CPFITNESS

In terms of elevation change? I used an app for my droid to chart my travels and i was surprised at the elevation change numbers. Hills like harlem hill that i swore went up a couple hundred feet really only go up less than half of that. When all was said and done, I kinda felt like a loser. Then i put more thought to it and said "200 feet is a 20 story building, that is pretty tall, harlem hill isn't nearly as tall as that" So with that said, how does doing a lap around Central Park compare in terms of level of difficulty with say cruising 6 miles on flat ground?

Last week I did 4 laps in 1:25:01 which is down from 1:32 when I first did them a couple of months ago but the hills just really seem to hurt me going up more than they help me going down (I'm 235lbs)

Inertianinja

i see it as kind of a mini version of road cycling. there's a steep climb, a steep descent, gradual climbs and descents, and a fast flat section. easy enough for a recovery ride but varied enough to be challenging.

it did not compare to the climbing up on route 9, though.

ckobran

I spend a lot of time in CP doing laps as Inertianinja said..it offers a little of everything, but nothing extreme...

NYCC has a chart for giving yourself a ranking based on your 4 lap time

https://www.nycc.org/rides_day.shtml


I personally love it...the best time to ride there is late at night (8:30 +) on weeknights or weekends...no crowds, just put on your lights and you can turn lap after lap...just look out for Raccoons on the downhills

As noted, "real" climbs happen over the GW bridge in NJ and NY (Bear Mtn etc..)...but if you live in he city and only have 1-1.5 hours to do a quick ride at the end of a long day...how awesome is CP to have at your doorstep

Inertianinja

man, i can't do night rides. i tried doing that last year, and it was all joggers in black and bugs and raccoons. too nerve-wracking for me despite my lights. i switched to getting up at 5am and riding from about 530-7. i enjoy the competition that's in the park at that hour.

and yea, the park's proximity to my apartment is almost too wonderful to be fair to the rest of the world. im literally three blocks from the 91st street engineers gate.

ckobran

Yeah, I have a hard time getting up that early

I am right by Engineers gate as well...I used to live down by Columbus circle and start my laps there, but I really prefert starting on East Drive...gives you a nice long straight to hammer when youare getting close to your goal

Inertianinja

yea, it's hard to recommend it. as nice as it is to be on the bike when the city is so quiet, i'm really burning the candle at both ends and i have to really try hard not to wake my fiancee.

you get into a rhythm though. i prepare my bike stuff and coffee (tassimo thing) the night before. that enables me to stumble out of bed and have coffee-iPad-bathroom time. then i stumble out of the apartment without shoes on to try to keep the noise down, and i'm on the road by 530. mostly on autopilot.

CPFITNESS

interesting responses. I find central park laps beat me up A LOT more than going over the GWB and even doing route 9W which I've done a couple of times. Of course, maybe my thoughts are skewed because there is nothing better than turning around and coming back on downhill downwind on 9W so perhaps I forget how miserable I am on the way out. I think the moral of the story is that for a big man, a short steep hill is much more damaging for me than a long slow and steady one such as the 59th st bridge.

I'm familiar with the cycling clubs classification thing and the first time i did 4 laps back in march i did it in 1:32 and my avg hr was 173. I did it again in april and shaved 6 minutes off it down to 1:26 and I don't recall what my AVG HR was. I just did it again last thursday but I forgot to put the HR strap on so no HR data but I did it in 1:25 and felt much better than previous trips. I used to do some hill repeats weekly on sat evenings but the last few saturdays have been bad. I definately need to reintroduce them and get my strength up.

sukram

When the weather starts to get nice I always find myself constantly distracted by the sights along the CP loop...

ckobran

The west side rollers (the 3 small hills right after Harlem Hill) always are my downfall I expend so much energy trying to keep my speed up on Harlem Hill, I am spent for the rollers

Cpfitness ... you are making some good progress! I am very pleased to turn my 4 laps in 1:19 - 1:20 ...

This year I have been focusing on getting through Cat Hill, Harlem and then not being dead for the rollers...I haven't done my 4 lap fitness test this year yet...I have a Tri this weekend, maybe tomorrow AM (yes...I am trying to convince myself to get out early tomorrow) I can test my new score...been turning 2 laps in about 38 - 39 ...lower when I can draft

Papa Tom

As a Lawng Islandah, I had been hearing about the "lap" around Central park for a number of years, and it always seemed to be something any fat slob on a Huffy could do. Last fall, I finally decided to hop on the LIRR and check it out for myself. Gotta tell you, those of you who actually do LAPS (as opposed to a "LAP," as I did) certainly have MY respect. I don't know if it was just a bad day for me that day or what, but those hills killed me...and the descents barely gave me enough time to catch my breath.

It's a beautiful, invigorating ride, though. I only wish bikes were permitted in some of the other areas of the park, as I haven't explored CP since the early 80s.

leooooo

If you ever plan on doing laps weekend mornings to afternoons, it'll be the toughest laps you'll ever do.

CPFITNESS

Your statement is the exact reason why I made this post! On the surface it seems like it should be so easy! Then your out there and it's not! And to the person who talked about the rollers after harlem hill, thank you! That area KILLS me!!!! I know I'm getting better because my first lap I destroy harlem hill no problem but on the 3rd lap it's brutal and then usually the 4th lap I'm able to dig deep and muster something up.

