| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
52.31 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,130 ft
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Avg Speed:
19.34 mph
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Route:
Raccoon Rally
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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 80 F S wind @ 5 mph |
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We reached the race today in the park south of Salamanca in a little over two hours. The Raccoon Rally has road races in the park today and mountain bike races tomorrow. Course is all on paved roads within the park that vary between excellent pavement on the downhills and a fair but choppy surfacse on the climbs. The roads see very little motorized traffic but bears are a not uncommon sight. Each lap of the course is twenty-four miles long and has two long moderate climbs and two long moderate descents. So it starts off with a six mile climb, followed by a six mile descent then another six mile climb and descent back to the finish that is a half mile or so up the first climb. The race wasn't licensed but was broken up into categories with four different races staggered five minutes apart with all groups except the citizens doing two laps. The 1-2s started first with a small group of less than ten. The 3-4 race had ten in it. My group was of 45+ had eighteen in it and we started with the 35+, juniors and women. Our peloton had around forty in it, I believe the citizens may have been the largest group but doubt thay had more than fifty. Pretty disappointing crowd for a well established fun and safe race.
Had little hope of staying with the lead group as we had a few very strong riders. I did line up with a couple of Buffalo area riders who climb at my level so I wan't too worried about getting dropped early and riding forty five miles alone. I started near the back and kept the pace in the climb as best I could. Pace was actually much faster than the 3-4 race that started five minutes before and was caught by a good part of our peloton on the first climb. I got dropped around mile four of the six mile climb but was happy to have outlasted both Bill and Cleo. Found myself climbing with another older rider climbed well enough near the top to catch a 35+ rider. We started out working fairly well chasing the peloton on the downhill but once we got into sight the younger rider attacked and then tried to bridge. he failed though and the older rider and I worked together and caught him. He sat in then tried to cross again after attacking. He failed again and we hauled him back in. After we caught him the second time, the older rider wouldn't take any pulls and said that the younger rider was on his own after attacking us twice. I also sat on his wheel until he pulled me close enough to the peloton and I successfully bridged. Didn't last in the pack though as we soon arrived at the second climb. I was unable to stay with the now combined 3-4, women's and veterans pack and found myself falling off the back less than a mile into the second climb. Wasn't alone though as I was with five others and we kept a steady pace and kept several stragglers from the pack in sight. Went to take my first drink at the top of the second climb and proceeded to drop my bottle when it caught on my bike number\chip in the front of my frame. So now had to do fifty miles on one bottle of water. Figured I could recover the bottle on the second lap if I got too dried out. Did really well charging down the descent and dropped all but one rider. Didn't have any desire to drop anyone but wanted to try to catch the few riders up the road and hope my legs would recover for another lap. Did catch up to two riders on the start of the first climb on the second lap but had damaged my back hammering on the descent and couldn't stay with the now eight man pack and get dropped with two or three others about two miles into the climb. Crested the third hill of the day alone and hammered the backside of the hill and caught up with two riders before starting the last climb. One of them dropped me as he easily rolled away and I rode away from the other. Slowed down near the top to look for my dropped bottle and was unable to find it. Did get caught by Cleo, Bill and a strong female rider. Kicked the speed back up a little and was able to stay with them as they passed me. Cleo dropped off the back and Bill the female and I went over the top. Kept good speed on the downhill but hammer was gone and shared the work with Bill. The female disappeared behind us on the downhill. We got caught behind a car heading for the finish but didn't sweat it much and motorpaced for a mile. Unfortunately the car was going slower than we had been but, we figured the race had ended a long time ago so it didn't matter much. The finishing sprint is about a half mile long climb with two humps in it. Bill tried to drop me on the first hump but I was able to stay with him by staying in the saddle and spinning. I came out of the saddle on the second hump and Bill threw in the towel and I opened up a good gap in the last quater mile. Ended up tenth of eighteen riders and when I got off the bike I found that I had sheared a rail on my carbon fiber seat sometime during the race. So had a fun ride but lost a water bottle and a carbon fiber seat. Really liked the course and hope that they keep having the race. I only get out this way every couple of years due to conflicts with local races but hope do do it again next year.
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