The Perfect Game

I haven't posted for a couple of weeks mostly because I am currently on vacation in Chicago. Chicago is a great city and we are having a lot of fun here. You can see my Chicago pictures HERE. These pictures also include some from the town of Milwaukee which we also visited

While my wife and I travel we like to take in a baseball game when we can. Visiting the stadiums is fun since they are all different and have there own unique character. I usually don't remember much about the actual games themselves. For this vacation we visited the White Soxs, Cubs, and Brewers Stadium. Click on the links if you want some pictures of the stadiums

Yesterday however was a game that I will always remember. We went to an afternoon game at the White Soxs and saw a perfect game. There have only been 18 perfect games pitched in the history of baseball so the chances of seeing one is astronomical.

The game was relatively boring until the bottom of the 7th when everybody starting thinking this could be a no hitter. By the middle of the 8th the crowd was hanging on every pitch. Then in the 9th when DeWayne Wise made a heroic catch that robbed the Rays of a home run everybody in the stadium knew this was a historic moment.

This celebration after the game felt like the team just won a championship and went on for a while. Both my wife and I were pumped up from the experience and were high fiving strangers. It was a great feeling. Most baseball fans have two dream when they go to a game. They want to catch a foul ball (Did that at a Phillys/Met game 10 years ago) and see a perfect game. I know that I am one of the lucky few that was able to have both happen to me

Schooley's Mountain

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Schooley's Mtn is one of those places that I have been wanting to ride to for years. I first though about it when I read about the rides featured at the the Ramapo Rally ride that's out of Bergen County. The toughest ride that they have is a 125 mile hilly ride from Mahwah to Schooley's Mtn and back. I though about doing it a couple of times but 125 miles and hills is a little more than I really consider a fun ride.

When I was researching the book and trying to decide which rides to include I though again about doing a ride to Schooley's Mtn but limted space prevented me from including it. Finally this past weekend I finally made it to Schooley's Mtn.

This ended up being a great ride that I'm sorry that I didn't do it sooner. We had the perfect day to do the ride it was in the mid 70s with low humidity. Although we had rain the previous night it was mostly clear when we started. Since this was going to be a very hilly ride I expected 4 or 5 people but ended up with 9. It was a good group with a good hilly climbing attitude.

The first 31 miles where mostly up hill but it was a beautiful climb. I ended up starting the ride from Raritan Community College because of a road closure that would have made it too long if I started from the usual place in Pluckemin. This ended up being a good place to start.

After about 7 miles we were on Rockaway Rd which is one of the nicest roads in the area. It's a nice slow climb that takes you up about 200 feet in 4 miles. The grade is so gradual that you don't even realize you going up hill. There is a river that runs along side of the road which makes it a beautiful ride. The rain the previous night caused the water to run fast which made a strange rushing sound as we climbed our way up. The next road was Guinea Hollow which required some more climbing but also had a beautiful river next to it.

We continued to wind our way up the hills as we headed for the town of Long Valley. We had started at about 100 ft and when we got to Long Valley we were almost at 800 feet with a lot of ups and downs. None of the climbs were too bad and the scenery was nice so it was a real enjoyable ride.

After a nice downhill into Long Valley we headed towards Schooley's Mtn. This was where the toughest climb of the ride would be. There are a couple of ways up to the top of the mountain all of them require climbing around 450 feet in a couple of miles. I decided to go up Naughright because it looked like one of the better ways up. The climb started with a 15 % grade so its a tough start but after less than a half mile the grade deceases a little. There were also a couple of flatter section that let you catch your breath. So although it was a tough climb every body was able to grid there way up. The only problem with this way up the mountain was that there was a little more traffic than I was expecting. I had warned everybody to stay to the right so there were no problem with the cars going by it just meant that you had to concentrate on the traffic as well as the climbing.

Once on the top we regrouped and explored the top of the mountain. The mountain is covered with trees so unfortunately there were no clearings where we could see the view of the valley below. We did have a nice stop at the general store/post office. It was like something from the 50's. We also got to see a large carved eagle which is marked on Dustin's NJ Bike map. It's not something you see everyday.

From here is was mostly down hill or so I though from the maps but it turned out that there were always some climb getting in the way of a lot of the down hills. This didn't really matter as the roads where mostly traffic free and the views were nice. The worst part was on the upper part of Black River Rd which is strewn with pot holes. I hope they repave this road soon.

I was tired when I got back to the college but very satified with the ride. I had been looking forward to this ride for a couple of months and had done a lot of hill training to make sure I would be in shape for the ride. I also spend a lot of time planning the route. Although I had ridden about half the roads on this ride before there were quite a few that I had never ridden.

Both my training and planning paid off. I felt good during the ride and the route ended up being really nice. I also got lucky with the weather and had a good group of people for the ride. I may tweak a few of the roads but this is route I will do again.

For those interested here is the elevation profile for the ride. Click on the image to get a bigger view. The text on the profile are the names of the roads on that part of the ride. This is a pretty hilly ride for NJ but isn't extreme. If you have the right gears and do some hill training you should be able to do this ride. You can find the ride sheet for the ride here







Here is the elevation profile for Naughright Rd which was the toughest climb of the ride. The percent grade is indicated on the left click on the picture to get a larger view. The profile makes the hill look worst than it is. It was a tough climb but the hill had steps in it so it was possible to recover from some of the steeper parts of the hill.

You Know You're in South Jersey When?

If you want a flat, scenic, traffic free ride there are few places better than southern Jersey. There are a lot of scenic farmland and quiet back roads that are fun to explore. South Jersey is a little different than the rest of the state especially when you head to the more rural areas. In these areas the music tends to be country, the pickup trucks all have gun racks and there are too many guys still sporting mullets.

Although you will not see any signs telling you've entered South Jersey you can usually tell by the surroundings. With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy here are a few tips that you entered South Jersey.

You know you're in South Jersey when?:

• You see a gun club every couple of miles
• Every front yard contain either a rotted couch, rusted car, or a Jesus Saves sign
• The only stores you see are Wawas
• You see bumper stickers for Piney Power
• The only trees you see are pine trees
• All the vehicles are pickup trucks with tires taller than you
• The few cars you see have strange accessories (like the beer can hub cap above)

The strangeness of South Jersey may scary some people but for me it is just part of the fun of riding down there.