| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
61.60 miles
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Altitude Gain:
3,663 ft
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Avg Speed:
21.08 mph
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Route:
Central Cycling Classic
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 167 bpm
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Avg HR: 138 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: Sunny 72 F NW wind @ 5 mph |
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Central Cycling Classic is a metric century in State College, PA. Weather was again on the nice side and we have really been lucky so far with dry weekends as the weekdays have been rain soaked. Looked to be around seventy-five riders lined up for the start of the rolling course. There was a bottleneck getting out of the starting gate and a good separation opened up on the first half mile of grade. I was unfortunately not in the front group of twenty five or so that seemed to be formed up and ready to go, I navigated through the slower riders and latched on to two riders that looked to be trying to bridge the gap. Got impatient and hammered by the two and caught the larger group navigating through an intersection at the top of the grade. Never saw the other two riders again so I guess they weren't able to bridge. I rested a bit on the end of the front group as best as I could as the pace went up into the high twenties across the rolling terrain. The pack started shelling riders within the first two or three miles, and I worked my way up to Iron Doug who was positioned more toward the front of the group. Pace was merciless and appeared to be driven by four or five riders with the remainder of us just holding on. We hit the first small climb and things slowed down a little. I was able to stay toward the front of the group and made it over the hill but was riding at my limit to do so. After the first climb there were only twelve to fifteen of us left and the pace kicked back up all the way to the next climb. The second and biggest climb was rated a category five and started at around the twenty five mile mark. Glanced at my computer and saw we were averaging just under twenty four miles an hour to the bottom of the hill. Tried to hang on in the climb and almost made it but couldn't accelerate over the last quarter mile as the big dogs played king of the mountain. Was gapped significantly but the group of seven that went over the top together soft pedaled and allowed two or three of us stragglers hook back on. Although I was pretty wasted I didn't feel too bad as the remaining riders were twenty something college racers, a couple of Cat I\ Pro riders and Iron Doug. After a couple more short wall climbs the front group was down to eight. We pretty mush cruised a few miles and chatted though still at a fairly good pace. The next stepping climb started at the forty one mile mark, and I stumbled on the first step and was dropped decisively. I probably lost a half mile on the two mile climb but my body decided to take a break. I caught up to the front group at a rest stop after the top of the climb. I grabbed a couple of cookies and got back on the bike and didn't wait for the group to restart as I thought I would just get dropped immediately. I rode a the next few miles at a good clip though didn't have the legs for any decent climbing. I was caught three or four miles from the finish by a group of three and grabbed on their wheels as they went by. They were still cranking out a twenty seven miles an hour pace, and I only was able to hold on for a mile until the grade started going back up. I then got caught by another two riders a half mile from the finish and was able to hang on to their wheels to the finish. Had a good though strenuous time today. Course seemed nice and riders were very friendly. There wasn't any attacking today just a friendly blistering pace. Didn't see much of the scenery other than the last twenty miles as when the pace is that high your mind has to be focused on the wheels ahead and potential road hazards.
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