| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
42.00 miles
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Altitude Gain:
2,293 ft
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Avg Speed:
21.19 mph
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Route:
Owasco Flyer
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 75 F S wind @ 8 mph |
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The promoter announced that they had 199 riders registered for today’s thirty six mile race in Auburn. Believe that is a decline from the last couple of years. Lined up with a near the front but kept behind all the major players and near the crowd I usually finish with. First leg of the race was into a stiff wind this year and thought it would make the first half of the race easier but probably more crowded and dangerous. Settled into the peloton nicely after the mile of controlled start and was riding comfortably when the group hit the first hill at the seven mile mark. Things were going well until two riders collided halfway up the hill. It wasn’t a nasty crash and I am not even sure if anyone went down. It did cause a few riders to dismount and several riders including me to slowly weave around the blockage. The peloton had been climbing the hill at a pace in the twenties and forty-five riders ahead of the crash charged ahead as the rest of us had to slow and resulted in a huge gap by the time we regrouped and started the pursuit. I tried to bridge before the top of the climb but didn’t have the legs. Don’t think anyone else successfully crossed the gap. I found myself riding with a couple of familiar riders, Bob and Mark, and we formed a pace line with six or seven riders others and hammered after the race. We held the distance but were not able to close the gap. We were hindered by two or three riders that either were too tired or not interested in pulling and messed up the rotation by hanging in the back and not pulling through. Had more trouble as we tried to get around the traffic following the peloton as we had to make our way individually as there wasn’t room for a group to get by. We got close to catching as we rolled into Moravia but failed to do so in time and last saw them as the tail end riders turned the corner at the intersection and headed up the climbs. Our chase group broke up as we started the climbs and I found myself in a group in a constantly weakening chase as our group dissolved. We were down to four-Mark, Bob, Owasco rider and myself when we hit the first king of the mountain climb. The Owasco rider pulled ahead and Mark dropped off leaving Bob and I riding together in the flats between the climbs. Looked back and saw that Mark had been gobbled up by a group pursuing us. Bob and I were caught by a young CNY rider on the second climb and the three of us kept a good pace but we never caught the Owasco rider or anyone else. Tried to pick up the pace on the downhill as we were getting caught by the ever pursuing chase group but only resulted in dropping my group that soon was devoured. Felt pretty good on the descent but had a bad time on the four remaining short climbs. Got caught and dropped on the second of the four by one rider then caught by a group of six on the next to last . Race ends with a hill sprint and held on to the group and came in third with a lackluster sprint. Ended up 50th overall on the day. Had a strong fun ride though I had lost the race when I was unable to bridge at mile seven. Still a nice day and got to ride hard with a friendly bunch of guys. The race was won by a solo rider that got away on the second king of the mountain sprint.
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