Dark Skies, Steep Climbs, and Tacos at Mile 42

THE LONG WINTER

The winter in New Jersey was long and cold.  We had a snowstorm that dumped almost 24” that blanketed the region followed by weeks of temperatures below freezing.  When things finally began to thaw we got walloped with another big snowstorm, again followed by a long spell of sub-freezing temps.  

This is not the typical weather pattern for New Jersey during the winter. We’ll get a few snow days but the snow usually melts away within a week.  Most winters you can ride bikes, either in the woods or on the road, throughout the entire season.  

It is coming off this winter of minimal riding that I embarked on the Lu Lacka Wyco Hundo.  Lu Lacka what?? I know, it’s an odd name for the event but when you break it down it makes sense.

The ride takes place in Northeastern PA and traverses through Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming Counties and the main route is a little over one Hundred miles.  

I knew the full hundo and ¾ would be too ambitious, so I opted for the metric. One may say that was probably too ambitious.




MEETING PAT & BETH

The ride was on Sunday however I went up early on Saturday because Breezer was a sponsor.  We were raffling off a new Repack and I was there to showcase some of the new bikes in the line, assist with registration and talk to riders.
 

I met up with Pat and his partner Beth at Susquehanna Brewing Company in Pittston, PA on Saturday morning.

Pat started this event 13 years ago to share the area he grew up riding with others and to test the resolve and endurance of the riders who signed up for the event.  

It was great talking with Pat and Beth and the riders who were picking up their packets. The one thing I noticed is that a lot of the riders were repeat participants. This is a testament to the routes Pat has put together and the overall vibe of the ride.

Even though it was a cold, gray, rainy day everyone was optimistic for better conditions for Sunday’s ride.  

I was happy to awake Sunday and see that the rain had ceased. There were heavy dark skies but the forecast was not calling for any rain. I grabbed a quick breakfast, pinned on my number and headed over to the fire hall in Pittston, which was serving as the start/finish for the ride.  

For the ride I opted for the new Inversion with a carbon fork.  Bike was equipped with a 2x12 Shimano GRX 600 drivetrain and I was running 700x45c Panaracer Gravel King SS tires.  There are a bunch of asphalt road segments so I figured the smooth tread of the SS tires would be a good choice for that and the shoulder lugs would provide enough bite in the gravel. The Inversion is a great all arounder frame, comfortable on asphalt and gravel roads so it was the logical choice for this ride.  



ROLLING OUT

It’s a rolling start for this event so whenever you are ready you can head out on your ride. There was a small group gathering getting ready to head out and Pat was giving a brief overview on the ride and which course markers to look for depending on the route you were taking. After that and with little fanfare I rolled out with about 15 other riders and we started making our way out of Pittston.  

We rolled through town and then climbed up into a small neighborhood where we entered the woods. No gravel in these woods, just some muddy slick singletrack and lots of puddles. Fortunately this segment was pretty short and would be the only MTB type of segment for my route.

I won’t bore you with a mile by mile recap of the ride so here is a brief overview of the terrain, climbs and views along the route.  

There is a bunch of asphalt road segments and this is an open course so you are sharing the road with cars and trucks going about their business. For the most part the roads did not have much traffic but there were a few segments where you are close to major roads and you are getting passed by large trucks at high speeds. 




UP, DOWN, REPEAT

The gravel segments ranged between double track jeep type trails, wide gravel roads and gravel paths next to train tracks. I found the gravel segments to be very enjoyable even when walking my bike up steep pitches. That’s right, I had to walk a few climbs.  

Which brings me to another aspect of this ride, the elevation changes. I did the 60 mile route and it ended up with about 5600’ of climbing. Most of these are not long gradual sustained climbs. They are short, punchy, in your face walls that want to make your hamstring and quads cramp. The flip side of that are some ripping descents that always put a smile on my face. The whole route felt like it was either up or down with very minimal flat segments. Needless to say, if you are planning on doing the LLWH bring your climbing legs.

The route had some beautiful scenic views and skirted along a long lake at one point. A lot of the ride I was in no man’s land by myself and relished the sound of gravel crunching under my tires, birds chirping and turkeys gobbling.  

There were two rest stops on my route.  The first stop was at mile 24 and was loaded with electrolyte drinks, water, bags of trail mix and other snacks. The riders all seemed excited to hit this first stop, take a break and grab a snack before tackling the rest of the ride.




MILE 42

The second rest stop was at around mile 42.  This was the taco stop.  Delicious tacos, cold cokes and other snacks greeted riders at this stop.  In hindsight I should have taken a pic of the awesome tacos but at this point in the ride I was pretty smoked and the only thing I could think about was eating that taco.  I grabbed a shorty can of coke and put it in my jersey pocket before I headed out of this stop. This would be my break in case of emergency plan if needed a little something extra to finish the ride. 

With about 20 miles to go I turned off my brain and just worked on grinding out the last climbs of the day.  I did have to crack open that coke and it is one of the best soda’s I ever drank.  




THE FINISH LINE

I rolled back into the fire station where I started earlier in the day, again to no fanfare. No arch for the finish line, no one to greet you, just the satisfaction of knowing you completed your ride. 

I cleaned up a bit and went inside to grab some after ride pizza and say goodbye to Pat and Beth. They introduced me to the winner of the Breezer raffle who was stoked to be getting a new Repack.

Overall this is a great ride, totally different than Midwest or West coast gravel events, and very challenging.  If you're looking to test your endurance and climbing legs and check out a beautiful corner of Pennsylvania you should give this ride a go.