Bah Humbug

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had much to say. I have keep riding and have been getting out on the weekends either to Larry's ride or a ride on my own. Its been a cold, windy and busy month so all the rides were short.

I'm not a big fan of the Christmas holidays since a lot of the meaning of the season is lost in over commercialization and stressful family situations (statistics show that heat attacks and depression increases dramatically during the holidays need I say more).

Our Christmas tradition is that we usually go to my in-laws for dinner on Christmas eve then to my nephews on Christmas day. Its usually a hectic couple of days and I'm always glad when it is over and I can get back to my normal life. This year however Christmas had a different flavor.

We did our usual Christmas eve with the in-laws any my wife's family where we went to dinner at a restaurant by them. Then dessert at their house before heading home. At around midnight my wife got hit my the first wave of food poisoning and I followed her at 3am. This was more than you run of the mill food poisoning. This was the epic horror movie type of poisoning where it was man versus food and food wins. My wife and I spent 2 full days projecting things out of us at an alarming rate. Its almost a week later and I'm just getting strong enough to be able to go out in public again.

My main regret is not missing any of the Christmas celebration but not being able to ride this past Friday or Saturday since they were the nicest days of the month.

By the way I have seen a number of ridiculous Christmas ornaments posted this year so just wanted to show one of the stupid ornaments that I have collected over the years. I'm a computer professional/geek which requires you to understand Star Trek at an expert level and I have a number of Star Trek themed ornaments. The pile of vomit that Spock is leaning over is an alien called a Horta and he is trying to mind meld with it so he can tell it not to kill any more.   What it has to do with Christmas and the season of giving I have no idea

Happy New Year. Hope to see you on the road soon.

The Frozen Bastard Ride

I didn't really expect a crowd since it was cold with possible snow flurries but they all showed up anyway. I had sent out an email late Friday to the usually suspects after trading some emails with Laura and Jim earlier in the week. I had to ride Saturday since I was busy on Sunday and I had decided to do the Lawrence Hopewell trail. I knew Laura would be coming since she was desperate for a ride after spending a couple weeks in England off the bike.

By Saturday morning I got replies from almost everybody and when I got to the starting point Dave, Joe, and Jim were already there. A few minutes later the other Jeff L surprised us by riding up followed by Laura who also road in about 5 minutes later.

With everybody showing up it felt like one of our normal summer rides expect for the fact that it was 31 degrees, we were all on mountain or cross bikes and we were riding through the woods on gravel instead of the roads.

The Lawrence Hopewell trail is well laid out trail and a good way to get some miles in the cold. Its a series of connected paved paths, gravel paths and roads that take you through Lawrence and Hopewell. You can see the trail map HERE.

We did a 20 mile loop starting at Princeton Pike just south of Province Line and then headed through Lawrenceville up to Rosedale Lake and Pennington before circling back through ETS. It was cold and didn't get much above freezing for the entire ride but once we got moving I was mostly warm.

Most of the trail is well maintained and it goes through a lot of the locale parks so it is somewhat scenic. The only issue is that the trail is a little mushy in areas and because of the recent snow and cold weather there was some ice we had to deal with.

Despite the cold and ice it was nice to have a ride with most of the regulars and hear them bitching and moaning about me about getting lost which I kinda did when we road around the roundabout at the hotel in ETS. I eventually got back on the trail and we made it back to the start where Laura distributed some chocolate from her trip. I don't plan to have any rides in the book for the winter but hopefully we can do some of these adhoc rides and get together as the weather permits.

Lug Nuts

The bicycle as we know it has been around for over 100 years and there are many interesting stories on how innovations occurred along the way. This Sunday I attended the Philly Bike Expo mostly to attend a seminar by Gary Helfrich on the history and theory of titanium frame building. For those of you not familiar with Gary he was one of the founders of Merlin Metalworks, the first company to build titanium frames. As a proud owner of a titanium bike(a Feather not a Merlin) I wanted to learn more about the history of the titanium bike.

I didn't know much about Gary before the seminar but it turns out he is a crazy mad scientist and a very entertaining speaker. He had a lot of great stories not only from his 10 years as a roadie for Aerosmith but from the insanity that ensues when starting a new business while trying to do something  that other more knowledgeable people had tried and failed. Although Gary did a lot of drinking and drugging along the way his passion for bike building and titanium made him the leading expert in both disciplines.  For a glimpse of his genius and crazyness you should check out this link. as it will give you a general idea of his story.

I really enjoyed both his talks. We also got to see the Bike Snob who I think is even more funny in person than on his blog. All this was besides the actual show itself which is a exposition of cool custom bikes along with many cool bike accessories and cloths. I have included a few pictures below but you can see more pictures on Jim's post.

