Messy, Hilly but Fun

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The area around Frenchtown is a nice place to ride as long as you don't mind a few hills. After accidently leading the Bloomsbury Boogie a couple of months ago I wanted to lead another ride in this area and try to improve the route a little.

Although the weather had been perfect most of the week we had some rain late Friday and overcast skys on Saturday so riding was a little messy. Only 3 other people showed up at the starting point so it was a small group. I found out later that I actually missed a few other people who were in the other parking lot. They eventually caught up and passed us.

We headed up along the Delaware for about 15 miles. Mike ended up getting a flat. After changing the tube and putting some air in the tire using my pump he tried to finish pressuizing the tube with a cartaridge. KA-POW!!!! went the tire about a second before I was about the say "I think you got enough air the tire." My ears were ringing for a few minutes while Mike changed the tube again. This time we just used the pump to put air in the tire.

After leaving the Delaware we starting to do some climbing. There were a number of 100+ foot hills we climbed as we headed for Stewardsville. After we got through Stewardsville I tried out some new roads on the way to Bloomsbury. These turned out to be some nice roads with good views of the surrounding mountains. It was still cloudy so the pictures didn't come out too good.

This is a very rural area of the state and once you get on the back roads you have them mostly to yourselves. This would be a great place to dump a body... err I mean you want to make sure you always ride with a group around here because it could days for somebody to find you if you fell and got hurt.

After 37 miles we made it to Bloomsbury for a break at the General Store then it was time for one big more hill as we headed back towards Frenchtown. Getting out of Bloomsbury to Tunnel Rd is a little ugly because you have to go on Rt 173 for a couple of miles. Its right off of 78 so it's your usual gas station, truck stop mess.

Climbing Tunnel Rd was easier this time around because the weather was a little cooler. It was another fun ride down Sweet Hollow then we rode along to ridge back to Frenchtown. Although the ridge is flatter than the surrounding hills there are still a number of 50 to 100 + foot rollers that make you realize how tired you are. We ended up on Stamets and Kappus with some nice down hills.

It ended up being a nice 55 mile ride which was enough According to Howie, with his GPS, we did about 3000 feet of climbing and my legs agreed that is was a hilly ride.

Round Valley and Great Weather

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted a message, even though I have had a couple of spectacular bike rides. Besides riding, my weekends have been filled with working on some map updates for my book. Eight months after submitting the final manuscript I finally got assigned an editor at Falcon press and the book is moving forward again. I spent about 35 hours total getting the maps in the right format. The book is now getting copy edited. I also got a firm date of when the book will be published (April 14 2009). It's even listed on amazon now. Check it out

Although working on the book is eating up most of my spare time I have not cut back on my riding especially with the perfect weather that we have been having.

On Aug 16th I tagged alone on the first part of a hilly ride in and around Round Valley. We started in Kingston by the canal and headed to Round Valley. I left the group after going through the reservoir. I thought they were going to do some real hills but they ended up taking it easy. The weather was perfect. Mid 70s low humidity and clear. The last few times I have been past Round Valley I could barely see the other side of the reservoir. This time I could see for miles. I ended up with a some good pictures. Even though I left the group to keep the ride short on the way back I keep adding a few miles here and there so I could keep enjoying the good weather and nice views. I ended up with almost 70 miles and still felt great at the end. It was one of the more enjoyable rides of the year.

On Aug 23 it was another picture perfect day. I didn't have any ride planned but sent out some email and put together an ad hoc ride out of Bordentown. After the hills last week I wanted a mostly flat ride so we headed down to the Pine Barrens and back. I combine parts of my Medford Lakes, Pine Barren and Basic Training ride from the book to come up with a nice 68 mile ride. The weather was great, the roads were quiet and I had a good group of people. It was as close to a perfect ride as you can get. We also stopped again at the bakery just south of Smithville which is a great stop. This stop made up for our first stop at a Wawa where the clientele were a mix of long hair pony tail monster truck guys and fat tattoo ladies.

The perfect weather of the past couple of week can't last much longer I know that it will be only a matter of time before the sky starts rain frogs or I end up having to ride through some thunder snow storms(again) but I will continue to enjoy the good weather while it lasts.

Belmar, Rain and the Spoke Wrench

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If you are looking for a flat fun ride Belmar and back is hard to beat. Although I was trying to orgainize a ride to Schooley's Mountain things didn't work out and I ended up joining the Joe's on an adhoc ride to Belmar from Etra Park on Sunday. Etra Park is only 5 miles from my house so I rode to the start.

Even though it is the beginning of August it was 58 when I left the house and I actually considered a jacket. It was a cold ride over to the park but once I got there I was fully warmed up. The Joe's had a good crowd. Laura and Mike actually rode over from Lawrence because they wanted to do yet another century.

After and couple of anouncements from Joe and an FU from Laura we started the ride. There is no one best way to get to Belmar and back so each ride we do is a little different depending on who is leading and how many miles you want to do.

Once it warmed up it was really a beautiful day. We cruised quickly through the usually roads past Farmingdale and made it to Belmar in under 2 hours. We stopped at the usual spot in Belmar just across from the beach. This is a great place for a break especially on a nice summer day. I usually do my Belmar ride after Labor day so it was nice to see be here during the summer.

After the break we headed back. Although the weather was still nice we could see some clouds approching. Approching Rt 35 Linda broke a spoke. We stopped on the other side to access the damage. We couldn't get the broken spoke off so we tapped it to the one next to it. Because of the broken spoke the wheel was out of true and rubbing the brake. I used a spoke wrench to true it up. It took some trial and error to figure out which way to turn it the spokes but after a few tries I got the wheel true enough to stop it from rubbing. I highly recommend everybody carry a spoken wrench because if you can't true a wheel after breaking a spoke the only way you are going to get home is to have somebody pick you up.

After the repair we continue our way back going pass Allaire state park and on to Freehold. We stopped in Freehold for a quick stop. By this time the skies were really dark and it started to rain. I called my wife to get a weather update. We were hoping it would be a quick storm that would pass but my wife said the radar showed a large area of rain would probably last for hours.

We pressed one into the rain and headed back the quickest way we could. We had a little over 10 miles to go. We ended up spliting up a little as everybody did their best speed to get back. I stayed back a little to make sure we everybody made it back.

It rained off and on as we made our way back and it really wasn't too bad. After we got back to Etra Park I continued on with Laura and Mike back home. The rain got a little worst and there were a couple of claps of thunder and lighting. I asked Laura and Mike if they wanted a ride home but they seemed set to complete their century no matter the weather.

Although the ride ended in bad weather I don't regret going on the ride. It was a good 78 mile ride for me but the rain ended my luck with the weather and put a dent in my rain karma.