Chris and Tom's Excellent Mountain Bike Adventure

Whenever its got too cold to ride on the road some of my friends get their riding fix by doing some mountain bike riding. It sounds and looks like fun but I've never joined them mostly because I don't own a mountain bike. I have done some mountain bike riding out west in Moab on vacation and few other times have and enjoyed it but never really went any further than that.

This past Saturday the high was only suppose to get to 35 degrees which is too cold for me to ride on the road. Lucky Chris emailed me asking me if I wanted to join him in Mercer County Park for a mountain bike ride and I decided why not.

Chris has an extra mountain bike so I didn't have to worry about finding or borrowing any equipment. We met at the boat house at 9am and the temperature was all of 25 degrees but it was sunny with no wind so it wasn't that bad. The bike Chris had for me fit pretty well and after a quick ride around the parking lot we were off.

Before I got use to the pedals and gears we were in the woods and I was more concerned about not hitting the trees than learning how to shift. I was a little surprised how narrow the trail was but got use to it. I consider myself to be expert at handling a road bike but mountain biking requires a slightly different mind and skill set. It did take me long to realize that I would need to learn some new skills to not fall on my ass and keep up with Chris. Things that you avoid at all cost on a road bike like sand and tree limbs are just part of normal mountain bike trail. So when I come over a small rise and see a sandy path with roots and tree limbs across it the road biker in my mind tells me to stop and walk the bike along the trail. Then I see Chris breeze through it and I tell myself that this is a mountain bike and it can handle it.

Mercer County Park has a wide variety of trails that could keep you busy for a good part of the day. There are narrow deep wood trails along small streams, sandy trails along the lake and some open grass land. Chris lead me through a number of different trails and I lost track of where I really was but I starting to relax and enjoy it. I was still cautious but Chris gave me some good tips and as I practiced some more I was got use to jumping over tree limbs and handling the twisting trails. There are a couple of cool areas in the woods. One is called the bowl which is a little like a half pipe on a ski slope where you can ride in and out of a sandy bowl shaped area. There is also a place along the trail that has some ramps and other man made obstacle. I didn't try any of them but Chris tried the pivoting ramp out a couple of times. The first time up the ramp it didn't pivot correctly because it was frozen to the ground so Chris had to bail but made it OK the second time.

After about an hour and a half I lost sight of Chris and must have made a wrong turn because he was no where in sight. I figured Chris would give me up for dead at some point and come back to his car so I headed back towards the parking lot. Once I got there I saw John P who also decided to do some mountain biking. Ten minutes later Chris was back. I decided I had enough for today but John and Chris headed out for another loop. All and all it was a lot of fun and something I think I would like to do more of.

Road Closed

For the past 3 weeks every ride I have done has involved a detour of some kind. This usually involves adding a few more miles to the ride which is not a problem in the summer but when the weather gets cold the extra miles mean that it will be a little longer until you can warm up again.

The roads that are closed are Windsor Rd. The bridge over the turnpike is under construction so from Rt 130 you can take Perrineville to Allens to get around this.

Iron Ore Rd is closed just south of McCaffery so you can't get to Daum Rd.

Sweetmans Lane has a bridge out just west of Kinney Rd. To get around this from Kinney you can take Thompson Grove to Mill to Oakland Mill Rd.

Most of these closures should be gone by spring and aren't hard to get around but it is always nice to know about them so you can plan your rides accordingly. Since they have started widening the turnpike I suspect there will be a number of intermittent road closures around the bridges crossing for the next few years.

Home Improvement

This pass summer saw some construction at my house as we added a sunroom over an existing patio. We have been thinking about this for a few years and finally decided to go for it. We wanted the sunroom so that we could extend the summer and enjoy the outdoors when the weather starts getting colder. So we now have a sunroom and when the sun is out the room heats up quickly and we can sit in the warmth and feel like we are sitting outside. The room has floor to ceiling windows and a couple of skylights so it feels very open.

As with any construction project it took longer than we expected and cost more than we wanted to spend but the results were what we wanted. Although this will improve the value of my house this expense was definitely a unnecessary luxury but one we will really enjoy. The other unnecessary luxury we decided to spurge on for the room was an indoor pool. Now this is not a large built-in pool like you would see in a hotel but more like a portable above ground pool. It was relatively affordable and is going to make this winter a lot more fun.

My wife is a water aerobic instructor and loves the water. During the summer she lives in our pool. The saddest day of the year, for her, is when the pool is closed for the winter. I'm don't enjoy the pool as much as my wife but there is nothing better after a ride to take a dip in the pool to sooth my tired muscles.

So now that we have an outdoor room and an indoor pool winter is going to be a lot more enjoyable because when I get home from a cold winter ride I will be able to take a soak in a pool no matter what the weather is outside.

The Long Cold Winter

Although my Vegas trip was fun I rode by myself so it’s been nice to get back home where I can ride with my friends again. The days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder. This usually means shorter rides closer to home as I try to maintain some level of fitness through the winter. Riding to me is more than just exercise it also very social as I usually try to do a least one ride each weekend with some of my friends. I have been with the Princeton Freewheelers for almost 20 years and have come to know a lot of people in the club. Even though I don't see most of these people out side of biking when you ride 3 or 4 hours a week with some one over the course of many years you get to know them pretty well and become good friends. I am lucky because I have a good core of people that I ride with that I really enjoy being around.

During the winter I don’t see as many of these people because of my shorter more local rides. It’s always fun in the spring to reconnect again. This year unfortunately I will not be able to reconnect with one of my friends, Joe McBride, who was killed in a tragic bike accident just over a week ago. Laura posted a good Eulogy about Joe in words and pictures that describes him pretty well. There is also a Facebook page that has similar words about how much he will be missed. I really can’t add much more about Joe that hasn’t already been said. He was a great guy who's colorful language and sarcastic nature made him unique and fun ride with. Although riding during the cold weather can be fun and interesting in its own way, it is a little tough at times and makes you wish for the longer days and the warmer weather of the spring and summer months. This winter will be a little tougher as I know during some of the rides my thoughts will turn to Joe and how much I will miss him.

Vegas Baby !!!

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When most people think of Vegas they think of gambling, extravagant shows, CSI, and maybe a few of sinful things that this town is famous for. Vegas is a gaudy congested mess of a city that is fun, in its own way, for a couple of days. Its one of the most popular places for business conferences so chances are if you attend these types of things you will make it to Vegas at some point in your career. If you travel a little outside of Vegas you will find some beautiful desert terrain and some nice mountain ranges. This makes for some good mountain biking and some decent road biking so when I had to attend a conference this week in Vegas I added a few days to the front end of the trip to explore some of the roads.

One of the most popular places to ride outside of Vegas is Red Rock Canyon. Red Rock Canyon is nestled in the mountains north west of Vegas it’s only about 20 miles from the strip. Planning the route to ride was pretty easy because there aren’t many roads out by Red Rock. You basically just get on Rt 159 and head towards the mountains. I started my ride from a shopping mall where interstate 215 and Rt 159 meet. There is a bike lane here that turns into a wide shoulder so although Rt 159 has some traffic you really don’t have to worry about the cars.

I started my ride early in the morning to take advantage of clear skies that were supposed to cloud up latter. The first couple of miles were a slow constant climb to get over a small hill that was in front of the mountains. I was on a rented bike, a Cannodale Synapse 5 Alloy which is the next model down to my Cannodale Synapse 5 Carbon so if felt pretty familiar although it took a little bit to get used to the gearing which was a compact.

Once I got over the hill I caught the full view of the mountains. As I rode the next 4 mile I watched the sun slowly light up the mountains. This was a really cool effect. What happens is as the sun rises and shines more light on the mountains the colors get more and more vivid and it looks like the mountains are being painted before your eyes. It was partly cloudy so the sun was going in an out and the effect was some what muted but still cool.

