Pedal More Lakes

[ornoth_cycling]

Sunday September 3 was Mercer County Trails’ annual Pedal the Lakes ride. It was my fifth century of 2022 – eclipsing last year’s total – and my 106th lifetime. So it’s time for a ride report…

I rode PtL in 2016, 2018, and 2019. Following a break during the pandemic, they changed the route and moved the start to Lake Wilhelm. Back in June, the organizers also ran a “Tour of Mercer County” that set out from the PtL’s former home at Riverside Park in Greenville; I had intended to ride that this year, but they decided to withdraw the 100-mile distance option at the last second.

Sunrise over Lake Wilhelm before setting out on the 2022 PtL ride

Swoopy Lake Wilhelm bike trail

Western Pennsylvania farmland

Pymatuning Reservoir dam gatehouse

However, the redesigned PtL did offer a century distance, although riders could only do that by completing their 50km short loop, returning to the start, and then completing a longer 110km loop.

For the most part, the new route didn’t use many roads from the old one, and the few duplicates were traversed in the opposite direction, which often completely changes the experience for someone traveling by bike. We would still hit the Pymatuning Reservoir and Conneaut Lake, but Lake Wilhelm replaced the Shenango Reservoir, and we’d forgo the leg into Ohio to touch Mosquito Creek Lake.

I got up and hopped in the car around 6:30am for the 75-minute drive north and learned that my partner had left me with an eighth of a tank of fuel. That required a side stop for gas in Grove City, undermining my plan to arrive at the start early.

I pulled into the Goddard State Park marina at 8am and checked into the ride. Out of a couple dozen century riders, I was one of only two who hadn’t already signed in and rolled out. The weather was mostly cloudy, but unlike my previous PtL rides, there was no autumn chill, and I was looking forward to a day spent exploring the picturesque western Pennsylvania countryside. I took a late “sunrise over Lake Wilhelm” selfie and set out at 8:30.

The shorter 50km loop began by crossing long-but-narrow Lake Wilhelm on a causeway, then following a bike path 10km southward along the eastern bank of the lake. I saw almost no riders, so it was very quiet, and a pleasant 19º despite being heavily wooded. The path featured occasional views of the lake, several small wooden bridges, and lots of swooping ups and downs that attested that it was definitely not a converted railroad line!

After emerging onto regular roads I pulled into the Stoneboro FD rest stop just after 9am with 16km done. I didn’t need fluid, and the selection of snacks was underwhelming, so I simply said hello, recorded my ride commentary, and rolled on.

The remainder of the 50km loop headed west and north – inland into farmland – before returning to the starting point. The scenic countryside was gently rolling, punctuated with a few small dips and climbs into and out of valleys cut by small streams. There were lots of quiet roads and false flats where one could fly along at 48-42 km/h, which effortlessly ate up the 36km segment in no time.

At 48km century riders had a choice of either saving 8km by immediately joining the outbound 110km route or returning to the marina to completing the full 50km route and beginning the full 110km route from the start. As a completist, I chose not to take the short cut, finishing the short loop at 10:30 in exactly two hours, having ridden 52km and accumulated 460m of climbing. I used the opportunity to hit the bathroom and stop by my car and pick up a frozen bottle of sport drink.

With my century ride now one-third done, I turned around and set out on the longer 110km loop. There was a lot of high haze in the sky, but occasional patches of blue, and the temp had climbed to a still-ideal 23°. 

A long 36km first segment of the big loop took me north and west across country. The air was a little warmer than before, the headwind was a little bit stronger, the farms were a little less scenic, the hills were a little bit bigger, and the legs were a little more used up. As I told my voice recorder, “It’s just becoming a little less of a pleasant touristy ride.”

At 12pm I pulled into the rest stop at the southern end of the immense Pymatuning Reservoir. Despite feeling that I was slowing due to fatigue, I’d covered 90km in 3½ hours, which is an excellent pace for me. Despite making good time, I still hadn’t seen many other riders, which again speaks to the head-start I’d given them by setting out late. Knowing I was already behind on solid food, I downed a chocolate chip cookie and stuffed another one in a jersey pocket, where it would leave a crumbled, melty mess.

