The FLCC touring group is pushing off again, this time on the self-supported ride from Ithaca to Pittsburgh; in Pittsburgh we’ll catch a train to Syracuse and then ride back to Ithaca. That’s some 400 miles of riding with all our gear on our bikes (or trailers). The participants for this one are Steve Powell, Steve Grossman, John Dennis, Andrejs Ozolins, Alexey Loginov joined by two folks from Montrose. The seven of us are starting out from Cass Park tomorrow morning. Continue reading →
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Hi All, I have a bunch of rides coming up that I wanted to announce in addition to the regular Thursday evening rides. My fellow mountain bike ride leader, Mike Ludgate, is going to be unable to lead rides this week and asked me to fill in the void, so here we go! Directions to the Hammond Hill meeting area: http://flcycling.org/?page_id=316 Tuesday, August 3rd, 5:30pm: Co-ed Mtn bike at Shindagin Hollow Thursday, August 5th, 5:30pm: Women’s Only Mtn bike at Hammond Hill Sunday, August 8th, 10am: Co-ed Mtn bike at Shindagin Hollow If you have any questions at all, please e-mail me or give me a call at 607. 220. 4770. Brenda This week’s mtb is for the ladies only (sorry guys; you can join us next week at Shindagin!) We’ll meet at 5:30pm at Hammond Hill, at the big parking lot on Hammond Hill Road. Directions are here. The ride will be moderately paced, with stops at each intersection to re-group, so don’t be afraid to come on out! E-mail me if you have any questions. Ride report from Max Kraft: On Sunday 14 colorful spandex-clad riders met up in Groton to ride a generous loop around Owasco Lake. Sam was the sole bearer of one of the FLCC jerseys, which seemed fitting since it depicts the finger lakes across the back and I think this was the first of what I have heard referred to as the “lake rides.” There were 3 women in the group, and it was great to see some new faces alongside familiar faces from the ride 2 weeks ago. Andy Goodell met up with me at my house at 8:00, with 10 miles already on his computer, and together we rode out to Groton, adding on another 10 miles on the way. I believe that at least 4 other riders rode out to the start in Groton, with Stewart saying he rode 37 miles all the way from Interlaken. With clear blue skies, brilliant morning sunshine and not-too-hot temps in the mid 70′s, it was a great day to be on a bike in good company. At ~9:15 we rolled out from Groton, quickly leaving the town to enter the beautiful rolling countryside on buttery smooth roads. The beginning pace was nice and relaxed as we went past farm fields and over ridges, continually working towards the 4,400′ + of climbing that was advertised for the ride. Eventually, the pace began to incrementally increase as we found ourselves along extended ridge tops, but some overzealous riding at the front of the group combined with the overzealous riders also not carrying cue sheets with directions led to some missed turns and inversion of the pack order. When we got to the turn onto 38A, 5 riders went shooting through the stop and on their merry way. Andy and I decided to stop, reorganize, and take the left turn as given in the directions. Fortunately, due to the rectangular pattern of country roads, we managed to meet up perfectly at the opposite corner of the box, despite having waited for the rest of the group to re-group. If you’re eager to shoot off the front or like to push along the pace, or if you’re worried about falling off the back, for that matter, it might be wise to carry some sort of directional device, be it your head, paper and ink or a GPS. Beautiful views of the lake down in the valley though made me glad to take a break and look around. Regardless of some directional confusion, we made it to Auburn where we took a welcomed rest, water and food stop at the very top of Lake Owasco. After discussing the misfortunes of the iPhone 4′s signal strength, we were back on the road under what felt to me like a much hotter sun. We had also been pushing against the wind throughout the morning, and were hoping to find it at our backs once we began cruising back towards home. However, almost all day the wind seemed to be fickle as it pleased, blowing at least in part from the front or the side, coming out of the West, the South and the North, but rarely behind us! Continuous beautiful scenery, smooth pavement and a freedom from cars, though, made it unquestionably a great day to be out. There was an attempt to stay together on the indeed incomparable (as written in the description for the ride) Indian Fields / Salmon Creek Rd., but on such a gift to cycling all restraints fell away and the group rode