The Adirondack Trail Ride

TATR Turns Five!

By Mike Feldman

Mikie Intrabartola, race creator and director, had sent out a message teasing everyone who had signed up for The Adirondack Trail Ride 2019. This would be the fifth year of the “grand depart” on Sept. 13. TATR is a head-to-head, solo, self-supported mountain bike race through some of the gnarliest trails of the Adirondacks. And when not climbing over and under downed trees, wading through mud, tensely navigating slick snowmobile bridges, and hike-a-biking over beaver dams, there would be the climbs. Just about 50,000 feet of climbing over the 587.5-mile course. Even on pavement, connecting the off-road sections, there’s never an easy day.

Mikie had a “surprise” in store for us! Friends who had previously ridden TATR got to guessing what it could be. Maybe we would be riding the route in reverse? We never guessed it and he never gave it away. Turns out Solace Cycles of Elizabethtown was sponsoring the night-before gathering, race meeting and party. Not only do they build some great looking bikes, they throw a super party. And Mikie and his wife Michele had designed fifth anniversary cycling caps for the racers.

The next day, my wife Jody Dixon, our guest Mike Roe and I finished packing up our bikes and rode the 3.5 miles from our home to Waterfront Park in Northville. It was a busy morning with photographers from Bikepacking.com and Solace Cycles taking pictures of riders’ rigs and documenting the start. Dan Simonds from Broadalbin-Perth High School bussed up his class on the “Adirondack Park” so the kids could meet the racers, ask questions about the ride, and the Adirondacks in general. It was a lively lead-up to the pre-race pep talk delivered by Michele.

The race format includes a neutral rolling start out of Northville and through the Sacandaga Park. Once across NY Route 30 onto Mountain Road, the race begins. What a surprise as we rode out Bridge Street past Northville Central School. There were teachers and kids lining both sides of the street cheering us on as we rolled by at 8am. What a great send off!

Jody and I were just a bit off the back of the pack on the way out and we just missed the Route 30 mass start. We watched the other 11 riders take off. As we waited for traffic to clear, we wished each other well, “Be safe” and “No, you be safe,” and then we were on our separate ways.

Day one is probably the toughest day on the route. After 40 miles of mixed surface roads and a river crossing, riders enter Wilcox Lake Wild Forest. For the next 20 miles, until coming out on NY Route 8 north of Wells, this section will test even the most determined of riders. While there are similar tough sections, none is as long and as relentless but still rideable. Mike Roe would end up staying at the lean-to on Murphy Lake suffering a stomach ailment, and Jody camped deep in the forest near Pine Orchard, seven miles from Route 8. They both would get up and continue through on their day two, a testament to their fortitude.

There are only two mountain bike specific trails on TATR and you pay dearly for the opportunity to ride them. The first comes after climbing up the back of Whiteface Mountain on Gillespie Drive to reach the Poor Man’s Downhill, which in the winter is also a snowmobile trail. After three miles and 1,200 feet of descent, it drops you into Wilmington, a great resupply hub if you time it during business hours. Through Wilmington onto Quaker Mountain Road, and at the top of another stout climb, you’re rewarded with the relatively new Quaker Mountain Flow trail. This leads down to Hardy Road and back to TATR as usual.

From Hardy Road, it’s another 100 miles to the next off-road section at Lester Flow, the Dante’s Inferno of mountain biking! In between, there are four significant climbs, and countless short punchy ones that make your quads scream. But it’s Lester Flow, the Boreas River crossing, Irishtown Snowmobile Trail and Cheney Pond Road that, strung together, create one of the most demanding hurdles of this race. On TATR 2019 there was not much ridable on this five-mile section, so riders find themselves hiking – and navigating – with their bike more than riding, until after crossing Minerva Stream. The good news? It’s less than a hundred miles to the finish.

It’s this, the unrelenting challenge of the Adirondack Mountains, that makes TATR what it is. The beauty of the Adirondacks and the unrelenting kindness and generosity of the trail angels along the way are a whole other story.

Congratulations to all the finishers of The Adirondack Trail Ride and to Zach Verhey for setting a new course record of three days, 12 hours, and 47 minutes – breaking the old record by just six minutes.

2019 RESULTS

1 Zach Verhey 37 Wallkill 3:12:47

2 Jimmy Lee 45 Sparta, NJ 5:21:25

3 Mike Feldman 63 Northville 6:09:13

4 Inge Aiken 58 Elizabethtown 7:11:27

Looking forward to “dot watching” TATR 2020! For a replay of TATR 2019, visit: trackleaders.com/adirondacktr19. For more race info, check out: theadirondacktrailride.com. For a review of the riders and bikes, go to: bikepacking.com/bikes/2019-adirondack-trail-ride-rigs.

Mike Feldman (riosacandaga@yahoo.com) of Northville represented the Beer Jersey Riders in The Adirondack Trail Ride 2019. He and Jody have completed three TATRs and that’s why one of them is finished with it!