Tour de Shunk Century ride 9/19/10

Route: Tour de Shunk Century Ride (Franklindale, PA)
Total distance: 105.01 miles
Ride time: 06:36:43
Avg speed: 15.88 mph

Total climb: 6,143 ft

Low point: 738 ft, at Proctor Rd near mile 50, along
High point: 2299 ft, Rt 154, Wheelerville Mountain
Avg climb: 58.5 ft/mile

(Elevation Profile)

Doug coming up a hillMy friends Denny and Jim did this ride last year, and it sounded great: 100 miles through the Endless Mountains region of Northern PA, with one monster climb and some other nice climbs. So I decided to do it. In the past month I've tried to do some big climbs to get ready, and my commutes up South Hill also helped.

The ride starts at Rocky's Bike Shop, where I met Denny, Jim and Doug. We took off just before 8am. Unfortunately about 6 miles out Denny's back derailleur failed in a pretty spectacular way, fortunately no injuries, but he had to stop riding; he said he'd try to meet us when he got the bike fixed, so we continued on.

The course includes some pretty flat parts, along state highways, as well as some rolling hills and big climbs. The biggest climb came at about mile 19 or so, as route 154 goes up Wheelerville Mountain. I'd been expecting a monster climb with grades of upwards of 18-20 percent over three miles or so.

The actual climb wasn't that bad. It was a real challenge, over about 4-5 miles, especially the first 3 miles, constant grades of 10-12 percent. I had actually expected worse, and was expecting a huge gradient increase just around every corner, but it didn't come, and I actually felt great the whole ride up.


Jim at the end of one of the climbs

There were a few other challenging uphills after that, some really nice smooth downhills, some rollers, and some flats too. Overall it's a beautiful ride, almost all through forested areas, along creeks, some farmland. The road markings were great, and the rest stops every 25 miles or so were really good: bananas, cookies, drinks, and at the 50 mile stop sandwiches and chips too.

Denny joined us at the last rest stop, and the last leg was a pretty fast one, with a group of about 15 hammering along. I was feeling great, staying in the big ring for the rollers including the uphills, and feeling strong, getting out front. But then at one point, around mile 99 or so, my recovery rate plummetted, and it suddenly took a lot longer to get back to speed, so I fell behind the group a bit. I was still doing a good 20-21mph and felt fine, but that last bit of Rt 414 back to Rocky's, which is flat, saw the larger group (which included Denny and Jim), speed off.

When I finished, I felt really good. This was the fastest century I've done so far this year, even with all the climbing. (Which really means I've had a slow year...)

The ride ended with a real nice spaghetti dinner at Rocky's, so Jim, Denny, Doug and I piled our plates with pasta and sauce and chowed down. It felt great. I topped it off with some cookies and chocolate, then drove back to Ithaca.

The weather really cooperated this time; no rain, overcast and in the 60s, a bit cool at the start, warmed up as the day went on, but not too hot, just right for those big climbs.

This is an event I'll definitely add to my annual century calendar!

NYC Century Tour

Route: New York City Century Tour (Manhattan - Brooklyn - Queens - Bronx
Total distance: 100.14 miles
Ride time: 07:27:43
Avg speed: 13.42 mph

Total climb: 2,525 ft

Low point: 0 feet (sea level), various places along route
High point: 322 ft, near Cloverdale Blvd, Queens
Avg climb: 25.2 ft/mile

(Elevation Profile)

Cyclists heading west on W 110th between
B'way and Riverside
I did this century ride a couple years ago, and really enjoyed it. This year, Lucas did it with me. It's pretty flat -- 2500 feet over 100 miles, so very doable.

The ride is mostly on the streets, starting at Central Park North and going down through Manhattan, over the Brooklyn Bridge to Prospect Park, down to Coney Island, then on the bike path along the shore, up into Queens, past Laguardia, across the Triboro (RFK) Bridge into the Bronx, up to Van Cortland Park and then back into Manhattan.

It's a great ride, you really do see parts of the city that you'd never see otherwise. For Lucas, who'd really only visited Manhattan before, it was also an interesting look at the other parts of the city.

The ride was very well organized, markings on the streets were great with just a couple of exceptions. And given how many turns were involved, quite an accomplishment. The rest stops were also great, lots of food -- bananas, really good apples, peanut butter, pita, bread, drinks, energy bars, plenty to keep you fueled.

The starts were staggered, we got out at about 6:30 or so, we rode by our friend Della's apartment on 110th St (which happened to be on the century route), and there were Lisa and Della, up on the 7th floor, waving to us. Then we turned down Riverside Drive and rode onward.

The riders soon ended up in clumps of between 5 and 20, and we rode along with clumps, or jumped up to the next clump. There was lots of stopping and slowing down for red lights and stop signs, so not a lot of nonstop pumping, with the exception of bike paths along the shore.

The ride was mostly flat, but a few small hills in Queens. A few of the hills involved bridges, including the RFK/Triboro, where we had to carry our bikes up and down a few steps, but those bridges also gave you great views.


Cyclists heading up onto the Cross Bay Veterans
Bridge in BrooklynI was really impressed with how well Lucas did. He hadn't ridden much this summer, but he kept on going the whole time, hammering along on the flats and on the hills.

The weather held off, the predicted rain didn't show up until the very end, in the Bronx. As we approached Van Cortlandt Park Lucas said he was having saddle-related pain. Since it was only about 10 miles to the end of the ride at Central Park North, and only about 4 more miles until we hit 100 miles, I asked if he could continue on, but he said no, even though his legs felt fine, the saddle pain was too much. He was happy with the 96 miles he'd done, the longest he's ridden so far. Which meant he really was in serious pain.


Astoria Park rest stop; RFK/Triboro Bridge
in backgroundSo we stopped at that rest stop, and called Lisa to come pick us up. Since I had only 4 miles until 100, Lucas said he didn't mind if I went out and rode a loop, which I did, following the century route until it hit Broadway, then coming back down Broadway. Century accomplished.

This is a really great century ride, unlike any other I've ever done and pretty unique. We liked it MUCH better than the 5 Boros Tour (in May), which is very much bigger, only 40 miles, and just way overcrowded. This one is a very nice size, excellent support, and riding through the streets and along the waterways of NYC is just a very cool experience.