| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
59.42 miles
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Altitude Gain:
932 ft
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Avg Speed:
20.86 mph
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Route:
Ride for Tiny Town
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 161 bpm
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Avg HR: 139 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Flat
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Bike: Look Blade RS 795 Iconic Ltd Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 70 F ENE wind @ 6 mph |
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First event of the year was in Arcadia, FL. Weather was decent with sunshine and light winds. Appeared to be around one hundred riders with better than half opting for the full metric route. Kick off didn't go very well as after the announcements the ride was started, but nobody left. Appeared one of the teams there was organizing which group riders were supposed to be in??? After another announcement to go with no response a couple of lone riders rolled out and I followed. Figured that it was kind of rude to the promoter not to start and that I would be safer riding the first couple of miles through town alone than with a group of riders of various levels anyways. Thought I would hopefully be able to latch onto a group as it passed me. I was caught three or four miles out of town by a group of twenty or thirty riders. I wasn't able to latch onto the back as it went by and thought it would be a day of touring pace. Another lone rider passed me, and I hopped on his wheel and he towed me up to the pack. I was able to settle in after that as the speed varied between twenty-two and twenty-seven miles an hour. The pack was driven by maybe ten strong riders and the other twenty including me sucking wheel. Good portion of the ride was a long single file line. Pace was fast but average speed wasn't too great as there were numerous stops at highway crossings where regrouping occurred. Hardest part for me were the frequent fast accelerations through corners. Occasionally had to drop to the rear as I kept working my way up to the front and knew if I took a pull at speed I would be dropped as I was already riding my limit just sucking wheel. Got dropped on one section as the a strong rider on the front ramped up the speed, and I ran out of gas. Was disappointed that if I could have held on another twenty yards I would have been okay as the speed dropped. Was happy to see though that I was one of only fifteen riders left. We regrouped again at a stop sign and then kept on hammering. Lost about half the group going by a rest stop at the thirty mile mark. With a smaller group I actually did finally take a brief lackluster pull and was able to hop back on after completing it. Speeds were ramping down a bit and I was getting more comfortable with the pace. Riding through a patch of bad road, I was run into by a rider on my right that claimed someone had hit his rear wheel. Wasn't two bad as it was more of a sprinting bump that avoided the bike so no damage was done. Wasn't too happy about it though. The team riders pulled into a rest stop at forty miles. All but one rider pulled in with them. I went with the other rider and went up the road to do a nature stop. Started back up and figured I would be caught again by the fast guys as there was still twenty miles to go. Kept good speed and started to pass riders from the shorter routes. With only ten miles to go I still hadn't been caught and the math started looking good for finishing alone. Bumped the speed up a bit and felt optimistic right before hitting a couple of sections of headwind where the speed fell rapidly. Got through most of the headwind sections and saw that the last four miles of the course were straight with a good tailwind. Knew that if I could get there without being seen the crew wouldn't be able to catch me. Once I got to the turn I was able to push the pace into the mid twenties and finished it off. I was quite surprised that I wasn't caught but happy that I had finished the course first and got a good varied workout with some fast group riding and a fifteen mile time trial. Didn't stick around for lunch as had a long drive to the next location.
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