I had a 5 mile ride from where I started to get to Red Rock. Although the road looked flat it was actually a constant shallow climb. Red Rock Canyon has a 13 mile scenic road that is run by the park service. This scenic road takes you up into the canyon to get a closer view of the mountains and the valleys. From my research I knew the terrain would be hilly and require some climbing but it wasn’t anything tougher than I have done in NJ just a lot longer. The first 5 miles of the road is mostly uphill where you climb a little over 1000 ft in 5 miles. The grade is 4-6% with some small spots in the 10 percent range. What’s different here is the perspective. The mountains that surround the canyon are tall and steep so when you see a road next to then that is going up at a 10% grade it looks almost flat. So as you are riding you are reluctant to down shift because you mind is telling you that the road is flat.

Once I understood this though I was better able to grind my way up the canyon. I stopped 3 or 4 times to take pictures and let my heart rate come down but it wasn’t too tough of climb. I don’t know if I could do it with out stopping with the compact gearing I had but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. There were only a few cars on the road and maybe 3 or 4 other bikers so it felt as I had the place to myself. When I reached the top of the climb I looked back to where I came from and saw a smoky haze in the valley below. The smoke obscured the mountains but was pretty. The pictures I took don’t really convey the size or majesty of the view but it made the climb worth it.
The rest of the scenic road was mostly downhill with a few small climbs here and there. The scenic road is one way but I saw a constant stream of runners coming at me. When I left the scenic road and got back to Rt 159 I saw a rest stop for what looked like a marathon run. As I headed towards the town of Blue Diamond I ran in to more and more runners and a lot of support vehicles cheering them on. Most of the vehicles where decorated with a theme “Secret Ninja Monkey”, “The A Team”, “Saturday Night Fever”, and many other bizarre ones. This made the ride to Blue Diamond entertaining.

Blue Diamond is only about 20 miles out side of Vegas and it’s a totally different world. The sign welcoming you to town Reads:

The town itself has a bike shop, a little food store and a few small houses spread around a couple of streets that make up the town. The town makes you feel like you are in the middle of the desert hundreds miles away from any civilization. The bike shop was the satellite branch of the one I rented my bike from and had some Gatorade, food and a couple of nice chair out side. I spend about 20 mins there talking to some people working at the shop and a few other bikers.

After the break I headed back the way I came along Rt 159 back to where I started. The wind and elevation was against me most of the way so it was a slow going but the mountains surrounding the roads were pretty so it was a nice ride. By the time I got back to the car I had done a little over 40 miles and around 3000 ft of total climbing. It was a fun ride mostly because of the scenery.

Sunday I headed towards Lake Mead which is on the south east side of Vegas. They just completed the River Loop Trail which is a paved bike trail that is a 35 mile loop that goes through the mountains of south east Vegas and along the west side of Lake Mead, I was a little unsure of the exact route because the information that I found online was a little vague about the details of the trail and so I had a hard time finding the where to park to get on the trail.

I ended up just parking close to where I thought it would be and heading towards Lake Mead on Rt 146. Worst case I would end up riding along the roads instead of the trail. After 7 or 8 miles I was at the entrance to the Lake Mead recreational area and found access to the trail. I looked over information about the trail and it looked like a good route to take. The one thing that gave me pause to getting on the trail was the warning about mountain goats. Apparently according to a biker I ran into later there are quite a few mountain goats in these parts and every now and then they will try to head butt some passing bikers.

The spot where I hopped on the trail was right before a small hill that I needed to climb to get to the valley where Lake Mead is. Although the trail was paved it was laid out like it was a mountain biking trail with switch backs, hairpin turns, and shear drop offs on both sides of the trail. The path was very twisty, steep and windy both going up the hill and down the other side. With the shear drops on both sides and no barriers it was fun in a scary kind of way. Once I was at the valley and riding along the west side of Lake Mead the trail got straighten out and got a lot easier to ride. There had actually been a lot of rain the week before I got to Vegas so although the trail was wider and flatter there were a number spots where dirt and rocks covered the road and required me to walk the bike acrossed some of them.

I meet a few other bikers riding the trail and spend about 5 miles talking with one of them. Lake Mead is really low, the lowest it has been since the 1930s when it was first formed by the Hoover Dam so the lake looked really empty and not real pretty. Eventually I saw the point in Lake Mead where the Hover Dam starts. I was going to take the road to Hover Dam and try out the new bridge over the dam since I hear it was open but couldn’t get any reliable information about it. Since Sept 11th 2001 no trucks have been allow over the Hover Dam because fear that some one might try and blow it up. This caused all trucks to have to take a 20 mile detour which added a lot of time to each trip. Nevada decided to build a new bridge and road about a mile south of the dam. This new bridge had just opened this past weekend. It was suppose to be an engineering marvel as well as provide a great view of the dam.

It might had been cool to try and ride over the bridge but by the time I get near the dam I was running a little late and wasn’t 100% sure how to get to the dam and back. Some of the biker I ran into said I could take a rail trail off the River Loop Trail that was paved others said it was still dirt and a few others suggested to just take the road. I decided I didn’t want to risk getting lost so I just continued on the River Loop Trail.

From Lake Mead the trail heads to Boulder City which is on the top of the mountain above the lake. Getting to the top of the mountain required a 1000 ft climb that lasted 3.5 miles. The climb didn’t look bad from the map I had looked at but actually doing it was tougher than I thought. Again the mountains make the road look flatter than it is. The hard part wasn’t the grade which was 4-5% it was the fact that the hill just keep on going and going. It was more a mental challenge than a physical challenge. The scenery here wasn’t as nice as the somewhat similar climb in Red Rock I had done the previous day. I had no problem keeping the pedals moving or keeping my heart rate in check the problem was that after 10 mins of climbing I was only half way up the hill. Getting to the top was satisfying though. It was probably the longest continuous climb I have ever done and something that just can’t be found in NJ.

After riding along the top of the ridge for a while there was one more little climb to get over rail road pass. There was a train going over the pass when I got there and I was able to actual pull ahead of the train at the top of the pass. Of course the train was pulling a couple of hundred tons over the pass where I was just getting my fat ass over it so it was a hollow victory but these are the strange games you play when riding alone.
After the pass I continued along the trail for another 5 miles of mostly gentle down hills before leaving the trail to go back to the road to find my car. I ended up with 37 miles and 3700 ft of climbing. The River Loop Trail was actually one of the nicer bike trails that I have done and I would like to do it again someday and hopefully explore a little more.

Riding around Las Vegas was a good change of pace. The scenery is a lot different than I’m used to and the climbs are longer. Although I road the roads around Vegas I ran into a lot of mountain bikers as well who told me how good the trails are so if I come back to a conference out here again I might try to do a little mountain biking.

Where is Everybody!!!

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This past Saturday I had a planned a beautiful fall foliage ride through Califon. Unfortunately the weather wasn't idea for the ride. It was overcast and really windy. I usually don't get a lot of people when I ride up in Califon but I knew I was in trouble when I pulled into the parking lot and nobody was there.

At 9am still nobody, oh well I guess I'm riding this one alone. I thought about bagging the ride because of the conditions but I am headed to Las Vegas next week for work and plan to do some rides in the canyons out there and wanted the hill work.

I knew the ride was going to suck as made a right out of Raritan college and had to pedal down the hill. The wind was ferocious but got a little better as I got into the more wooded areas. The wind was at least a constant 20mph with gusts close to double that. I almost got blown over a couple of times.

Going up Rockaway road was pretty as always and the leaves were at their peak. It was also cool the way the leaves were being blown around in the wind. There were mini tornados of leaves everywhere. Of course I was being constantly pummeled by acorns, tree branches and other flying debris but the worst thing was the sound of the wind. It was a constant hum like a freight train approaching.

Towards the top of the hill there is a wide angle mirror where Rockaway meets Still Hollow. I snapped a picture as I went by that made a cool self portrait.

