1 Eye Classic Cycling Event Schroon Lake, NY

eaglelakebill

I have decided to partake in my first cycling event.
It is not a charity based event it is meant to promote cycling in the Adirondack town of Schroon Lake,NY.
I have a small place on a lake about 15 miles from Schroon and we visit the town quite often in the summers.
The event is Sunday September 14th.

http://www.schroonlakecycling.com/index.html

Registration is only $10 and you can register the day of the event.
I am trying to decide between the 26 mile route and the 42 mile route.
My goal will be just to finish as i have no unrealistic expectations being a noob and all!
I have no doubt i can finish the 26 mile route without too much trouble.
The distance is no problem the climbing i am working on now.
The 42 mile route would definitely be a challenge for me.
Let me know if anyone from MFP will be up there.
I created the following 2 routes using the cue sheets linked on the website.

26 mile route with 1600' of climbing
http://www.strava.com/routes/820149

42 mile route with 2175' of climbing
http://www.strava.com/routes/795964

veloman21

See how you feel on the day, but with the La Vuelta challenge coming up, I reckon you'll be more than ready for the the 42 miler

DeliriumCanBeFun

Both routes look awesome! I would love to get to do that. And I agree with Allen. You have a whole month...no telling what you'll be ready for after the challenge. It looks like there should be a point you'll come to where the routes split. No reason you really have to decide your distance before that point. Hope you have a great ride whatever you choose :happy:

TheBigYin

Looking on Strava at the routes, the longer route is only really 1 decent hill more than the shorter route, and a bit of rolling terrain.

With the Vuelta Challenge in your legs, I'm sure you'll be fine with the longer one... Its surprising how pretty much everyone who was able to ride the last couple of challenges say how it's lifted their fitness, and given them impetus to raise their game. It's the single most gratifying thing about running these challenges. When I look back at the first ones I ran, we were hard pushed to get 2 teams, and by the end of each tour, we were lucky to have 6 riders left on each tour. The distances, speeds and ascents have also climbed quite substantially - when we're having teams actually getting into the third lap of France or Italy it's simply amazing...

veloman21

^^^ agree with TBY.

I just looked at my Strava data for the last few years. My cycling has been on and off but before I joined MFP in May, my record was 450 miles in a month. In June I really worked on getting more miles in and set a new monthly record of 785 miles.

In July because of the TdF challenge, I rode 1,178 miles in the month, upping my PR by 50% and almost 300% more than my previous best efforts. No doubt in my mind that La Vuelta will have a similar effect ;-)

Bill, the 42 miler will be a breeze for ya :-)

eaglelakebill

My first order of business is to buy a proper pair
of bike shorts! Riding in basketball shorts finally
caught up with me yesterday. Luckily it was very
slight and is all cleared up this morning.

TheBigYin

My first order of business is to buy a proper pair
of bike shorts! Riding in basketball shorts finally
caught up with me yesterday. Luckily it was very
slight and is all cleared up this morning.

Oh good god YES... Look after the contact points on the bike, Good Socks and Riding Shoes, decent Riding Mits (even if it's warm, wear fingerless mitts - picking gravel out of your palm for a week after a crash is NO fun. - and always, always, ALWAYS wear proper riding shorts - sans underwear (as I'm sure you'll know) - and basically treat them as underpants - i.e. 1 days ride, and into the wash. Some people swear by Chamois Cream as well - especially for longer (2-3 hour+) rides, others can't get on with it - i'm in the "won't get on the bike without" camp - and as such also make sure that straight after a ride, I get a proper wash in the areas that the chamois cream gets into. If I'm riding "out of the back of the car", then I take a pack of baby wipes with me to freshen up post ride... all these little obsessive things become a habit, but are worth getting into - a bit of faffing around beats sore knackers for a few days, and "proper" saddle sores (more properly refered to as saddle boils) are really no fun.