July century #3: Around three lakes

Taughannock Creek, looking towards the lake For my third July century I chose a route that was a big loop around Cayuga, Owasco and Skaneateles Lakes, and included a lot of roads I hadn't ridden before. The morning was beautiful, sunny, no rain predicted all day, a bit of a breeze.

The first stretch, up Rt 89 to Cayuga Lake Creamery at Interlaken, is one I've ridden a lot, of course. I got to the Creamery at about 10am, and even though they "officially" don't open until 11, as long as someone is there they will serve you. So I got a nice big coffee milk shake.


Coffee milkshake at Cayuga Lake
CreameryI continued up Rt 89. Now, I've ridden 89 from north to south a number of times, but as I rode this stretch, I realized I hadn't ridden south to north past Sheldrake. So this was a new experience. And I have to say, Rt 89 going north is a delightful ride. 

There are some hills, but the balance going in that direction is downhill, until the flats at the northern part of the lake, where it's flat! Then onto River Rd, right along the lake, past lake cottages, and finally that last climb up to Rt 20. I loved that ride and will definitely do it that way again!

From Rt 20 I crossed over the Cayuga Inlet and turned right onto River Rd, passing along this small road that goes by the locks between the lake and the inlet, and the small cottages that line it. Then onto Rt 90, into the little village of Cayuga. By this time it was very hot!

I turned left onto Genesee St, which takes you right into Auburn. I decided to try this road, which I've never ridden or driven before, instead of riding the busy Rt 20. And it's a nice alternative. It's not as flat as 20, but the hills aren't big ones and there's not much traffic. It brings you right into downtown Auburn, and then as you follow it Genesee St eventually rejoins 20.


Downtown Skaneateles, at the north end of the lake The stretch of 20 from Auburn to Skaneateles is hilly, with some big rollers. The shoulder is nice, and traffic wasn't too bad, but it involved not just rollers but an overall climb. 

At Skaneateles I stopped for lunch at a deli downtown, right across from the lake: a ham and cheese sub, chips and lots of liquid. I took it outside and sat in the shade of a tree in the park at the top of the lake, enjoying the breeze. Skaneateles is a busy place in the summer, there were lots of tourists wandering the streets, going out in boats, and the restaurants were all pretty full.

After a bit of a rest I got back in the saddle and headed out of town, turning onto Rt 41, which goes along the eastern shore of the lake. I had ridden part of 41 before, and knew it involved climbing. Overall the climb is from about 870 feet in Skaneateles to the high point of 1750 in Spafford, about 11 miles south of the village, with lots of rollers in between. It was a beautiful ride though. What's striking is how high and steep the hills are on the west side of the lake. As you head south they get bigger and steeper.


Skaneateles Lake, from Rt 41 at ScottEventually Rt 41 starts to head downhill. By Scott it's down to 1400 feet, and then by the time it hits Rt 281 in Homer you're at 1130 feet. I stopped at the convenience store/ gas station at the corner of Rt 90 and 281 and loaded up on liquid. It was a very hot day: my shirt, shorts and gloves were decorated with white patterns from the salt, and I was sweating a lot.

Then the final stretch. Rt 281 through Cortlandville is flat, okay shoulder even though there's traffic. Then the turn onto Luker Rd -- which also avoids all the construction on 281 -- and then onto McLean Rd, which turns into Fall Creek Rd and Rt 361. This stretch has some hills, though compared to other options of getting back to Ithaca is relatively flat. The shoulder is okay, except for a mile or two before Freeville, where there's no shoulder.


Wildflowers along Rt 41As I was riding along, a car pulled over ahead of me, as I got closer, I saw it was my friend and neighbor Michael, driving back from Syracuse, who was surprised to see me. A bit further along, all traffic was stopped for one of those huge houses on a truck, they were trying to back the house into a lot near a lake, and at least finally got the house off of the road.

The ride back into Ithaca was fine, Upper Creek and Lower Creek roads, meandering and dipping a bit up and down along Fall Creek, then across Rt 13, onto Hanshaw Road - which really needs a serious repaving - and down Devon Rd to Lake St and back into Fall Creek.

My legs were feeling tired on the stretch after Skaneateles, I think the heat was getting to me. But from Homer onwards I felt really pretty good, and when I got home I felt fine.

This is century number 3 for July, number 9 for the year: halfway to my goal of 18 centuries this year...

