| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
65.50 miles
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Altitude Gain:
3,041 ft
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Avg Speed:
18.01 mph
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Route:
Rocktober Ride
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Avg Grade: 0 %
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Max Grade: 0 %
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Max HR: 156 bpm
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Avg HR: 134 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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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 Wind S @ 5 mph |
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Haven't been on the bike outside all week as have been battling a cold and tending to other things like building Joe's bike and home maintenance. I did get a couple short rides in on the trainer to get the heart rate up but no decent milage. Did stop in VA for a ride yesterday but it turned out to be too cold and there were some seedy looking ne'er do wells hanging about while I was waiting for it to warm up so bagged it up and headed to Greenville, NC. The ride itself started at Brown's Summit, NC. It turned out to be a rolling metric with no steep climbs. Not sure how many riders were there but it was a decent turnout. The mass start went off with a fast downhill out of the park. Worked my way through traffic and hammered up to a group of eight up the road. Latched onto the back and drafted for awhile and was soon joined by Joe that had made it up for the ride. The group was riding a double paceline and moving a at steady clip. We hit the first good hill that wasn't steep but it turned out to be fast climbing. I stayed in the saddle and was able to stay with the front riders over the top with a decent effort. Joe and a couple others didn't make the cut. We kept good speed on the downgrade and had to stop at a redlight. I was surprised to see Joe had caught up. Got into a routine of hanging on the back and staying near the front on the climbs. Tried hard not to get dropped though I was ready to give up a couple of times, but when I saw other riders fading away, I focused and was able to stay on to the top. Pace slowed after two or three fast climbs. I would drop back and work with Joe to get him back with the group. We did get one adrenalin rush when a car pulled out of a side road ahead of us causing the group to brake hard and scatter. I was fortunate that the riders ahead of me split in separate directions giving me a hole to slide into. We rolled into a rest stop at twenty miles and got some cookies. The group broke up after the stop with the strong riders that had been driving the group opting for a shorter forty-six mile course. We had been gradually climbing over the first twenty miles and the next section was downhill. Our new group was Joe and me and four others. After a short climb we were onto the downgrade and I stopped for a nature break. I quickly lost a quarter mile or better while taking care of business. I hammered hard to try to regain the group. Joe dropped back from the group to help me rejoin, and we did some hard pulls and had good speed and soon rejoined. One of the other riders took a very long pull which was good to draft off but not very efficient. Joe took a hard pull off the front, and I followed with a strong pull up a grade. After my pull another rider went up and took a hard pull. We soon found ourselves crossing a bridge where every surface including a quarter mile of pavement was covered with graffiti. Somewhere along the way my computer had lost the route. We climbed out of the riverbed and found ourselves at a stop sign. We also found that there was only three of us left. My computer said to take a left up a hill. The third rider decided to go back and look for the others. Joe and I continued up a hill and my computer said to go another mile or so and loop back. We weren't sure whether we were still on the course or if my computer was rerouting me to get back on the course. We turned around and descended back across the Graffiti Bridge and found out that the river separated VA from NC. We worked our way back and found the problem where my computer got confused. First time through the corner we went straight while the others turned left. That was it for Joe and me though as we just cruised the last parts of the course enjoying the day and trading pulls into the headwind. We neither caught nor were caught by any other riders. We hit a couple more of the rest stops and chatted with the people manning the stops. Although the ride had started out near fifty it was quite nice for most of the ride. Still plagued by a cold I thought today could have been a suffer fest but rode well once I got started. Course really wasn't very demanding but got some decent fast climbing in and a couple of sections of hard pulling. Good ride with friendly riders. Had some lunch at the finish and gave Joe his rebuilt bike. Headed to SC for the week with a mountain metric in GA next Saturday.
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