I made my way through Califon and then climbed up Schooleys mountain and made a stop at the general store up there. One thing I realized is that although the hills block some of the wind when you get to the of the hill it only gets windier. I did see one other biker along the way and he looked about as happy as I was but a least I knew there was another person crazy enough to go out in this wind.

After the rest stop the wind got a lot worst. The wind went from ferocious to down right ridiculous. This did give me the chance to solve one of the worlds most important philosophical riddles.

"If Tom curses at the gale force winds and nobody is around to hear it does he make a sound"

The answer is NO! because the f#*king wind is so loud it drowns out any other sound.

I did get a couple of breaks from the wind on some of the down hills. I went down Middle Valley with and its hairpin turn with a 25 degree down slope. This hill is scary fun and as dangerous as it sounds but its was too cool to pass up. The other break I got was the last 5 miles when I finally had a tail wind. I actually hit 35 mph on the flat with almost no pedaling.

By the time I got back to the college between all the hills and the constant wind I was really beat. Even though it was a lonely tough ride it was still fun. Which goes to prove that even a crappy bike ride is still better than most other things.

Bicycle Science

I realized that I had barophobia (fear of gravity) about two thirds of the way up Dutchtown Zion when I saw my hear rate at 10 beats over what should have been my max. Gravity is great for keeping stuff stuck to the ground but sucks when you fight against it by climbing up a hill on a bike. Although a hill is just a geological formation we tend to personify them by describing them as annoying or rude and usually add some profanity as they get steeper and longer. This only adds to the phobia.

The best way to treat barophobia is to gain a better understanding of the forces that make it hard to climb hills so the fear can be rationalized away. This means understanding the science behind bicycling.

This pass summer I bought a new bike specifically for the hillier rides that I do. One of the first questions I had to answer is do I want a triple or a compact. If you search the blogosphere you will see passionate opinions on both sides which tend to sound like political arguments with no facts to back them up. To cut through all the noise I ended up turning to physics, math and a good book “Bicycling Science” by David Gordon Wilson to get some real answers.

There has been a lot of research on the science behind the bicycle and the equation below can answer most of the questions about the forces that act on a bike. With this equation and a little knowledge of physiology you can make some good decisions what type of gearing you want for your bike.

The equation:

Pr = Cfriction x V x P + Cair x (V + Vwind)^2 x V+ 9.81 x P x Slope% x V

Where Pr is the power generated by the rider
Where V is the speed of the bike
P is the weight of the rider and bike
Slope% is the steepness of the slope in percent
Cfriction is the coefficient of friction of rolling resistance
Cair is the coefficient of drag


For those who have arithmophobia (fear of math) let me break this equation down in to some simple explanations so you can you can understand how to use it to make some decisions about setting up the gearing on your bike. If you don’t care about the actual math you can stop reading and head to the Bicycle Science section of my web site which has some calculators that you can play with to get a feel of physics behind bicycling.

The equation has 3 parts:

The first part (Cfriction x V x P) calculates the power needed to overcome the rolling resistance of the bike. This includes the friction of the gears, bearing, tires, and other parts of the drive train that slow you down. The rolling resistance of a decent quality road bike is very small especially once you are rolling and up to speed. Usually only 3% to 5% of power generated by the rider goes to overcoming the rolling resistance so this part of the equation can usually be ignored.

The second part (Cair x (V + Vwind)^2 x V) calculates the power needed to overcome air resistance. The drag coefficient (Cair) is usually between 0.25(racing tuck) to 0.4(sitting up). The important thing to note here is that the power needed to overcome air resistance goes up by the square of the speed. So assuming a drag coefficient of 0.4, cruising along at 16 mph takes 146 watts going 2 miles an hour faster takes 208 watts, a 62 watt increase. Another interesting thing about air resistance is that weight doesn’t matter. Whether you are 100 lbs or 200 lbs it still takes the same amount of effort (146 watts) to cruise at 16 mph.

The third part of the equations (9.81 x P x Slope% x V) calculates the amount of power needed to climb up a hill. When you are climbing what is happening is that you are fighting the force of gravity. The two main factors here are the weight of you and the bike, and how quickly you are gaining altitude. The rate that you are gaining altitude depends on how steep the slope is and your speed. Not all 350 ft climbs feel the same. Climbing all the way to the top of Federal Twist you climb a little over 350 ft in a little less than a mile and the last half has a 15% slope. It’s a tough climb. On the other hand the climb up Rockaway Rd is also around 350 ft but it is 3 miles long and the slope stays mostly in the 3% to 4% range with no really steep spots. It’s actually an enjoyable climb.

A rider can only produce and maintain a specific about of power so as the slope gets steeper the rider speed decreases which is what the equation is telling you but you need to go beyond the math to understand why it feels so bad to climb a tough hill like Federal Twist. This is where you need to understand a little of the physiology behind riding.

This is a simplification but, the human body has basically two types of muscles, slow twitch and fast twitch. Slow twitch muscles are the ones that are used to generate slow continuous power so these are the muscles that you use as you cruise along that flat stretch of road. Slow twitch muscles are very efficient so as long as you each and drink correctly these muscles can generate power all day long.

Fast twitch muscles have the same strength as slow twitch muscles but as the name implies can apply their strength much faster. These are the muscles that kick in when you sprint away from the pack or climb a tough hill. The quickness comes at a price because Fast twitch muscles fatigue quickly so they can only be used in limited bursts. This is the problem will climbing steep hills.

As you start to climb you usually need to apply more power to the pedals. You only have a limited amount of power so as the slope gets steeper you need to slow your speed. If you stay in the same gear the force you need to put to the pedals increases and you switch from using slow twitch muscles to using fast twitch muscles. You can mitigate this by switching to a lower gear to keep the force on the pedals to a comfortable level. On steep hills you may run out of gears and have to stomp your way up the hill. In this case you will quickly use up your fast twitch muscles and eventually run out of power. Most of the time you will make it to the top before this happens but it will use up some energy and the next hill will feel harder.

This is where the science comes in. What you want to do is to find the gearing that will let you maintain a comfortable level of force on the pedals without having to use up your fast twitch muscles. This may sound hard to determine but can easily be measured by your cadence. When you are climbing the slower your cadence the more fast twitch muscles you are using. Everybody has a preferred cadence some a little faster some a little slower but the rule of thumb is that you want to try to maintain a minimum cadence of around 60 rpms as you climb.

Knowing this you can now use the information to calculate what gearing to need to get yourself up a hill of a certain grade. Let me take you through the calculation to show you how this work.

The first thing you need to know is how much power you can generate. To get a rough estimate of this find a few miles a flat road on a windless day and ride along this road as fast as you comfortable can. This shouldn’t be an all out sprint but you should be pedaling level that you think you could maintain for a half hour or so. Your average speed over these few miles gives you an idea of how much continuous power you can generate. To calculate you power just plugin the speed, V, into the equation (Cair x (V + Vwind)^2 x V). For example let’s say your average speed was 20 mph and you were riding pretty low on your handlebars giving you a drag coefficient of 0.3 your generated power would then be 214.4 watts.

Now that you know your max continuous power you can then calculate how fast you can climb a hill of a certain slope. To do this you use the equation 9.81 x P x Slope% x V and plugin V (the speed you are going), P (the weight of the rider and bike) and Slope% (the steepness of the slope in percent) to calculate the power required for the climb. Since your weight and the slope of the hill are unchangeable what you will have to do is to adjust the speed so that the power calculated is less than or equal to the power that you can generate. For example let’s say you and the bike weigh 180 pounds and the slope you are trying to climb is 10%. To climb that slope at 8 mph would require 285 watts of power which is more than you can generate but if you lower your speed to 6mph it only requires 214 watts of power which is doable.

