Heading South

After a couple of weeks in the hills I wanted something flat. I could have went to the Pinelands but I have done that enough this year and wanted a different kind of flat. I decided to go to South Jersey and do a loop from Batsto to Smithville and back. This was a longer variation of a ride from my NJ Book. We did this route which was a little longer than a metric and had less than a 1000 ft of climbing.

This was yet another ride I had listed on Saturday that I had to move to Sunday because of rain. (The 4th in a row for those keeping count) Even with moving the ride and the extra ride down to Batsto I still have 3 other people join me Laura, Barry, and Marc.

The ride was a lot like most of my Pinelands ride with similar scenery. The main difference was the Mullica, Wadding and a few other small rivers that broke up the forest. We also got to Oyster Creek and got a view of Atlantic City and the bay.

It was a nice flat ride and an easy 65 miles at a decent B pass. It will probably be my last long ride of the year.

I did not put any rides in the PFW book for November because I want to do some exploring. If I decide to do something interesting and want some company I will post something on this blog.

Jim Makes the Ride

Although I sometimes make fun of Jim I actually enjoy riding with him. I haven't seen him much the past couple of months because I had to move the day of my last 3 rides because of weather. Of course he suspected I was part of some conspiracy to keep him from my ride but it was just dumb luck.

So again I had to move my Scenic Pennsylvania Hills ride to Sunday from Saturday, because of rain, and expected some moaning from Jim but instead of more conspiracy theories Jim was actually able to show up. Besides Jim, Jack, Laura, Marc, Joe, and Barry join me for the ride.

This was a hilly ride from Bulls Island to Perkasie and back. Along the way we went passed through Doylestown and Peace Valley Park. Some of these roads I hadn't been on in a few years so it was nice to visit them again. It was a cold morning so I was in tights and a jacket. Because it was sunny I thought I would be peeling off cloths by mid ride but it never really warmed up that much.

On the way through Peace Valley I managed to get a picture of a blue hereon who was only a few feet from the bike path. Peace Valley is usually where I start my Lake Nockamixon ride from. Although we had already done some climbing the two roughest climbs were between Peace Valley and Peakasie. The first one was on the other side of the Peace Valley lake. Its a 300 ft climb in less than a mile with the first part of the climb around a 10% grade.

The second one was a 80 ft climb for 400 ft that maxes out at a 20% grade. Part of the reason I put this hill in was because I always have problems getting up this hill with out walking. Its not a matter of power but of balance since I can't keep my front wheel on the ground. This time I just shifted into the triple and stood the whole way up. So found a way to manage the hill. The other reason I put this hill in was because I knew it would annoy Jim which is always fun.

After a rest stop at a slightly over priced  coffee shop in Perkasie we road along the ridge. below Lake Nockamixon. I was keeping an eye on Barry because I didn't want to loose him again. One of the nice things about having Jim on the ride is he likes to sweep so it helps me keep the ride together.

He was also the first one to notice that Barry dropped his chain. Now when most people drop their chain it just falls off the front chain ring but when Barry dropped his chain it actually came undone and fell completely off the bike. When I turned around I saw Barry actually picking his chain up off the road. I've never seen that before.

Jim's obsessive compulsion with keeping his bike clean and mechanically sound came in handy because he had a chain tool and some spare links so he was able to put the chain back together and get Barry riding again.

So I'm glad Jim  was able to make the ride today because he is a handy guy to have around.