| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
61.98 miles
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Altitude Gain:
3,569 ft
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Avg Speed:
18.34 mph
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Route:
Ride for Refuge
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Avg Grade: 139 %
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Max Grade: 163 %
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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: Cloudy 74 F SW wind @ 8 mph |
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Second event for this doubleheader weekend was a metric century starting at Shady Shoals beach just outside of Erie, PA. We were hoping that the Ride for Refuge would have a better turn out than last year .It seemed to be a pretty good deal to me with a T-shirt, sag wagon, rest stops and post ride meal provided for a twenty dollar entry fee. Weather was a little questionable as although it was a pleasant seventy-four degrees at the start a strong west wind would be picking up toward the end of the ride and blowing in a band of thunderstorms. We got the cue sheet and map at sign in and it looked like this year’s ride would be a little flatter than last year’s event that had included a section of the roller coaster of pain in western NY. This year we would be heading east inland to Westfield, NY and then coming back along the lake on SR 5. Course looked to have at least one five hundred foot climb as we left the lake plain and headed up onto the plateau but other than that looked to mostly flat. Turn seemed to be light again and although they seemed to have a good number of riders for the fifty mile route the metric had less than ten. The metric rolled out first and after the first hundred meters the peloton consisted of IronDoug, I and one other rider. Took turns pulling with Doug as we headed east with a light tailwind. Felt loose for the first few miles as Doug was taking twenty-three mile an hour long pulls and I was taking short twenty-one mile an hour ones. Heart rate had maxed at one hundred and forty-four and would not go any higher. Still felt strong despite the heart rate limitation and figured I could ride comfortably until any climbing came up. After a few miles our third companion started taking pulls and his pulls were also in the twenty-three mile an hour range. So it looked like I was the designated weak link. We kept good speed until mile eight where we passed a water stop on a short climb. We kept climbing and noticed that our third member was no longer with us and we figured he had stopped at the water stop. After a half mile of climbing a pickup truck pulled up alongside us and told us that we were supposed to do a U-turn at the rest stop. Would have been nice if there was a road marking as we really didn’t need to rest after only eight miles of riding. So we turned around and set off in pursuit of our former companion. We figured that with at least a mile head start on us that we might not see him until the second half of the ride when we turned into the headwind and our aero drafting advantage would give us a significant advantage. Hit another snag in the first mile of the chase as I dropped a water bottle when we jumped a set of railroad tracks. After recovering the bottle we started up again. The course led us out onto SR 20 and we were a little disappointed that we could not see our quarry on the long flat straightaway. We kicked it up a notch and started to take twenty-eight mile an hour pulls. Felt pretty good on the pulls despite my heart rate still not going over one forty-four although I knew I was running in the red. Thought I could recover once we caught up and steeled myself for a thirty plus pull thinking if we didn’t see him soon either he or we had missed a turn. Just got into the pull when a turn came up and took us inland to the climb. IronDoug pulled away from me on the shallow pre-climb as I tried to recover from oxygen debt and adrenalin withdrawal. Didn’t have any snap left at all and resigned myself to riding alone the rest of the day. Hit a steep section of climb with grades around twelve percent. Last I saw of IronDoug he was dancing out of the saddle accelerating around a steep graded corner. I on the other hand put it in the granny gear and suffered up the climb. Thought I might get lucky and our former companion might be a worse climber than me and I might catch him on the climb. Passed the rest stop at the top of the climb without anyone in sight. Got some good speed on a downhill and was surprised by another climb after a quick turn at the bottom. After a brief tour through the backstreets of Westfield, I started the long grind back up SR 5 into a nasty headwind. Hit a little band of rain near Barcelona but most of the nasty stuff appeared to be hanging out over Lake Erie. Put my head down and set the cruise control to seventeen and cranked off the final miles. Started encountering some fifty milers but they weren’t making good time in the headwind. Finally caught my quarry at the last rest stop. He said IronDoug had passed him on the climb and kept on going. Last eight miles got a little competitive as we took hard pulls through the remaining rollers and I’m sure we were both hoping the other guy would crack first. Held on though and won the non-competitive event sprint at the end of the ride. IronDoug had finished only a couple of minutes ahead of us. Turned out to be a pretty good ride and we missed the thunderstorms at least until the long drive home.
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