FLCC> From the moderate view: Halsey Valley Ride 7/27

[Brenda Smith]

I arrived in Spencer at about 9:45am yesterday and was pleasantly
surprised by the crowd I saw gathered.  A group that I guessed had
left from East Hill left just a few minutes after I arrived, and it
seemed like there were almost a dozen of them.  I counted almost 20
people who had  shown up to leave with the moderate group around 10.
We finally left the parking lot around 10:20am, after the last of the
cyclists had trickled in and unloaded their bikes.

We headed down rt. 96 and took a right onto Halsey Valley Rd., where,
as John Dennis already described, we dodged water spurting out of 3
sprinklers.  It was already fairly warm, though, and the water felt
pretty good!  And then we were off!  I was putzing around a bit,
waiting for everyone to get across the bridge, and then decided that I
wanted to catch up with Rob, who I could see about a quarter of a mile
ahead of me.  As I started off, a guy in a Tioga Velo jersey and
rather fancy bike passed me, and I decided to see if I could keep up
with him during my chase.  I couldn't, and he pulled away steadily,
eventually passing Rob, and then Clif and Doug, who were riding a bit
ahead of Rob.  After a few miles, I finally closed the gap between Rob
and myself, as he closed the gap between himself and Clif and Doug.
The four of us created a mini-paceline and flew down the rollers of
Halsey Valley Rd. at a pretty good clip.  When we reached
Ellis-something or other rd. where the lead group had turned, we found
Rudy, and he joined us as we kept to the cue sheet and went straight
down Halsey Valley rd.  We stopped on the other side of Tioga Center,
where Doug visited a fruit stand and brought back a couple of
monstrous oranges which he shared with us, and the owner of the
antiques shop where we waited for the remainder of the moderate group,
including Marilyn Dispensa, Anne Stork, Sara Strickland, and Erin,
allowed us to refill our water bottles.

Riding up the shoulder of 17C, which was wide, but sometimes littered
with stones and branches, Anne pointed out a Bald Eagle that was
circling overhead.  It was quite large and its wingspan stretched wide
across the sky.  We were passed by hoards of motorcyclists, who also
were out enjoying the day on their two-wheeled machines.  Clif noted
that out of a group of about 20-30 that passed us, he counted only
three women riding alone; the rest were riding behind their male
partners.  We launched into a discussion about the motorcycle culture
and how the biggest growing demographic of motorcycle buyers are men
in their 40's and 50's, which then morphed into a discussion about
health, where we discussed our blood pressure woes and family
histories of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, which is one of the
reasons we are so dedicated to our cycling.

Soon we reached a little convenience store/ice cream stand where we
decided to make our first real stop, just a few miles outside of
Waverly.  It had a very nice little eating/rest area, covered by a
pavilion, where we could escape the sun.  We discussed the need for
sugar for exercise sessions that last more than 90 minutes while
debating whether the chemically Splenda in the Propel water was better
for us than the high fructose corn syrup in Gatorade, G2, and
Powerade.  There didn't seem to be a clear conclusion.  Then Clif
almost successfully tried to convince everyone that I had been Miss
Spencer back in high school, when I attended Spencer Van Etten high
school.  While flattered, I think beauty pageants are a crock of
you-know-what and could go on for days about America's obsession with
beauty and youth and such, so much to Clif's surprise, I vehemently
denied having any association to that horse & pony show whatsoever.
(Clif, there's my very limited explanation about my response to that,
which I never really gave you.)

After a while, we headed down into Waverly and then headed back north
on rt 34.  We stopped at one last convenience store before turning
onto Dean Creek Rd., where the clerk asked us where we were going.  I
described our route, to which her eyes grew wide and she responded,
"Is this for a benefit or something, or just for.........    fun??"
We told her just for fun, because it just seemed like a good idea when
we started out, and she laughed with us.  Or at us.  Or whatever.  :)

Dean Creek rd. contained the only real climbing of the day.  It was
not too bad, but my leg muscles were burning, and I slowed down quite
a lot on these hills.  Sara's rear tire went flat a few miles up this
road, so we spent some time changing that in front of a barn next to a
cornfield, under the shade of a large tree.  As we were leaving, Rob
noticed a decapitated snake lying in the grass next to the road.  It
had a black and blue checkerboard-like pattern on its skin.  I suspect
it was some type of garter snake, but I've never seen a snake with
blue markings before!!

When we reached Sabin rd., Sara and I decided to throw in the towel
and head back to Spencer, rather than doing the extra 10 miles Clif
and I had planned out earlier in the week.  My somewhat unwise
decision to stay out 'til 1am that morning to see Hank Roberts, local
jazz cello virtuoso, play at the Lost Dog Lounge, and the relentless
sun beating down on us combined to sap enough energy out of me that I
didn't feel like doing the extra mileage.  The rest of the group
headed out in the opposite direction, and Clif later reported to me
that some had felt the climb up Langford Creek rd. was a bit too steep
for their liking.  When they reached Briggs Hill rd., it turned out to
be a gravel rd., so they turned around and came back down Langford
Creek, back to Spencer.   They totaled 52 miles.  Sara and I totaled
about 46 miles, and I had an average mph of 15.3, which is about 2mph
faster than I normally go on these Sunday rides, which could help
explain the burning leg muscles on such a relatively flat ride.

I will be on a mountain biking trip in northern Vermont this coming
weekend, so I will be missing the most lovely Seneca Lake road.  I
encourage any moderates to get out there and do it.  Almost all of the
people in the group I was riding in were discussing riding it, so you
will have plenty of good company.  See you on the Cayuga Lake ride.

~Brenda