Oops, I Did It Again

Looking for a "moderate" century (#5) to a new(er) destination, I remembered that I haven't been down to Springwater in a while, and THAT triggered a memory. "Long-Time" members of the club (aka: Us Old Farts) will remember Al Davis; Al was the author of a plethora of new RBC maps and he had a penchant to inject notable details into his creations. In particular, he had a pair of century rides that were less than intuitive (intentionally) in their names. For example, one might think something called the Mendon Century (RBC#151) would likely be yet another Mendon area ride swirling around the Mendon Park area with a bunch of rolling hills. But noooo …. THIS little Mendon ride only —> starts <— at the park, yet heads south to Naples and accumulates nearly 9000' of climbing. And, if that doesn't quite fill your day, the optional "G" route heads to Springwater and delivers a total of 127 miles and 12,000' of heart attack level climbing.

But, shouldn't that be named "Springwater Century"?  No, of course not. This is an Al Davis Ride. It starts in Mendon … so … Mendon Century. Simple.

OTOH … Al's "Springwater Century" is almost as confusing. You'd be forgiven for assuming that anything going to Springwater would be a real death march of a ride, seeing that Springwater is deep in the hills south of Hemlock Lake. And just because the Mendon Century starts in Mendon, that doesn't mean the Springwater Century has to start in Springwater.

​Confused yet?

​Strangely enough, this route messes around in the gently flat to rolling Genesee River Valley for over 40 miles before it even begins any noticeable climbing. But eventually, it does start climbing. The worst kind, as I seem to have forgotten. Not the extreme steep stuff (like, the Mendon Century), but the same long steady grind right into the predictable headwinds up Livonia Center, Federal and Stagecoach roads like I did on my century to Dansville a few weeks back. Again? Lack of planning again?

Short memory. Once again, I took a recovery break at Wester's Country Store in Conesus for pizza and chocolate milk. Still need fuel to finish up with Stagecoach and Liberty Pole Roads ahead, but other than that, there's only one short steep climb on Johnson Hill Road up to Canadice Lake Road …

…  and then it's a breeze of a ride after that all the way back to Rochester. My adaptation of the ride added some miles as I rode from home in the morning to a spot to intercept the route heading out, and a place to break off upon return home. All total, I scored 112 miles and under 5000' of climbing, making this century very doable. Back in town by 3:30pm, I had enough juice left for heading out at 7:00pm with Karen to add on another slow and easy 9 miles. We did our own "Ride of Silence" since the real event had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Maybe next year, we'll be on again.

With the Springwater Century completed, I guess I have to do it's "pair" sometime soon.