Anti All Pace Ride

Weathermen suck. If they are lucky they get the forecast right 50% of the time which is probably more luck than skill. Don't even get me started on the accuracy of long range forecasts which are a joke. Still when I'm planning a ride I look at the weather forecast anyway just in case it might be right. For this July 4th I decided to put together my own ride instead of doing the clubs All Paces ride because the rides are getting too large and unorganized and I wanted to do some different roads.

I was encouraged by the weather forecasts for the 4th because all of them said that any rain would be in the late afternoon. So I was a little mad at the weathermen when I woke up and saw dark clouds covering the sky. The radar shows approaching rain. In fact it showed rain over my house so I'm thinking I'm going to have to cancel the ride. Then I look out the window and it's not raining and the roads are dry. There's no rain so what do I do.

I get a call from Joe who wants to know whether the ride is on or not. I look at the radar again then look outside. The radar shows rain coming but it looks light and scattered. The roads are dry. I know I'll be pissed if I cancel the ride and then spend the morning looking out the window at dry roads that I could have been riding on. I tell Joe the ride is on. If it starts to rain we might get a little wet but it shouldn't be bad. This was the right decision because there was almost no rain and we ended up having a good ride. The moral of the story is that it is better to take a chance and get a little wet than to cancel a ride and be pissed if it doesn't rain.

I won't ride if it is definitely going to rain but I have become less likely to cancel a ride when there is only a chance of rain.

The ride started out of Etra park and the plan was to do a 50 loop to Farmingdale and back. I ended up with 8 people on the ride. The usual Hill Slug gang along with Herb and the Joes.

I had a nice surprised when Mike M brought out a cake and the group sang "Happy Birthday" to me. I'm not big on birthday celebrations but it was a really nice gesture from a group of people I really enjoy hanging around with.

From Etra we headed east taking the short way to Farmingdale. I wanted to get ahead of any rain coming hoping by the time we headed back it would be more scattered and we could pass through it quickly. The roads were really empty so riding was fun and we set a quick pace. We hit a few drops of rain here and there but it never really rained.

When we got to Farmingdale we tried to stop at the Bagel store but it was closed for the 4th so we ended up at the bakery.

On the way back from Farmingdale I took the scenic route around the Manasquan reservior. After we crossed Rt 9 we took Georgia Rd in to Turkey Swamp and kept cruising along at good pace. For the first time we actually saw two very large Turkeys at the end of Nomoco. I stopped to take a few pictures but none of them came out good.

From Turkey Swamp we headed through Millstone on Back Bone Hill and then back to the start. We ended up coming in at 17.2 mph and did just over 50 miles. Since the ride started at 8AM we were back by 11:30. It felt unusual to be done this early but it was a good way to spend my birthday.

Pine Barrens Metric

After doing mostly hills for the pass few weekends it was a nice change of pace to head south through the Pine Barrens. This was a metric century that I had it the book. It turned out to be a popular ride. I got a number of emails and phone calls before the ride. This was a long ride on a hot day and although I try not to discourage people from coming on my rides I like to make sure the know terrain and speed that I plan to do. You don't want a rider to get in over their head and not be able to complete the ride.

I ended up having 9 people on the ride. It was most of the regular crowd plus a couple of new people, Lisa and Alex. This route was a combination of a Medford Lakes ride and a Pine Barrens ride that I did for the book last year. It started in Columbus just off 206 and headed mostly south towards Medford Lakes. On the way we passed Smithville a town that use to be an industrial village and produced woodworking machinery and high-wheel bicycles in the late 1800s. The land down here is mostly open farmland and is very pleasant to ride. We moved along at a good pace.

After going through the tip of Medford Lakes we headed out 532 which is a long 15 mile stretch that would bring us to Lebanon State forest. We stoppped at a little general store in Tabernacle. This is a popular place to stop for most of the bikers in the area and even though it was empty when we got there with in about 10 minutes a large group of bikers.

From the rest stop we continued on to through Chadworths to Lebanon State forest and got to ride through some real pinelands. Henry ended up having a flat along the way. Lisa wanted to observe to learn how to better change a tire so we gave her a lesson. Stopping to change the tire made me realize how hot it was starting to get.

We continued on and started to head back north from Chadworth. Just before we got to Browns Mill Alex had a flat so we demostarted how to change a flat again. At 50 miles we made our second rest stop in Browns Mill. From here is was mostly straight north back to the starting point. We ended up having to make a slight detour around Fort Dix that I hadden planned on but it really didn't any extra miles to the ride.

The ride ended up being 63 miles. We averaged about 17 mph which was a little better than I was expecting given the heat. This was a good group of people today nobody was pushing the pace and nobody was dragging. It was a good route and I really enjoyed the ride but by the end it was getting really hot and I'm glad it ended when it did.

