Round da River Ride
Well there is always a point in the season, where you need to go big or stay home. Today was it. Will and I had contemplated for some time, doing what local York riders call the river ride, or round the river. It starts on 462 and heads south from the Wrightsville bridge, past Safe Harbor, to the next bridge, and then back up the west side of the river. Oh sure you say, that sounds like fun. Yeah, great fun, if you like to suffer.
Last year i did the river ride 3 times, twice solo, and one with Will. It is a great training ride, as there is no shortages of hills, or either grinding up one, or taking your life into your own hands going down one.
Today Will arrived at my pad, by 8 am, and both of us in a sleep deprived stupor, stumble and fumbled around until we were finally heading out the driveway on what would be my first significant ride of the summer.
The ride had use going out across the river, where for the first time, in recent memory (the past 3 years) Will actually flatted.. Holy crap did i pass the curse on to him?? I hope not, but I had to chuckle that it wasn’t me as per usual.
We knew the day was going to be full of killer climbs the kind of climbs that make the infamous turkey hill ride, seem like a day at Bethany Beach (i.e. flat) So we / i was in no hurry. As we headed south we kept up a steady pace, and hit Turkey Hill, with purpose. After climbing last week up to Sam Lewis state Park, Turkey Hill didn’t seem all that indimidating. We got to the top, and I foolishly felt like the day would end well, or that I could end the day strong.
We wound south nursing our bottles, and eating along the way. When we got to the southern bridge, I was getting desperately low on fluid, and we were looking for places to refill our bottles. As we climbed away from the river, I still felt pretty good. To be honest that was the last time I felt “good”. A couple miles from the river, there was a baseball complex, and I remembered that there was a water spigot behind one of the concession stands. Today I was thrilled to be getting there as I sucked down the last of the Gatorade, only to find that the water was off. Son of a beeeeep. I knew that there was really no where close to get more water, and I wished i had listened to myself, and brought a third bottle.
We headed north, and Will indicated that the next water hole, would have been the Otter Creek Campground. What we didn’t know was where this campground was, and what the implications of its location would mean. We turned off the main road, and dropped back down to the river. The road going in was pretty well maintained, and my Opera up until now, had been holding her own descending. If you know me at all, I love to go fast, which on a bike, means, going down hill.
As I descended, I came pretty hot into a sweeping right hand-er, Now even on this descent i had a hand full of rear brake, to manage my speed. As I started into it, at (according to Will) was 40+ mph, the rear tire lost its grip, and locked up. It either locked up, due to the frame flexing, and thus the brakes bite hard, or as Will seemed to indicate there was some uneven pavement which caused the rear wheel to hop and lock up. When the rear end broke loose , I was in some serious shit. At that speed it is very unsettling to have your rear end slid out from under you. The bike wrenched from under me with such force that my right foot came out of the pedal, and With the bike out of control I was heading towards the guard rail at 40 mph. Fortunately for me, the bike did hook back up, and using the entire road brought it back under control, and with a little less zeal continued my descent to the river. Will’s thoughts were that i was toast, he was impressed by the fact that I didn’t panic, and was able to bring the bike around and not lay it down. However I can’t take the credit for it, It happened so fast, that only my angle of God (guardian angle) could have intervened and saved my hide for the millionth time.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty disappointed that the Opera came unglued. I suppose it is unfair to compare it to my Masi Grand Crit, but this bike just doesn’t have the pedigree of a race bike. Now I know that I got this bike specifically for long rides, and I suppose the issues shouldn’t be with the bike, but with my riding style, but alas, i will need to temper how hard i push that bike. For now, the good news is, i figured out where her limit is.
After stopping at Otter Creek, we realized the folly of our decision to go there. Aside from me almost ending as a spot on the road, we had put ourselves deep in a whole, that we now had to climb out of. We fueled up, and headed out.
After climbing what could have been the steepest climb of the day, we headed up to route 124, then onto 462. Prior to getting to 462 we stopped at a country super market, and got some grub. Apples, Banna’s, icy hot, aspirin, all the usual stuff. Oh did i mention that i was hurting by this point. My neck was pretty tense, thus leading to what is usually an excruciating head ache. Fortunately the icy hot did its trick, and the pain was manageable the rest of the way home.
The whole day seemed like we where destined to get dumped on from the heavens. It was a super humid, Hot, Hazy, and we could see thunder storm cells all around us. So we had managed to do 60 of a 66 mile ride without a drop, Well, in the end those last 6 miles proved to be soaking. It did take my thoughts of what parts of my body that were aching, and we idled into the homestead, wet, but elated that we completed the first of the seasons river ride.
This ride has set my personal record for the most elevation climbed in a single ride at 7598 feet!
Details of the ride:
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