Events: 2023 Rapha Festive 500 Day One
Ride Distance: 20 Miles/ 290 Remain
Prioritizing a ride on December 24th, the first day of Rapha’s Festive 500, has a juggling effect. There were engagements in the morning, engagements in the afternoon, before finally a moment to hop atop the road steed and knock off some miles. This year, we planned to ride as much of the Delaware Canal State Park path as possible. But even that came with juggling.
Since 2010, cyclists have attempted to cross 500 kilometers (310 miles) over eight days from December 24 to 31. Until recently, all miles were expected to be completed outdoors. We still subscribe to this approach, though our last successful Festive came attached to a trainer a handful of hours prior to ringing in the New Year.
Then there’s the Delaware Canal State Park, our parkour for the Festive. It is a sixty-mile trail that extends from the southern point in Bristol, PA, and connects to the old mill town of Easton, PA. The canal is remnants of Pennsylvania’s - nearly - lost gamble that the canal system would be the future. Meanwhile, across the expanding country, states were adopting the railroad, and eventually Pennsylvania went from having the fewest amount of railroad miles to the most. The Pennsylvania Railroad dominated the train landscape after the state permanently turned away from mule barges. What exists today in the Park is a ghostly system of lochs and trailway popular amongst outdoorsy people.
We are lucky to live so close to an unique setting such as the Delaware Canal State Park. After living here for decades, we still cannot claim to have ridden even half its distance. Having ridden as far south as the Revolutionary War cemetery and as far north as Kintnersville, the rest acts as a mystery. Some parts are groomed and fast. Others, such as the segment near Narrows Hill Road, is overgrown in the summer and positively a tick infestation waiting to happen. There are times when the path hangs over the Delaware River, while other times the river is hardly visible. Best of all, there is hardly any elevation change. Grab a comfortable gear when the trail is clear and rip along.
The canal was picked up near Point Pleasant, PA, a town that seemed to have missed the chance at being a real town. This part sports beautiful experiences: a plank bridge, a path barely a foot wide, steel trellis bridges, and varying surfaces of shale or quarry stone. Nearly immediately, a jolt caught my attention and the rear tire felt squishy. The tubeless system held up but each large rock was felt. Under the cover of last season’s leaves were twigs and rocks knocking against the rims.
After hammering for a blissful amount, suddenly a chain link fence blocked my progress. The path was closed without a suggestion to get around. A sign indicating the closure back at the last access point would have been helpful. Having turned the bike around, the route was retraced and plans would have to be changed. The mix of setting sun and low clouds meant the ride would return in the dark. A short turn onto a bridge where the soft back tire slid out lay the scene for a potential issue on the first day of the Festive 500.
Eventually the rider and bike returned to the office. It was dark out. The bike sounded horrible. The tire had somehow lost forty pounds of pressure without a puncture indication. Though it was a short ride, the twenty miles felt a part of something larger. Plans were in the works for the next day’s ride, this time aiming farther north to avoid the ‘detour’ that wasn’t marked. And more miles were needed.
