May 2008 century ride

I've been doing a century a month since my first century ride in September 2007. The only month I've missed so far is December.

For May, I planned a trip south, along a route that is relatively flat: total climb average was 31.02 ft/mile. It went from Ithaca to Spencer to Waverly to Elmira to Montour Falls. From Montour Falls I'd planned to go to Burdett, but I missed the turn, so I ended up going to Odessa, then to Mecklenburg, Perry City and then back into Ithaca on Rt 89. See the satellite image at right for the route I actually rode. It goes by two of the Finger Lakes, Seneca and Cayuga, plus the small Cayuta Lake. It also follows the Susquehanna River from Waverly to Elmira.

It was a nice day for a ride, temp mostly in the lower 60s. There was a stiff, 10-20mph headwind coming out of the west and north, so the westbound and northbound parts were into that wind.


Fields along Rt 34/96 between Ithaca and SpencerComing out of Ithaca I followed Route 96/34 -- the only tricky part is cutting across Rt 13 where the two routes split. The ride to Spencer is a pretty gradual uphill, climbing 1057 ft over the 18 miles, though almost all of that climb is done by a few miles outside of Spencer. This section is rolling hills, beautiful landscape. You're essentially riding between two big hills: on the right is the hill between 34/96 and Rt 13, Newfield; on the left is the hill between 34/96 and Rt 96b, Danby. The route essentially follows Cayuga inlet and the old Lehigh Valley train tracks.

In Spencer, I turned right to continue along Rt 34 into Van Etten. Then, I continued along Rt 34 by turning south (left) in Van Etten. After the slight uphill climb out of Van Etten, the road is pretty much flat all the way to Waverly. The route goes right alongside Cayuta Creek most of the 15 mile ride. In Waverly it bears right to follow Chemung St to the end. You turn left to follow the signs towards Rt 17, but you take a right turn onto the road just before the highway. This is River Rd, a very scenic one lane road with bike path that follows right alongside the Susquehanna.

At the end of River Rd you turn right, go underneath a small, low overpass, and then turn left onto Rt 60 which you follow into the hamlet of Lowman; you'll know you're there when you see a number of 19th century houses with the names of various Lowman family members and the Lowman school. Turn left to cross over the river and highway; you also pass through what must be a wetlands area that is sometimes closed, given the big gates.

Once across, you turn right onto Rt 427 and you are in Wellsburg. There's a great diner, the Wellsburg Diner, on your left across from the fire station (thanks for the tip, Denny!). For me it was the perfect stopping spot for lunch, it came at mile 48 and I was feeling somewhat hungry. I got a bacon cheeseburger, a pepsi, water, a very large delicious and sugary cinnamon bun, and a coffee.


The Susquehanna River in ElmiraThen it was off to Elmira. Following Maple Ave through neighborhoods in Elmira, crossing the Susquehanna at Sly St, which turns into Madison.

This is also following NYS Bike Route 14: continue along Madison which eventually turns into Lake St. Follow Lake St through Horseheads and continue on Rt 14 north, part of the way along Catherine Creek.

Rt 14 was under construction outside of Montour Falls, so traffic was down to one lane, and it was backed up. I biked to the front of the line, and when we got the go-ahead, started pedalling. The first few cars went ahead, and I pulled into the lane when it narrowed. Behind me was a truck. By this time I was pretty tired, but I pumped and did 20mph for the 1/4 mile single lane.


The Chequaga Falls in Montour FallsIn Montour Falls I turned left on Main St hoping to find an ice cream place. No luck, but I did get to see the Chequaga Water Falls. I'm a bit nostalgic about this place, as my son was born here a bit more than 14 years ago. The birthing center is on a hill and has a beautiful view of Seneca Lake. It wasn't on my route though and I had enough of a climb out of Montour Falls that I decided not to do two of them.

Montour Falls is at elevation of about 450 feet. I'd planned to head to Burdett, elevation 1000 feet. I headed back down Main St, turned back onto Rt 14 North, and then right onto Clawson. Before me was Rt 224, a hill that climbed 550 ft -- from 450 ft elevation to 1000 ft elevation -- in about 2 miles, an avg of 7 percent grade. My commute to work has a 530 ft climb over a bit more than a mile, so this wasn't too bad. I was planning to turn onto Skyline Drive, but I didn't see a sign for it and continued up the hill. Turns out, the road off of 224 is not called Skyline Drive, but rather L'Hommedieu Rd, which turns into Skyline (thanks googlemaps...).

I had my suspicions about this halfway up, so stopped near the top of the hill to check the map and confirm that yes indeed I had missed the turn. Instead of turning back, I decided to plot an alternate course, which would involve more climbing -- up to a top altitude of 1450 ft instead of 1200 if I'd gone via Skyline Drive to Burdett.

This alternate course took me to Odessa, where I turned left (north) onto Rt 228. This route is not steep, but rises from 1100 feet at Odessa to about 1450 feet on the west side of Cayuta Lake. It then gently descends to about 1200 feet at Mecklenburg. I continued along 228 to Perry City, which is really not much more than a crossroads with a few buildings -- not sure how it got the name "city". Then, right onto Perry City Rd, for a bit of a hilly ride. Once you cross Rt 96 though, it's pretty much all downhill to Rt 89. As you approach 89 you get a great view of the hillsides of Cayuga Lake, and then a direct view of the Lake (see photo below).

The rest of the ride into Ithaca was pretty much downhill, and I lucked out with traffic lights, getting only one red light. Total distance turned out to be 104.91 miles, with an average speed of 15.08 mph. I actually did pretty well, well above 15mph on pretty much every leg -- the Spencer Waverly 18 miles was at 17.88 mph. The one that killed me was the Montour Falls to Perry City climb, averaging 64.41 ft/mile over 16.83 miles, for an average speed of only 12.14 mph.

Overall this was a great century ride, my fastest to date, and my second least-hilly. On the stretch between Odessa and Mecklenburg -- which at the time I didn't realize was uphill -- I started to feel a bit down, and I also felt a bit discouraged in some of the windier parts of the ride, between Waverly and Elmira and Elmira and Montour Falls. But I felt great by the time I was cruising back downhill into Ithaca.

I'll definitely do this ride again, though next time I'll take the turn for Skyline Drive to Burdett.

Route: Ithaca-Spencer-Waverly-Elmira-Montour Falls-Odessa-Mecklenburg-Perry City-Ithaca
Total distance: 104.91 miles
Ride time: 6:57'17
Avg speed: 15.08 mph
Total time: 9:40am-6pm, 8 hrs, 20 mins
Total climb: 3254 ft
Low point: 390 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1429 ft, Rt 228 west of north end of Cayuta Lake
Avg climb: 31.02 ft/mile
Consumed: 1 bacon cheeseburger, one large cinnamon bun, three or four granola bars, 32 ounces of Gatoraid, a few liters of water, one pepsi, one coffee.