Official 2nd Annual Winter Meet 1/2/09 - 1/4/09 Thread

[Cablebandit]

Here’s the information regarding the 2nd Annual STN Winter Meet.

When: January 2nd – 4th 2009

Where: Cacapon Resort State Park http://www.cacaponresort.com/

Who: You



Make your reservations buy calling 1-800-CALL-WVA (225-5982) of 304-258-1022.

Mention ESTN (I’m not sure why ESTN instead of STN, but it is what it is) when you call to make reservations and you may get a couple bucks off a golf course view room if more than 10 rooms get booked.  Golf Course View rooms overlook the golf course (duh), Mountain View rooms overlook the front parking lot.

Reservations can also be made online using the same ESTN code.  

For those of you that have not been to Cacapon before, they have a restaurant on-site that isn’t half bad.  There is also a large “lodge like” room to just hang out, watch TV, tell lies, etc.

Hope to see all of you there.
Chris

[JReazor]

My vacation request is in  

[SLK50]

  Thanks.

  Time off request submitted? - check
  Reservations made? - check
  Route down planned? - check
  Bike ready? - check
  Jazzed about riding WV in January? - check
  Even more jazzed about seeing everyone again? - double check

  I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready..........

  Come on everybody, don't miss out on this. I assure you a good time will be had by all!

  See you there.

[JamminJere]

I"m good to go!

Reservation made!

Lots of rooms left... come on people lets make this a good turnout...

The food was good, the rooms were good, the company was better!!!

As always.. I'm gonna have to get tires before the meet   other than that.. I"m stoked to go!

Can't wait to see you all there!

Jerry

[Cablebandit]

Yup Ressies made.

Jerry, stay away from the steak.  

[JamminJere]

Yup Ressies made.

Jerry, stay away from the steak.  

LOL... I forgot about that... That bugger either lived on the side of a mountain.. or was forced to do pushups his whole life!

[chornbe]

It's only 4 hours for me. I'll happily ride down for this. Even if the weather is total ass, I'll probably drive down.  

[HappyRiding]

It's only 4 hours for me. I'll happily ride down for this. Even if the weather is total ass, I'll probably drive down.  

It's ONLY about 400 miles for me.

Hey Chris, is your brother going?

[kendenton]

Reservations can also be made online using the same ESTN code.  

Tried to book just now, got "invalid code" for ESTN (and also STN).  

[Cablebandit]

We just mailed in the "contract" needed for blocking off the rooms.  The code was on there but maybe they don't activate it until they process the paperwork.  Our post office is just a hair slower than the pony express so it may take a week for them to get it.  It may sound like I'm kidding, but sadly I'm not.  If you call the lodge Ken, they know what's going on and you be able to hook you up in the interim.

[kendenton]

I'll probably give them a call soon.  I'm just more of a 'do-it-online' kind of guy if I can.  Thanks for setting all this up.  

So who's going to lay out a good ride for Saturday?

[chornbe]

It's ONLY about 400 miles for me.

Hey Chris, is your brother going?

I'll drag him along.

[BigBen]

Does anyone know the road conditions in this area in January? I would be coming from about 350 miles and some kind of wheather history would help. Are there any members from the NY Hudson Valley area planning on going??

Ben

[SLK50]

  Prior to the Winter Meet temperatures had, for the most part, been consistently above freezing. While there had been some snow, the weekend of the meet there was almost no snow on the ground at the elevations we rode. All the roads were clear of snow and ice. A bigger hazard was the accumulation of anti-skid ( gravel ) on some roads, especially in PA.
  If road conditions are questionable, you could take I-81 through most ofPA, at least to Chambersburg, before jumping off onto local roads for the remainder of the trip.

[BigBen]

Thank you for the info on road conditions, I'll keep a close eye on http://www.wunderground.com for weather history and partern for the area.

Ben

  Prior to the Winter Meet temperatures had, for the most part, been consistently above freezing. While there had been some snow, the weekend of the meet there was almost no snow on the ground at the elevations we rode. All the roads were clear of snow and ice. A bigger hazard was the accumulation of anti-skid ( gravel ) on some roads, especially in PA.
  If road conditions are questionable, you could take I-81 through most ofPA, at least to Chambersburg, before jumping off onto local roads for the remainder of the trip.

[Scratch33]

Reservash made.

[SWriverstone]

Gosh! I just noticed this thread today!   Thanks for taking the initiative Chris.   I'm definitely in and will call to make a reservation! (Sometimes I get laser-lock on a specific forum or two on STN and ignore all the others for too long!)

For those who missed out on last year's Winter Meet, here are a few pics!






It was an awesome time!

As for weather...the trend in the area of the meet has been for moderate temps in early January (I know because I'm a snowboarder, and I've been pissed at the warmer-than-they-should-be temps the past few years!  ) So typically, that means daytime temps above freezing with nighttime temps down just below freezing.

So about the only way it wouldn't be rideable is if there was a snowstorm (in which only Urals are allowed to come) or a lot of rain the day of the meet...followed by freezing temps all day the next day.

So who's planning the route? I'd be happy to, or if anyone else wants to have at it, that's fine too! (I think I mentioned heading south and west into WV as a possibility for this year? Last year we headed west, then north into PA.)

Scott

[SWriverstone]

Here are some pics of the Cacapon Resort Lodge...











Scott

[Cablebandit]

Scott, I was wondering the same thing about heading deeper into West Virginia this year.  I guess weather will dictate it to some degree since some of the nicer section's are at higher (snow) elevations.  Of course we've got quite a cold snap happening up here right now with plenty of snow to shovel, so it should swing back to the warm side by January.

[SWriverstone]

Assuming no bad weather, we could easily ride due south of Berkeley Springs...the Canaan Valley area might be a stretch, but there are tons of great roads in the Potomac Highlands region of West Virginia.

Here's last year's route...



...and here's the general region we could focus on for this year:



Scott