# Civil War Century



## Har

What can you tell me about this ride? Early reigistration, parking, challenege, we are coming from the flat eastern shore although with a decent number of miles on my legs and a 15 (+) mph wind every ride. We have a place to stay so that sould be a big help arriving the night beofe to rest. Really any info, thanks!

R


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## MarkS

I have done every CWC since the first one in 2001. The 2001 ride was my first century, so this ride is a sentimental favorite of mine.

The course is moderate-to-hard. It has a little more climbing than the Seagull Century, but not as much as the Mountains of Misery. The organizers claim that the CWC has four mountain climbs. I think that is a bit of an exaggeration. There really are only two significant climbs -- the six mile climb at the beginning of the ride and another around the 60 mile mark. None of the climbs are steep and the road surface for the climbs, and the ride generally, is good. The route is well-marked. There are a few areas where there is high auto traffic. But, they are relatively insignificant.

There are four rest stops on the ride -- around the 30, 55, 75 and 90 mile marks (I am approximating this from memory, I don't have the cue sheet in front of me). The rest stops are well stocked and decently organized (except for 2004 when the weather was excellent and an unexpected number of on site registrants overwhelmed the rest stops). One nice thing about the rest stops is that stop #1 is in a state park and stops 2-4 are in volunteer fire stations and each one has real bathrooms -- no portable toilets (there are portables at the start however).

Try to get to the start early. Although the starting time is between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., everyone seems to arrive between 7:45 and 8:15, causing traffic jams at the entrance to the parking area.

The event seems to get bigger each year. However, the number of participants is not overwhelming. Although I have seen some squirrely riding, most people on the ride know what they are doing. Given the relative difficulty of the ride, this is not a ride where a lot of people are doing their first century (unlike me in 2001) or are completely clueless.

The scenery is great. There are some ride reports from past CWCs here on RBR. Also, MB1 and Miss M frequenly ride in the area -- if you are familiar with MB1's ride reports you will get some feel for what to expect in terms of scenery and terrain.


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## MB1

*Your Eastern Shore gearing isn't going to be enough.*

True the climbs aren't all that bad for the area but if all you have been doing is riding on the Eastern Shore they are going to seem plenty tough. I'd suggest for your first time on this ride putting on the widest gearing your bike will handle-if you don't use them all no loss. But if you need them and don't have them it is going to be one long ride.

Also the 78mile route splits off the 100 mile route at about mile 65 so you don't have to decide which one to do till then.

FWIW when we have done the organized ride we parked about 15 miles away turning it into a 200K and avoided all the parking lot mess.


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## Har

thanks


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## brurider

*Civil War Profile*

Does anybody out there have info on this?


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## charlie brown

The Baltimore Bicycling Club, the sponsoring organization, has a link to the Civil War Century from its homepage. The CWC link is http://www.baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/cwcmaps. The link provides maps for each of the 5 ride options. 

I hope you find the information helpful.


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## brurider

*Civil War Century profile*

Thanks for the info. Already have seen the map. Was wondering if anyone bothered to break it down into bare bones info like length of climbs, overall grade, steepest section, etc. I don't have any mapping software to pull off that info. Early posts don't make it seem as bad as I've heard on the street.


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## bas

brurider said:


> Thanks for the info. Already have seen the map. Was wondering if anyone bothered to break it down into bare bones info like length of climbs, overall grade, steepest section, etc. I don't have any mapping software to pull off that info. Early posts don't make it seem as bad as I've heard on the street.



If you goto Richmond and do the MS150 - people get off their bikes and walk 100 ft to get up the "major hill climb".


I don't think there will be any 2-4 mile climbs of 1500+ft.

There might be some steep sections, but the mountains probably go 400-600 ft over a with a steady grade.


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## MarkS

bas said:


> If you goto Richmond and do the MS150 - people get off their bikes and walk 100 ft to get up the "major hill climb".
> 
> 
> I don't think there will be any 2-4 mile climbs of 1500+ft.
> 
> There might be some steep sections, but the mountains probably go 400-600 ft over a with a steady grade.



I am not very good with my new Topo 6.0 software (I was used to Version 3.0). However, based on the maps I have run, the first climb (miles 1-5) and the other significant climb (around mile 60) each are about 4 miles long, have about 1000 feet of elevation gain and an average grade of 4-5 %. I can tell you from experience that both of the climbs are pretty steady -- there aren't any steep sections on either climb. The other climbs in the CWC are shorter, albeit there may be a few steeper grades. The CWC is not an easy ride, but it is not a hard one either.


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## MB1

*If you would like I can direct you to some alternate climbs that REALLY climb.*

What with you having done the ride so many times and all I wouldn't mind making it a little more fun for you. Likely my changes would only add 2-3 more miles.


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## MarkS

MB1 said:


> What with you having done the ride so many times and all I wouldn't mind making it a little more fun for you. Likely my changes would only add 2-3 more miles.



Vertical miles? An extra 10,560 to 15,840 feet of climbing? I don't think even you could do that. But, I would be interested in your ideas. Were you thinking of Hamburg Road? Harp Hill Road?


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## MB1

*This is right after the start of the ride.*



MarkS said:


> Vertical miles? An extra 10,560 to 15,840 feet of climbing? I don't think even you could do that. But, I would be interested in your ideas. Were you thinking of Hamburg Road? Harp Hill Road?


Before the first climb on 77 about a 1/2 mile after you cross under 15 turn left on Pryor Road. In less than 2 miles Pryor dumps you out on 15 southbound. Ride the shoulder of 15 for about another 1/2 mile then turn right on Catoctin Hollow Road-shortly past the entrance to the park (this is a much nicer climb than the one the ride takes). After a bunch of beautiful climbing pass Mink Farm Road on your left and take the next left on Wigville Road. Go right when Wigville T's at Tower Road. Be carefull on the screaming descent off Tower Road that will take you back to 77 at the top of the normal routes first climb.

