| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
27.75 miles
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Altitude Gain:
536 ft
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Avg Speed:
21.28 mph
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Route:
MIlton
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 160 bpm
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Avg HR: 146 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Look Blade RS 795 Iconic Ltd Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Rain 57 F SW wind @ 6 mph |
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Had a two-hour drive to Milton PA for the Harvest festival road race. Race didn't start until nine thirty, so I didn't have to get up too early and got a decent night's sleep. I've raced the twenty-eight-mile course several times over the years since the late eighties but haven't done it much lately as it usually conflicts with the Tour of Chautauqua that used to be in August but has moved to September for the last few years. The course is fairly simple with just two major climbs and two minor ones but lots of rollers. The two climbs aren't considered brutal with the first being a short ten to twelve percent grade less than a mile long and the second major climb is a highway climb of a mile and a half at seven to eight percent. The problem for me is the climbing is brutally fast and the pace never lets up ' Winning average is usually around twenty-four miles per hour for the front group. To make the race especially challenging today it would be held in heavy rain. Had one teammate Bob with me today. There were one-hundred and nine registered riders but only eighty-four finishers. Race started fast with speeds to the first climb in the mid to upper twenties. Within the first mile there was a crash ahead of me on a small rise that took out at least three riders but maybe more as it was still in progress as I went around it. Actually felt comfortable with the high speed despite getting soaked but that didn't last long as after a few miles we hit the first climb. I was in a fair position going into the climb but wasn't able to put out many watts. There was another crash on the climb as a rider went out of the saddle and had his rear wheel come out from under him as he tried to hammer the hill. I went around him and stayed in the saddle and watched the race ride away ahead of me. In years past I usually get dropped on the climb but usually can rejoin the pack with a good downhill and some effort in the following rollers. Not this year though as legs were tapped out and couldn't power the downhill and had to coast as I tried to recover. Once I made it to the rollers, I could see at least a half mile ahead and the pack was already out of sight. I could see a few stragglers like me up the road and focused on catching as many as I could. Traded pulls with different stragglers as we would catch some riders some would join us or just disappear as we were all pretty much riding our limits. I kept advancing and had picked up a half dozen positions by the bottom of the second major climb and we had a group of six or seven riders, I thought good all I need to do is get paced up the climb with the group and once over that I would be in terrain more fitting of my capabilities with short power climbs and frequent downgrades. I checked my average speed, and it was twenty-three point six which I thought was fast, but I could see at least a mile up the climb and all the big dogs were already out of sight. My plan of drafting up the hill didn't last long as the group shattered as soon as we hit the climb and I and a couple others were gapped. One rider put in a good climb and soloed over the top followed by a pair of riders and then me. I was at least a minute behind the pair and lots more behind the stronger climber. I again had to coast the downhill and wasn't able to make any headway against my previous packmates. I pushed the pedals as best I could and made a little headway on one of the minor steep climbs but checked my six and saw a pack of six riders closing on me. Decided to wait for the group once I got over the climb and hopped onto a wheel as they went by. These guys appeared to be mostly made up of one of the local college teams from Bucknell University. Worked with them for a couple miles and picked up the pair of riders that had dropped me on the second climb. Got my wind back and ended up taking some strong pulls with one of the Bucknell boys and one of the recently captured pair. The rest of the group really didn't contribute and were just hanging on. We caught a few more riders including the strong climber from my previous group before the final climb a short steep wall about a mile from the finish. Our new group of ten or twelve riders hit the wall and again we shattered. I was able to go over the top in about sixth spot after a lackluster effort. After that it was pretty much single riders weaving through the city streets to the sprint finish. I wasn't able to catch any riders through town but was able to pass three in the finishing sprint just nipping two by half a wheel. Ended up in thirtieth spot and second in my age group. Bob was able to hang with the big dogs through the top of the second major climb but was dropped on the following downhill. He was able to win his age group and finished about two and a half minutes ahead of me. I had a decent ride overall but suffered with my mediocre climbing skills. On the plus side I had good speed and a fairly good sprint. It was fun despite the rain and crashes but need to improve my climbing as I think my final position was about the same as I had over the first climb despite all the shuffling during the race.
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