| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
65.15 miles
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Altitude Gain:
5,912 ft
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Avg Speed:
16.27 mph
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Route:
Tour de Scranton
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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: Hills
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Cloudy 58 F S wind @ 9 mph |
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Weather looked kind of borderline unpleasant as we drove through two cloud bursts on the way to Scranton for the 14th year of the metric century. Registration went smoothly despite the five hundred or so people there for the day's various events. There was quite a bit of cold weather clothing evident while people were warming up, but most riders shed most of it as we lined up for the ten AM start and the mid fifties temperature. Iron Doug rode down with me and we were mildly surprised to find Mighty Young Joe at registration. I had done the ride alone last year and recommended it to these guys. Of course my recommendation came with a few caveats- extremely poor road surface, poorly marked roads and a dangerous controlled start through a few miles on the streets of Scranton. I did really like the course last year, as once you pass the first rest stop in Forest City the roads go vertical. I recommended to Iron Doug he take it easy at the start as the roads are poorly marked and it is easy to miss one of the numerous turns through in the city. Of course he went off hard with a few others and stayed tight with the police escort as soon as they said go. Joe and I stayed in the first fifty at the multi hundred rider start. we heard the first crash of the day behind us as the mass started to move and at least one luckless rider hit the pavement. We quickly moved up into the first twenty riders as the speed picked up in the first mile and the peloton sorted itself out. We kept good speed through the city street rollers and actually almost caught Iron Doug's group at a stoplight. As soon as the light changed his small group sped away again, and we watched as they missed a turn and headed off into parts unknown. The group Joe and I were in split as some of us made the turn and some rode by it. I had to wait a bit as two riders that collided but didn't fall at the turn sorted themselves out. Joe and I joined up with a group of eight riders and continued on to a bike path that was now incorporated into the metric course. I pretty much drafted Joe for a couple of trail miles and when we emerged back unto the road our group had thinned to six riders. Joe complained a bit as we were twenty miles into the metric and we hadn't done any real climbing yet. Having ridden the course before I was pretty sure that by the end he would be complaining about too much climbing. We soon hit the first climb south of Carbondale and rode upwards to the first rest stop at Forest City. I thought I would be rapidly dropped by the group but was mildly surprised when as soon as we hit a good grade the group shattered. One thin climber pulled easily away with Joe slowly loosing ground on him. I held on to the third position, but the front two were soon out of sight. I caught up with Joe near the top when he stopped to answer nature's call. I couldn't stay with him again and he slowly gapped me but I was able to keep him within sight to the first stop. Iron Doug rejoined us at the rest stop after his side tour of the area. Got some snacks and filled the water bottle and hung around for a little while as a dozen or so riders rolled in, but we were freezing standing around and decided to get back on the road rather than wait for a group to form up. The three of us rolled out, and I summarily was dropped a couple of miles after we started out. After that it was up and down over the next forty miles with a total of 3100 ft of climbing. I got caught by two light riders soon after the first fast downhill and was unable to stay with them as they walked away on the climbs. There kung fu skills were superior to mine. Enjoyed a couple of showers along the way but they didn't last long or even soak me. Passed one more guy along the way who had bypassed the first rest stop and must of cracked, as he was coasting more than pedaling. Finished in four hours which was slower than last year. I hammered last year as opposed to spinning this year, but my monitor still said I was in the red for over two of the four hours so didn't feel to bad about the effort. Iron Doug finished fifteen minutes ahead of me, and Joe was five minutes behind him. Joe was said he was satisfied by the ride's amount of climbing.
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