Alternate Plan B ride - 5/26/2012

Regular Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 34 Location: Nisakyuna

Forty-three riders made the trek to Warrensburg for one of the club's "classic" rides - the "Alternate Plan B". Well, actually there were more like eighteen or so, but a good turnout nonetheless. Ride leader Art Goedeke got things started with a prompt rollout at about 10 AM after a quick tribute and history of the ride, complete with the unfurling of the original, hand-drawn ride map from many moons ago.

You couldn't have ordered a nicer day, with temps starting in the mid-70s - it was more like mid-80 upon our return. The Adirondack skies were crystal clear, which only made the shaded roads even more welcome. No threats of a repeat of last year, which I was told was an epic event for the brave souls that stuck it out - something about lightning and ponds with whitecaps and roads washed out.

The group broke up into smaller groups after a few miles - everyone finding others riding in their "comfort zone", if you can call the hills in the first half comforting. This was my first time on this ride and I was told that tradition is that everyone meets at the Adirondack General Store in Schroon. The groups refueled and headed back out for a second half that is a bit deceiving based on the elevation map. Save some for the last third of the ride if you make it next year. The most important thing is to enjoy the ride, as it took us on some very quiet country roads, some scenic "vistas" and a few eye-watering descents.

The award for the most competitive rider had to go to the guy whose name rhymes with "Art Goedeke". Somewhere in the first half of the ride he broke a rear derailleur cable. Between all the riders we had everything but the kitchen sink and a rear derailleur cable. The General Store was fresh out of DuraAce RD cables, so this guy rode the rest of the ride with his RD on the same cog all the way back. Two gears - high and low (something like 53/14 in the "big front", 39/14 in the "small front"). You had to see the hills he tackled with his new "duelly". Lesser riders would have called it quits, but he did impress by finishing the ride. Not only that, he served up hunks of Debbie's delicious walnut studded chocolate cake that we washed down with our favorite beverages back in the parking lot.

I started with the front group, discovered that some really quick riders "came to play" and finished with the middle group. It was a little over 63 miles at an average of just over 18 mph and just over 4,000 feet of gain. If you missed it this year then put it on your calendar for next year.

Here's the ride info link from my Garmin data. If you never used it you can click on the map or click on the "Details/Player" buttons in the top right corner or poke around to try other things. I have a Garmin 500 with cadence and heart rate monitor, so lots of data to oogle over. You can't edit my stuff, so no worry there. Ride safe!

2012 Alternate Plan B - Garmin Connect data from Erict.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 4:44 pm

First, thanks Eric, for the report. Art's ride is well known to me from club legend but beyond my present (and future) capabilities. I did venture to Jim Bethell's Memorial Day Metric earlier today (5/2 Cool

. It ventured from Kinderhook down to Copake and back. Interesting in that we also did 63 or so miles (63.75) and I measured 4095 feet of climb. So pretty similar routes. We also had an A group take off on the first climb. I managed to hang with the B group until the 47 mile mark in Philmont where I thought it wiser to stop at a store and take on gatorade than try to finish the last 15+ miles dry. Had heat exhaustion once in my life at a running race and learned that it's nothing to fool around with. I averaged 14.7 miles per hour even riding the last miles alone. There was a C group coping with various mechanical issues behind and also one fellow riding in an a 39-11 after his rear cable broke.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/674965

The link to the ride is above. You can "Play" the whole ride or click and zoom in on the various graphs. My Sportstracs software calculates power and says I did 133 average watts. That of course includes zero on the downhills and the watts doesn't transfer up to ridewithgps. Average heart rate was 137, compared to the 110 or so I get when I'm noodling around Delmar.

When you expand the graphs, take a look at miles 40.6 to 40.8. That's a little gem area that Jim threw in for us coming out of Copake Lake. Though short, the climb is consistently about 10% and the road is broken up at best. The rest of the climbs were manageable, if incessant.

Of course, 99% of site users won't see these in the Forums (despite complaints in the Survey about needing a place to post things!) so I'll post a link front and center on the home page. Thanks again Eric and congratulations on your ride. And yes, Art does get some really fast people up there.

Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 8:24 am

Great ride reports, guys.

I wanted to do the Memorial Day metric out of Kinderhook, but the night before I found out the hard way why those scallops my wife made were, "On sale".

Now that I see the pace and elevation gained, I'm sure either the shellfish or the ride itself would have had me running into the woods fumbling to get my bibs off for a not so natural "nature break".

I was able to squeeze out 59 miles on various Altamont/Voorheesville roads. Making sure never to be more than ten miles from my house (clean toilet).

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:26 pm

Excellent info. I know much of that route well. West up Diamond Pt. Road? Voof! That's for sure one bear of a climb. Fast and scary coming down, like I usually do.