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Route: Ithaca - Auburn - Skaneateles - Homer - Ithaca
Total distance: 114.90 miles
Ride time: 07:26:59
Avg speed: 15.42 mph
Total climb: 4,332 ft
Low point: 394 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1752 ft, on Rt 41 south of Skaneateles
Avg climb: 37.70 ft/mile

Ride to Lucas's birthplace

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Ithaca to Montour FallsLucas hadn't done a long ride since returning from Virginia, so he said he'd be up for something 50-60 miles. I plotted a course to bring us to Montour Falls, up to September Hill. This is where Lucas was born 15-1/3 years ago, at the birthing center next to the hospital. Then we'd come back to Ithaca via Odessa and Newfield, for a total ride of about 58 miles.

We headed out about 9:30. We rode up Rt 89, and we saw some of the Bon Ton Roulet riders headed north out of Ithaca. We turned off onto Perry City Rd towards Burdett. The first bit off of 89 is quite steep, a good climb, and it continues to climb at 2-3 percent until it hits Rt 96. Lucas was not overly happy about the climb. But then we did get some downhills too. The clouds looked somewhat ominous, but we didn't hit any rain the entire day.


The view from September HillWe went by a place with you-pick raspberries but the farm was 1/2 mile off the road so we passed it and continued to Burdett. We'd planned to stop at the Grist Mill Cafe in Burdett for breakfast. But Grist Mill is closed on Mondays!

We cut up Rt 9 over to Skyline Drive, passing corn fields and grape vines that were getting pretty big. Skyline is a great ride, very scenic views of Seneca Lake and then that huge downhill into Montour Falls. We pedalled over to Main St, where we stopped for pizza.


Lucas in front of the old birthing centerAt this point Lucas decided he didn't really want to bike back, especially since there were a few big climbs. He was feeling tired. I said, hey but you did 60-70 miles a day for 8 days in a row a few weeks ago! He said that was different, somehow you feel different when you are on tour, which is very true!

He did say he was okay continuing on to the birthing center though, even though it was up a hill. So we called Lisa to come and pick us up, and then we headed out.


Chip holding Lucas at the
birthing center, March 19, 1994I'd forgotten how big September Hill is, about 500 feet of climbing over a little more than a mile. We went past the hospital, and there was the house that Lucas was born in. It isn't a birthing center anymore, but a women's center. We kept cycling past it to the crest of the hill then came back down.

We sat in the shade in front of the house waiting for Lisa. When she came, I took a few pictures of her and Lucas. Hard to believe it's been over 15 years.

On the drive back we stopped at the Silver Queen Farm on Stillwell Rd, the place we'd seen before, where we picked a bunch of raspberries that we had for dessert tonight.

Lucas and Lisa in front of the old birthing center:

Route: Ithaca - Burdett - Montour Falls
Total distance: 31.64 miles
Ride time: 02:39:07
Avg speed: 11.9 mph
Total climb: 1,839 ft
Low point: 394 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1257 ft, on Rt 227 west of Reynoldsville
Avg climb: 58.1 ft/mile

July 2009 century #2: Lunch in Towanda, PA

Wildflowers along Rt 34
I'd done a century in the first week of July, but I was hoping to get in 18 centuries this year, so knew I had to do at least a couple more this month. I decided to do one on Wednesday July 22. The weather looked good, and I thought I'd be ready.

For the route, I decided to retrace part of the route that Lucas and I took to Virginia. The first part of Pennsylvania's Bike Route J was really nice, so I traced a route following J down to Towanda, then coming back on a road I knew nothing about but that looked bikeable from the maps, PA Rt 187 through Rome up to Nichols, then Halsey Valley Rd to Spencer and back into Ithaca on 34. It was about 119 miles, longer than a century, but what the heck, the more miles the better! And it doesn't look like I'll get to do a century and a half this month like I did last July.

Map of the Towanda century route:

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I took off on Wednesday morning at about 8am. The winds were pretty mild that early, it was sunny, but not hot. I rode along Rt 34 out to Spencer where I stopped. My time to Spencer was pretty slow, on previous centuries I'd managed averages above 15mph, this time I only made a bit more than 13mph.

Then I saw that the pizza place I usually stop at was closed! Man did they have a good breakfast pizza... I got some chewy granola bars and gatoraid at the gas station, and continued to Van Etten, then down to Waverly along the very flat section of 34 that goes along Carpenter/Cayuta Creek. And as I rode along here, I saw the that Dandy Mart south of Lockwood was closed -- that was the site of my broken seat post on the October STBC century ride last year.


