About Beth
I am a freelance writer, based in Pittsburgh, PA, specializing in science and technical topics. Yes, I am available for new writing projects! my first long bike ride
Yesterday I biked 25 miles.
After work Teri and I rode from Cornell, through downtown, and up 96 on the other side of the lake. 96 goes uphill for several miles. We passed things that always seemed so far away when we drove to them, like the Museum of the Earth. We got to the place where the cycling club was supposed to meet, couldn't find them, and decided to bike on our own up to Taughannock falls. We asked for directions (twice), and followed them to the lower end of the park (on the level with the bottom of the falls). The lower trail isn't open to bicyclists, and the refreshment stand was closed for the day. Bored with that, we decided to check out the overlook 200 or so feet up. (That was a bigger hill than we expected. I think Teri almost died.)
The falls were gone. We're having a dry summer, and there wasn't enough water in the creek. One tourist, getting into his car, asked me "You pedaled all the way up here for this?"
While we were hanging out, talking, preparing for our ride back downhill, a group of cyclists coasted in. We recognized some of their jerseys. They were the ride we tried to meet up with, only we had the wrong time. We talked to a rider who suggested that we had taken a more hilly route than their ride ever would (well, they are the beginners' ride), and that there is a ridge between 89 and 96, so that by going from the latter to the former we went down a big hill that we had to come back up later. He said we had probably gone up 1400 feet, elevation-wise, since leaving downtown.
So we rode back with the club. Before we left work, we didn't know if we'd make it to the meeting place alive, much less be able to keep up with the group. Now it turns out we had taken a more strenuous route than they had, and we were able to stay towards the front of the pack on the ride home. Go us!
After work Teri and I rode from Cornell, through downtown, and up 96 on the other side of the lake. 96 goes uphill for several miles. We passed things that always seemed so far away when we drove to them, like the Museum of the Earth. We got to the place where the cycling club was supposed to meet, couldn't find them, and decided to bike on our own up to Taughannock falls. We asked for directions (twice), and followed them to the lower end of the park (on the level with the bottom of the falls). The lower trail isn't open to bicyclists, and the refreshment stand was closed for the day. Bored with that, we decided to check out the overlook 200 or so feet up. (That was a bigger hill than we expected. I think Teri almost died.)
The falls were gone. We're having a dry summer, and there wasn't enough water in the creek. One tourist, getting into his car, asked me "You pedaled all the way up here for this?"
While we were hanging out, talking, preparing for our ride back downhill, a group of cyclists coasted in. We recognized some of their jerseys. They were the ride we tried to meet up with, only we had the wrong time. We talked to a rider who suggested that we had taken a more hilly route than their ride ever would (well, they are the beginners' ride), and that there is a ridge between 89 and 96, so that by going from the latter to the former we went down a big hill that we had to come back up later. He said we had probably gone up 1400 feet, elevation-wise, since leaving downtown.
So we rode back with the club. Before we left work, we didn't know if we'd make it to the meeting place alive, much less be able to keep up with the group. Now it turns out we had taken a more strenuous route than they had, and we were able to stay towards the front of the pack on the ride home. Go us!