A very nice way to start the day.

BTW 2-3 extra miles of riding. Not much more than 500 more feet of climbing, just much better riding. If you would like I can give you directions through the Antietam Battlefield too adding another 2-3 very scenic miles.


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## MarkS

MB1 said:


> Before the first climb on 77 about a 1/2 mile after you cross under 15 turn left on Pryor Road. In less than 2 miles Pryor dumps you out on 15 southbound. Ride the shoulder of 15 for about another 1/2 mile then turn right on Catoctin Hollow Road-shortly past the entrance to the park (this is a much nicer climb than the one the ride takes). After a bunch of beautiful climbing pass Mink Farm Road on your left and take the next left on Wigville Road. Go right when Wigville T's at Tower Road. Be carefull on the screaming descent off Tower Road that will take you back to 77 at the top of the normal routes first climb.
> 
> A very nice way to start the day.
> 
> BTW 2-3 extra miles of riding. Not much more than 500 more feet of climbing, just much better riding. If you would like I can give you directions through the Antietam Battlefield too adding another 2-3 very scenic miles.


I have done the ride you suggested in the opposite direction. You are right, this is a much nicer road than the one that the ride takes.

What do you have in mind at Antietam?


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## Tom Ligon

Evidently you have not heard of the Death Ride.

There is a ride in California that used to go by this name, but now calls itself the Tour of the California Alps. If I recall, they normally run four mountain passes with an optional fifth if you're up to it. By the time you finish 5, you have climbed about 16,000 ft.

It is nuts, but remarkably popular.


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## MarkS

Tom Ligon said:


> Evidently you have not heard of the Death Ride.
> 
> There is a ride in California that used to go by this name, but now calls itself the Tour of the California Alps. If I recall, they normally run four mountain passes with an optional fifth if you're up to it. By the time you finish 5, you have climbed about 16,000 ft.
> 
> It is nuts, but remarkably popular.



I have heard about the Death Ride. My comment about MB1's not being able to "do" another 10,000 to 15,000 of climbing had nothing to do with MB1's (or anyone else's) ability to do that much climbing in a ride. Rather, I was trying to say that I did not think that even MB1 with his encyclopedic knowledge of the roads of Maryland and Virginia could come up with a route near the Civil War Century that had that much climbing -- unless, of course, we just did hill repeats up and down the first climb.

You're right, however, it is nuts.


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## Tom Ligon

Just this weekend I rode the part of Virginia that has the most alarming appearance on a topo map, Massanutten Mountain. Cutting across Massanutten twice only produced about 3400 ft of climbing. We probably did climb about 7000 ft in 66 miles, though, so it should be possible in Virginia to come up with around 15,000 ft in a 200 kilometer event. If anybody could find such a route, it would be MB1

But not easy in a century. And furthermore, who would come besides MB1 and his amazing wife?


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## MB1

*Battlefield Detour.*



MarkS said:


> I have done the ride you suggested in the opposite direction. You are right, this is a much nicer road than the one that the ride takes.
> 
> What do you have in mind at Antietam?


In Sharpsburg instead of turning right off Burnside Bridge Road onto 34 continue straight onto North Church Street/65. In about 1 mile turn right into the Battlefield on Dunker Church Road (the park headquarters on the right has nice bathrooms and water if you need it). 

After riding past the Church and Park Headquarters turn right on Mansfield Avenue (Dunker Church Road just sort of ends here). Turn right when Mansfield T's at Smoketown Road. Take the 2nd left Mummas Lane (the first left is Mansfield and it takes you out of the Battlefield).

Mummas T's at Bloody Lane, turn left. Bloody Lane T's at 34, turn left and you are back on the Century route after a nice 3 mile tour of the battlefield.


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## MB1

*All the Brevet riders for a start.*



Tom Ligon said:


> ....... so it should be possible in Virginia to come up with around 15,000 ft in a 200 kilometer event. If anybody could find such a route, it would be MB1
> 
> But not easy in a century. And furthermore, who would come besides MB1 and his amazing wife?


nmnmndm


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## Fear the Turtle

*Parking and other details*

The CWC2006 committee is working to address the parking back-up from last year's event. We won't make any promises, other than it will be better than last year. Bringing 1,000 cars into town over a short time period is a challenge. If you are staying in Thurmont, this should not be an issue.
Come see us at the Cozy Friday night. You can register and then just worry about riding on Saturday.


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## bas

Fear the Turtle said:


> The CWC2006 committee is working to address the parking back-up from last year's event. We won't make any promises, other than it will be better than last year. Bringing 1,000 cars into town over a short time period is a challenge. If you are staying in Thurmont, this should not be an issue.
> Come see us at the Cozy Friday night. You can register and then just worry about riding on Saturday.


Uhhh....
Make it 1,002 cars. My friend and I plan on going.

Like where do we park?

I don't want to have to get there 6:00 am.


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## MarkS

bas said:


> Uhhh....
> 
> Like where do we park?


Just follow all of the cars. Thurmont is very small. You will know it when you see it.

If you pass a really slow guy riding on a Black Trek 5200 and wearing a white Atmos helmet and a solid red or solid blue Assos jersey, say hi. I might be me. My current plan is to start around 7:15 a.m. But, as the saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I looked at my riding log yesterday. In 2005, I started at 8:11 a.m. notwithstanding the fact that I had planned to start by 7:30 a.m.


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