140 Miles
8000 Ft Climbing
10 hours saddle time
In two weeks time is yet another edition of one of the toughest rides in the country - the "Highlander Death Before Dismount" Double Metric. 125 miles long in the beautiful Finger Lakes region, with over 10,000 feet of climbing in 16 major climbs, it will surely challenge any rider.
Preparation and judgment are keys to riding an extreme event like this. My own preparation has so far been limited to perhaps half the roads in DB4D, on the western side of the map. Following is a look at some of the roads I had managed to survey yesterday. Let this be a sequel to my exploration last year of the same area.
It was a difficult day on the bike - all alone, with temperatures in its 90's. But the sunlit landscapes I passed on the bike managed to neutralize the heat. Overall, it turned out to be an extremely pleasant experience for both sight and smell and sounds. One of the highlights of the day was that I managed to talk to a young Amish country guy, whom I asked for directions after I overshot one of the roads I was required to take by 5 miles. He had the most pleasant smile on his face as he stacked stock for his animals into a tractor. He also carried this peculiar accent, something almost out of this world. It was like he came straight out of these classic movies you see...
Enjoy these pics, all of them taken from the bike - an artform I call ciclofotografics! Do come ride in the Finger Lakes area! Its a bit different, I can tell you that much.
Route 96
High Street
Town of Victor, NY
Route 444 to village of Bloomsfield
Route 64 to Bristol Springs
Montanye Road
Descent on Deuel Road to western side of Lake Canandaigua, fourth largest of the Finger Lakes
Seneca Point Road to Bopple Hill
Bopple Hill Road - 1 mile at 11% average gradient (will be chip-sealed on Monday 30th August)
The familiar cemetery greets you at the peak
View to the eastern side of the Lake
Bills Road to Stid Hill , 1 mile at 13.4% grade
Summit of Stid Hill in Ontario NY at 2100 feet
West Gannett Hill Road - 1.35 miles at 11% grade
Clement Road
Gulick Road
Highlander Staff member Ken lays down the road signs for the event in 2 weeks. He has traveled many places in the world and was an interesting man to talk to! He offered me a bottle of gatorade or something like that from his car and wish me a good journey.
Eelpot Road
Strong Hill to Blodgett Road
Mattoon Road, after Route 53
An Amish lady is busy with her work at the farm
Descent into the rural town of Prattsburgh, NY
This ends the Highlander route. I catch a diversion - Italy Hill Road heading north.
I pass the towns of Italy and Rushville NY
Descent along Co. Rd 1 onto the eastern side of Lake Canandaigua
This is definitely a first, having explored both the eastern and western sides of the Lake
Leaving the town of Canandaigua
Homebound on the 332
Homebound on the local bike path in Rochester. It is dusk here. This ends 10 hours of cycling.
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Posts
The scenery is breathtaking. Looks like you had a good day on the bike!
ReplyDeleteThose are a set of crappy photos, man.... I mean... sure the scenery looks like it was beautiful, but the photos barely make justice to it.
ReplyDeleteSure, this summer i did the raid pyrénéen (from the Mediterranean sea to the Atlantic, with a plentiful of cols in between, fully loaded) and the views and scenery that unfolded where nothing short of breathtaking, it was "wow this!", "wow that!" the whole time... the snapshots that I took home are kinda "done there, done that" sort of photos, nothing worth.
It's a pity, but usually one does not have the time to deal with the manual settings of the camera or bother much about the photo setup and, anyway, cameras can only gasp a little frame of the whole picture (compacts lack really wide lenses) etc...
And finally there is no way to replicate the high (runners high) that one gets while hitting the road, and that adds a lot to the whole experience, in my view.
One of the reasons i love touring (loaded) is the high that you get all day long, as well as the sense of accomplishment and self-sufficiency...until you hit the airport / train station back home.
Dave
Wow, way to be an asshole Anonymous!
ReplyDeleteWow! sorry if I have offended you, folks, believe me it was not my intention... sometimes I let myself go and write the way I would have said it, as in a casual conversation. :D
ReplyDeleteEnglish is my 4th language, so sometimes I speak "funny" or outright inappropriate, as it was he case. probably, an emoticon would have helped there...XP
As said on the unfortunate original post, my photos do bear quite a resemblance with the ones Ron posted.
My point was that to a non cyclist that would be an assortment of unremarkable snapshots and a "so what?" sort of expression would ensure follow.
BUT to US cyclists those images conveys a bundle of emotions of how great it is to be RIDING framed with such landscape with such a nice weather on a small road with little to no traffic to be seen, I almost can feel the rush of endorphines flowing, the sweat and that smell of summer and sunscreen...
Re-reading my post again, sure it bas badly written, ...sorry about that :P
Dave
You're not an asshole anymore.
ReplyDelete-Mark
the photos are great. sometime I understand amish people and their way of life is a health one.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Bristol, I grew up on those roads. Wish I were there...
ReplyDelete