| Ride Stats |
|
Distance:
64.44 miles
|
Altitude Gain:
5,053 ft
|
Avg Speed:
17.15 mph
|
|
Route:
Tour de Scranton
|
Avg Grade: 144 %
|
Max Grade: 165 %
|
|
Max HR: 0 bpm
|
Avg HR: 0 bpm
|
Terrain: Road: Hills
|
|
Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
|
Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 55 F NW wind 8-12 mph |
|
The metric century in Scranton PA was marked poorly, the roads through the city were plagued with potholes and the weather was on the cold side, and it turned out to be quite a bit of fun. Pulled into the high school parking lot and saw hundreds of cars and bikes already there. For the various walks and rides there were over five hundred participants total. Temperature was in the forties with a north wind and although I had brought my cold weather gear, I ended up riding comfortably with the addition of a long sleeve T-shirt to my kit. There were a few hundred bikes lined up for the mass start for all six courses. I never did figure out where the various courses separated from the long hilly option I choose and ended up just following the locals to navigate the course. There was a police escort for the first five miles or so through the streets of Scranton. I rode easily with the front group that was maintaining a club ride pace. That was probably because half of the group of fifteen were made up of a club from Wayne county. There were also several bikes with tri bars in the front group but they didn't seem to create any problems. I tried to ride in the middle of the front group as we rode into a north wind. Gaps would open but there were not really any attacks. Once leaving the city, the course started a gradual climb with a significant climb around the twenty mile mark. The pack broke up as one rider opened up a huge gap on the climb. There wasn't much of a reaction and I drifted off the front and was climbing comfortably. I pushed a little too hard the top of the steep section to stay with three other riders but couldn't hold their wheels as the road kept rising at a slighter grade. I quickly lost about a quarter mile but was able to keep the threesome in sight. We pulled into a small town and took a left up a twenty percent grade wall. I inched my way over the top and found myself at the first rest stop where the front pack regrouped. We left the first stop with seventeen hundred feet of climbing behind us and with another three thousand feet coming up in the next twenty five miles. Once back on the course we headed into six miles of in your face headwind. I hung off the back with a couple of riders who were yo-yoing but I wasn't too concerned about getting dropped as my legs had recovered a bit at the rest stop. A left turn had us heading for the hills and the two strong climbers disappeared quickly off the front never to be seen by me again. I crested the first climb somewhere in the middle of the strung out pack and was feeling okay. After a quick downhill we headed up another short climb and lost five or six riders into the abyss. I pulled hard on the nest long descent and worked with two of the tri bike guys and we were able to catch another three riders to bring us back to six. We started back up the next long grade and I was the first one to get dropped as I was experiencing some pre cramps and dared not to push to hard. I had some gel cap energy bursts, drank some and started to ride a little harder. I caught and passed three riders on the climb that appeared to be suffering from cramps themselves. I was still in sight the two riders ahead of me on the downhill and was able to bridge to one of them on the next power climb. We chatted a bit and rode over the top of the climb together. We chose not to stop at the last rest stop as my companion told me the last fifteen miles was mostly downhill with only one more steep wall left to climb, and we both had abundant water left. Other than the wall, that was a bear, we had good speed on the downhill with a tailwind. The last two or three miles was back through the city but the police were covering all the lights and let us pass through them unmolested. We ended up finishing the sixty five miles in three hours and forty five minutes which exceeded my expectations. It really turned out to be a fun ride and everyone I talked with in the front group seemed really friendly. It would have better with smooth roads and improved road markings but it still turned out to be a great ride.
0 member views | 2147 total views
report problem |
|
|
|
|
more...