The Pymatuning Reservoir is shaped like a boomerang, and the next leg went from the tip of the southern arm across country to the far north-eastern arm. I wistfully rode past the winery that was the lunch stop on the old PtL route and had featured catered pizza and donuts; the ride offered nothing so delicious this year. I stopped briefly to take some pictures at the causeway that crosses the reservoir, where tourists and seagulls flock to see thousands of carp that clog the spillway. It’s allegedly the second most popular tourist destination in all of Pennsylvania, trailing only the Liberty Bell. Then across country to the tony resort town of Conneaut Lake. As you might imagine, these areas were all a lot more built-up, with commensurate traffic volumes and speeds, making for a less pleasant ride.

I hit the Conneaut Lake rest stop at 1:40pm with 126km done and 1,000m of climbing, and met up with a family of four people riding just the longer loop (not the century). I rested for 10 minutes, chatting while munching two bite-sized cookies. The volunteer manning the stop confirmed that I was indeed the last of the century riders.

The penultimate segment was thankfully short, flat, and included a brief stretch on a wooded bike path. But the final rest stop was bizarre. It was a few hundred meters of gravel off the main road, at a seeds-and-biomass facility, where a cooler had been left outside on a card table, and devoid of any attendees save for one huge, geriatric golden retriever. Being well into “survival mode” already, I happily raided the cooler for any remaining ice.

It was 2:30, so I was exactly six hours in. And with 140km under my belt, there was just the final 20km back to the marina. When I wondered aloud whether the last two hills were going to be as bad as they looked on paper, a grimy old man suddenly popped up and said, “Oh yeah, they are!” That was enough to prompt me to saddle up and skedaddle back to the main road.

The next 10km was me crawling over those two evil hills and through a village called “Custards”, nursing all the aches and pains in my butt, the backs of my knees, my right calf, and right big toe.

Then, just when you thought the pain would be over, I realized that I was just about on track to complete my century within seven hours, which is something of an achievement. So the final 10km was me burying myself, in an all-out time-trialling effort, tapping whatever strength I had left to break seven hours.

The odometer tripped 100 miles on the return over the causeway across Lake Wilhelm, just a few hundred meters before the marina, where I stopped at 3:34pm. I’d completed the century (162km) in seven hours exactly, with 1,371m of climbing, and a 25.5 km/h average speed.

So that was the ride… Now for some final observations.

Back before the pandemic, Pedal the Lakes was always a nice, relaxed late summer / early autumn ride: a final long expedition of the year following the hectic insanity of July and August. It was really nice to get back to that.

The new route has pluses and minuses. There’s less busy roads, a lot fewer painful oil-and-chip surfaces, and the lakeside bike path was interesting. Having the century ride comprised of two loops was fine, with the shorter loop being more scenic, but the longer loop including more lakes. Even though much of the course is delightfully flat (-ish) I do think you need to be well-prepared for this one, with those two big 100m climbs in the final 20km.

I will say that I’m a little disappointed in the support, although that’s mostly due to far exceeding my expectations in previous years, when we were treated to brownies, donuts, fresh pizza for lunch, and chocolate milk at the finish. And there was no ice available, except for what residue I could scoop out of a couple drink coolers. Perhaps because of that, I suffered by not eating enough: the equivalent of about two cookies during a 3,100 kCal effort.

I remain divided about my own performance. On the down side, I felt like my stamina and my legs didn’t hold up quite as much as I would have liked, and I wound up trailing the other riders by some unknown margin. On the other hand, I finished feeling reasonably strong and set an objectively good time. Those two contradictory aspects just don’t add up well in my head.

All that aside, I really enjoyed the ride and would certainly do it again. It was a wonderful tour of the western Pennsylvania countryside, and a fun day out on the bike, albeit riding solo.

And, as usual, it’s a fitting end to cycling’s high season, and a segue into the more relaxed, less stressful rides of autumn. I’m looking forward to that!