Riding around Lake Chautauqua is something of a landmark for cyclists around here. The ride is somewhere between 41 and 43 miles depending on just how you do it. The terrain ranges from long hills to long flats with both urban and rural riding. Most of the roads have decent paved berms, in some cases excellent riding. My church, St. Lukes, has been doing the ride for 8 years (we think) and doing it as a fund raiser for Episcopal Community Services for most of that time.
I mentioned before that this year I set a new goal. Not just to complete the ride but try for a new personal best. The lake basically divides into four sections so I knew I had some basic mile markers to keep me going. The first leg is fairly simple, especially since you do it fresh. The southern side of the lower lake is mostly flat with one short steep section then some moderate hills. I busted through that section over 20 minutes ahead of my internal estimate and completed the entire southern portion in a little over an hour which is well ahead of schedule.
The "third" leg is my least favorite. It is the home of the "Three Sisters" (side note - In local Native American culture the Three Sisters are corn, beans and squash. Three vegetables that not only grow well together but in fact thrive together. They are staples of the traditional local diet. So I'm stealing this image from them and appropriating it for my own. Which is fairly typical sadly), three long climbs that basically ARE the third leg. You ride from Mayville to Point Chautauqua take a quick ride down into Dewittville then climb again to LCLC, ride down into Maple Springs and begin the worst of the three climbs up to Long Point State Park. This is the worst because it comes last when you're pretty well beat and it's a long winding climb that makes you think the peak is almost there only to fool you. I'll take the traditional Three Sisters any day. I was actually doing quite well through this bit and arrived at the end of leg 3 at the 2 hour mark. Which was impressive.
With that in mind I took at short break for some water and a couple of orange wedges and pushed on. I completed the fourth leg in another hour which put me in Jamestown at the south end of the lake at the 3 hour mark. Now my previous best was 3:50 and I was aiming at 3:30 - 3:45 so I figured I was in great shape. All I needed to do was make the turn around the end of the lake and travel a handful of miles back to the start finish line. Piece of cake.
Two problems. By then my legs were shot. I pushed as hard as I could but needed to keep coasting to take a break. The final insult was when I made the final turn up lake for a quick couple of final miles and turned right into a nasty headwind. I wasn't sure just how bad it was till I saw some yard pinwheels trying to go supersonic. It was too much. I put my head down and just tried to stay on the near side of 3.5 hours.
And it worked. I arrived back at my starting point in 3 hours 28 minutes and change. 22 minutes better than my previous mark and ahead of my goals. And totally spent.
The ride would have been more fun if I'd been able to find my earphones so I could listen to the music I'd loaded on the iPod just for this run but they refused to cooperate. Still can't find them. And without that head wind I think I might have cracked 3:25. Even so it was a great ride. As always great to sit around after with the other riders, many of whom I'd never met, and talk about the ride and other things.
On the whole a pretty good day.
I'll go fall down now.
Peace
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