FLCC> Halsey Valley ride notes

Sat Jul 29 23:45:26 EDT 2006

well, it wasn't just a convenience store, it was an Italian-style deli,
"Sopranos,"with homemade cookies...not too bad at all.
and that was no win in NYC, a fourth, in 2005-spring season before last
(last season was spent having medical fun/surgery/etc.)   it might have
been a win if there had been one more rider in that breakaway...

>  Hi All,
>
> Although the Halsey Valley ride--for those starting in Ithaca--has always
> been an "inter-basin ride", partly in the Lake Ontario Basin and mostly in
> the Cheaspeake Bay Basin, last Sunday it became the first interstate
> ride on the FLCC Sunday ride calendar.  What were we waiting for?
>
> At Bill Lodico's initiative (always trust those with local knowledge),
> instead of sticking with that flat, shadeless, dare-I-say dreary
> west-bound
> section of Route 17C where the biggest excitement is racing a train if you
> get lucky, we instead followed Bill across the westward-flowing
> Susquehanna
> River at Smithboro. We then proceeded west on West River Drive close to
> the
> river. At Litchfield, NY, we rode under 17 and followed the course of the
> Susquehanna past recently flooded fields into hilly and scenic riveraine
> terrain. A mile or so south of Litchfield, still on Riverside Drive, we
> plunged into the unknown wilds of Litchfield County, Pennsylvania. What a
> marvelous addition to our well-worn routes!
>
> By that time Wayne Gottleib and Don Smith had a quarter mile lead on our
> loose pack. Vanessa McCaffery and I managed to gap up to them. At the next
> bridge across the Susquehanna, we waited for Bill to lead us across into
> Sayre, PA.  The few blocks that lie on the east side of the railroad
> tracks
> were on astonishing pocket of stark urban poverty, worse than anything
> I've
> seen in our part of Central New York.  We then rode past some Landis
> pennants and proceeded north along the  west side of the railroad tracks.
> We passed a marvelous old brick train station and proceeded north
> into Waverly, NY.  It was only then that I suspected that our group had
> fragmented and that some riders had travelled on 17C afterall.
>
> The Big Horn Velo contingent (Bill, Lou, Blaine, his son-in-law and John
> Fressenden)--being sensible--repaired to a good diner while the rest of us
> uninspiredly swilled gatorade at a convenience store.  Instead of
> following
> the que sheet north on Route 34, Gary Hodges led us on a westerly
> diversion,
> the one that runs along the north bank of the Chemung River  (which, btw,
> merges with the Susquehanna just south of Sayre) for about three miles on
> a
> shady, traffic-less single lane roadway that almost has "made for
> cyclists"
> written down the middle. This segment is truly a gem of our summer cycling
> routine, though it was looking a tad scruffier than in years past, perhaps
> from being under flood waters for a day or so.  This route crosses from
> Tioga into Chemung County just at the narrowest, shadiest portion of the
> single-lane route. We then followed Wynkoop Creek Rd. (Route 3) due north
> up
> the south-flowing Wynkoop Creek basin.  The official route, Route 34, lies
> about 5-6 miles to the east and runs beside the slightly larger Cayuta
> Creek.  Considering the greatly reduced trafiic levels on West River Drive
> and on Wynkoop, I would favor substituting them for Routes 17C and Rt 34
> on
> the official Halsey Valley ride que sheet. We add a second state and three
> more counties, Litchfield and Athens in Pa and Chemung in NY.  And, we get
> a
> safer, longer, more scenic and more diverse ride.
>
> The proper "new route" is probably to turn off Wyncoop Creek east onto
> Rumsey Hill Road, east onto Cooper Hill Road, straight onto Beckhorn
> Hollow
> Road to Van Etten and then proceed due east on 46 into Spencer.  Chris
> Koukourtis, Vanessa, and I, however, kept going north until we hit Route
> 224. My recollection was that we needed to go right, but we could see Dave
> Ruppert almost a half mile away heading off to the west, so we gave chase.
> When we eventually caught up with Monsieur President, there was a sign
> indicating we were heading to Odessa, so we turned around and rode to
> Spencer-Van Etten.  The Waverly diner contingent was already there in the
> parking area licking their chops and eying us stragglers a bit curiously.
>
> According to my haphazard notes, the short riders included Bill and Lou
> Lodico, Blaine Chamerlain, his son-in-law ___ Walburger, John Fessenden
> (perhaps he rode from home?), Gary Hodges, Chris Koukourtis, Dan Barbasch,
> and Kerry Kaylegian.  It was Kerry's birthday!  Perhaps Chris had ridden
> from Ithaca?
>
> Long riders included Stewart Wolsh (riding from near Lodi), Jack Ruckheim,
> Don Smith, Don Tenkate, Mark Sorrells, Wayne Gottleib, Dave Ruppert,
> Vanessa
> McCaffery and myself.  Wanting the miles but not the climb, Vanessa and I
> rode back by way of 96, Gridleyville Road, 96B to Willseyville and then
> back
> on Coddington, White Church and 79. The others took the more altitudinal
> route going north on Crum Town Road to South Danby Road, hitting the Lake
> Ontario Divide right about Peters Road.  By contrast, Vanessa and I did
> not
> hit the watershed divide until about 3 miles further north a bit north of
> where White Church passes Ridgeway.  The small pond that sits just north
> of
> Ridgeway is one of the many "headwaters" of the Cheaspeake Watershed.
>
> My spouse is offering to buy me a subscription to a new magazine called
> "geezer jock," reportedly targeting 40+ year-old athletes.  I resist her
> offer pointing out that I'm not an athlete.  Cycling for me is, I demur, a
> low-cost form of health insurance providing mid-trip access to some of the
> region's least-known diners. I'm also there for the vicarious thrill of
> meeting real athletes and hearing about their accomplishments. Thus, for
> example, on last Sunday's ride, I learned from John Fessenden that he
> would
> be completing 4900 cycling miles so far this season by the end of last
> Sunday's ride.   As I write this, he is somewhere out there riding the
> 400-mile QuadZilla that starts and ends in Ithaca.  Vanessa McCaffery told
> me of a recent near win in NYC that she had had as a member of the Cornell
> cycling team.   And Chris mentioned a summer solstice ride with some
> friends
> where they left at 5:30am and completed a leisurely 200-miles by 9:30pm
> that
> night. If you talk with enough riders, you can end a ride feeling as if
> you've just ridden a thousand miles but without the pain!
>
> Ride safe,   John
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