Morning Ride around Keuka Lake

I was on the road by 9:30AM on Saturday after a good nights sleep big bowl of granola with hemp milk. The sun was breaking over the hills behind the lake, and brightening up the west side Keuka Lake. I decided that to change things up this year I was going to climb up the hill a bit on the west side of Keuka near the Bully Hill Vineyard and follow the road that parallels the coastline at a higher elevation. I typically ride the lower road which is ok but there is a long line of cars parked for the people who are staying in the houses along the lake and you never know when a car door may open. I wished I would have done this before! The initial climb up from the shoreline is a little taxing(Cat 4) but it was sooo worth it. The road was fairly flat to rolling, with a nicely paved surface but the view was INCREDIBLE! I was winding through farms and fields of grapes and constantly overlooking Keuka Lake. In addition, the day was beautiful. Blue skies and white puffy clouds. It looked like something from the Simpsons.

I eventually reached the end of the west side of the lake where I came to a dead end on Italy Hill Road. I made a right turn heading towards Branchport, NY and quickly descended the 1-2 mile 7% descent…Weeee!! Besides taking the upper road on the west side of the lake, I also decided to ascend the bluff which is the peninsula of land that forms the inner portion of the “Y” that is Keuka Lake. The climb up the bluff is not super steep, but long and gradual.You are then rewarded with a amazing view of both sides of the lake. Once on top on Skyline Dr. it is pretty flat too and then you take a steep drop down to the point. I thought I would get a really cool view from the point, but it was covered in trees. Once back down to lake-level I was faced with taking either a right or left on West or East Bluff Rds. I made the left and the road turned from paved to a dirt road that was coated with a layer of tar. It actually wasn’t too bad and I eventually dropped down to a paved section. The rest of the road was well shaded and flat. It cruised along the shore up to Keuka College and eventually back out to the main road(Rt. 14 ) not far from where I turned in. Wind had been coming from the North all day, but wasn’t too bad. I was looking forward to my southerly ride back down the east side of the lake which should be a fast cruise.

Keuka College

I made my way down the east side running around 18-22mph the whole time. A nice tailwind made it even more enjoyable. When I got back to the house I dropped my bike off and informed my wife that I still had a 20 minute brick run to do yet. She had forgotten about this and was looking forward to going to lunch, so she was not real happy about it. I quickly threw on my running shoes and made a quick 17 minute loop around the house. I then ran down to the dock and jumped in the lake for a quick bath, then it was off to Heron Hill for some lunch.

We enjoyed a fantastic lunch at Heron Hill. I had a portabella panini and a few glasses of wine and my wife had the greek salad. We ended up ordering another portabella panini and splitting it because it was so good. I then did a quick wine tasting and purchased a few bottles of their Eclipse Red and Dry Riesling to take home. The view from Heron Hill’s winery was spectacular(below).

We stopped in at the craft show in Hammondsport on the way home and scored a really cool ceramic plate(below) for grating garlic and other things. Can’t wait to try that out. We chilled out at the house the rest of the evening and my Sister-In-Law prepared a wonderful dinner. They had chicken, but also lots of vegetables so I was good to go. I really had no desire to eat the chicken either, which I was surprised. I didn’t last too much longer after dinner as the 60 mile bike ride and 20 min run finally caught up to me. Got to get some rest as tomorrow is a easy mile swim and a 1:30 run in the morning and then travel back home again.