Metric Century: Aurora - Ludlowville loop

The route (including a few miles
where we missed our turn)Last weekend I rode part of the STBC century ride with karcod. Unfortunately my seatpost broke so I only made it to mile 85, and since I'd done a century the day before, I wasn't in my best form. And it was pouring rain.

So Karl suggested doing a ride this weekend, and I proposed a loop going north from Ithaca that includes some of my favorite roads.

We left at about 8:15am. It was still pretty chilly, about 39 degrees, but it was sunny, a beautiful fall day. We headed north up Route 34, one of the more gradual ways to get out of Ithaca.

At the stop light at Rogue's Harbor we turned left onto Rt 34b, and took the big downhill near the Lansing schools, then the long uphill out of that valley. A short while after we leveled out, I noticed my back wheel felt soft, I looked down and I had a flat. With Karl's help -- and the loan of a CO2 cartridge -- I was back on the bike and we were off towards Kings Ferry.


Leaves changing along 34bThe weather in the morning was great, perfect biking weather. It had warmed up so that we were pretty comfortable, it was sunny but cool, the leaves were changing, it was a great Finger Lakes fall day.

We continued through Kings Ferry, turning left onto Rt 90 and following it along, enjoying the big downhill into Aurora, enjoying the great view of Cayuga Lake. In Aurora we stopped at Dories for a pitstop. I had a muffin and orange juice and got a shot of karcod (below).

We continued along Rt 90 until Levanna, where we turned right on Levanna Rd. This is the one part of today's route that I had not yet ridden, and it turned out to be real nice. My usual route from Aurora to Indian Field Rd is Sherwood, just at the northern edge of Aurora, but to make it a metric century we needed to go further along 90. Levanna it turns out is a much more pleasant ride, not as much of a climb, more shaded, through forests rather than just along farm fields, and less traffic.


Karcod in AuroraUnfortunately I was gabbing away and missed Indian Field Rd. I had a feeling we'd gone too far, so I asked some people and yes, we'd gone about 3 miles past Indian Field, in fact almost all the way to Rt 38 (the spur at the top right hand of the above map is that detour). We turned around and headed back, turning south on Indian Field Rd (also called Black St).

This is one of my favorite roads around here. Much of it is up on a ridge, and you can see the valley of Salmon Creek getting deeper and deeper; by Genoa it's a 220 foot descent down to the creek. It's also mostly downhill, some rollers but after crossing Rt 90 very much a descent.

At the Lansing line it turns into Salmon Creek Road, and goes along the creek, in the valley between two ridges. I really like this part of the ride, through this valley, it's real peaceful and pleasant at all times of year.


More fall leavesSalmon Creek Rd ends up in Ludlowville, where we turned left. In Ludlowville there's a downhill, over a metal deck bridge, and then a left turn onto Brickyard Rd. Brickyard is a nice climb, starting at 460 feet and climbing pretty quickly up to 580 and finally up to 680 ft where it hits Rt 34b. I had actually sort of forgotten how steep it is at the start and when Karl asked me which ring to use, I said middle. Of course I quickly realized that wasn't right, so I shifted to the small ring and told him to do so as well. I guess he figured it out, he got to the top okay.

From there it's a another (gradual) 160 feet uphill to Rt 34, then pretty much all downhill into Ithaca. We got back at about 1:15.

This was a great ride. I enjoyed riding with karcod, who's a good riding companion, the weather was perfect, and I love these roads. I think karcod enjoyed them too, even with all the climbing. I told him the next ride we can do down in the flatlands around Candor.

Route: Ithaca-Lansing-Aurora-Levanna-Scipio-Ludlowville-Ithaca
Total distance: 69.10 miles
Ride time: 04:16:07
Avg speed: 16.19 mph
Total climb: 3292 ft
Low point: 394 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1329 ft, east of Scipio
Avg climb: 47.64 ft/mile