Team JSTS arrived in Ithaca on Tuesday…. Those that got an early start arrived by 5pm… some (those who needed the early-bird dining on the road) arrived near 8pm. Three cars stopped at Performance Bike in Allentown. The extra-long stop, necessitated by waiting for Rob, Bryan and Rick working their way up Rt 9 in NJ, then getting lost in Allentown/Bethlehem set some of us back as much as 2 hours.

 

There were 9 of us for dinner at Zaza’s, followed by ice cream at the infamous Purity Ice Cream shop.

Over dinner we contemplated our riding options for the coming days, taking in to account the weather forecast.

We decided to go for the longest riding day, while the weather was good.

Ten of us would be prepared to depart from the hotel at 7am and ride the 28 miles to the start of the Seneca Lake ride. The remaining 6 would drive over to Watkins Glen and be ready to roll about 9:30am when the rest of us rolled in.

During breakfast, Steve E decided to join the 7am departure group, so, under overcast skies, 11 of us rolled out promptly – at 7:10!

 

We estimated that the 28 miles would take us 2 hours… we were reconsidering that estimate after the first 10 miles took us 1 hour. Happily the next 15 miles required only 52 minutes. (think hilly!)

 

 

At 9:21 as we were rolling into the Watkins Glen Marina, it was duly noted that we would have been there sooner had we not had to stop and check the 3 missed phone calls – from Fred, who was ready to roll out of the marina without us.

 

 

We had our 1 and only flat (a truly amazing feat if you think about the collective mileage – more about that later) as we were leaving the marina…. a relatively well-timed and well-positioned location. With 4 people working on the flat, we were back on the road in no time… working our way up the 3 mile climb out of Watkins Glen. As we headed north we had terrific views of Seneca Lake to our right, and wineries, too numerous to count, on our left…. Our favorite winery name: Pompous Ass Winery.

 

Heading north along the lake we made only a few stops… the required ‘scenic overlook’, a restroom stop a bit further up, then a grocery stop a few miles further (no restrooms there).

We entered Geneva, at the top of the lake at lunchtime. A bunch of us ate at the Water St Café, and another bunch of us ate at New York Pizza.

 

After lunch, we worked our way through Lakefront Park, and back down the eastern edge. In Sampson State Park we encountered our first road obstacle – a construction fence, with signs indicating blasting zone on Mondays – Thursdays. We sent Bryan ahead, around the fence to check out our options. When he successfully returned from his recon we all skirted the fence, and the poison ivy and proceeded on course. At the other end of the construction zone, Bryan noticed that the fence was not chained, so we worked our way through the opening.

 

It was only a little ways further when the 2 groups had to go their separate ways…. 6 returning to Watkins Glen, and 10 working their way over the ridge to Cayuga Lake before returning to Ithaca.

The group that returned to Watkins Glen often became 2 groups, but successfully negotiated what seemed to be a 15 mile downhill into Watkins Glen. After loading up the cars, the first stop was a local Watkins Glen pub for a celebratory drink!

 

For the group returning to Ithaca, a quick rest stop in Ovid was our first priority. Back on the road, we climbed the ridge between the 2 lakes (with only one short stop to get the bee out of Bryan’s helmet), then enjoyed the descent to lakeside along Cayuga Lake. After a short 3 miles along the lake, we headed back up to the highway for a sidetrip to the Cayuga Creamery…. By now it was 5pm, and at mile 95 we deserved every calorie.

As we crossed a backroad, on the way to our next rest stop, we noticed a group of cyclists off to our left. They caught up with us on an unpaved section of road, and asked if we were ‘that group from NJ’… turns out this was the group we planned to ride with on Saturday… pretty amazing to just run into this group on the road! A few intersections later, they went off to the right and we went left, with their cautionary words that the bridge was out ahead, but that we could probably negotiate the muddy construction zone. Yes, the bridge was out; and Yes, we were able to portage the bikes around construction vehicles

 

 

   

 

– at least there was no fencing to negotiate this time! Interestingly, some of us didn’t even see the stop signs.

 

The stop at Taughannock Falls, despite requiring another hill climb and short descent, was awe-inspiring.

 

 

The descent into Ithaca was an amazingly fast 10 miles, with speeds peaking at 33mph; then there was the last 3 miles from Cass Park to the hotel through as many parking lots as possible to avoid the main high-speed, multi-lane drag. We pulled into the Comfort Inn at 7:10 pm, exactly 12 hours after we had departed, having completed 120miles – the longest ride ever for most of us!

 

The Watkins Glen group had returned just a few minutes earlier.

We agreed to meet for dinner at 8:15, and found a restaurant that would seat 16 of us.

At dinner we noticed that most of us had sunburns – pretty impressive since it was so overcast when we headed out - but only on our right sides – hmmmm? Ahhh - We had headed north in the morning, then south in the afternoon, so the sun was always on our right.

 

The plan for tomorrow is still undefined – awaiting an early morning weather report. Our new FLCC cycling friends also provided some ideas (museums, wineries).

 

Today’s stats:

Total miles: 1685 miles

Total climbing: 76780 feet