Saturday 9-26... 8am at Tildas, just a few, or to be precise two more showed up. Some what expected a few more as Sunday morning has so far a good chance of heavy rain. But may be several were doing the Hamptons ride -- but Py had committed to his ride a while ago before this matter of fact came to his attention. However, counting three, they took off 8:02, no more in sight. Little steady breeze from SSE.
Reaching IBPB in just little over an hour, not too bad. A few minutes there, Rk showed up, looked like he just missed us at the start... one more for the return, very nice day for as nice ride. Could be SF weather :-)
Just one photo for the archive and documentaion today.
Same early morning procedure but seasons are changing noticeably already. No sun by 6:30am yet and really chilly with barely 10C (or 24.4meV). Finally at about 1/2 way out to Manorville the first rays of sun really felt good -- even not really warming yet -- as he was a bit shivering.
At Manorville a little warm/wait up at the "Golden Bow" until more Birds were showing up, a pretty well sized group assembled very soon.
Nice steady and fast moving, easy in a big group sharing the front and having plenty of time until the next turn. Just two pics after the Bridge and at the Sven-Eleven.
Returned to the island back to the same old RP2IPBP route. The time of the year of the first chilly mornings is about here, but crystal clear sky and a good North East breeze. The sun felt nice and warming today. Py got a just 5 minutes to Eight to the start where a good number of riders already gathered. Almost out of the parking lot one more rider showed up last minute... little wait up and off they go. Good warm up pace over the little rolling North Country Road and a shorty climb in Wading River, brief reassembly and flying out East into the wind at good pace. MTP and Py did the major part of the work... A fast chase up with stragglers behind of Py on Edwards.
Short 26mi morning ride on the day of departure from Corning up to Harris Hill. Still a little chilly foggy morning, but it cleared up very soon and turned into a nice day. A flat ride out of the nice town of Corning and a short but decent hill climb of about 250m on Harris Hill featuring a great view and a soaring plane museum and start/landing field:
Four Long Island Riders on a road trip to Upstate New York for a special Ride: The Highlander 2009 in the New York Fingerlakes Region. Friday afternoon a 6 hour road trip to Corning, NY -- a very wet and rainy day so far -- and the next morning one more good hour drive to the Start at Bristol Mountain. All most all roads were still pretty wet and clouds sitting low in the valleys and mountains generating a from valley to valley varying drizzle like moisture, but no real rain as the day before, that was good.
Getting ready to roll. The ride was very well marked, no navigation issues at all. Starting into it with a good 1000ft climb on W Gannet Hill Rd at mile 3:
Hitting some fresh "sanded" Tarmac roads -- a nasty thick cover of little sharp gravel, covering road markings and limiting speed for safety and cornering control on turns -- more sections, a total of about 6 (not sure how many miles exactly, but several miles for sure) of that were following later. Just 15 miles into the ride -- shortly after leaving one of these "sanded" roads, Py found his tubeless rear tire getting soft... A pretty good sized cut. No sealant in this tire so far, he dumped the only can of "Hutchison Fast Air" he had into it. Messy stuff, leaking out of the cut for some time, not really holding any good pressure. It kept coming out and out, just slowing a bit -- looking like shaving foam all over :-( Well, some pressure still. Instructions say riding for a few miles and check pressure -- very funny, low already and not holding more that about 30..40psi...
OK, finally kept going carefully hoping for the best -- resisting to mess with a tube and that messy stuff all in there now. Tubeless can be ridden at low pressure...
Feeling really nice and smooth in the rear. However, a little hissing at times and more foam coming out occasionally. One more stop to add some air, attempt to ride at least to the next water stop in about 10 miles. Good traction on steeps with gravel and fresh tarmac oil.... at least one good thing.
This was the 2nd water stop Py be leaves:
Decided not to do anything, but pump it up a bit more, it seamed just to hold about 50psi now, a little white stuff came out and stopping to coming out soon. A soft ride proceeds, not too bad at all.
BTW -- This is how it looked later:
One more rider joining the LI team for a while... and pretty soon, one more flat stop -- M got a nice cut...
That fixed, proceeding to the next water stop -- they had nicely placed about every 20 miles stops, very convenient.
Proceeding the journey of hills ...
... to the next stop.
Some wait up here, J&N were some how delayed -- one more fat was the reason...
And going on with the journey of flats and hills, just starting into one more climb, N flatted his front tire on some sharp tiny rock. By now, every one of the four got a fat. And not only them -- many more rides on the road side were having the same issues -- "a wet roads syndrome".
A very nice ride along Canandaigua Lake finishing with an challenging climb on Bopple Hill Rd -- 18..23% for a good while:
Finishing the ride with no further flats. Ride stats in brief:
105 miles, 1040 ft elevation gain, 6h36 moving time, 4 flats, very little wind, no rain but mostly wet conditions, a few rays of sun towards the very end :-)
Sunday morning procedure as usual... some good ENE wind is blowing and Py experience the first taste of it going East in Grumman Blvd. going to the start. A few strong riders and only some of the usual birds were showing up.
Steady good moving out of the parking lot, some head winds at sections, not too bad until hitting the pen and fully exposed Dune Road. They had to work hard to keep moving -- by this time a head group of about eight birds formed. They got a significant gap in time to the group behind and decided not to wait too long once after the bridge [36.0 km/h average to this point] -- good not to get cold -- and proceeded to the North side of the South Fork. Flying over the few rollers out there toward the Seven-Eleven (Coffee/Snack) stop at 36.5 km/h average. From there a fast wind supported return at almost 40 km/h...
Back at Manorville at 9:57 am.
Some chattn' with buddies in different group out there, which just rolled in from a different ride for a bagel stop. ...and roll home. -- 124 km total.
After several attempts via Py's bike shop to get this problem solved, he gave up. Upset. Not buying these brand of shoes again. Also the inner sole and padding above the cleats area inside sucks -- as it gets indented quickly (there is a dead volume in between). He fixed this himself for the old similar pair with layers of double sided tape to fill the space. (If your feet feel like pressing in a hole and hurt quickly, look under the cardboard like flat under the insole above the cleats mount...)
So these heels should by far not yet been worn off. They were gone after just 2,000mi / 3 month (now 3,100mi /4 month) -- and Py is not walking much with these --his older pair of the same type is 2 1/2 years and has seen over 20,000mi -- the heels are still there just a little worn and he uses those old ones all day! The rubber mixture on the new was so soft he easy could peel it off with his finger nail. Py says: A case of bad or missing Quality Control. Several attempts via his bike shop to get any replacement failed (the shop even asked for a photo and got it) -- but nothing finally. Very upset. So Py figured to share this now.
