City To Shore 2011 - FAQ

With the Holiday weekend in sight and a great weather forecast, time to dust off your bike, get some miles in and sign up for the 2011 City to Shore ride!
We received some questions which we'll be trying to answer here. We'll add to this as needed.

How do I sign up?
Go to the MS website, select 'Register to ride and join an existing team', enter 'SAP' as in the Team Name field, search, then select: 'Team SAP' and follow the instructions. Done.


Can I sign up for less than 150 miles?
Yes. The 'City to Shore 150' name refers to the most popular distance: 75 miles on Saturday (Cherry Hill, NJ to Ocean City, NY) and 75 miles on Sunday (Ocean City back to Cherry Hill). There are many more options:
- you can just do the Saturday ride and take one of the many organized buses back to Cherry Hill (very popular option as well). Bikes will be loaded on trucks and arrive with the buses.
- you can start at one of the other start locations along the 75 mile route to reduce total distance
- you can sign up for an extra loop on Saturday which adds up to 100 miles (you can still decide to take it or not once you get to that fork, about 45 miles into the ride to Ocean City)
- staying overnight and riding back on Sunday is optional. The only available distance is 75 miles.

Are there rest stops along the route?
This event is very well organized. There are many rest stops along the route. All of them provide rest rooms, food and water, many also bike mechanics and some have bands playing

What are the options for overnight stay on the Jersey shore?
If you only do the Saturday, buses will get you and your bikes back to the start location. If you chose to ride back on Sunday, see the 'housing' section on the MS150 website. Some of us may get together and rent a house. Use the 'comments' function to exchange thoughts on this option.

Will we be riding in a group?
We'd like to have all team riders starting together in Cherry Hill. We will announce the exact time here on the blog.
We are looking for two volunteers to lead different pace groups so we can ride as a team. Especially over the first 15 miles the roads will be packed with riders so we'll have to make sure to stay together. It's really fun to see a bunch of riders wearing the same jersey.

Will there be any other team activities planned?
We host weekly team rides (see 'Upcoming Events' section on the left pane). Especially the flat Betzwood/Valley Forge ride lends itself to ride in different pace groups.
Prior to the ride we'll host a team luncheon at SAP headquarters in Newtown Square (date to be announced).
On Saturday of the event we'll take a group picture at the start in Cherry Hill (picture tent) and at the boardwalk in Ocean City.

Much more (general) FAQ here.

To be updated and continued...

Father's day weekend rides

What a great weekend, perfect weather for riding. Happy Father's day!

Sunday ride: Bill, Glen, Juan and Thilo

Juan for the first time climbed the famous Manayunk Wall, we enjoyed breakfast at Volo in Manayunk and on the way back we got some help from a very fit, fast and unknown rider. Who knows, perhaps she'll join our team.

Team SAP climbing highest paved road in North America!

Here the highlight from my 7 days of cycling in the Rockies:
It took me 3 hrs and 10 minutes for the 29 miles from Idaho Springs, CO to Mt. Evans, climbing from 7,586ft (65F) up to 14,127 ft (28F).

Strong winds and mountain goats made this an interesting challenge. 8ft tall snow banks helped a little bit to shield the nasty wind. What an experience!
Wearing a rain jacket and wrapping my hands in two shopping bags saved my life on the amazing one hour downhill ride. Team Carmichael got ready to start when I arrived back in the parking lot.