| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
27.62 miles
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Altitude Gain:
1,944 ft
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Avg Speed:
21.04 mph
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Route:
MIlton
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Avg Grade: 157 %
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Max Grade: 168 %
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sun\Clouds 55 F W wind @ 8 mph |
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It was time again for running of the Milton Road Race, a fast twenty-eight mile rolling course with two moderate climbs. I drove down with my usual two teammates, IronDoug and Mighty Young Joe. It was a long two and a half drive but with a ten AM start at least we didn’t have to get up too early. We probably should have started a little earlier as we got to the start twenty minutes later than planned. Registration went smoothly though so we still had a little time to warm up. Didn’t feel very loose during my pre-race ride and didn’t have high hopes for the day as I seldom climb well in the cold. I’m too old and fat to stay with the front group over the long haul but hoped to stay with the lead group until the second long climb where the pace generally picks up. Temperature was a bit too cool at fifty-five degrees and there was a steady west wind blowing. Over two hundred of us lined up for the start. IronDoug got a good position near the front and I had a decent one in the first quarter. Joe got stuck somewhere in the back. Race was fast from the gun and had too work to hold my positionright out of the gate. Bad things happened within a mile of the start as the pack went from the high twenties to near zero as a series of crashes clogged up the street. The rider directly in front of me went down and I had to do a track stand until I could work my way back into the stream of riders going around the pileup. Put in a major effort to get back on the front group but couldn’t do it on my own. Hopped onto a small group and let them tow me back to the pack. My heart rate was maxed out by just hanging on. We successfully connected with the rear of the front pack but unfortunately that only put me in the top one hundred riders as we approached the first climb. My hopes were dashed early as Ic racked early on the climb along with a couple of dozen others. By the time we got over the top we could see the pack had split into a group of around thirty frontrunners and the remainder of the hundred was broken into many smaller groups. I tried to rest as much as possible in my new group and only took short pulls when my turn came as I felt totally wrung out. We eventually lost sight of the leaders as no one in the group was really driving it. Legs started to come back ten or twelve miles into the race and I started taking long hard pulls. I planned on trying to rest a bit before the second climb but after another hard pull I found myself leading at the base of the second climb. My second climb turned out to be better than usual. Normally I’ll pull the group along to the climb and they will all spin away ahead of me up the hill leaving me to struggle along on my own. Today no one got around me on the climb and I was able to drop all but one on the climb. Had a really good run down the backside and joined up with a group of three riders as we started into the final eleven miles of rollers. We worked well together and started to pick up some stragglers. Some of them stayed with us for a while but most eventually drifted off the back. Felt really strong and continued to take hard fast pulls and enjoyed the day for a bit as we cranked off some fast miles. Our group broke apart on the final short climb. I stupidly let two riders open a small gap that I thought I could overcome on the next downhill but was surprised that the finish of the course had been changed. Instead of a fast downhill after the steep section the course turned into a long false flat. I tried to catch the two but came up a little short as I failed to make contact as they made the last turn into the final sprint. Ended up just spinning it out for a top seventy finish. Race was won by a three man breakaway that completed the course at a little under a twenty-five mile an hour pace. IronDoug finished in the middle of the front pack and Mighty Young Joe had disappeared completely. He had flatted near the start and returned to the truck rather than repairing his tire and soldiering on. I had another miserable race but a very enjoyable group ride. Even with my horrific first climb I still completed the course at over twenty-one miles an hour. Kind of disappointed in my performance but am looking forward to trying it again next season.
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