Another August Century Ride: 100 miles in under 6 hours

100 miles in under 6 hoursWhen I told my friend Denny my average speed for the 150 mile ride I did a month ago -- in particular the speed of the last 100 miles (15.8 mph), he said, "you'll be doing a century in under 6 hours soon!" And that got me thinking. My third century ride in July (not yet posted) I managed to do 100 miles in 6 hours, 6 minutes and 35 seconds! So I decided to to a modified version of that same route that was a bit flatter.

I got up very early in the morning, and left home at 6:15am. That is technically sunrise, but because we're surrounded by hills the sun hadn't quite showed up yet. It was also colder than I thought it would be, about 44 degrees. In fact the first two hours of the ride ended up being in the 40s. Fortunately I'd sort of planned ahead, and wore a short sleeve t-shirt under a long-sleeved t-shirt. That kept me warm enough, but wasn't too hot when the weather warmed up.


The morning sky at 6:15amSo I left home at 6:15, and headed south on Rt 34/96 to Spencer, about 18 miles away. Much of the ride was through heavy fog and mist, so I stopped and turned on my blinkies. By the time I reached Spencer, the sun was up, but it was still chilly. I stopped at the pizza place, which was open at 7:30 in the morning, with pizza! And it was a good pizza, topped with scrambled eggs and sausage. After a slice of that washed down by some fizzy lemonade, I hopped back on the bike and headed towards Van Etten, then turned south toward Waverly.

There's a short climb out of Van Etten on Rt 34, but then it's amazingly flat (very slightly inclined downhill) from Van Etten to Waverly. The route has very light traffic and a nice shoulder, and much of it runs alongside Cayuta or Shepherd's Creek. It was very cold though, since the road is just west of a very big embankment for much of the way.

By the time I got to Waverly, about 8:50am, it had warmed up to 50 degrees, but it was still overcast from high fog. I headed east on Route 17c, peddling away. I was optimistic about my time: at Waverly it was 16.3mph (to come in under 6 hours I'd have to have an overall average of at least 16.67), and the July ride with more climbing and a similar route had me at 16.0 at Waverly.


Fog and mist along Rt 17c between Waverly and OwegoI pumped away along Route 17c, and it finally cleared up and the sun was out by the time I reached Owego at 10am. I got there just as my favorite Owego pizza place (on Lake St) opened up, but they didn't have any pizza yet. Since I'd eaten two eggs and toast before I left, and had the pizza in Spencer, I gambled that I had enough in me to take me to the ice cream stand in Richford. So I downed a bottle of Vitamin Water and headed north.

As I was leaving Owego, right where Routes 96 and 38 meet there is major construction, and a long line of traffic. I went up to the front, but still had to wait about 15 minutes before we were signalled through. Fortunately most of the traffic turned onto Rt 96, as I headed north on Route 38, whose pavement had been totally torn up so that I was riding on packed dirt in a very narrow lane. That went for about 1/4 mile before the road was back to normal.


Route 38 between Owego and Harford, looking back southThere was -- as there always does seem to be on this stretch -- a significant headwind, but I hunched down and peddled away. Other than the headwinds this is a really nice part of the route, the shoulder is wide, the traffic is very low, and the scenery is beautiful.

I got to Richford, where there's a great ice cream stand, and checked my time. 16.8mph!! My goal was within reach. But... The route from Richford to Dryden was inclined uphill, with rolling hills. To make sure I had enough energy, I had my usual large milk shake and lemonade and also had some french fries with salt -- they were really good.

After finishing those off and resting a bit, I hit the road, and made it to Dryden in good time. I stopped there for some fig newtons and poptarts and another Vitamin Water, and then took off for the last leg.


The place I hit 100 miles: Forest Home DriveI continued on Rt 38, which turns west in Dryden and then goes by the George Junior Republic and into the village of Freeville. In Freeville, I turned onto Rt 366, which is very flat; I turned onto Upper Creek Rd just before the bridge over Fall Creek. This road is slightly rolling, has a few turns, but has little traffic and runs right alongside Fall Creek, turning into Lower Creek Rd at one point. It then turns into Hanshaw Rd.

At this point I was watching the distance, and I figured I'd hit 100 miles after Varna. And in fact, I did. I turned onto Freese Rd, did the big downhill there and across the metal deck bridge, up the little hill to Rt 366 in Varna, turned right and pedalled down the hill turning right onto Forest Home Drive. And it was on Forest Home Drive, in one of my very favorite biking spots, that the trip distance hit 100 miles. I checked the time: 5 hours, 55 minutes, 49 seconds. I had done it.

The rest of the ride home was quick, another 3 miles or so all flat or downhill. My overall average was 16.89. I was secretly hoping for 17; maybe next time...

On edit 8/22: after analyzing time/distance/speed for each segment of the trip, I averaged a bit more than 17.6mph for all of the distance from Spencer to Owego, and then from Dryden to Ithaca (which, to be fair, has a lot of downhill). The Ithaca-Spencer section I averaged 15.28mph (climb averaged 53 ft/mile), which was actually slower than this part of my last July century (the other sections are all significantly faster); I'm thinking the fog slowed me down, since my glasses got fogged up too. The segment from Owego to Richford averaged 16.96 mph (as opposed to 16.46mph last time), my guess is a combination of the construction, not having eaten more in Owego, and the headwinds; and the average from Richford to Dryden was 16.70 (as opposed to 15.95mph last time). What I learn is that if I were to do a century ride with an average climb of about 22 ft/mile, and if I ate more sooner, I'd be able to break the 17mph mark.


The route

Route: Ithaca - Van Etten - Waverly - Owego - Dryden - Freeville - Ithaca
Total distance: 103.09 miles
Ride time: 6:06'13
Avg speed: 16.89 mph
Total climb: 2880 ft
Low point: 390 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1289 ft, on Rt 38 between Harford and Dryden
Avg climb: 27.94 ft/mile
Consumed: Lots of water, one lemonade, one slice scrambled eggs and sausage pizza, two bottles Vitamin Water, two pop tarts, two fig newtons, four chewy granola bars.