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.