| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
100.82 miles
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Altitude Gain:
6,709 ft
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Avg Speed:
18.64 mph
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Route:
Franklin County Century
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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: Litespeed Vortex Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Overcast 60 F SW wind @ 8 mph |
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This weekend's event was the Franklin County Century starting in Scotland, PA just north of the Mason Dixon line. It was a bit windy though not horribly so at start time. It was quite cold even though it was near sixty degrees quite a few of us noticed the chilliness. Century riders were permitted to go at seven but all other rides were to use a mass start at eight AM. Iron Doug and I as well as many other century riders decided to wait for the mass start. The first section of the century was the metric course with a mountain loop added on for the additional mileage. Seemed to be a robust turn out. Ride started with a motor escort for the first two miles where we would be accompanied by the breast fairy. We were instructed not to pass the pace car, and it didn't seem to be a problem for most of us as we motored along at around seventeen on a slight downgrade. One rider though who envisioned himself a time trialest got impatient and hammered past the pace car. Thought he might not have been associated with the ride but found out differently later. After the pace car pulled off Doug and I drafted off a couple of recumbents until the grade started rising and we left the low riders behind. Thought some other riders might join us but soon found it was just the two of us. We rotated at a steady pace on a rolling course and eventually spied the time trial guy not far ahead. He kept a brisk pace on the downgrades, but we really didn't gain on him right away. Figured he must be a poor climber or we would never have seen him. Sure enough, we got to a climbing section and he was soon caught and easily passed. I surprised myself a bit by staying with Doug on the climbs. Nature was calling me quite urgently, and I stopped at the first rest stop to take care of business as Doug kept going. As I came out of the portajohn a large group sped by. I grabbed a piece of cantaloupe and hopped back on my bike and sped off in pursuit. Thought I would have to do some work to catch the group but was able to close on them without too much effort on the next series of climbs. Rode with the group until the next rest stop where most of the group pulled over. I rode on alone for a few miles and looked back on one of the longer climbs and saw a large group not too far behind me. Finished off the climb and soft pedaled for a couple of miles until the group caught up. Turned out it wasn't the same group but a group that had left early with a couple of the stronger riders from the first group attached. After a couple more up grades it was just myself and the two riders riding at a brisk though comfortable pace. At the third rest stop one rider and I stopped to fill water bottles and the other Otterhaus rider went on alone. Met up with Doug at the rest stop, and we rode off together in pursuit of the Otterhaus rider. We rode fairly aggressively over the next ten or fifteen miles and eventually reeled in our quarry just a couple miles short of the fourth rest stop and the end of the metric portion of the route. The three of us rode a friendly paceline up to the base of the big climb of the day. We had our only encounter with road marking problems when we missed a turn due to new pavement. A section of the course had been repaved after the road marks were put down. The Otterhaus rider was a local, and he got us back on a course that would return us to the course proper with minimum bonus miles gain. The big climb of the day was up Flattop Mountain. Not sure where it starts but it was a climb of 1200 or 1300 feet over four or five miles. The Otterhaus rider was carrying more weight up the hill and was the first to drop off. I held on to Doug's wheel for the first mile, but he stood up on a section and pulled away. I had a couple of issues with a full bladder and empty fuel tank and just sat and spun up the hill. By the third mile Doug was out of sight. I did catch a couple of other riders on the way up but didn't really climb very well. Stopped at the final rest stop at the top of the hill and relieved the bladder and got some fruit and pickles to recharge my fuel tank. The Otterhaus rider pulled into the rest stop as I was leaving. Last twenty miles of the course was pretty much all downhill and didn't see much chance of catching up with Doug. The Otterhaus rider caught me near the bottom of the mountain descent and wanted to chase Doug. Math didn't work for me though as didn't think we could close the time we lost on the climb coupled with the time we were at the rest stop over twenty miles of downhill. I worked with him though, and we kept a good pace but never saw Doug until the parking lot. Had a really strong ride today with the exception of the mountain climb. Hammered the smaller hills that I had been easily dropped on two years ago. Course was well marked this year except for the paving issues, and there were cookies and chicken at the finish.
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