| Ride Stats |
|
Distance:
62.45 miles
|
Altitude Gain:
2,573 ft
|
Avg Speed:
18.67 mph
|
|
Route:
Ride for Refuge
|
Avg Grade: 0 %
|
Max Grade: 0 %
|
|
Max HR: 152 bpm
|
Avg HR: 129 bpm
|
Terrain: Road: Hills
|
|
Bike: Look Blade RS 795 Iconic Ltd Road
|
Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 61 F N wind @ 12 mph |
|
Made a three-plus hour trip to Harbor Creek, PA just west of Erie on the shores of Lake Erie for a metric century. They had moved the start time up from the traditional eight AM to seven that meant to get there early I didn't get much sleep. The course was the same as last year having a dog bone configuration. It had three climbs and a fair amount of flat highway sections. It starts off with a climb from the shores of Lake Erie onto the plateau. It is a long grade with just a couple of eight to ten percent sections gaining five hundred feet over three miles then immediately descending off the plateau down to State Route 20. It is then eleven miles of fairly flat highway east to Westfield, NY where there is another series of climbs up onto the plateau again. This loop is a bit shorter than the first climbing loop and has a short section of twelve percent and another goodly length of eight percent. Once on the plateau it immediately descends back to the shoreline where there is another eleven-mile section of flattish highway returning to Northeast PA on State Route 5 and a minor climb to a rest stop. Then it descends back to route five for a handful of miles back to the start. Last year there was a vicious steady fifteen mile an hour west wind making the last half of the ride challenging. That year I had been dropped on the first climb by the front group but must have passed them at a rest stop as I had ended up finishing before them. One rider told me that that is how they ride pushing pace up the first climb hard and not doing much after that. Plan this year was try not to get dropped on the first climb. Wind was still evident this year but was blowing at twelve miles directly from the north that would provide a cross wind for two thirds of the ride. It was only in the fifties as the seven AM start time approached and there was a couple dozen riders milling about but there were also cars still rolling in an I thought that there may have been a change in the start time. One guy rolled out at seven but no one else seemed interested in going. Not sure whether they were waiting for it to get warmer or for friends to arrive. It was a bit chilly so I really didn't want to wait around in the cold for a chatty Cathy group as had been hoping for some spirited paceline riding that didn't look like it would be happening. Figured I would try to catch the guy that left at seven so headed out after him. He was off his bike after the first mile alongside the road and appeared to be adjusting something. Headed for the first climb and thought that if there was a fast group they might catch up to me on the climb or at least on the first long open road section. Got about halfway up the climb and looked back but only saw one lone rider. Thought again if he is a strong climber he could cross the divide. Looked back again after completing the climb but the road was empty. He was the last rider I saw until getting back to North East at the fifty-mile point where I encountered some riders from the shorter courses. Climbed fairly well today as had tailwinds on the climbs and the only headwind was on the descents back toward the lake. The course really wasn't very technical and is more of a speed course then a climbing challenge. There were great views of the lake on the descents and the grapes are being harvested that makes for a fantastic autumn scent. I ended up focusing on trying to get a nineteen mile an hour average though I hoped for a twenty but didn't seem to have any high speed today. I was able to hold between nineteen and twenty-two in the crosswinds and nearly got the nineteen average but had to slow down too much going through the North East streets. I did stop and get some cookies at the North East rest stop. Finished off the course in pretty good shape and when I checked in, they told me I was the first hundred K rider to finish. I told them the reason was that I finished first was I had left at seven. I was told I was one of the few that left when I was supposed to and that the reason they moved the start time up was that to give some slower riders an opportunity to finish earlier in the day. So ended up riding another group ride alone but I did get my picture taken as the first finisher. I really missed riding with a fast group but just knowing there were riders behind me kept me focused during the ride and had one of my fastest solo rides of the year.
0 member views | 37 total views
report problem |
|
|
|
|
more...