Susquehanna from the Athens bridgeThen it was on through Waverly, past the Sopranos Bakery, across the state line into Sayre, where Bike Route J starts. I followed it through Athens, turning onto the bridge across the Susquehanna. I would cross that river four times during this century ride.

The next section of the route, Sheshequin Rd, goes from Athens all the way to the bridge at Towanda. It's a very pleasant ride, much of it along the Susquehanna. The road has no shoulders, but very little traffic. The terrain is rolling, with one significant climb, maybe 12 percent, followed by a very nice downhill. The first part of Sheshequin is through forests, then it comes out into farmland.

The bridge into Towanda was still under construction, so I had to ride in the lane -- no shoulder -- but again, not a lot of traffic at all. Once in Towanda I looked for a place to have lunch. Lucas and I had stopped at the first pizza place we'd seen, and while the waitress was very nice, the pizza wasn't great. Then I remembered that as we were driving home from Norfolk, through Towanda, I'd seen another pizza place closer to downtown. And there it was, Papa V's. I got a couple of slices and sat outside at a picnic table, they were very good.

I continued on through Towanda, turning left onto Rt 6, where I left Bike Route J, but joined Bike Route Y, which follows 6 on and east-west route across the state. After a few miles on 6 -- not very pleasant, heavy traffic, not much of a shoulder, through a strip area with hotels, shopping plazas, fast food joints -- I turned onto Rt 187 at Wysox.

I'd never ridden or even driven this road, so it was a bit of a gamble, but it went from outside of Towanda 20 miles or so up to Nichols. The terrain view of 187 on Google maps looked good, it followed a river valley. And the road it self turned out to be great. Nice shoulders, not much traffic, very flat the first half of the ride. After Rome it got a bit hillier, and there was one climb, but nothing major. Then there was a big long downhill to just before Nichols (PA 187 turns into NY Rt 282 at the state line)

At Nichols I was ready for a break, I was at the 80 mile mark -- the entire ride was about 119 miles -- and it was in the 80s. So when I saw "Dad's Ice Cream" I pulled over, got a strawberry milkshake and a Pepsi, and sat in the shade while I finished them off. Then it was back onto 282, across the Susquehanna for the last time, and onto Rt 17C. I was back on roads I'd ridden many times before.


Susquehanna RiverAt Tioga Center I turned onto Halsey Valley Rd, which I really love, winding, a bit hilly, through forests mostly, it's a very pleasant, low traffic ride. I did get hit with a bit of rain, but nothing serious. Then back to Spencer where I stopped at the grocery store for water and gatoraid. And I was at mile 100 right in Spencer.

The last 19 miles back home were great. Rt 34 back into Ithaca is overall pretty much downhill, with a few uphill sections, but it was a fast ride, very pleasant, and I got home at about 4:40 or so. Not bad. But my average, 15.48mph, was down from previous centuries with similar amounts of climbing. I think the touring I've done this summer has been a different kind of riding than what I do on my road bike, and my muscles have trained in a different way. Well, I have a month to whip them back into shape before Bike Tioga!

I think this is a route I'll probably do again, maybe riding 187 from north to south to see how big of a climb it is going southward. I'm thinking it might be a good alternative touring route to Sheshequin Rd, which, while beautiful, is a bit more rolling than I'd like on a fully loaded touring bike.

One more century this month, sometime next week. Not yet sure of the route.

Route: Ithaca - Waverly - Towanda - Nichols - Ithaca
Total distance: 119.53 miles
Ride time: 07:43:18
Avg speed: 15.48 mph
Total climb: 4,131 ft
Low point: 394 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1258 ft, on Rt 187 north of Rome
Avg climb: 36.56 ft/mile

Ithaca to Virginia tour

Lucas and me on the Rt 50 bridge at Ocean City,
MarylandFrom Monday July 6 to Monday July 13, my 15-year old son Lucas and I rode our bikes from Spencer, NY (18 miles south of Ithaca) to the tip of the Virginia Eastern Shore, at Kiptopeke, the toll booths for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

I blogged the entire ride over at my touring blog, chipbiking.wordpress.com. All of the posts can be accessed from this page: Ithaca-Virginia 2009.

All of the photos from that ride are here: Virginia Trip.

Totals: I rode my Jamis Aurora touring bike, with about 45 pounds of gear, Lucas rode his Jamis Satellite road bike, with about 15 pounds of gear. We rode for 8 days, covering 545 miles in a ride time of 46 hours and 40 minutes, for an average speed 11.68 mph. We climbed 10,834 feet, this route was a lot flatter than the California tour I did last month.