freely. After crossing 90, we took a quick break to fully regroup. There were definitely some tired legs and wearing bodies at this point. From there, a rushing descent into Salmon Creek was followed by a turn East and a long climb out of the valley and the group really did begin to split apart. Stewart headed off down the valley since he still had at least 35 miles to get home. Then, at the intersection of N. Lansing School Rd. and Cobb St., Andy, 1 other rider and I split off to head South towards Ithaca. As we rode by my house, I turned in while they continued on. We made it back ~3:00 in the afternoon, at an average speed just over 15 mph. Join us this Thursday at Shindagin Hollow for a comfortably, moderately-paced co-ed mountain bike ride. Riders will stop at all intersections to re-group and allow everyone to catch their breath if needed. We’ll meet at the gravel parking lot on Braley Hill road at 5:30pm. Directions to the parking lot and maps are here. If you have any questions just e-mail or call me! Brenda Don’t miss this one ladies. It’s going to be hot and steamy so lets go for a nice shady mellow ride to welcome me back on my bike and to have a toast after the ride to the most fabulous women of the road! Attendance has been down and I want to see a full house when we pull out of the parking lot. It’s a reunion, it’s a celebration, it’s a party! I hope to see all of you there ready to roll for a lovely ride at 6pm, Rite Aid parking lot, East Hill Plaza. LiLynn This week’s mtb is for the ladies only (sorry guys; you can join us next week at Shindagin!) We’ll meet at 5:30pm at Hammond Hill, at the big parking lot on Hammond Hill Road. Directions are here. The ride will be moderately paced, with stops at each intersection to re-group. I haven’t had a lot of time to write up ride reports this year, so that’s been unfortunate. But I do want to say that the rides have been a lot of fun, and the ladies who show up regularly are making steady improvements to their riding. We are always happy to welcome newcomers, either to the sport or the group. Ace Yacoubi was our “newbie” to the sport and the group last week, and she shows tremendous promise as a mountain biker. By the end of our ride, she was riding over some log crossings and other obstacles that took me months to work up the courage to ride over! Go Ace! Pam and Christine, who’ve been joining me all season for fun times, were also present. Pam has been riding for years and years, and never ceases to amaze and inspire me with her fearlessness, and Christine is fairly new to mountain biking this year. She is doing absolutely wonderfully on a single-speed rigid 29er!! We also had a couple from Elmira, Tom and Carol, join us. Tom is the president of the newly formed Finger Lakes Mountain Bike club based in Elmira, and they are both members of the Bike Patrol. We also had two other men, Bill W. who’s new to the FLCC, but an old pro at mountain biking, and Jason, who is returning to mountain biking after a 15 year hiatus. So come on out and join us! E-mail me if you have any questions. Lastly, I do want to mention that there are co-ed mountain bike rides led by Michael Ludgate at Hammond Hill (almost) every Tuesday at 5:30pm and Sunday at 11am, as an alternative or in addition to the ride I lead. You should email him at michael.ludgate@gmail.com in order to get on his e-list, because the ride times do change on occasion, especially when we’re all so busy during the summer. We’re going to try something a little different. I’ve had several men express a desire to ride a more relaxed, leisurely mountain bike ride and wished that they could join the women’s ride. Maybe they’re just getting back into mountain biking, or they just want to sit back and enjoy the scenery for a change. I’ve talked to the women who have been coming pretty regularly, and we thought we’d try alternating a co-ed ride with a women’s only ride every other week and see how it goes. So this Thursday, July 1st, we’ll meet at the gravel parking lot on Braley Hill road at 5:30pm. Directions to the parking lot and maps are here. The pace will be moderate, with stops at intersections to regroup and make sure no one is left behind. If you have any questions just e-mail or call me! Brenda
The Tour de Shunk has become a favorite fall century for a number of FLCC members, so I thought I’d post this info as a reminder to the regulars and an invitation to others. It’s really a great ride through beautiful Pennsylvania mountains and countryside, followed by outstanding food and even massage! Here’s the text of the flyer and registration info below that: Continue reading → |
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