Gravel Race #5 & GPS #20 – Italy (no, not Italia) HILLS!

On August 14, I completed the final race in the 2020 Durty Bikes Gravel Series starting and ending in the Naples, NY Community Park. On the way home, we stopped for Great Pizza Search (GPS) #20 at Faro Pizzeria in Canandaigua, NY.

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2020 Durty Bikes Gravel Race #5 – the Hills of High Tor

For the final race, I did the Durty Bikes Gravel Series Race #5 – the Hills of High Tor.

High Tor is a wildlife management area of Upstate NY. It’s located as part of a large hill (mountain?) above the Naples and Italy Valleys in the Finger Lakes of New York.

1st mile was on a paved section of road. That took us to the High Tor parking lot. It continued on pavement around to the side and started uphill.

Here’s the Strava Link to the ride.

Miles 2 – 8 were not nice! The course basically took us around the perimeter of High Tor and up to the top of West Italy Hill. From about mile 2, the road surface turned to gravel; and what turned from a “pleasant” climb quickly turned nasty.

1400′ of climbing in 6 miles with several sections at over 10% grade, and one section OVER 18% grade ALL ON GRAVEL! It hurt, but I kept saying to myself, “we get the hardest section done early, and coast home!” Boy, was I wrong.

At the top of the hill, NOW I NEEDED TO GO DOWN ON GRAVEL! AND IT WAS VERY GNARLY GRAVEL!

Not having the right bike (I had my gravel bike and probably needed a fat tire mountain bike with a dropper post), nor the bike handling skills, this became one of my first “hike-a-bike” sections. Hike-a-Bike is when one puts their bike over their shoulder and walks! The rocks were so craggy that I was walking at about 1 – 1.5 miles per hour pace in my cycling cleats! That’s really, really slow!

By Mile 10, after descending 800′ over only 1.5 miles (mostly hike-a-bike), I was already shot. I was in for a long slog for the remainder of the 28 miles 😦

At Mile 15, we climbed up Italy Hill, thankfully, primarily on road. The first we’d seen in nearly 14 miles. Then, we descended for a 10 mile loop, primarily on gravel to then, need to reclimb Italy Hill, again on road.

Miles 25 to 36 are just a fog. The foggy state occurs for me when I’ve gone past my physical, and more importantly, mental reserve. I basically enter a catatonic state of “I’m going to finish, or I’m going to die,” and since dying is not really an option, my brain goes into a preservation state of very, very slow pace.

I’ve entered this state many times in the past in races where the “state of finishing” becomes paramount, sometimes beyond what’s smart. Thankfully, I don’t get this way in training because the day after is not pretty. I’m typing this right now on the “day after” and it’s all I can do to stay upright and breathing!

Somehow, during the foggy state, we climbed Knapp Hill. I don’t remember it!

I did recover slightly during the final mile or so. That’s likely because mentally, I knew it was almost over and the pain would easy.

As with every marathon (14) and Ironman (10) that I’ve done, I swore to myself that “I’ll never do this again!” I was conscious enough during my fog to say the same. BUT, here I am a day later…”CAN’T WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!”

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GPS #20 – Faro Pizzeria, Canandaigua, NY

So, after the Race, I was very much in the mood for pizza even though I had pizza the day before! So, we took a detour on the way home and through Canandaigua, NY. The Faro Pizzeria is located on Main Street in Canandaigua. We had been here before, but I couldn’t remember if we liked it or not.

Rating = Good, not great. I would rate it very good, but I only have 3 ratings to keep it simple (Great, Good, or MEH).

Would I Go Back? YES! Been here before, likely will go back again!