| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
59.20 miles
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Altitude Gain:
3,337 ft
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Avg Speed:
17.41 mph
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Route:
Farmland Ride
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 180 bpm
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Avg HR: 144 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: custom built Cipollini RB800 Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Cloudy 62 F Light Wind |
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Drive from Delaware to New Jersey wasn't too stressful yesterday, since I was not in a hurry and didn't mind sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for a couple of hours. Got in early enough to relax a bit and got a good nights sleep for a change. Only had a fifteen minute drive to the start of today's hilly metric in Flemington, NJ. Ride was supposed to start at eight and we were to assemble in the starting area by seven-thirty. Registration was smooth and got a wrist band that could be turned in for a meal and a T-shirt upon completing the ride. There were a couple hundred riders milling around but wasn't sure how many were for the metric and how many for the half metric. There was only one port a john in the registration area, and it was very popular with the line at least twenty deep. Plan was to hang on to the front group as long as possible. Plan went awry though as they announced the start of the ride at about ten before eight and told the metric riders to start heading out. Individual riders started leaving the parking lot but there wasn't a large group assembled. Waited a couple minutes then decided I would roll out after I saw a small group leave. Thought I might be able to avoid a jail break or a mad minute that strong groups often do at the start to shake out marginal and weaker riders like myself. First two or three miles were fairly flat before the two larger climbs of the day came in the first half of the course. Second half was more rolling with a half dozen one to two hundred foot climbs with a little over three thousand feet of climbing total. Went out at at good clip trying to catch up with the group I had seen leaving. Caught up and passed them after a couple of miles and tried to bridge to two other riders further up the road. Came to a small climb and one of the riders from the group I had passed came hammering by me up the small climb out of the saddle rain jacket flapping in the wind. Thought it was a bit early for heroics with the big climbs coming, so I put in enough effort in the saddle to get on his wheel and thought he could haul me up to the riders ahead. He got to the top though and almost did a track stand. I wasn't sure whether he had cracked big time or whether he was savoring his hill sprint victory. I wasn't very impressed with his performance and kept moving forward toward the big climbs of the day. Two riders had split and worked up to the front one and sat on his wheel to rest. Took a pull after a bit and he responded by hammering by me after my pull. Thought he must either want to drop me or just ride alone and got back into his draft. Planned on riding defense and was happy to let him pull me along as thought I would need the energy to hang with the fast group when it eventually would go by. We started up the first four hundred foot climb and speed was fast enough that I was still sitting comfortably in his draft. After a bit though he decided it was my turn to pull on the climb and he moved hard to the left. Went by him slowly and was surprised when I was able to gap him on the climb. Once we were over the top he caught me and went by me hard. Got on his wheel again and was happy to sit as he was a little faster than me on the flatter sections. He overshot a turn. He recovered and went by me hard again. We had a couple miles of rollers before descending and starting the second four hundred foot climb. I came out of the saddle on one small twisting roller and pushed hard for half mile figuring I would rest the legs on the descent. I opened a good sized gap on the other rider and after letting him catch he was interested in chatting. After that we rode together and worker together where we could. He came out of the saddle and hit the bottom of the second climb hard and I had to go a little deep to catch him. I was able to before the grade slackened to a more manageable five percent which I was able to gap him again over the top. We had an issue on a turn half way down the second big descent where two arrows pointed different directions. My computer didn't help as it said both directions were off course. We opted for the steeper downgrade and near the bottom my computer told me we were back on course. We passed the first rest stop without stopping in a small village along the river separating NJ and PA. We had a four mile flat section that we traded pulls on before starting the second half of the ride and still had not been caught. Next couple of climbs were two hundred footers steep at the bottom but much shallower over the tops. I had good climbing legs both in and out of the saddle. I was able to gap the other rider on the climbs and rest as he worked hard to catch up on the back sides. I was in the opposite position as I was in from last weekend's ride and this was much easier. We kept this up until mile forty five when we passed the last rest stop. I was feeling good and didn't want to stop and kept going. We only had one more ridge to cross with a couple of one hundred foot climbs and two or three around fifty. Some were steep while others were not. Got over a one hill and coasted to the next but didn't see my partner anymore. I'm not sure whether he cracked, flatted or decided to back track to the rest stop. Goal for the day now became not to get caught before the finish. Was climbing pretty well and feeling confident when I hit one climb and the legs weren't putting out the watts anymore. Had to shift way down to finish it off and thought this is a fine time to fail with only five miles left. Looked backwards though and saw no one in pursuit and legs worked well for the rest of the ride. Finished it off with still some gas in the tank. I was quite pleased with my climbing today and was happy that I hadn't been caught. Pretty nice course for cycling. Some roads were so narrow that I think they may better be termed lanes. Road surfaces on these were also less than ideal but were fun to ride as they were tree lined with very low traffic. Didn't really get any group riding in but I guess until mass start events make a return not much of that is going to happen.
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