Knowing the speed you can climb a hill still doesn’t tell you what gears you need but if you know what cadence you want to maintain you can determine the best combination of gears. To do this you need to understand what gear inches are.

Gear inches is the number of inches your bike moves for each rotation of the pedals. For example if you in a 52 tooth ring in the front and an 11 tooth chain ring on your cassette, then your gear inches are 128 which means you back wheel travels 128 inches for each rotation of the pedals. This translates in to 4.7 rotations of a 27 inch wheel.

Calculating gear inches is pretty simple. All you do is divide the number of teeth on the front chain ring by the number of teeth on the rear cassette then multiple by the wheel size. So the formula is.

Gear inches = front chain ring/ rear cassette * rear wheel diameter

You then can use gear inches to calculate your cadence for a given speed and gear ratio using the following formula.

Cadence = speed/(gear inches*Π*60*0.0000157828)

For example if you are going up a hill and can maintain 6 mph, for a 39/28 (front ring/rear cassette) gear ratio your cadence (rotations per minute) will be 54 rpm which should be a hard but doable pace. However if you are going up a steeper hill and can only maintain 4mph the cadence for a 39/28 gear ratio the cadence will be 36 rpm which is going to require a lot more strength. At this cadence you may not have the strength to push the pedals and if you do you won’t be able to keep riding for long. What you need in this case is a lower gear ratio. If you are going 4mph with a 30/32 ratio then your cadence will be 53 which you probably can handle.

If you are still following along you now have everything you need to determine the best set of gear for the type of terrain you ride. First you determine how much power you can generate. Then use your power number to determine the speed you will be able to climb the type if hills that you are going to ride. Then use the speed to determine the gear ratio you need to maintain the cadence you want. This will give you the lowest gear you will need. To make this easy for people who are not good with a calculator or spread sheet I have added a Bicycle Science page to my web site that you can use to do all the calculations I described here.

The math that I have shown here can be used to give you a good idea of the best gears to get you up the hills but there is no substitute for training and experience. Although the correct gearing will help you get up the hill if you don’t do some hill training or understand the how to maintain a comfort pace as you climb you will still feel like crap when you reach the top.

Sandy Hook

The past Saturday we took what is becoming our annual ride to Sandy Hook. It was suppose to be a bright and sunny day but started out a little overcast.

This is a good time to head to Sandy Hook because most of the summer crowd is gone but it is still warm enough to enjoy a ride to the beach.

This ride has a few spots that have a bit of traffic so I am always concerned about it but it turned out to be very light because of the Jewish holiday.

On last years ride getting into and out of Sandy Hook was a little tough because of the construction of a new bridge on Rt 36. The construction is still there but almost complete so there were no problems this time.

We took the usually ride around Sandy Hook and had a fast ride back because of a gentle east wind. I didn't take many pictures because it was still overcast. You can click Here for some pictures from last year.

Scenery and Stones

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Although I like to take pictures on my rides I try to not let it interfere with the ride itself. Sometimes however I like to plan a ride just to take pictures which is what I did this past Sunday. I decided to ride from Hillsborough to Califon and back and was lucky enough to have Laura and Jeff join me.

I try and do 2 or 3 rides in Califon a year since it is has a lot of scenic views but I have never really taken any great pictures there. On the way up to Califon we stopped by Solsberg airport where we saw a experimental airplane and a WWII trainer.

Once we got north of 78 the hills began as we headed up Rockaway which is one of the prettiest roads in NJ. The only problem here is that the road was freshly stoned. For those of you who don't know what stoning a road is, it is when they dump small pea size gravel on the road and let the car traffic press the stones into the road. It's a cheap way to pave a road but it makes it very hard to ride a bike on. It usually takes a few weeks before most of the stones are pressed into the road.

Despite the stone we make it up Rockaway and managed to take a few good pictures of the river and the Tulip house which is now for sale. The Tulip house is a really pretty house in the spring when all the tulips are in bloom but this time there weren't many flowers out.

At the top of Rockaway we took Water street which was also stoned. From there we worked our way over to Hoffmans Corner which has a nice view of the Califon valley. We stopped a couple of places to take pictures and realized how windy it was as we saw how much the trees were moving.

We headed down hill to Califon and made the usually rest stop at the general store. When I walked it I saw that they had some blueberry muffins that just came out of the oven so I had to have one, which was great.

Leaving Califon always requires a climb so we went up Academy to Guinea Hollow. The plan was to take a left on Sutton but it was also stoned so we vetoed that and took a left on Sawmill instead which let us get a picture of the abandon water wheel there.

At the end of Sawmill we headed towards a new road Fox Farm. A lot time we come this way we head down 517 because it has a great down hill but Fox Farm goes down the same hill and has less traffic so I decided to give it a try.

It proved to be the most scenic road of the ride. You can't speed down the hill like you can on 517 but the views are tremendous. There are 2 or 3 places where the tree cover road opens up and you can see the valley and the hills beyond. At one point I hit a clearing and immediately stopped. Laura was a little behind me and when she saw me stop she said "why are you stopping..." then looked to the left and said "WOW". It was one of those views you just had to stop and stare at. It was a clear day and the sun was at the perfect angle to light up the hills and valley. We of course took some pictures but it is hard to capture the full affect of the view.

We took a few other pictures on the way down then headed back to Hillsborough. I did manage to get a few good pictures out of the ride but acknowledge that I am no photographer. This ride did make me spend more time looking around at the scenery which was the real run of the ride.

North Jersey Trip

Click Here for More Pictures
There are some inviting bicycling trips in the back of Bicycling Magazine, each month, but you don't have to travel far to find a nice bike trip. This past weekend I headed to North Jersey for a weekend to do a couple of rides I have been wanting to do for a while. I did a lot of exploring in North Jersey when I wrote the book but haven't been back up since.

The north west part of New Jersey is very rural and if you don't mind doing some hills there are a lot of nice roads to ride. It's a 2 hour ride for me to get to this area so instead of doing a long day trip I decided to make a weekend of it so I could get a couple of rides in.

I have talked up the trip for a couple of months and had a lot of people interest but when I finally picked a weekend I only got 3 other people to join me (Laura, Cheryl, and Lynne). The plan for the weekend was to drive up early Saturday to Milford PA and ride from there to High Point and back. Sunday we planned to ride around Newton NJ including the famous Shades of Death road. (High Point ridesheet here, Shades of Death ridesheet here)

We got an early start on Saturday morning. Laura, Cheryl and I started out a little after 6am and despite some detours made pretty good time to Milford where we were met by Lynne. We planned to start the ride from Milford Beach but there was a fee to park there so we parked at the Grand Union in the middle of town.

The first part of the ride was relatively flat as we crossed back over the bridge to the Jersey side and headed down Old Mine Road along the Delaware. We continued through Peter's Valley towards Walpack and then had our first real climb through Stokes State forest. Before the climb began we saw a bunch of people standing in the field. We thought they were bird watching but it turns out they were watching butterflies.

The climb through Stokes was long but not too tough and the scenery was nice. We then headed through Layton and some more rolling hills and had a nice rest stop at a deli and bait shop when we crossed Rt 206. A few miles after the stop the real climbing began. Most roads that lead to Highpoint State park are continuous 600 or 700 feet climbs that have a couple of steep spots. The easiest way up is to use Deckertown Rd to Sawmill. You do the same amount of climbing or even a little more but it is a series of climbs that give you some breaks to recover in between.

As we started our climb up Deckertown there was a sign that said the road was closed in 4.5 miles which was exactly how far it was to our turn so I though it might be OK. It turned out there was a bridge that was out about 500 feet before our turn. There was actually a section of bridge missing. If we couldn't cross the bridge there was no way we could make it to High Point.

Even though a section of bridge was missing there were two large cement pipes a few feet below the road so it looked like it was possible to walk across the missing section. After talking about it for a few minutes I decided to give it a try and lowered myself down to the pipes walked across them and jumped up to the road on the other side. We then moved the bikes over the missing section and all made it across to the other side.

