Rohrsburg Ride

I rode 24.3 miles today, this time in the morning. My route went to Rohrsburg and back, a somewhat modified version of a ride I did last June. It seems that I have finally gotten into my old form. I rode from the neighborhood down Dennys Hill, along Papermill Road, and into Lightstreet. I did the first 5K (3.1 miles) in 10:51, faster than I've ever biked that distance before. From there, I rode up Main Street and then crossed Fishing Creek on Back Branch Road, leaving Scott Township. There was a lone fisherman on the banks of Fishing Creek, below the bridge. From the creek, there was another easy half mile or so before the first of the hideously difficult hills came. The hill in question was Whites Church Road, which follows the tree-shaded valley of an unnamed stream. The road climbed gently, but almost constantly, for well over a mile before becoming much steeper in the end. Not a nice hill. But at the top of the hill, at the intersection with Oman Road, there was a wide view of fields and forests to the west. I had been running myself into the ground trying to stay below a 4:00/mile pace and I stopped at the top of the hill before flying down the other side.

The downhill was (obviously) much faster, though it was basically the opposite of the
ascent: a constant, gentle downhill with a few flat spots. As I passed the farm on this stretch, I startled a group of horses, who sprinted away from the road as I approached. Later, I came upon a little snake in the middle of the road. I ended up doing the seventh mile in 3:00 flat before crossing Deerlick Run  and getting onto Lick Run Road, the first unpaved terrain since Papermill Road. I followed Lick Run Road up the valley of Deerlick Run for a minute or so before turning onto another road. That road was called Crouse Hollow Road, though it's a noxious climb, so I prefer to call it Crap Hollow Road. Not only was it a steep climb, but it was unpaved, with many potholes and obstructions. I flamed out on the climb up Crap Hollow and it ended up being very slow going. For the next mile, I mostly just tried to recover as I climbed out of Crap Hollow and onto Fester Road, which was uphill (but paved, at least). By the time I got to Bowmans Mill Road, the hardest of the hills were behind me.

I took in the view of North Mountain for a moment before speeding down Bowmans Mill Road. It wasn't all downhill though; there were one or two bumps in the road before I reached Turkey Path Road, a steep and unpaved road that I descended on my last ride to Rohrsburg. This time, I continued straight on Bowmans Mill Road on my descent into the Greenwood Valley. It was paved and possibly even steeper than Turkey Path Road, so managed to get up to a very high speed. The wind screamed in my ears and tried to push me backwards as I descended. I'm pretty certain that the limiting factor on my speed was drag forces. The hill bottomed out after a while, but my momentum carried me a while longer, across Mud Run and towards Utt Road. I did that mile in 2:46, which roughly equals 22 miles per hour. Since that mile included flat stretches before and after the hill, I possibly reached 23 or 24 miles per hour on the descent, maybe even more. As I said, very fast. For me at least; I'm a pretty slow biker.

From Utt Road, I turned east and headed towards Rohrsburg, on flat ground for once. Last year,
some vandal(s) had very amusingly changed "Utt Road" to "Butt Road" on the street sign. I didn't see if it was still there, but for all I know it could be. Once I got to the southern border of Rohrsburg, I stopped at the bridge over Green Creek, the symbolic halfway point. From there, I headed south along Rohrsburg Road, a much easier way of getting back to Whites Church Road than going up and down all the horrible hills. That's not to say that there weren't a few small ups and downs as it passed through the Green Creek valley, but it was far easier overall than going back the way I came and I made up for plenty of lost time. Along the way, I came across two cyclists who were either just starting or just finishing a ride. I waved, but didn't stop to talk. Soon afterwards, I came to the Patterson Covered Bridge, where I stopped in the shade for a minute before continuing on my way. Eventually, the road passed beyond the valley of Green Creek and entered a floodplain from which Knob Mountain could be seen. Not long afterwards, I arrived at Green Creek Road, which was mostly flat as well. I saw some nice views of Green Creek and encountered a fisherman and a convoy of four motorcycles.

Eventually, I came to Mount Pleasant Road and took that to Whites Church Road. The next several tenths of a mile up Whites Church Road were hard, but not grueling, and the next two miles after that were almost all downhill. After that, I passed through Lightstreet, along Papermill Road, up Dennys Hill, and back into the neighborhood. It seems that I've gotten back to my old form. My time was 1:41:39 and my pace was 4:11/mile, faster than almost all of my rides last year. I was doing sub-4:00s for the first 7 miles before sinking to a 4:20/mile average by mile 9 and then regaining some lost ground on the descends and flat areas.
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