Bloomsbury Boogie

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This Sunday 6/22 Larry had a ride in the book that he said should not be missed. He even sent out an email reminding people of the ride and how picturesque it would be. So I decide to take the drive and check out this ride. Even though the weather called for possible scattered showers I checked the radar and there was just one small shower just north of Flemington. This would make the roads a little wet but there should be no problem riding.

I got to the starting point and found a few other people there who were looking forward to the ride. There was just one thing missing on this not to be missed ride, the ride leader LARRY!.

We called him and he said that he didn't think the weather was going to be good enough to do the ride so he didn't bother coming. I didn't see anything major on the radar when I looked so I still wanted to do the ride especially now that I was at the starting point. So I asked Larry for the route and he gave me a quick turn by turn description. Luckly I had the NJ Bike Maps with me so I marked off all the turns. I knew about 80% of the roads that we were going on so I figured I could get us to Bloomsbury and back.

The first part of the out of Flemington is a slow climb of 260 feet which lasts about 2 miles. It wasn't steep but was long and a tough way to start the ride. We then rode along the ridges above Frenchtown and down towards Holland. There were no major hills here but just some constant ups and downs. Some of the down hills were pretty fun. The roads were a little wet here and we felt a few drops or rain but it wasn't a problem. We ended up on one of my favorite roads Sweet Hollow. Its a beautiful winding 3 miles of downhills.

Unfortunately Larry's route took us up this road to get to Bloomsbury so It wasn't as much fun. The climb up wasn't bad actually. There was a tough part when we made a left on Mylar and had to climb 340 feet but it wasn't any worst than any of the usual Sourland hills. Once we got to the top I ended up taking a wrong turn and ended up coming down a really steep hair pin turn as part of a 720 foot down hill. There were times when I had my brakes on full and I was still doing 20 miles and hour. That's one hill I'm never going to climb.

We stopped in Bloomsbury for a break in a nice general store. The weather had gotten better and I called my wife for an update. She didn't see any storms on radar so we were good to go.

We headed out of Bloomsbury toward Rieglesville and ended up riding along the Delaware to Milford. We made a quick water stop in Milford then started climbing again. Larry's route had us going across the river and riding along 32 but that would have meant more hill than I think most people wanted to do. I headed up Javes and Rummel a route Laura uses to get back to the ridge above Frenchtown that minimizes tough climbs. Most of the people on the ride were from Larry's Cranbury rides so they aren't use to climbing.

Once we got up to the ridge we ended up on 519 for quite a ways. This road has a lot of ups and downs so I took it slow. Most of the people were tired by the time we got back because they are not use to climbing but the last part of the ride was a 2 mile downhill that we climbed at the start so it was a great way to end the ride.

Larry's route with my slight modifications was a good ride and I can see why he likes to do it. He has a lot of nice road here but I think I can improve on it After all my rides last year for the book I learned a lot of roads in this area. My ride, with Michael, to Merrill Creek especially showed me some better roads that Larry's route could use to get to Bloomsbury. I think I will try to see if I can come up with a good route from Frenchtown that would use a lot of the roads of Larry's route is a slightly order to put together a nice 50 loop.

Flag Day

I had a hilly ride in the book on Flag Day out of Neschanic Station. It was a hot day and I wasn't expected a big turn out but I figured a few of the regulars would show up. I ended up having only have one person show up who I didn't know.

I was a little afraid to do a hilly ride with someone I didn't know but she turned out to be a good rider. The ride when pass Round Valley then up to Oldwick and back on some roads that I haven't done before. The toughest hill was Deer Hill which was a little steep but doable. It wasn't fun after a little more climbing we were treated over 2 miles of nice winding down hills. By the time we were headed back along River Rd it had gotten really hot so the last few miles were a tough. It was a good route and with a few minor changes I won't mind doing it again.

Summer Has Arrived

Although summer is still a couple of weeks a way it felt more like mid August this weekend. Not only was the temperature well over 90 degrees but the humidity was probably over 80%. My home thermometer was so hot it went a little crazy and was reading a little high. It eventually cooled off to 96 degrees!

Laura had a ride in the book that I wanted to do but it was a long ride out of Frenchtown and I had to be back home by early afternoon so I ended up riding on my own. I am leading a hilly ride next week so I wanted do some hill training. I decided to drive over to the Sourlands and do a 45 mile loop. I started in Griggstown and headed Sergentsville and back. This took be over the Sourland hills and back. Since I was by myself I took the opportunity to explore a couple of roads that I haven't been on before. The Sourlands is a really nice place to ride and the ride would have been almost perfect if it hadn't been for the fact that the heat and humidity make it hard to breath at times. That and the fact that I decided to go up Lindberg at the end of the ride.