Weekend Update: Gentlemen's Century and other stuff

Everything always seems to happen when I actually get the leave the city, well fun things happen that is. Everyone hears I'm going to be away so they all throw a party. A few guys went for a long ride without me and Mike wrote about it but he's to intimidated by the power of the blog to post it so I'm doing it for him.

“Half One—the first fifty miles”

It was early on a fine July morning, about 7:30. At the museum was an assembly black & red clad cyclists waiting for the Gentlemen’s Century to get underway. After all confirmed riders arrived, we set off down the road—we wouldn’t return until what would later be logged at 115 or so miles.

It was an interesting ride, made much more interesting by the frayed derailleur cable that turned my 20 speed race machine into a 2 speed ride of attrition. My spirits were as frayed as that cable, having occurred in the first five miles. I almost turned back towards home. For some reason, I pressed on.

Luckily, Andy & Dan, 2 highly trained mechanics, were there to adjust my limit screw to give me a much more forgiving gear combination than 39x12 and 53x12. Again, we were on our way. I was riding my bike, still unsure if I made a rational decision to join the group for 95 additional miles or was this an act of hubris. It’s debatable.

Keeping up with racers over the twisting, undulating terrain proved difficult, having nothing more than pedal cadence to alter my speed. I could feel the effort costing extra energy. The fluctuations in cadence mirrored that of my heartbeat. Up, down, up, down. If you’ve never pedaled at 135 rpm for an extended period of time, I suggest you give it a go.

The roads of the northern suburbs are very familiar to me. I started out riding these roads, especially those of Buck County. These roads have much to offer: they are challenging, scenic, and not heavily travelled. It is easy to forget where and when you are with the mix of colonial and contemporary houses. Bottom line: this is a really beautiful area—a cycling heaven.

After roughly 50 miles, we made it to our first destination: a quiet, out-of-the-way French Bakery hidden in one of New Hope’s back alley’s. We sat in the shade of a tree and joked while eating delicious pastries and sipping coffee. This is the way all Sundays are meant to be spent. Life is good.

There are a couple of other happenings in the not-so-distant future. I just signed up for Spectra Cross at the NJ State Fair for the August 1st "B" race. I made sure to wait long enough that if the start position is based on registration, I will be stuck in the back of the grid. With run-ups over crushed cars and on a field that is shared with monster trucks, its probably a good idea to leave your new carbon wheels with dugast tires at home. There are several cross races that are having their registration opening soon , Wissahickon, Charm City, Iron Cross and a few others. I might blow my rent money if it gets me up front for all the good races.
Jack has informed us that "state championship road race will be held on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (Sept 6) and will be the same course as last year in Robeson Township".

While I was in Ithaca, NY this weekend I saw a million older folks with cue sheets and up right riding positions. I asked one woman if she was on a sportive. She told me that she wasn't but she was in fact on a ride from Cortland to somewhere else in the area and it was a two day supported ride. This made me want tell her that she was in fact on a sportive but didn't know it and it made me want to do another. These organized sportives are great, unlike at races where everyone looks more fit then you, you feel like superman surrounded by all these men and women in their 50's and 60's that fill out their club fit jerseys, and there is an enormous amount of food. Its like twelve church bake sales converged to make sure you don't bonk.
Why did I go to Ithaca in the first place, I'm sure you ask yourself? It wasn't just so we could camp through six thunderstorms, it was to unload my cat on my parents who live up north. Isn't Oden a noble cat.