (60+% chance at 8 AM) and 8 AM winds are predicted to be 11 mph from the West, getting stronger through the day, so at this time I'm setting a 5 AM Saturday decision point to announce a go or no-go for the ride. Early Saturday, I'll check outside and the forecast and post here and on the PBA group Facebook page the status of the ride. Look for that announcement by 5:15 AM. Unless there is a radical change for the better in forecasted conditions, I'm expecting to announce a cancellation. (As always, announcements for all developmental rides -- of which Step-Up is one -- put out by Ron Shome, the PBA Ride Coordinator, supersedes whatever Step-Up ride leaders are posting, so look for anything from him as well).
The rest of this page is the normal ride announcement info, just in case we are a go: The Step-Up Ride start area is at the Gulledge Elementary School (west side Preston Meadow just south of Legacy). Please sign-in 15 minutes prior to start
for the pre-ride safety briefing so we'll be able to start as scheduled. Please have checked and aired up your bike prior to the pre-ride briefing and remember helmet, water, and tire repair kit and dress for the expected conditions. Due to the rains this week and inability to check the park on Friday, we'll use the park-by-pass Step-Up route, shown at the 2nd ridewithgps link below:
The Step-Up 31.3 mile normal route can be viewed at this link:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28626042
There is also a route we use if the path through Oak Point Park is questionable. That 31.2 mile park-bypass Step-Up route is at this link:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30852469
The actual route that Step-Up takes, between these two choices, on any particular day will be announced before the ride start. Step-Up pace is a 13-14 mph avg speed over the route. Rolling speed at any one point might be anywhere from 9 to 25 mph due to hills. This is a no-drop ride.