We were back on course again and when we make the left turn on to Sawmill there were a couple of Motorcycles that saw us coming over the closed bridge. They asked if they could make it across the bridge like we did. I said that I doubted that they could carry their "bikes" over the missing section like we did. The only way the would get across it was if they jumped it like Evil Kenevil.

We continued slowly climbing and made it to entrance to High Point State Park. The monument was in sight so we continued on to the top. The last quarter mile to the monument is the toughest part. Its very steep with a couple of short section that are around 20% grade but with the monument so close you just suck it up and do it.

It was a little overcast when we got to the top but the view was still pretty good and we hung out for a while to rest our legs. We lost Cheryl for a little while and didn't know where she went until she returned from climbing the 6 flight of stairs to the top of the monument I guess she still had some energy left.

We relaxed by the monument and took some pictures to prove we made it then started to head back to our starting point. Since we were at the highest point in the state we had a lot of downhill ahead of us. We headed out of the park and down Rt 23 and went from 1800 ft to 600 ft in about 5 miles which was a lot of fun. We were then back in the valley and had a few more rollers(which felt tougher then normal because of all the climbing) to go over before we made back to Milford Bridge. The bridge has a pedestrian walkway that we used on the way back. It was a metal walkway that vibrated as we rode across and didn't feel real stable.

The original plan was to get a hotel in Milford but Lynne's sister, Mira, had a house in Milford and was nice enough to let us crash there. Mira and her husband Ron were really great hosts. Not only did they provide us a place to stay but also made us a dinner. We had a nice evening with good conversation and great food. It was a perfect end to a good day.

The plan for Sunday was to drive to Newton NJ and do a 50 mile less hilly ride but unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst. On Friday when I checked the weather the forecast for Sunday was slight chance for afternoon showers so I did think it would be a problem to get the ride in. I could go on and on about how Accuweather isn't but the truth is weather is unpredictable.

Because we couldn't ride we just hung around a little longer and then headed home. We made a quick stop on the way out at Raymondsskills falls and took a quick hike to the falls and back since the rain had let up a little.

On the way home we hit some traffic caused by all the people leaving the Poconos we also hit some really heavy, wrath of god, rain in spots. Despite the traffic and rain we did OK on time on the way home. Even though we didn't get the Sunday ride in it was still a good trip and something I would like to do a little more often.

Pineland Cruise

I have been spending a lot of time in the hills this year and only been down to the Pinelands a couple of times. The first time was a few weeks ago during one of those 90+ degrees days so we only did a little over 50 miles and really didn't get to far into the Pinelands.

This past weekend we had some nice riding weather so we were able to do a longer ride(62 miles). We also started the ride from Columbus which is a little farther south and let us get down to the heart of the Pinelands. This let us make a rest stop at Nixon's General store. Its a nice stop with decent food and comfortable rocking chairs in front.

I'm heading to North Jersey to do some more hills this weekend but plan to head back to the Pinelands a couple more times this year. If your interested in heading down this way you can check out the Bordentown and Columbus rides on my Ride Sheet Page or join me on my next club ride.

It's Just a Flesh Wound

Riding is very safe sport if you keep your equipment in shape and follow some common sense. If you ride a lot however eventually you will make some mental mistake or come across something in the road that will cause you to take a fall. The result is usually a little road rash and a new story to tell.

This past Saturday I did an adhoc ride with Laura, Cheryl, Chris and Blake. This was a route that Blake came up with that gave me a chance to continue to break in the new Cannondale since it was going to be a hilly ride. The route started in the CVS in Lamberville and went up to Milford on the Jersey side then came back on the PA side. If you want the details of the route I have posted a ridesheet here

For once the weather was perfect, clear mild and no wind. From Lambertville we climbed up the familiar roads to the ridge then cruised along some roads that I hadn't been on before. It was just a perfect day for a ride and the route and the group made this a really enjoyable ride.

At Milford we crossed over to the PA side and had a rest stop at nice general store on Bridgeton Hill Rd. After the stop we headed up the toughest climb of the ride. It's a 400 ft climb that has grades in the ~10-12% range. I totally flub the down shift at the start of the climb. I tried to switch to the lowest front chain ring while trying to up shift on the rear cassette. I ended up in way too high a gear and came to a complete stop. After I got the bike back in to the correct gears for the climb I continued up the hill which was pretty tough. Still I am getting use to the gearing of the Cannondale and really starting to get a good feel on how it climbs.

The PA side of the Delaware has a lot more ups and downs than the Jersey side after a while on the ridge we had to come back to the river and then head back up to the ridge on Dark Hollow. Dark Hollow is a long shallow climb that never seems to end but I actually enjoyed it once I got into a rhythm.

We headed back down the ridge down by Stover Park. Blake warn us that this was a tough decent and to be careful. I kept is slow but probably not as slow as I should because I came around an inside of one of the corners and ran into a pile of gravel. I tried to wrestle the bike through the turn but I had too much momentum and the gravel was too deep. I went down in a semi controlled way and tried to keep the new bike from hitting too hard. It was a relatively slow fall and I slid for about 10 feet in the gravel sand mix. The fall really didn't jar me too much but I came down pretty hard on my elbow and hip and could feel the burn of some road rash.

I yelled back to the rest of the group about the gravel. Luckily Chris took the turn slower and wider than I did so he missed the gravel. The only thing worst than falling is having somebody else ride over you. Chis also yell back that I was down so everybody else missed me and the gravel.

I got up and dusted myself off. The slide had caused some gravel to slide up and into my shorts which didn't feel good. I had a deep gash on my elbow that was bleeding but not real bad and some road rash on my thigh and side of my knee. After every asked me if I was OK their next reaction was hey let's take some pictures of bloody Tom to post on the Internet. This makes be think that if I every have a more serious accident on the road, there would be a chalk outline of my dead and mangled body and bike on Internet before my wife got word :-)

I cleaned my self up as best I could. I had some bandaids but they won't stick though the sweat and blood on my arm. The road rash burnt a little but it really didn't stop me from continuing to enjoy the ride. The most important thing here was the bike was fine and only had a little tear in the handlebar tape as a result of the fall.

In another 5 miles we were in Carversville at another general store where I cleaned most of the sand and gravel out of my wounds. Cheryl was getting tired of climbing since she had taught a spinning class the night before so we took the easy way back to avoid the hills.

The hot shower after the ride got the rest of the dirt out of my wounds and felt great. The road rash is still ugly. It feels like a mild sunburn and will take a few weeks to heal. Despite the accident the bike and I are doing fine will be back in the road in a couple of days.

The New Bike

Anybody who really gets into riding usually owns more than one bike. I bought my first real bike over 18 years ago. It was a Miyata 7-21 It was a relatively low end bike but it was so much better than an the 10 speed Schwinn I had. It was the bike that allowed me to actually keep up with the people on the B rides and start to become a serious rider. On the Miyata I went through the usual progression of a new riding and slowly increased my mileage until I did my first century. I also learned how to ride with a group and improve my bike handling skills.

After 8 years on the Myata I was a serious rider and was looking for an upgrade. I was looking for something lighter with better components and after a lot of research I was lucky enough to run into Tom at Speedway in Hightstown. He showed me the Feather and after a test ride there was no doubt that is was going to be my new bike. The Feather is a very light titanium bike with Dura Ace components and handles like a sports car. I was amazed how much better it felt than my Miyata and with it I was able to increase my average by a couple of miles an hour.

The Feather became my everyday bike and the Miyata was used only occasionally on vacations or on the rare instances when the Feather was in the shop. 10 years ago when I started doing hillier rides I would take the Miyata out on the tougher hillier rides because it had a triple and allowed me get up the tougher hills without my heart rate hitting its max or blowing out my knees.

