East Liverpool

Easy century on Sunday the 27th, as I didn't want to abuse myself too much prior to the Eastern PA 1000K this coming weekend.

Interesting shifts in participants; we started with six, lost two and gained one in the first 30 miles, then split into two groups and gained another rider up in Beaver. All told, the tally included myself, Jim Logan, Phil Stewart, Brian, Heather, Ed, Don, and Al Gaburri, at various points in the ride.

East Liverpool is one of my favorite easy routes; almost all of the climbing (and there ain't much!) is loaded into the first 40 miles; once you hit East Liverpool, the entire latter half of the ride is flat roads paralleling the Ohio River. There's a couple of moderate climbs, with the long slog up 151 chief among them, but, for the most part, it's easy cruising. For the most part; as usual, the return leg along Rt 51 from Monaca resulted in my inner hammerhead surging to the fore. I had it all under control, until Phil (on his tri bike) dropped into the bars and decided to throw down a little, so I had no choice but to provide a demonstration of recumbent aerodynamics. Roughly 5 miles at 25 mph later, we had to slow down for the turn onto the Ambridge bridge, and to let the old guys catch up ;-)

(On a side note, I really should try redlining it on the P-38 and the Baron one of these days; I'm curious as to what I can sustain on a long straightaway if I put my heart into it. I bet I could push high 20s on the Baron for a few miles at least...)

Fun route, decent speed: 90 miles of "official" ride at 16 mph rolling average, plus an extra 11 miles round trip from home to the trail head. And the run to Bellevue to pick up pizza for dinner a couple hours later felt like I was on fresh legs, so I successfully avoided overdoing it.