| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
54.18 miles
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Altitude Gain:
2,026 ft
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Avg Speed:
20.95 mph
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Route:
Ride for Dignity
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 165 bpm
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Avg HR: 140 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Litespeed Vortex Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sun/Clouds 60 F NE wind @ 5 mph |
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This weekend's road trip was north to Henderson Harbor, NY on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario for the fifty mile Ride for Dignity. Weather was chilly and wet before the ride and several riders were clad in leg warmers and jackets. The sun came out at start time and the temperature rose rapidly into the sixties and unusual for the area there was only a light wind. I went with just a jersey and an undershirt and by ride's end I felt I was overdressed. The terrain is quite different than last week's mountain century being rolling flats with minimal climbing. Course was changed this year but we didn't expect any surprises as there isn't much variety in the terrain. Not sure how many riders there were for the fifty and twenty five mile courses, but I assumed somewhere between sixty and eighty though there could have been many more as the start times were staggered. Ride started as in year's past with a climbing grade for the first mile. Pace was much slower than normal as only one rider went off the starting group before the first turn. Weaved my way through the traffic and joined him and was followed by Iron Doug. Thought it would be the three of us for the day but after taking a couple of rotating pulls, we were joined by another nine riders giving us a good sized group. First thirty miles were rolling flats with a new section this year going across a causeway to Association Island and returning. Pace was fairly reasonable in the low twenties with a majority of the riders taking pulls. By about mile thirty two the group had been winnowed down to seven riders and we turned inland and started to climb out of the lake basin and onto the plateau. Grade was only three or four percent but we lost a rider in the first mile and then the group shattered in the second mile of climbing. Iron Doug went over the top of the first section alone with another rider and me not to far off. The three of us regrouped on a slight downhill and then we started to climb again into short fairly steep rollers. Legs gave out after a few of these and I was unable to stand up over the risers and I was gapped. The other rider lasted a bit longer than he too was gapped. Doug went over the top of the climbs with a thirty or forty second advantage and the other rider had ten or fifteen seconds over me. I was able to recover some ground on the next downhill section and after a couple miles of chasing joined up with the other rider. We worked together and pulled Doug back on the next climbing section and pretty much rode the last few miles at a steady pace. Our speed had dropped below the twenty-one average on the climbing section, and we attempted to boost it back up but were hampered by stop signs and traffic at intersections. I was totally shelled near the finish and was glad neither of the other riders got too aggressive as I would probably given up and been dropped. Had a good workout on a beautiful day with several friendly riders. Turned out to be a pretty good ride.
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