The last few years I have started doing more hilly rides as I explore the areas around Califon and Schooley's Mountain. There are a couple of tough climbs on these rides so my Miyata is getting used more. The bike is showing its age and needs some upgrades if I am going to keep putting miles on it. The wheels bearing are shot and need to be replaced. The brakes also need replacing and the index shifters no longer indexes. I thought about stripping the bike down to the frame and building it up again will all new components but the Miyata is a pretty old and although a decent frame it's really not worth rebuilding.

This started a search for a new bike. It is amazing how many different bikes there are to choose from. I thought that the fact that I had some pretty detailed requirements for the hill climber I wanted would help narrow the field but it really didn't. I spent over a month looking around the Internet and stopping into bike shops to look at bikes. I narrowed it down to the Specialized Robaix, Cannondale Six or Cannondale Synapse. I considered a couple of the Bianchi and Trek models but none of them seem to be exactly what I wanted.

A couple of weeks later I test drove all the bikes and finally decided the Cannondale Synapse was the bike for me. The Cannodale Six was almost as good but the Synapse seemed to fit me a little better and the model I wanted came standard with most of the components I wanted.

So a week later I had a new bike a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 courtesy of Hart's. The bike is an all carbon frame. I was never a big fan of carbon because 10 years ago when I bought the Feather carbon bikes were a lot heavier and tended to have structural problems after a few years of riding. Today however the technology of carbon frames have really advanced and they are as reliable as any bike frame. They also can really tune the frame to be stiff and comfortable all at the same time. They have also been able to make carbon bikes a lot more affordable.

The Synapse is the most comfortable bike I have ever rode and is amazingly compliant yet has great power transfer so its also very efficient. Cannondale has really done a great job designing this bike and has really advanced the state of art here which is why it has got a lot of good reviews.

The bike has Shimano 105 components which is a good compromise between performance and price. If this was my one and only bike I might have sprung for Ultegra or even thought about Dura Ace but since this is my hill climber which I will ride about 30 % of the time the 105 components should be just fine. As with bike frames components keep advancing and the major difference between the 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace is weight and the difference is not real important for a recreational rider like me.

I opted for a triple on the bike since this bike will see a lot of tough hills. I have heard all the arguments about a compact versus a triple and the trade offs between each. For me it wasn't that hard a decision. A triple gives me a bigger set of gears to get up the hills. Yes I do have more overlap than a compact and yes it weights a little more (1/3 pound) and makes shifting a little more complicated but the lower gearing will keep my heart rate down and my knees happy when I'm headed up a 15 or 20% grade. If I had gone with a compact it would have been fine for 90% of where I go but for some of the real tough climbs I would either be standing or walking which I don't want to do.

To make this a bike that could climb ANYTHING I even changed out the rear cassette from the standard 11-28 to the new SRAM 11-32. This may seem real extreme to some people but I'm not one of those super thin 140 pound zero % body fat racers so I need a the extra low gears on some of the tough hills I climb. As I have become more adventurous I have shed my fear of hills and will try any climb. This has lead me to some of the steeper parts of NJ. On my hillier rides I will now climb some hills in the 10-15% ranges and may even do a 20% grade every now and then. So although the gearing is extreme it allows me to spin up any hill no matter how steep without burning myself out.

So how does it ride. One word. GREAT!!!

I only have a couple hundred miles on the new bike but so far the it is exactly what I wanted. I'm still making a few minor adjustments to the bike but almost have it dialed in and I am starting to get comfortable on it. One of the nice things about the bike is how comfortable it is. It really soaks up all the little road bumps and makes for a very smooth ride. But one of the amazing things about the frame is that the cushy ride doesn't cause any lost in efficiency. When you apply power to the pedals it is completely transferred to the rear wheel. I can tell that the power transfer is very efficient because I am spending more time in the big gear on the front chain ring.

The efficiency makes the bike a great climber. This is especially noticeable on 3 to 5 % grades where I'm climbing a gear or two higher than I do in my Feather. It also has no problems on steeper grades but the difference isn't as noticeable. A couple of days after I got the bike I headed to one of Michael's hilly rides and as expected he went up a couple of steep grades including the top half of Federal Twist.

For those of you who haven't been up to the top half Federal Twist its a pretty nasty climb in the with parts as steep as 15 to 20%. It's a tough climb but with the triple and my extreme gearing I was able to spin up with the top of the pack. It still took a lot of energy to do the climb but I still had something left when I got to the top.

On the flats the bike also cruises pretty well. Laura pulled in front of me on the flats at the top of the ridge I asked her if she was actully pedaling at which point she gave me the finger. I then said "let's see what this thing and do" and shifted up a couple of gears and stood on the pedals and took off. The bike really accelerated quickly and I was able to maintain a good pace and leave Laura in the dust although she quickly caught up at the next light.

Going down some of the down hills I tested the handling . I didn't push it to the edge because I am still getting the feel of the bike and don't know where the limits are. One of the criticisms of carbon frames is that they sometimes feel like dead wood and don't allow the rider to get a good feel of the road. The cushy ride of the Synapse definitely deadens some of the road feel so it takes a little more work to carve the bike around turns at high speed but I suspect that this will get better as I become more familiar with the bike and become more tuned to is ride.

All and all I am very happy with the bike and know I made the right choice. I'm a little sorry to see my Miyata be retired after many great years and rides together but I suspect after a some more quality hours in the saddle of the Cannodale we will become good friends. My Feather is still my main bike and it's sports car like handling makes it a joy to ride. But when the roads get hilly and I want more of a luxury ride I will be more than happy to bring out the Cannondale.

Where's Herb?

The Pineland Cruise ride that I do out of Bordentown always draws a bit of a crowd. It's easy flat 65ish mile ride that is always fun. Being one of the hottest days of an already hot year I thought that only a few die hard people would show up but I ended up with 14 people crazy enough to think that riding in 95+ degree heat was a good idea.

Because of the heat I started the ride at 8:00am and cut the ride to just over 50 miles. I tried to kept the pace easy so we would have something left for the end of the ride. Our first rest stop is a Wawa in Brownsmills and always has some interesting local characters going in and out.

It was hot but the riding wasn't too bad and everybody keep cruising along. Right before Vincetown Big Joe had a flat caused by a cut in his tire. We will probably be busting Joe for a few years about this since the cut in his tire wasn't new and for the fact that 4 miles later it blew again. Then a few miles later at the rest stop we put in yet another tube. Joe has these Campy rims that are almost impossible to get the tire off of and it was only with the help of Laura's super strong metal reiforced levels that we were able to get the tire on and off 3TIMES.

At the second rest stop Herb ended up leaving a few minutes early to get some Gatoraid at a deli a few miles up the road. Because of the 3rd change of Joes tire it was around 30 minutes before we headed out of the second rest stop to meet up with Herb. When we got to the deli we didn't see any sign of Herb so we figured that he gave up on us and headed back to the start. But when I got back to the start there was no sign of Herb. Crap, since I drove Herb to the start I need to find him because I didn't know how to tell his wife that I lost him.

I waited at the school in Bordentown for about 15 mins before heading out, by car, on the road to try and find him. I though that he might have gotten back to Bordentown and saw that we were not back and then decided to ride home. I knew which way he would have headed home but before I was going to drive that route I decided to retrace the roads back to the deli where he should have been. By the time I got to Chesterfield I saw Herb on Chesterfield Road and picked him up.

It turned out Herb was in the bathroom in the deli when we went by there which was unexpected because they never let us use the bathroom there. It as a strange coincident that caused us to miss each other. Herb ended up doubling back to the second rest stop to find us then realized we missed each other and headed back to Bordentown and would have ridden home if I he had to. Luckly we have ridden a lot together and know how each other thinks so I knew one way or the other I would find him or he would make it home.

