June century ride

Better late than never... I'm a couple of centuries and a few interesting rides behind, so let me start to catch up.

On June 13 I did my June century. It was a really beautiful ride, with climbing and flats, and lots of beautiful rural scenery, both farms and woods.

I started out heading up to Dryden, which is a climb of almost 1000 feet total. I left Ithaca going up Devon Rd through Cayuga Heights, to Etna, up Etna Rd to Rt 13 and then to Dryden. From Dryden I continued on to Virgil, and then through Virgil to Cortland. The ride from Dryden to Cortland this way -- Rts. 392 and 215 -- has some nice climbs, 977 feet from Dryden to Cortland, and some beautiful views.

In Cortland, there's a short bit through some city streets, and I stopped for lunch downtown at a pizza place, but then it was on to East River Rd, along the east side of the east branch of the Tioughnioga River.

This is a beautiful, rural ride, rolling hills, great views (see photo at left). It ends up at Cheningo Rd. Turning left, in a few miles you hit Rte 13 at Truxton. After a right turn, a few hundred feet you turn again, left onto Rt 91 north. This is a really beautiful road, low traffic, brings you by Labrador Ski slopes but also through the "Labrador Hollow Unique Area," which is an amazing and very beautiful wooded area that's well worth a hike if you have the time. I'd just hiked it a few weeks earlier and so continued on to Apulia, where I turned right onto Rt 80, which I followed to Fabius. From Cortland to Fabius I'd climbed 900 feet over about 24 miles.

The route from Fabius to Pompey, following Rt 91 and then cemetery road, is another beautiful rural ride, ending in a big climb into Pompey -- total climb in the 5 miles from Fabius to Pompey was 500 feet, all pretty much in the last mile. It was a very hot and sunny day, temperature about 90 degrees or so, and I clearly recall pedalling slowly up the hill past the cemetery, sweat dripping, looking forward to the coming downhill.

From Pompey, I took Rt 20 west to Apulia Rd, which is a big downhill, then left onto Apulia, which is rolling hills, into Apulia itself, then right onto 80 into Tully, where I stopped for a milkshake and lemonade.

The ride from Tully to W. Cortland is very flat, and it went pretty fast. It's about 17 miles, and there's 250 feet of climbing, much of that at the very beginning. The first part, Long Rd and then Song Lake Rd, is very pleasant, low traffic, goes right by Song Mountain Ski slopes. Then it joins Rt 281, which has moderate traffic and a good shoulder. I was cruising along this section, though into headwinds from the S at 10-25mph so not as fast as I've done this in the past.

Also, mechanical problems: suddenly, right near Song Mountain, my shifters stopped working. I was in the highest gear in the back, so effectively only had three gears -- really only two, since the very highest gear was pretty useless. So I soldiered on, and learned that if I really push myself I can go faster than I thought I could.

I continued on from West Cortland, turning onto Luker Rd, then following McLean Rd and Fall Creek Rd back to Freeville, then onto Lower Creek and Upper Creek Rds, to Hanshaw, and back down Devon, retracing the start of my route.

Overall I was very happy with this ride, especially considering the heat, the winds and the shifter malfunction -- turns out the cable had broken inside the handgrip somehow...

Route: Ithaca-Dryden-Virgil-Cortland-Fabius-Pompey-Tully-W.Cortland-Ithaca
Total distance: 103.71 miles
Ride time: 7:10'33
Avg speed: 14.45 mph
Total time: 9:00am-5:40pm, 8 hrs, 40 mins
Total climb: 4606 ft
Low point: 390 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1757 ft, Rt 215 between Virgil & Cortland, near Congdon Lane
Avg climb: 44.41 ft/mile
Consumed: Two slices pizza, large lemonade, 1 large vanilla shake, three or four chewy granola bars, 32 ounces of Gatoraid, lots of water.