Today was hot, 98º with heat index around 110º, some readings as high as 115º. I parked at the Conklin Town Park did a climb up Powers Rd to Wilcox Rd and back. It was hard but not as hard as my hometown hill in TN. It was a climb of about 600' over about 3 miles (my two GPS gave wildly different readings: 611' and 683', topo map says 580').
Seeing the first glimpse of Powers Rd hill was a little daunting. Steep but not long. Heart rate was high but not max, and much of it due to the heat. I was in the 140s just biking on the flat to get to the base of the hill.
HR over 153 - 36:52
HR over 170 - 14:02
HR over 180 - 0:10
I made it up Powers Rd without even using the low 'granny gear.' Actually more by mistake than by design. The bike has a triple crank and I was on the middle sprocket the whole way up, thought I was on the smallest/lowest gear.
Tomorrow is my last day to bike so I may try Banta Rd. The stats show that it is comparable to Roark's Cove Rd in Sewanee.
Bike: Cannondale hybrid
Banta is much prettier. Impossible to avoid hills in Binghamton unless you ride along the river. When I visited I would ride from Conklin Forks over Ross Hill down Banta to Conklin Road, Conklin Rd into Binghamton and either go past the hospital and come back going past Ross Park into Hawleyton past Brookside then over a steep hill back to Conklin forks. Multiple 500 to 600 foot climbs in 25 or so miles. Too many hills actually. Stunts riding development. I actually became a stronger faster rider in Virginia where it is not very hilly.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t climbed Ahern although I know the road and it is steep. The steepest I’ve climbed is Mill Road which has an extremely steep section a little past Clearance street. I don’t think I ever used a gear with a rear sprocket larger than 23 teeth. I would change out my 10-21 to a 11-23 if going to Binghamton. Never did switchbacks from side to side. Of course I was younger last I rode Binghamton hills was 2012.
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