At the end of the day despite the heat, flat tires, and loosing Herb it was still a good ride that gave us another interesting story to tell.

Schooley's Mountain

The ride up Schooley's mountain is one of the hillier rides we do and definitely a challenge. I always wait a few months into the season to do this ride so I can get some hill training in. Originally this ride was suppose to be Saturday but we finally got some rain so I postpone the ride to Sunday. This meant that I had a small group just me Laura, Mike M and Jeff which was fine with me.

As we headed towards our climb up Rockaway Rd. Mike stopped to check his rear derailleur because he was having problems shifting to his lowers gears. When we got to the top of Rockaway Mike checked his gears again and found the problem. His rear derailleur cable was broken at his shift lever. We tried to see if we could fix it but there was no easy fix with out a new cable so we tied the cable off to one of the cable guides so that Mike was stuck in his next to lowest gear. This meant that he went from 27 speeds to just three. He could basically only shift his front derailleur. We thought about finding a bike shop but couldn't find one that was close and open.

Even with a slightly disabled bike Mike keep powering up the hills. I actually felt a little guilty every time I made a shift.

We slowly made our way mostly uphill to Califon where I took a few new roads to get around the backside of town and started the last climb up to Schooley's Mountain.

Once on top of Schooley's we cruised a few miles to our rest stop in Long Valley. There is an old general stop and post office with a nice picnic table that make a good place for a break.

After the break, single gear Mike took off to Hackettstown to meet his wife and the rest of us headed down hill back to the start. We did have a good down hill on Four Bridges Rd. and a few other places but was disappointed with the downhill on Black River Rd. Black River Rd use to be one of my favoritesa couple of years ago but the road has become so rough and strewn with potholes that it's not much fun.

Of course it wasn't all downhill. We climbed over 1500 feet on our way back to the start. The climbs on the way back weren't as bad as the climbs up to Schooley's Mountain but it was a hot and humid day and we were getting tired. On the bottom part of Four Bridges just before we got to Tanners Brook there is a tough little climb that had Laura telling how much she hated me.

We did get a few nice views on the way back and stopped to take the picture at the top of this post at the corner of Doolittle and Hackelbarney(You gotta love the road names in NJ). You can see more picturesfor the ride here. By the time we got back to the start we were pretty tired but were still glad we did the ride. This is definitely one of the tougher rides we do and but it is good to occasionally push yourself close to your limits to keep improving. I have included a profile of the ride with some stats to show how much climbing we did. Jeff had a Garmin and sent me the stats after the ride. His stats were about 100 feet lower than mine but its still close so it's good to have independent conformation that my legs have a right to feet bad after climbing over 4000 feet.

Click on the profile below to get see a larger view

Belmar and Back

I haven't been to Belmar this year so when the Joe's led a ride there this Saturday I decided tag along. The Belmar ride is one of the more popular long distance rides we do. From Etra park it is at least an 70 mile round trip so you have to be prepare a 4 or 5 hours in the saddle. There are lots of variations to the route so it is never the same twice. The weather also plays a role so if you have a stiff west wind or hit and unexpected storm your going to have a tough ride back.

Saturday was a great day weather wise with light winds, sunny skies and relatively cool temperatures. George was planning to turn around when we got to Farmingdale but the riding was easy so he decided to go all the Belmar and back.

Even though it was the holiday weekend it wasn't as crowded as I expected. Yes there weren't any open parking spots and the beaches were full of people but Ocean avenue was rideable. After the stop in Belmar I split from the group and headed to the next town north, Avon, to visit with my niece who was on the beach there.

I only stopped for about a half hour at Avon then made my way back home. The wind was light so I didn't mind not having anybody to block the wind on the way home although it was a bit of a lonely ride. Because I rode from my house to Etra park the whole trip ended up being 80 miles and I was a little tired when I got home. It was my longest ride of the year and I was glad I made the trip since it was probably coolest day we are going to have for a while.

Thank You Mount Holly Bicycles

Every bicycle ride is an adventure and some more so than others. This past Saturday I headed to the pinelands with Herb and Mike M for a long but flat ride. I have been doing a lot of hills lately and wanted to do something flat to work on endurance.

For the most part I do my own maintenance on my bike and try to detect problems before they occur. During my normal quick check of my bike before loading it in the car I saw that the sidewall of my front tire had a small bubble in it. It might have been fine for the 60 mile ride that I had planned but I grabbed my spare tire and threw it in the car. When I got to Bordentown where the ride started I quickly changed the tire and we all went on our way.

Everything was going great until about 15 miles into the ride. I went to start pedaling after stopping for a light and the TOP of my speedplay pedal fell on the ground. Speedplay pedals are the ones that look like lollipops The bottom of the pedal was no where to be found and neither were the two screws that held it together. About a half mile before the light I remember hearing something bounce off my bike. I thought it was just a rock but it must have been the bottom of the pedal.

Mike and I go back and find the bottom half, the metal plate the cleat clicks into and 1 screw. We can't put the pedal back together because we are missing the other metal plate for the top of the pedal and the other screw. Although I have lost a pedal I still have a spindle so I can ride but not real fast and I don't want to ride that way for too long.

At this point we have two choices. We can find a way to fix the pedal or we head slowly back to the start. Mike pulls out his Blackberry, hits the web and looks for a bike shop (Sometimes it pays to have a smart phone). He finds one about 4 miles away. So we head out pass Smithville then ride along Rt 38 to Mount Holly Bicycles.

When I walk in the door the shop owner ask what I need and I point to the pedal. He doesn't have any speedplay pedals or replacement parts but goes in the back to grab a few screws to see if he can jury rig something. I'm figuring worst case I have to buy a pair of SPDs. As I'm walking around the shop a metal plate pops off my shoe. It was the missing plate from my pedal and was stuck in my cleat. With the times I was off walking around looking for the other pieces of the pedal I'm amazed that it managed to stay there until I in the bike shop.

It was a lucky break because now with both pieces of the pedal, both metal plates, and one screw Steve at the bike shop was able to put the pedal back together. He found another screw that fit but was long and stuck out of the pedal on one side but this was OK. Now at least I had a working pedal with the only problem being I could only use one side of it. No big deal.

The guys at the bike shop were really nice and friendly, they didn't even want anything for the repair so all I could do was to thank them and head out back to the ride. The rest of the ride was uneventful. We had a good stop at Nixon's down in Tabernacle and then made our way back to Bordentown.

The incident reminds me that bike shops aren't like a lot of other business. Yes bike shop owners want to run a successful business and make money but most of them love biking and are very knowledgeable and helpful. That's why it is always a good idea to get to know your local bike shop and if you are in the Mount Holly area may I recommend Mount Holly Bicycles.

One other thing I would like to point out is that being able to use Mike's Blackberry to find a bike shop was a great thing and saved the day but what if you don't have a web enabled phone or are not in an area where you can get a web connection. Well the answer is GOOG-411. It's a service that allows you to call an 800 number and do a google search. All you have to do is call 1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411 and then you will be asked for the city, state and type of business. After that you will get a listing of the closest businesses of the type you want and be able to connect to them or have a text message sent to your phone with their address and phone number. The service is free and is a good number to have in your phone in case you loose a pedal and need to find the nearest bike shop.

Hill Training

For the past couple of weekends I have been working on hills and improving my climbing. Last weekend I did my Lambertville Cruise which has a couple of moderate climbs up the Sourlands. This weekend I headed to Frenchtown to do Michael's ride to Bloomsbury. When you head to Bloomsbury you have to expect at least one tough climb on the way in or out.

Michael took it easy on us and headed up the Delaware and took the easy way into Bloomsbury. There were a few climbs on the way there but nothing major. On the way out of Bloomsbury we had the big climb up Turkey Hill. This is a 500 foot climb over a couple of miles. There are no really steep parts but it is one of those hills that just doesn't want to end. At the top of the hill I actually felt pretty good so I guess the hills and intervals that I have been doing are paying off. I still want to improve a little for some of the rides I want to do in July but I am close to being in good hills shape.

