| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
63.61 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,327 ft
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Avg Speed:
18.71 mph
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Route:
Tour de Greene
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 162 bpm
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Avg HR: 127 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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Bike: Look Blade RS 795 Iconic Ltd Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 70 F WNW wind @ 4 mph |
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Had a little over a two-hour drive from my motel in Williamsburg, VA to my last event of the season a metric century in Stanardsvilee, VA. I had registered to do this as the last event of last year but didn't go because of cold rain. This year the weather looked great with a temperature near seventy and light winds. As I drove to the event, I noticed several of the small towns looked familiar and it turned out that Greene County is very near if not abutting Madison County where I've done a spring metric for the last several years. The terrain was very similar with no big climbs but endless small foothill climbs giving the course a sawtooth configuration. Lined up in a parking lot with a little over one-hundred and twenty riders of various abilities from young fast guys to seniors on e-bikes. I made a huge error at the start rolling out of the parking lot and assuming that there would be a moderate pace for the first mile or so. I ended up behind a group of Chatty Cathys that were riding slowly and spread up across the lane. Eventually worked my way through the group and headed toward the front. The first few miles of the course were a slight uphill grade. Worked my way up to a group of six or eight but that was about it for my legs. The front group of fifteen or so riders was already at least a quarter mile up the road and still riding hard. Decided that it was too far for me to cross and that I would stay with the second group for a while. Just as I was settling in another rider that had also been blocked sprinted by heading for the first group. Then decided that if he was going to try it, I would try too. We ended up working together riding all out for two or three miles but were only making a small gain on the front. One rider had got dropped from the main group and I took a hard pull to try to get up to him and hopefully then there would be three of us. Once we caught him though I was almost immediately dropped and started to fade away. Kept riding hoping to recover and thought I had at least got a few miles of intense workout in when I noticed my heart rate wasn't registering on my computer. Rode slowly trying to get the HR to register by deleting and adding the sensor when I was overtaken by the second group now numbering about a dozen riders. I got dropped by them on a climb and was unable to work on my HR while riding in a group so fell back and rode alone slowly on a flat section until I resolved the issue. Although I had lost quite a bit of ground my legs had recovered nicely. I was able to quickly catch the second group and was able to drop them on the next climb. The next issue was that nature was calling telling me it was time to drain the bladder. Still was riding at good speed though and reeled a guy in closing a quarter mile gap at a high rate. Was hoping that I could draft him for a bit and recover but he attacked on the next climb and dropped me. I caught him on a downhill and he attacked again on the next climb but this time he cracked and quickly faded away. Got to the first rest stop and saw some of the first group were just pulling out. Had my bladder been younger I would have joined them but opted for relief in the port-a-john instead. Leaving the stall, I saw a group of four riders from the second group had bypassed the stop and continued on. I was able to join the group after a couple miles of aggressive riding and it turned out there was one strong rider and the other three were only drafting. Took a long pull on a half mile climb and dropped two of the hangers on. The strong rider though was a different matter, and we spent the next several miles attacking hills. I didn't have much hope of beating him though as he was a little younger and a little stronger and a little fresher than me. I tried hard though even knowing I was going to lose eventually. Finally, we caught up to the rider I had started working with at the start and gave up the contest and rode with him for a bit. We stopped at the last rest stop then headed out for the last leg of the ride. Lost my partner on a climb and caught a straggler from the front group who decided he wasn't done yet and attacked me on the next climb. I was able to outlast him, but he caught back up as I waited at an intersection. We had one climb left that he attacked me again on. He cracked on this one and I was able to ride solo downhill to the finish. Turned out to be a hard ride for me but I had a blast. There was a good deal of good-natured aggression displayed at this ride, and I gave as good as I got. We had good weather, a challenging though not brutal course and friendly riders. Just wished that the Chatty Cathys would learn to ride on the right side of the road instead of spreading all across the lane.
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