Texas Canine Ambush   
 Ride Stats
Distance: 52.78 miles Altitude Gain: 2,518 ft Avg Speed: 20.91 mph
Route: Ride for Dignity Avg Grade: 142 % Max Grade: 165 %
Max HR: 0 bpm Avg HR: 0 bpm Terrain: Road: Rolling
Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club
Weather Conditions: Cloudy 62 F NNE wind @ 14 mph
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 Ride for Dignity
Had couple hour plus drive to the start of the Ride for Dignity in Henderson Harbor on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The course was is fairly flat with just two small climbs in the first twenty five miles and then a climb up from the lake to the plateau before more rollers. Major factor for this ride is usually the wind and today wasn't an exception. Sky was overcast with a starting temperature a rather cool sixty degrees. Winds were out of the north at fifteen to twenty miles an hour. Turnout appeared to be rather light with maybe fifty riders at the start of the fifty miler. There were one hundred and five entries for both rides the fifty and a twenty five miler that started an hour later. Decided I was overdressed based on what many of the faster looking riders were wearing when we started milling about the start and so made a quick trip to the truck to shed some clothes. Got back just in time for the roll out and had to navigate through some traffic to get with the faster riders. First mile is a grade that ends with a little kicker and I was able to hold on to the mild pace without too much effort. The minor climb had shaken out the pack and there were just six of us left around the first corner. A rotating pace line immediately started, and we were clipping along in the mid twenties. The first twenty two miles was mainly tailwind assisted as the course was predominately to the south. There were two small offshoots were we rode lake shore parks did a short loop and headed back to the main road. So we did get occasional massive crosswind sections. A second group of six or eight riders was only a minute or two behind our group. My legs felt pretty good and was able to take some strong pulls and still recover while sitting in the paceline. Struggled up the first short climb but with the strong tailwind we were halfway up the slope before I had to feel the pain and held on over the top. I didn't bust a gut but it felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. The second much shorter and steeper climb wasn't for another ten miles and I actually did fairly well on it and recovered quickly over the top. We rolled into the rest stop at the halfway mark at over a twenty two miles an hour average. A couple of riders stopped and grabbed some Gatorade and bananas and the rest of us soft pedaled until they caught back on. The second half of the ride started off with a couple miles of step climbs and then fifteen miles straight into the wind. We lost one rider on the climb and I actually got gapped over the top on the final short steepish section. Either the front guys didn't notice I was gone or else they weren't in any hurry to hammer into the wind as I was able to sprint a short flat section and got back on. Once I got back into the pace line I felt pretty good and was able to take my pulls with no problems. Once we got toward the end of the headwind sections the rolling climbs got more intense. I think one of us had visions of breaking away on the climb and then sailing through the last five miles of the ride that was all downhill and tailwind. He wasn't successful if that was his plan as we all maintained contact on the climbs. Last few miles were indeed tailwind and we went back into a mid twenties pace line and we finished the ride together with a twenty point nine average. I was elated that I finished the ride with the front group which is something I haven't been doing much of in the last few years. If I hadn't been able to with the group on the short early climbs I doubt my final average peed would have been greater than seventeen. Pretty fun ride today.

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Lifetime: 97,866 mi
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Member since: Dec 2009
Home: Montour Falls, NY 
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