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January Century

First century of 2006. John & Anthony joined me for a casual ride-to-complete, not ride-to-compete.

Nearly all the climbing was in the beginning of the ride. We started off with a quick climb up Gailor Rd and Strakos, shot down the north side of Locust Grove on the less-than-a-year-old pavement, then another 8 or so miles to Ballou and Ormsbee. Ormsbee is a short and steep climb up (had to zig-zag a portion of it) with an outstanding view from the top.

Finally a climb the three of us do that’s on MY terms. Heh heh.

(click for full size image)

Total altitude climbed was over 3200′ with a high of nearly 1400′. The low elevation choppy bits in the middle are 9P around Saratoga Lake, and the very low elevation flat stretch just before the end is West River Rd. Elevation image credit: John.

From a high for the day of around 1350′ we headed back down Ormsbee (we’re not quite equiped to continue north onto the logging trail!) West onto Coy Rd which intersects with Lake Desolation Rd a favorite climb of ours. Though, ironically, I’ve yet to climb it with my new Trek… I’ll have to make a point of rectifying that soon. Desolation gives us a full mile of downhill rest before hitting our first stop at the Stewarts Shop nearby on Middle Grove Road. After filling the bottles and having a bite to eat, we head west on Rt 21, a less than ideal road with choppy pavement and nearly all uphill for a few miles. With that little joy behind us, it was into the wind south on Jockey Street.

At least we thought it would be into the wind, luckily it abated briefly, and was mostly a crosswind. Heading south on Jockey Street provided us with the obligatory rollers, but we agreed that Jockey is definitely more enjoyable heading south than the Club Century’s northward tack.

Eating and drinking regularly is one of my weaknesses on long rides, but thanks to hearing John’s Lance watch chime every 45 mins and 7 minutes respectively I did better. Perhaps even a little too much drinking since I took more than the usual number of bathroom breaks. But enough about me…

Things I noticed…

• Lots of horses Yeah I know, most of our riding was very rural and we’re sure to pass a lot of farms but there just seemed to be more than usual today. Maybe the horse were all out enjoying the sun. I recognized the horse I passed six times on Rt 32, during the Saratoga 12/24–I whistled and he replied with a friendly whinny.
• Llamas. Well, just two. They were with the horses at the bottom of Medbury. Big horses. They startled me ’cause they were crouching and hiding behind a barn ready to pounce on unsuspecting cyclists. Maybe I exaggerate.
• An enourmous hawk swooped across the road and beat the air with it’s huge wings (I forget where I saw that).
• Six other roadies out enjoying the weather.
• The taste of road salt hanging in the air.
• The annoyance of the zipper on my left shoe cover. The zipper refuses to stay up of it’s own accord, so I safety-pinned it. It got the last word in by irritating and pinching me all day.
• The clear skies that afforded us great views.
• Charlton Rd is a smooth, silent joy with a 15-20 mph tailwind.
• West River Rd is fun no matter how tired you are.

After Charlton Road, we headed further east along standard Wednesday night club ride roads. Lake, Outlet, East High, 9P around Saratoga Lake. Then broke off the lake onto Fitch for some more horse farm touring (birthplace of Funny Cide!). Straight up to home along Stafford’s Bridge, Ruggles, Edie, and Ballard. Rest and refill at my house, the out to rustle us 33 more miles to complete the day.

I took them out my standard Ballard, Dimmick, Peters, to “downtown” Gansevoort. South on 32 following the reverse of the Saratoga 12/24 all the while looking forward to a wind-assisted 10 miles on West River Rd. One of my favs. John and I decided against heading home from the north end of WR Rd via Rt 197, since it has a high sucky quotient, what with the slow climbs and stiff headwinds and all. So we doubled back WR Rd and peeled off West on Clark Rd. Clark Rd is straight as an arrow with one simple short climb in the middle. I think I hit a new PR for slowest speed recorded on a climb: 3.3 mph. Woo Hoo. Not to proud about that one. The hamstrings were screaming. “But aren’t you supposed to mostly use quads,” you may ask? True, but I used them up long ago. There were somewhere on the side of the road on West River gasping. I’ll drive by and pick ‘em up sometime this week and shake the lactic acid out of ‘em.

I Ran out of gas towards the last 20 or so–just don’t have the base necessary for a good performance. Regardless, I’m very happy at completing a painfree century in January with my cycling buddies. This also puts my week’s riding at 204.9.
Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos this time. But I did make dinner for the guys afterwards (like that makes up for you readers who don’t get photos!). Hawaiian Chicken with rice. Hot, mildly sweet and starchy.

All in all, it was a great start to my cycling year.