Almost Heaven
Having just recovered from the Akron ABC Century, last Sunday I saddled up for my second annual PMTCC 3-State Century.
The salient feature of last year’s ride was brutal heat; at 97 degrees, it was Pittsburgh’s hottest day in four years. Thankfully, this year’s weather was much more accommodating, with moderate temperatures and a light tailwind on the second half of the ride.
Century finisher medals
The 2017 ride started at Golden Triangle Bike Rental on the EFT, which was convenient for me, although it meant more time on extremely dangerous Route 51. In 2016 they’d started at AeroTech Designs on the North Side, which meant crossing the McKees Rocks Bridge, which wasn’t any better.
Out of consideration for the danger, the organizers led a slow, 10-mile neutralized start all the way to the far end of Neville Island before letting people fly free.
A few miles past the 200-foot Stoops Ferry spiker, we turned left on Route 151 for the long but moderate Laurel Road climb, at 450 feet the first of the big climbs. Then a long descent led to the first rest stop.
There I scarfed down a Hostess Cupcake and ran into two friends from the Performance Bicycle Saturday group rides: Miguel and Stephen. Amusingly, I’d spend the entire day riding about a kilometer behind them, then seeing them at the rest stops shortly before they took off again.
The next segment began with another 400-foot climb before leveling off and entering West Virginia. Three miles later, the road plunged down to a bridge across the Ohio River into the state of Ohio. Three flat miles later, back into Pennsylvania.
Last year, the added miles for century riders (as opposed to 85-mile riders) came in a single 12-mile detour with one 500-foot climb. This year there were two separate detours, and although they totaled the same 12 miles, they couldn’t have been more different! Instead of one 500-foot climb, there were three separate ones: 400 feet up Murphy Hill Road and then 300 more up Kelly Road on the first detour in Midland PA, plus 500 more feet up Sebring Road in Vanport on the second hill. And these were serious slopes, well above 15 percent, and my GPS displayed up to 19 percent. I was very thankful not to climb those in the blistering heat we had last year!
Now comes the odd bit: the lunch stop. Did PMTCC stock and man a lunch stop in the middle of the ride? No, what they did was give the riders Subway gift cards and encourage them to stop at sandwich shops located at miles 52 or 67. Very strange, but I guess it worked out okay. When I stopped at mile 67, I caught up with Miguel & Stephen, and Jim Logan-in true randonneur style-was in and out like a flash.
Upon setting back out, I crossed back over to the south side of the Ohio River for the long drag back down busy, high-speed Route 51 to the next rest stop at mile 80, where I stocked up with lots of ice and again found my friends.
It was really strange. Over the 50 miles between the first rest stop and the second (not counting the lunch stop), I had barely seen any other riders, except those at the rest stops. Apparently we were all riding at exactly the same pace, and evenly spaced-out. Very atypical.
Also strange was the rest stop spacing. From the ride start, it was 24 miles to the first stop, 43 miles to the lunch stop, just 12 miles to the second water stop, then another 21 miles to the finish. Very uneven, especially that 42-mile second segment. I hear they’re planning on changing the route for next year.
On the Sewickley Bridge, I passed my friend Jim Logan helping an Asian guy fix a flat tire. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but carried on. However, when I got back on the road after a quick stop at a convenience store for more ice and a cola, I caught back up with Jim. We rode together over the terrifying last six miles of Route 51 and rolled into the finish. There I met up with my other buddies, got a picture with them, and received a century finisher’s medal.
Riding home, I found myself following and then catching up with the Asian guy I’d seen Jim Logan helping on the Sewickley Bridge, and we chatted a bit. Guy’s name is Philgoo Han, and apparently it was his first century! It’s always cool helping riders do their first long rides. But it got kinda strange following him all the way through my neighborhood; apparently he lives only a couple streets over.
Overall, this year’s 3-State Century was a great ride. I took it easy and paced myself the whole way, and finished still feeling strong, rather than crawling in on fumes, which is pretty good for a century with more than a mile of vertical climbing! The moderate temps certainly helped, too. My Strava “suffer score” dropped from 354 last year to a mere 261 this time.
It was my third century of 2017, and my second in two weeks, after the previous week’s ABC Ride up in Akron. Now I’ve got a couple weeks to relax before things get busy again in August and September.