Keuka Lake

I'll blog about my 3 July century rides later, but now I want to write about a great ride I did with the Southern Tier Bike Club this past weekend.

Keuka Lake is the really interesting-looking Finger Lake. Kind of like a tuning fork, it splits in the middle and has east and west branches (see photo at left).

I'd done the Keuka Lake ride a couple of times -- in fact it was my first "long" ride -- but I'd never done the climb up Skyline Drive to Bluff Point before. This club ride included that climb. I'd also met some of the STBC members at the Great Finger Lakes Bike Tour back in June, and they're cool folks, so my biking buddy Tommie and I decided to make the drive to Keuka.

We met up at the Switzerland Inn -- more about their back deck later -- and began the ride around 10:30am or so. The ride south into Hammondsport -- at the southern tip of the lake -- on Rt 54a is pretty easy; it's a smooth road, wide shoulder, flat and downhill.

We regrouped in H'port in the town square, then took off toward Branchport, at the NW tip of the west branch of the lake. After a stop and regrouping at the convenience store there, we took off for Keuka State Park, where some of the riders had camped the night before. We stopped there for some bananas and apples, then took off toward the bluff.

It wasn't really clear to me how steep this climb really was going to be. Some said it was the steepest thing they'd ridden, others that it was only 8-9%. I did check the topo map, but it's hard to imagine what climbs are actually like from the map.

We rode along the lake for a few miles, then the road started climbing a bit. The lake itself is at 720 feet, and the roadway was just a bit above the lake level. The first stage of the climb went up to 980 feet pretty gradually. Then, on the left, we came to Skyline Drive.

It looked steep from the bottom -- and it was. We started up the hill. It seemed to go on forever, though in fact the distance wasn't that great. The grade was often at 14-15%, the climb went from 980 feet up to 1400 feet. Now a climb of 420 feet isn't really that much -- my daily commute climbs 530 feet. But it's the distance that counts. My commute's climb is over a mile. This 420 feet climb was over a distance of about half a mile.

One of the riders on a mountain bike took off ahead of me and virtually raced up the hill. I just pumped away, wondering when the climb would end. But around every turn there was yet another big climb. The good thing is that most of the climb was shaded.

We got to the top and sat down, waiting for the others. The view from the top of the bluff was beautiful, and there was a really nice breeze up there. Once we regrouped -- and tasted some of the honey that ride organizer Steve had gotten along the way -- we headed down to Penn Yan, where we stopped at the McDonalds before heading back to the inn.

It was a great ride. I rode much of it with Doug, who kept up a really nice pace, which kept me pushing myself -- thanks Doug! By the time we got back to the Switzerland Inn, we were all ready for some liquid refreshments.

We got tables out on the back deck, in the shade, and enjoyed the lake breeze and a great view of the bluff -- it definitely doesn't look as steep as it is.

Route: Around Keuka Lake
Total distance: 59.33 miles
Ride time: 3:38'53
Avg speed: 16.26 mph
Total climb: 2184 ft
Low point: 720 ft, Hammondsport
High point: 1429 ft, crest of Skyline Drive
Avg climb: 36.81 ft/mile
Consumed: Lots of water, gatorade, an apple, a banana, large coke; at Switz Inn, 2 beers, lemonade, chicken sandwich, piece of pizza.