When I first got my bike, I took it for a ride entering engineers gate and went around and up harlem hill and after the rollers, I was dead. I planned to do a whole lap and go back to my apt on 83rd and east end but I ended up cutting through the park on 86th street and going home feeling good about my 4 mile ride! I did that a couple of times then finally stepped it up to do a full lap. From there I went out to the west side trails and suddenly was able to go 16 miles up to gwb and back no problem and then i've done nothing but progress since then. I feel like the effort exerted in a 6 mile central park lap is equal to 12 miles on regular flat ground.

And yes, don't bother going there on weekends unless you just want to do hill repeats in harlem cuz that end of the park doesn't get too congested.

Inertianinja

Call it motivation.
But is it "drafting" or "stalking" ?

Papa Tom

>>>>I feel like the effort exerted in a 6 mile central park lap is equal to 12 miles on regular flat ground.<<<<

Absolutely. You're not crazy. I do a 10-mile ride out here at Jones Beach just about every night in the summer and it feels like nothing. That Central Park loop should NOT be on lists of things for the average tourist to do while visiting NY!

Inertianinja

All things considered, I like riding in CP because it has stayed challenging so far.
Riding there consistently has made it possible for me to track my progress easily...

for example, when I started last summer, the Harlem hills were difficult. I was on the brakes on the downhill and struggled on Harlem hill...as in lungs in my throat by the top.
Now, I'm pedaling down, and on Harlem hill I can still get up it at 15-17mph on my 5th lap.

ckobran

Just to be clear...are you hitting 15-17 going up? if so...nicely done...I start off around 15 and by the time I hit the top, am about 11

and BTW...my plans for the early morning ride got scuppered by my 3 week old son deciding not to sleep through the night...so evening laps it is!

Inertianinja

I'm no lance armstrong or Cancellara-with-motor
but I can sustain that speed pretty much the whole way up, even after a few laps. i haven't yet tried to do a max effort "climb" yet.

as for morning rides, i had problems waking up my fiancee. so now i get all my bike stuff ready the night before and put my shoes on outside. it's worked so far

cc_rider

Compared to DC and Northern Virgina, NY is FLAT. That's why I like going back a couple times a year for some relatively easy riding.
Typical half century / metric length ride around here might have 3000 to 5000 feet of climbing. Lots of short, steep hills.
Harlem Hill is a bit of work, but not a serious challenge. Worse are all of the mobile speed-bumps.

pgoat

I have to ride in from Queens, which can be a drag; but at least it's a good warm up - I can more or less hit the first lap at or close to ramming speed.

The first few years I rode in CP I only did it once or twice a year - it felt really, REALLY hard. And I was used to riding 50-60 miles (albeit flat NYC miles - the 59th street bridge is my only regular 'hill')....but one lap was my limit with that Harlem Hill thrown in. If I felt good I'd do the lower loop to tack on a bit and then save some oomph for the ride home.

My biggest breakthrough came a few years ago when I had some weekdays off. I was stoked to finally complete two full loops....then three the next time out, etc. By a month later, five or six loops were pretty easy and the whole thing seemed much less intimidating....

....except for that hill....


This year I've added hill repeats and they've really helped take the fear factor out. I'll vary standing drills with seated easy spinning, a mix of the two in a moderate gear, etc etc. When you get a feel for your preferred climbing technique for that specific hill (which btw, appears to be just under half a mile and between 3-6% grade, steepening after the left bend and up towards the peak), you can either attack in using your strengths (Mine is standing in a higher gear) and also utilize your weaker methods as a change of pace/to round your riding out. I used to dread that part of each lap ("oh no - not this again!!"). Now I see it as a painful but rewarding challenge I have much more control over.

Inertianinja

i need to try some hill repeats there. i just like doing the whole loop.

pgoat - what route do you recommend from queens? we talked about it a long time ago, and i went over the 59th street bridge, and was surprised to find that it spit me out into oncoming traffic on the Boulevard of Death. how do i go east from there?

SourDieseL

The good old CP LAPS! You know you cycle CP way too often when you start timing your strategy, east side flat top 2 gears bend to bend in under 2.5mins which goes into a S bend descent small hill into pool S bend descent...keep your speed going into HH. It's a great course at that to be honest. Cat hill (west side rollers) and at the false flat west 90s is another time attack area. Coming down the last descent on the west side by delacorte should carry you into the small climb by sheep meadows. I start CP from west 72nd.

I view CP laps as a time attack course where I'm around 1.05-1.11 on 4 laps. I don't ride it much often anymore, i actually head to Riverside Drive and head up towards GWB. I'll do repeats from 72nd Riverside up to the 150s and back down 4 laps there and back is 1 lap.

ckobran

Oh yeah, I have stared at my Garmin data and compared cadence HR speed over every inch of that course...

My favorite parts are the S curves coming off of East Drive...I can usually get up close to 30 mph through there and then there is a slight rise before you get set up to hit the Lasker Pool S curves...fun fun fun....looking forward to tonight

Inertianinja

I'll be in cp tomorrow moring as usual. I'll be the guy on this bike: https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1154/...ba0e179690.jpg

westBrooklyn

do you see a lot of single speed or fixed gear riders in the park? Or is the park more about people with gears maximizing their efficiency and time?

zacster

Usually the first time I'm in CP every year the Harlem hill is a killer, but by the end of the season, it isn't so hard. The rollers after it seem like nothing once you're in shape, but you wonder what happened to your body when you're not. As for the downhill, because it is basically immediately before the uphill you don't feel like you get any benefit from it.

Prospect Park in Brooklyn can be even more tedious as the loop is shorter, but it is much less crowded, even on weekends. The hill is less steep but longer. At least that's how it seems. I've done PP hill at 20+, even my 12 year old daughter does it at 18, although on bad days I drag up at 14.