FLCC> Fwd: Tuesday Morning Ride Recap

Tue Jan 15 11:38:28 EST 2008

Don Fitterer requested that I forward this ride report to the flcc listserve. I did this ride exactly a week ago, when daytime temps were nearly 70 F. Classic Ithaca weather!

  Vanya

    Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 07:09:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Vanya Temnykh <itemnykh at yahoo.com>
Subject: Tuesday Morning Ride Recap
To: cucycle-l at cornell.edu

  Well the weather couldn't have been more beautiful. After getting a new speedometer battery at Rite Aid and making a few seat adjustments, I was off around 9:30AM. The first major ascent was Snyder Hill Road, past my house, to Rte 79. Smooth cruising to Slaterville Springs and then left on Harford Rd, one of my favorites. Riding up the valley in only a T-shirt, I plunged into a pool of cold air, trapped between the hills, where the sun does not shine in the winter months. There was still snow in the forest, and the temperature must have been 20 degrees cooler than at the start of the ride. A majestic blanket of fog spread across the melting snow...
  At the pass, warm air regained control, and it was an exhilirating 30mph glide down to Rte 38. In the valley it was summer again, with a few tractors chugging around the empty corn fields, all under that unforgettable country smell of thawing cow manure.

  I turned onto the Dryden Lake railroad bed, aka the Jim Shugg Trail, hoping it wasn't too soft for road bike tires. In two miles the lake itself appeared on my right, about three quarters of it frozen over. I stopped at the park by the lake dam, 17 miles into the ride, or the half way point.

  The second part of the ride was much more climb-intensive, starting off with the Ferguson Rd to Irish Settlement ascent out of Dryden. This is where I discovered that high gearing plus no granny gear equals pain. I think the lowest gear on my Centurion 12-speed (only noticing there were in fact six sprockets on the back cluster about five miles into the ride) is a 42 by 28...quite high for a 30 pound race bike. In any case, in first gear at a comfortable cadence, you are going no less than 8mph. So when the hill brings that down to 5mph, pushing on the pedals becomes very hard.
  Conquering Irish Settlement, I was rewarded by a leisurely cruise down one of the most scenic valleys in Tompkins County, with about 10 miles left to go. Right on Midline, and left on Hunt Hill (Hurd would have been too easy). As on many roads during the ride, I was greeted by a babbling brook to the right of the road as I began the second-to-last painful ascent. It got so steep, I was doing one stroke every two seconds, but never getting off the bike. On the downhill top speed reached 40mph, limited somewhat by the sand in the corners and my cautious use of the old-school brakes.

  Safely on Ellis Hollow, only Genung Rd. stood in the way. Ordinarily a mild climb, I now imagined it as a vertical wall, having left my legs somewhere along Hunt Hill. They almost gave out, riding past the christmas tree farm, but it was it was about lunch time so I had no time to waste. I rolled into my driveway just before 12:30, after a grand total of 34 miles.

  So when is the next winter-thaw ride? Gotta get in shape for the road season!

  Vanya

Vanya Temnykh <itemnykh at yahoo.com> wrote:
    Wow it's 60F outside!
  Tomorrow morning the roads should be dry and clean...
  I want to test out my freshly restored 10-speed.

  Let's do 2+hrs of paved back country roads, maybe Harford, West Creek, old-76 loop.
  Meet at HSBC bank across from East Hill Plaza tomorrow morning 9AM sharp.

  See you all there!
  Vanya

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