FLCC> Sunday Halsey Valley ride notes (more than somewhat tedious!)

[John Dennis]

Eight of us departed EHP about 8:45am under partially cloudy skies, delayed
by my hastily gathering oximeter readings from everyone.  The ride out 89 to
Brooktondale, down White Church and Coddington to Willseyville, and down 96B
to Gridleyville (which consists of one house) was uneventful.  We turned
left onto the Gridleyville Crossing Road and continued to 96, where Luat
Vuong headed back to town.  The all-male residual consisted of Andy Goodell,
Rob Ruttenberg, Ben Gray, Jeremy Gardiner, Owen Bailey, Sam Kolins and me.
Shortly after passing the T-junction to Halseyville Road, we passed Wayne
Gottlieb and Mark Sorrells heading the other way, back to Ithaca.  They had
already ridden the Halseyville loop while the air was still cool. Smart
fellahs!

 

At Spencer, we found many riders saddling up including: Mark Sheehan, Jim
Millar, Misty McPhee, Eric Lee, Sarah Strickland, Doug Dylla, Brenda Smith,
Marcy Robinson, Erin Mcleod, Mary Mulvanerton, Gary Hodges, Jessica Walden,
Rob Fergeson, and Jim McGarry. 

 

The approach to Halseyville Road was actually blocked off by a new concrete
bridge being cured under burlap moistened by three or more sprinklers that
made us dance as we skipped across carrying our wet bikes.  A local
middle-aged cyclist stopped to watch as if he could not believe what he was
seeing.  Air temps, cloud cover, and scenery were all excellent.  At Garry's
suggestion we turned right onto Ellis Creek Road about half way down to
Route 17C.  This new route to 17C cuts the travel time on 17C down by half
and treated us to new landscapes.   I suspect that anyone not in the first
two groups or so continued straight.  We did not take the alternate route to
Waverly on West River Road on the PA side of the river, as we had already
passed the bridge that crosses over to Hoopers Valley.  After refueling in
Waverly, we headed west on 17C and, taking the left over the bridge to 17,
we hung a sharp right onto River Road and followed this charming, but
pot-hole-ridden single-lane road alongside the Chemung River.  River Road
brought us to Route 60, which we followed for half a mile west before
turning north onto Route 3/Wyncoop Creek Road.  Our rolling climb had begun.
Mark Sheehan continued west on Route 60 towards Elmira. 

 

At the intersection with Marsh Road/Rte 4, we waited to regroup.  However,
we learned from Andy or Sam that Garry and possibly others had gone back to
assist with a flat that occurred some distance behind them.  Our lead group
reaching Spencer consisted of Andy, Owen, Sam,  Jim Millar, Jim McGarry,
Eric Lee, Misty McPhee, Ben Gray, and myself.  Continuing on to Ithaca au
velo were Andy and Owen with Jim going part of that distance to reach home.
I believe it was Sam who recorded his average speed from East Hill Plaza to
Spencer as 17.6 mph with a distance of about 68 miles.  Jim recorded
cumulative climb in the Spencer-Halsey Valley Loop as 2000 feet. 

 

Hopefully Brenda will describe the many parts of the ride which I missed. 

 

I recall only one humorous comment.  Someone noticed that my battery-powered
headlamp was on as we left Spencer as a large group.  I mentioned that the
light was very easy to turn on, but difficult to turn off. Jim Millar:  "It
must be a male headlamp on Viagra."

 

 

Ride safe everyone!    John 

 

 

 

Some of today's data is below.  

 


 

 

 

1=western

 

 

Start EHP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

4/5=vegetarian

 

 

8:45am

 

Spencer start

 

Rt 17C

 

 

Waverly

 

 

Spencer

 

 


 

 

 

diet

Weight l

Ht

pulse

O2

time

pulse

O2

time

pulse

O2

time

pulse

O2

time

pulse

O2


Jessica Walden

21

F

4

 

 

started at Spencer

about 10am

85

100

11:27

160

98-99

 

 

 

 

 

 


Owen Bailey

38

M

4

 

 

111

97

 

101

99

11:34

97

98

1:19

111

96-97

1:49

125

96


Sam Kolins

23

M

1

 

 

64

100

9:35

84

99

11:29

90

98

1:20

106

97

1:54

92

96


Andy Goodell

22

M

2

135

5'10"

76

89

9:41

105

98

11:31

105

97

1:09

120

97

1:52

129

97


Eric Lee

27

M

4

160

6'3"

started at Spencer

about 10am

93

98

11:38

118

98

1:11

141

97

1:53

141

97


Misty McPhee

41

F

2

126

5'6"

started at Spencer

about 10am

91

97

11:31

104

96

1:21

104

97

1:51

107

98


John Dennis

58

M

5

158

6'1"

84

96

 

115

96

11:32

132

97-98

1:10

129

96

1:49

141

96


Jim McGarry

57

M

1

149

5'8"

started at Spencer

about 10am

80

96

11:37

91

97-98

1:08

122

98

1:50

124

96


Jim Millar

52

M

1

 

 

started at Spencer

about 10am

88

94

11:38

80

96

1:10

113

96

1:50

113

97


Ben Gray

27

M

4

 

 

88

98

9:35

 

94

10:46

91

98

1:20

105

97-98

1:54

92

96

 

The data above show data for 10 riders sorted by descending oxygen
saturation at the Spencer start.   With the exception of Jessica, the other
riders have data for at least four sampling stations.  Jessica was using an
inhaler so her 100% saturation at the start is possibly drug-assisted.
Ben's O2 reading of 94% at Spencer may very likely be an error as it is
bracketed by two 98% readings.

 

Riders were asked about diet and responses are recorded in column 4.
1=western diet, including red meat consumption; 2= western diet but low meat
consumption; 3=fish eater; 4=ovo-lacto vegetarian; 5= vegan.   However,
number of years as a vegetarian was often not asked and is not shown here.
Although sample size is too small to do any correlation analysis,  the data
are at least weakly suggestion that  having a vegetarian diet improves
oxygen saturation.  Presumably age could be a confounding variable.  Owen
Bailey's high O2 levels early in the ride cause him to sort out with younger
riders.  But on reaching Spencer a second time-he led the lead group into
Spencer--, his O2 saturation was undistinguished.  However, his pulse
recovery was excellent as was Ben Gray's.  Both men are ovo-lacto
vegetarians.   On the other hand, Eric Lee, who started in Spencer and who
is also ovo-lacto vegetarian had one of the fastest pulses upon returning to
Spencer.  As I have been on a vegan diet for only a week,  perhaps age and
five decades of meat-eating account for my high pulse and unimpressive O2
saturation readings.  

 

In the fall, I'm hoping to run an experiment that will seek to establish
whether a vegetarian diet leads to better cycling performance and better
biometrics.   I will need at least 10 meat-eating volunteers who are willing
to adopt a vegan diet for at least one month and possibly two or longer. Let
me know if you are interested please. 

 

 The core of the experiment would be to look for performance and biometric
changes over the 1-2 month period within this group.  I expect that two
control groups will also be needed: another ten or more meat-eating
volunteers who will stay on their current diets.  And, a second control
group of 10 or more vegetarian cyclists who will stay on their diets.
Tentatively, all three groups would ride together during the trial period,
perhaps on the Sunday and Wednesday FLCC rides if folks felt that the
biometrics fore and aft would not be excessively disruptive.  It may be
necessary for there to be, say, one pulse oximeter for every two riders in
order to sample data more or less at the same time.  There is also the
crucial question of whether the relatively small portable pulse oximeter
that I am currently using is sufficiently accurate to base research findings
on the data produced. 

 

 

  

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