Make Mine A Double Please

Jumping into the Wayback Machine yet again, I plotted out a track file mostly representing RBC #54, The Lake Ontario Centuries, more generally known as the Lyndonville Century. Because who would want to cut such a great opportunity to knock off an easy century … in fact … perhaps the one that so many old timers cut their "First Ever Century" teeth on?

Knowing from experience how near totally flat this one is, I felt it was a great choice for Old Blue, once again. As you may have read in an earlier post, my Old Blue (built in 1977, yet modded extensively since) has since been converted to a "semi-single-speed". Semi, meaning it's a single cog freewheel in the rear, but employs a crank with two chainrings, most recently switched from a 34/48 to a bigger geared 39/53. And as a "flip-flop" rear end, I can choose to use a 22 tooth cog if I think I need to take it easy, OR in today's case, I can use a 17 tooth for faster rolling.

And fast (for me anyway) it was today. With mostly steady and gentle winds, plenty of sunshine, and perhaps some of the quietest (if not nearly abandoned in places) roads with lightly used surfaces in generally great shape, Old Blue managed the job just fine.

With a sunrise start while it was still cool outside …
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... it was a pretty quick cruise out to Lyndonville with only one stop along the way for a coke and a (shortie!) can of Pringles. Fat. Salt. Ya know? On the way, my slightly modified route took me down "Woodchuck Alley" that started out paved, yet soon turned to gravel, thereby explaining the "Seasonal Use Highway" sign that appeared to make no sense, at least initially. So, about a mile of gravel on super-skinny tires isn't the greatest part of the ride, but it revealed a gem of a pretty spot at the Beechwood Cemetery. With my attention split between observing the park, and watching for road hazards, I had an "Oh-Phooey" moment a few miles later for not stopping for a photo. Especially when I learned of it's "history". Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agd1zurrUR4

Onward into the mild headwinds (and thankful for the cooling as the day warmed), I reached Lyndonville, 57 miles out and in just over 4 hours. Yay Old Blue!
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Another quick c-store stop, this time for an icy cold chocolate milk, and I'm back on the road heading north toward the Lake Ontario shoreline. Aaaaah … the tailwind I was hoping for! On the way TO Lyndonville, I was switching frequently between the 39 and 53 chainrings, but on the return, it was 53/17 big gear tailwind fun nearly the whole way back to Rochester. The first detour off the planned route was a photo-op at the Oak Orchard Lighthouse …
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… and I took another stop in Hamlin Beach State Park to FINALLY eat that PB&J sandwich that I made two weeks ago.
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One more coke stop at the corner of Long Pond Road and Edgemere where I texted Karen to let her know I was inbound. She was out on her bike and we rendevoused in the city before heading home. But arriving home, I was JUST SHORT of a double metric century, so we remounted and headed for Netsins Ice Cream. Nice way to wrap it up for the day!

Hmmm .... that's eight centuries so far in 2020. What's Next?
Cheers!

​b