The best part of climbing out of Bloomsbury is the down hill afterwards. After Turkey Hill we head down Sweet Hollow which is one of the best downhills in NJ. It is a 3 mile downhill that follows a winding stream through a rural forest. At the bottom of Sweet Hollow we headed back up the ridge above Frenchtown.

We were a little short of the planned 50 miles so Michael decided a to add another climb to the ride. We ended up going up Hickory Corner Rd which I hadn't been on before. It was 340 ft shallow climb that we grinded our way up. From there we made a couple right turns and headed back down hill on Woolf Rd. This was another road that I hadn't been on before but it will definitely be one that I will do again. It is a screamer downhill that lasts for a while and made the climb up Hickory Corner worth it.

About halfway the way down the hill a kamikaze squirrel ran under Laura's bike. It went under her back wheel but luckily she only ran over its tail so it was able scamper away into the woods.

By the time we got back to Frenchtown we only had 43 miles and although it was a hilly ride it was actually easier than the usually ride lead by Michael. Its was a nice route. I have posted the ridesheet here if you want to check it out. This was a nice way to continue to build up my climbing ability.

Southern Sojourn

Riding in southern Jersey is different than riding any where else in the state. Its very rural, flat and a little strange. There are a lot of empty roads with almost no traffic. I try to get down south a couple times a year just to explore a little and revisit some of the nicer roads I have found. This past Saturday I decided to do my Fort Mott ride again. This ride starts just north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge so it's easy to get to. I had done this ride a couple of years ago and wanted to come back and explore the area again.

There is really nothing special about this area. It is mostly composed of a lot of farmland an rural roads as well as some wet lands in and around the Delaware. There aren't a lot of towns in this area and the ones that are, like Salem are a little old and run down. Still it is a nice place to ride especially if you like flat roads with no traffic.

From our starting point at Fort Mott State Park it took us about 7 miles to get through the town of Salem and out to the farmlands. Along the way Mary picked up a hugh spike that went through her tire and stuck into her rim tap. Needless to say the tire when flat instantly. At least it was easy to find out where the hole was. A quick tube change and we were on our way again.

Once we got into the farmlands there was a lot of nothing but it was a good nothing. No cars no hills just quiet roads and easy cruising. We had a little bit of a head wind but this was a good sign for the return trip. Last time I rode down this way there was a house that had hundreds of polka dot pots strewn on the lawn. It was one of those strange things you see down here. This time most of the polka dots pots were gone. The weather was a little overcast so I didn't take a lot of pictures if you want to see the pictures from my last trips down here you can see them here and here

Our first rest stop was in the town of Alloway at Bud's deli. It's an old deli but is has all the usually stuff and a nice table to sit at. There aren't many places to stop down south so you don't have a lot of choices.

After Alloway we continued south and ran into some rolling hills. Normally I won't have notice the hills but the flatness of the first part of the ride make them seem steeper then they really were.

We made it down to the town of Roadster (yea, I never heard of it either). This was new territory for me and although I new exactly where I was on my map it felt like the middle of no where or actually we where 10 miles south of no where in to the territory of "where the heck are we"

Once we started heading back we had a really nice tail wind which felt good. The deli/bait & tackle/liquor store that I wanted to stop for the second rest stop was abandon so we just continued on. Luckily about 7 miles later we found a post office/deli to stop at. It was a real post office on the left side with a small deli on the right. When I say small I mean the entire deli was about 10 square feet. You take one step through the door and you hit the counter to your left is a cold case with drinks. On the counter is a box of doughnuts and to the right is a small two person table. That's it. But is was a perfect unexpected stop and after a quick break we were one our way again.

We had a tail wind all the way back which made the return trip back easy. All in all it was a good ride and something I will do again in the future. Maybe in the fall when all the farms are full of crops.

Vacation in the Cascades

I haven't posted for the past couple of weeks because I have been on vacation. We went to the west coast and spent a lot of time in the Cascade mountains between Portland and Seattle. It was a great trip and I got a lot of good pictures. We spent a lot of time driving up and down mountains. It was like one long scenic drive. You can see more of the pictures from my trip here.

I did not do any biking on this vacation but saw a number of bikers while we were driving around and talked to a few. There aren't a lot of paved roads around the Cascade mountains so most of the biking is done on the county roads. They all have wide shoulders so riding with the traffic is not a problem. The view are spectacular as long as you don't mind long climbs of 1000 to 2000 feet.

The weather is very unpredictable it can be 60 degrees and sunny and then 15 mins later its 35 degrees and hailing. So as one of the bikers told me you can't depend on the weather report and have to be prepared for any type of weather whenever you go riding.

Now that I am back from vacation I miss seeing the beautiful Cascade mountain every day as it was almost like being in the Alps. It was a nice change of pace.

After 10 days of vacation it was nice to get back on the bike and start riding again. I went for a ride with Herb, Mary, and George down towards Bordentown and although the I didn't see any snow capped mountains the scenery was still nice. We ended up running into a Rotary club ride and saw a bunch of riders filing by. We ended stopping and checking on one of the bikers who had a fall. He had a couple of bad cuts on his face and some road rash on his arms and legs but he didn't appear to have broken anything. So after he called for the sage wagon we left him with a car that had stopped to check on him and continued on our ride.

Because I was on vacation I did not put in any ride in the book for June so keep watch on the blog here in case I decide to do some off the book rides.

Shades of Death

This past Wednesday I had a presentation and book signing at REI in East Hanover. This is up in north west Jersey. Since I don't get up to this area to ride as much as I want, I decided to take the day off work and do a ride up in the area. I decided to do a ride around Allamuchy since this area is nice and quiet and isn't too hilly. I also wanted to ride on Shades of Death again since I hadn't done this in a couple of years. Although the name sounds bad Shades of Death is a nice rolling road with some good scenery especially by the meadow.

The last time I rode in this area the weather was a perfect 80 degree day with calm winds(see pictures here). This time however the weather sucked. It was an overcast 40 degrees with 20 mph winds gusting much higher. It didn't really rain but there were a couple of times when I got hit with a few rain drops. I event rode through some intermittent pea size hail. If I didn't have the book signing later in the day I would have canceled the ride.

Even with the poor conditions I still enjoyed the ride, which just proves that a bad day on the bike is still better than working. I didn't stop to take a lot of pictures this time because of the weather but I did see something strange that I couldn't help but take a picture of. It was motorcycle made out of logs. It looks like something I would see in the Flintstones.

The presentation at REI went well. The store in East Hanover is relatively new and very nice. They have a full bike shop and more bike merchandise then most big outdoor stores. The store even had a special room just for presentations and events. The staff was great and the bike mechanic was pretty sharp he noticed my stretched chain on my bike almost immediately.

I had around 35-40 people of all different levels of experience. After the talk they had a lot of good questions and even after the presentation was over a number of them hung around. It is always fun talking to other bikers and exchanging stories. It is something I never get tired of.

North west Jersey has a lot of nice places to ride if you don't mind a few hills so I hope to be back up in this area later this year for some more rides.

Raritan River Ramble

This past Saturday I had a good group ride through the Sourlands. This marks the beginning of my hill training to try and get my climbing legs back. Although we climbed a few hills this route was relatively easy and I was even able to convince a few flatlanders to join me. This was a some what new route that I made up of some of the normal roads plus a few new ones I explored last year. This will definitely be one I will do again as it had some nice scenery. I will be posting the ride sheet soon to my web site but until then you can check out the route here on google maps. I have been experimenting with the new directions feature they added a little while ago and must admit the more I use it the more useful I find it. With google maps it is still a little hard to get to route to go where you want it but once you do the street level pictures at each turn are really cool and are very useful when trying to see what the road really looks like.