Stage 1 will travel through Riverdale, cross Route 23, and head towards Lincoln Park. Going up 202, we will have the first sprint points of the Tour — a short uphill drag to Clover Lane, the finish line. Please roll down the road and we’ll re-assemble at the Montville town limits sign. I will record the top-5 finishers and we get short recovery, then off we go, headed towards Mountain Lakes.
The group will ride at moderate speed. You are expected to maintain the pace of the group. The group will always arrive to the beginning of each points section together.
The second sprint point is in Mountain Lakes up a steady roller on the Boulevard, and then we bomb down a gradual, wide, straight drag to a white crosswalk — finish line.
Near the end of the road, there is a traffic light. To the right is tons of grass and plenty of place to pull over and re-assemble.
After this brief break and collection of the top-5, we ride towards Four Corners, hook a left and flow through Kinnelon Road. The road is a bit chopped-up at first, so we will ride slowly and in single-file.
But once we bomb that left turn at Kincaid Woods sign, it’s game-on — the finishing stretch of Kinnelon Road awaits — the finish line is the yellow sign in front of Kinnelon HS. We roll to traffic light, where we will all assemble on the right. I will record the top-5 finishes, and off we go.
We will roll at recovery pace back to the house for all interviews and points calculations. At the bonfire out back, we will have the jersey presentations. I’ll have water and food and still have plenty of beer left from my housewarming party, and I hope we can rad talk about the night’s fight club.
The route is 30 miles and expected finish time is around 80 minutes.
Stage Two will be on Thursday, wheels down at 6:15, and it will include the first major KOM of the Elite Endurance Tour.
I am excited to see what type of rider can take the overall GC.
— Kenneth Lundgren
