Events: On the Cancelled 2024 Hell of Hunterdon
(2024) Cover photo provided by Kermesse Sport. We do not own the rights to it.
The ominous forecast took shape late in the week lead up to the 2024 Hell of Hunterdon, a gravel event fashioned after the European spring cobble rides. What started out as a prediction of rain on the eve turned into something otherworldly by the late week. Days before the Hell of Hunterdon was to take place, the forecast ramped up its predictions: two to four inches of rain for the area on Saturday followed by a sudden pressure change and freezing temperatures overnight. The Hell of Hunterdon was doomed by early Saturday morning.
As luck would have it, we found ourselves just outside of Princeton, NJ, nearly 24 hours prior to the Hell of Hunterdon start. It did not look good. Wertsville Road was about to be submerged by a waterway never known about. Dutchtown Zion Road was hours away from being completely flooded at Rock Bridge. It was postulated that the GPS sent us through the Sourlands due to road closures elsewhere. We filed our observations to Kermesse Sport and relayed an evening report would follow. Possibly due to road closures, the GPS did not send us back the same way; it was suggested Rock Bridge had finally been overrun. No matter. The Hell of Hunterdon had been officially cancelled some twelve hours before taking place.
The Hell of Hunterdon has seen numerous obstacles in recent years. Covid impacted attendance. Weather anomalies similar to this year have happened in years such as 2022. That year a deluge was followed strong winds that magically dried the course overnight with the omission of freezing temperatures. Everything was in place for a great event to occur on Sunday, but the weather had other ideas.
After speaking briefly with Brian of Kermesse Sport by phone the day before the Hell of Hunterdon, it became clear just how much is at stake for an event. To cancel is a last resort. Organizers manage countless connections behind the scenes. There are permits to be filed to allow the ride to pass through each municipality. Each rider costs the organizer a certain amount of insurance. The central location - in this case the Princeton Elks Lodge - has to be reserved and paid. Meanwhile the caterers and beverage vendors were in the final preparations to serve hundreds of participants. Then there were the handful of police officers helping with traffic control that have to be paid. With a nod to brevity, we say the obvious - cancelling is the absolute last option. To receive the cancellation email at 6pm the night before had to be the hardest message sent by Kermesse lately.
The cancellation was certainly the right call. Though the day turned out to be balmy and sunny, portions of the roadways around the creakybottombracket.com office remained icy well into the late morning. The temperature did not get above freezing until around 10am, two-and-a-half hours after the suggested start time for the 80-mile participants. There were lingering ice spots on the road near noon, sheltered by the shade in selected areas. Streams looked like creeks, creeks like rivers, rivers choked with heavy volume. Bridges shuddered from the heavy rainfall over the past 36 hours. It was hardly riding conditions to usher in the first major spring classic event on the calendar. It was heartbreaking nonetheless to have it removed from the calendar.
Though the decision will certainly have blowback from registrants, it solidifies the quality of Kermesse events. Rider safety is the first consideration. The Hell of Hunterdon could have pressed forward. Riders would have shown up, claiming those who couldn’t handle the conditions were weak, and certainly cyclists would have laid the bike down in icy areas. There are personalities who would start the Hell of Hunterdon until it wasn’t taking place. There is frustration, but the emotion lies with the freakish weather conditions the day before, not the cancellation of the event.
Let it be known that the Hell of Hunterdon organizers will try to find every possible way to bring the event back by reserving all the services listed above at a future date. If it is not feasible, rest assured that Kermesse Sport exhausted all possible outcomes. As someone who was on the course nearly twelve hours prior to the start of the Hell of Hunterdon, anyone would have agreed that hell had already descended on Hunterdon County. The defining factor was that it wasn’t hot nor dry.
