August Century: My 50th century ride

Route: Ithaca - Alpine - Breesport - Elmira Heights - Harris Hill - Elmira - Erin - Newfield - Ithaca (Ithaca Soaring route)
Total distance: 103.01 miles
Ride time: 08:01:30
Avg speed: 12.84 mph

Total climb: 7,834 ft

Low point: 394 ft, Ithaca
High point: 1871 ft, Van Kirk Rd @Irish Hill Rd, south of Newfield
Avg climb: 76.1 ft/mile

Climbing Rt 327It was a perfect day for a bike ride, sunny, temps in the 60s-70s, and I had just the route picked out: the Rochester Bike Club's "Ithaca Soaring" with almost 8000 feet of climbing. Since I'm hoping to do the Tour de Shunk next month I thought I'd get in a climbing century. Plus this would be the 50th century I've ridden, so I wanted to do something memorable.

I'd done part of this route last fall, when I did the 65 mile version. I've been wanting to do the full century route, and I realized this was the right day to do it.

The route itself is great, almost all back roads, very little traffic, amazing climbs and downhills.


Trumbull CornersI managed to get going at 8am, heading out along Spencer Street then Rt 13, turning off onto Rt 327 for the climb to upper Treman Park, then turning onto Trumbull Corners Rd, which turns into Sebring and brings you out onto Rt 13 north of Alpine. The route then goes along 13 to the convenience store at Alpine, where I stopped for a break. Then back to Smith Rd, to 224, then turning on Varney Hill Rd, the first real steep climb, not too long though. The route then continues until a left on Jackson Creek Rd, unpaved the first few hundred feet. This brings you into Breesport.

Just past Breesport I noticed my front tire was very soft - a flat. The tire itself has over 5,000 miles on it, and yes I've been meaning to replace it but it seemed to be doing fine... When I took it off and checked, there was a tiny hole through the tire. I used my handy supply of Tyvek, taken from old floppy disk sleeves, a bit of electrical tape to secure it, and then patched the inner tube, and I was ready to roll.


From Breesport the route continues onto Latta Brook Rd, then into Elmira Heights. I got there around noon, so stopped for pizza lunch. The route then heads uphill, down a bit along Halderman Hollow Rd, then up Hill Rd, Northcrest and Harris Hill Rd, leading into Harris Hill Park. It's a very forested route, mostly shaded so while it's climbing it's not in the sun.

As I was peddling along, I heard a small plane engine. Looking up, I saw a very small prop plane pulling a long white glider. At one point, the plane unleashed and turned back. The glider kept going, very gently, until I couldn't really see it anymore.

Gliders on Soaring Hill

Harris Hill Park has rides, minigolf, and an ice cream and snack bar. I decided to continue up to Soaring Hill and hit the food stand on my way back. The view along Harris Hill Rd right as you get to Soaring Hill Dr. is amazing, it's way up, and you get a great view of the river and hills.


Along Park Station RdI turned toward the air field, where a bunch of gliders were parked across from the National Soaring Museum. As I got there, a plane with glider was taking off. Then I headed back down, stopping for lemonade and ice cream.

The ride down into Elmira was great, almost 1000 feet of downhill to Water Street, following that over Rt 17 to the start of Jerusalem Hill, another nice climb. That turns into Breesport Rd, then a turn onto Federal Rd into Erin, where I again stopped. By this time it was pretty warm, I was very thirsty and running low on water. I bought five 20-oz containers of water, gatoraid and vitamin water to get me through the rest of the ride, since there was nothing else between Erin and Newfield.


On top of Austin HillAfter Erin, taking Laurel Hill Rd, around Park Station, a reservoir with a beach, through forests, then up Austin Hill, a nice climb, and down Austin Hill, a very nice downhill, followed by an even nicer, very long downhill on Rt 223. Fortunately there was no car traffic at all so I rode in the lane the entire way down, it was great.

The last bit, Rt 224 onto Jackson Hollow which turns into Van Kirk all the way into Newfield, was a lot of climbs and some nice downhills. At Newfield, the route goes along Main St, but the bridge was out, so I took Rt 13, which added 100 feet to the route. But then you get that very long, very nice downhill into Ithaca, with amazing views.


Along Jackson Hollow RdOverall this is an excellent route. Almost all of it is very low-traffic roads, mostly through forests. The climbs are nice, nothing too steep -- I think 15 percent was the steepest -- and while there are some long-ish climbs they are about 8-10 percent grade. And a couple of the downhills are really amazing.

This was the 50th century ride I've done, and it was a nice one. I'll be doing this ride again sometime for sure.