Originally Posted by
Grasschopper
How is the Philly route? I have done the Ride for the Roses and then last year the Livestrong ride in Austin and plan on doing the Livestrong ride down there again...but maybe I will do Philly as well.
Hi everyone,
I will be riding the century course next week for the Philly Challenge. I am a pediatrician who does cancer research at the national institutes of health, and I am riding in honor of the oncology patients at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.
I previewed the course last week and here are some thoughts if you are interested...
It is, as you would imagine with >8000 feet if climbing, a tough course. I tend to average about 20+ mph on flat rides and 17-18 mph on hilly rides when I am by myself, faster in a group. My average speed for this course (I was alone) was 15.9 mph, if that gives you an idea of the difficulty. And with all the climbing I doubt drafting will help all that much. I (sadly) spent a good amount of time riding at 5-6 mph at max heart rate. So it is a difficult course but obviously the tradeoff is that it is a very rewarding ride to complete, and let's face it, this is the kind of challenge most of us are looking for.
There are those 2 or 3 really big climbs that you can see on the elevation chart, but the even more challenging part of this ride (I think) is that there is almost no flat. There is barely any time to recover from one climb before you are on another one.
Sadly, the ride does not go through Philly at all, but a lot of the course goes through absolutely beautiful areas. Once you get past the first 5-10 miles it is very nice scenery for the most part. The tradeoff here is that there are a lot of turns, one almost every 1-2 miles, some sharp blind curves on uphills and downhills, and some shady pavement, so you have to stay on your toes, especially in a large group ride.
I ran into a guy who was also previewing the course who is one of the organizers-he told me that there will be the jumbotron and all kinds of fanfare at the finish line just like the big races, so that should be cool.
Looking forward to suffering up those climbs with you all, it's going to be a tough day on a great course, and something all levels of riders will find challenging. To the organizers-thanks a lot!!!! Let's keep this ride coming back to Philly!
See you there!