The main difference between this years show and the one I attended a few years ago was that I saw a lot less lug construction and a lot more welds. I know some people have an almost pornographic attraction to lugs but I think welds can be as attractive if they are done right. And after understanding how difficult it is to do a titanium weld properly I have an even better appreciation of how good they look.

I was lucky enough to have Jim along with me as he is a titanium bike geek and didn't mind getting up for an early ride. We ended up getting to Philly at 7am and doing an hour an a half ride around the city and through the Wisahickon before riding to the show. On the way back we found some public art that you see below. All in all it was good day for a couple of bike geeks.

Missing Friends

I have met a lot of people while biking who I would call friends. I don't see them much out outside of riding with them because we all have our separate lives but when you ride with someone 4 or 5 hours week after week you get to know them pretty well. The social aspect of biking can be as beneficial as the physical part. I enjoy the people I bike with because they don't take life too seriously and when we ride together it is more about having fun than sitting in a paceline and averaging a certain speed.

That is why I look forward to the weekends when we usually get together. I usually ride on Saturday but this Saturday was a rain out so I headed to Cranbury on Sunday to ride with Winter Larry. I figured it would be a good ride because I had not seen Larry in a while and I knew a few other of my friends would be there. I was wrong of course.

The weather wasn't the best. It was in the mid 40s and the wind was blowing 20+ with gusts in the 30s but it was rideable. I suspected Larry might bail as he tends to do this when the weather is at the edge of riding. I'm not calling him a wimp but this is not the first time I showed up for a Larry ride and he wasn't there and it won't be the last.

There were 4 other people there waiting for Larry. Marc, Barry and a couple of other people I didn't really know. Since they were looking for a ride leader and I was looking for some bodies to block the wind I lead them on a loop up through Dayton, Helmetta and back through Jamesburg. It was about a 30 mile loop. There were a few spots where we almost came to a stand still because of the gusts of wind but it was manageable (I averaged 15mph). Since I rode into the ride I ended up with 43 not bad for a crappy November day.

Although I knew there would be a chance Larry would not be there today. I did expect Laura or Jim or Ed or a few of the other regulars as they rarely miss a change for a ride. No matter I will catch up with them on the next ride. And can talk about last weeks Columbia trail ride where I convinced them to head up one of the steepest hills we've ever been down. Laura looks like she is about to fall over. And I thought she looked slow going downhill!

And the stupid picture we took where they put the wall in front of the trail. It more slowed us down then stopped us. 

Of course this week we got the news that our friend George passed away. He was a great person and always livened up the ride. He was proof that riding can keep you young at heart. He was part of our riding family and he will be missed.

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.

North Jersey Weekend

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For the pass few years I have gather a few of the willing and headed away on a bike trip. I had a couple different ideas for this year trip out of state but for a couple of reasons could not get it a big trip put together this year. Laura had mention that she wanted to ride up the Delaware and ride Old Mine Rd. After looking at a couple different routes I couldn't find a ride worth doing. It however put the idea in my head that it might be fun to revisit some of routes up north I haven't done in a few years.

So that's how this years bike trip ended up in being to North Jersey. It was a simple trip. We headed up early Saturday morning to the Delaware Gap to do  ride around Old Mine Rd. Then stayed over night and did a ride around Hope and Tranquility with a stretch along the famous Shades of Death Rd.

There were five of us Laura, Larry, Jack, Ed and myself. We lucked out with perfect weather. It was a little chilly at the start but is was sunny so it warmed up quickly. The ride along Old Mine Rd was hilly and scenic. You could not ask for a better day to enjoy the views. The road up here are also as close traffic free as it gets. The only thing that detracted from the ride was a few spots where the road was so beat up that is was hard to find a clear path.The worst part was a the beginning  and end of the ride when we had to climb to and from Millbrook Village where we started. It was so rough that Ed actually lost his water bottle in the first couple of miles. It not only fell out of the cage but rolled off the road and in to the woods never to found again. The climb back to Millbrook was even worst.  It was a steep 400 ft climb in  just over a half mile on a road that was more potholes than pavement. Last time I did this climb on my old Myata I had to stop half way up to catch my breath. This time I was able to make it up but almost fell a couple of time because of the bad road.

Despite the few bad patches of road it was a beautiful ride. Although Old Mind is next to the Delaware you don't actually see the river most of the time. We did ride over into Pennsylvania at Dingmans Ferry to hang out by the river.

On Sunday we headed to Allamuchy to ride around some of the nicest roads in this part of the state. Fall is in full swing up here so the leaves have started turning and the colors were vibrant. The most scenic spot were around Kittatinny Valley State Park where we made a slight detour to check out the lake.

This a very rural area which make it a good place to ride. The only problem is that there is almost no places to stop. NJBikeMap has a food in Johnansonburg but when we pulled into town it looked like a ghost town and the only sign of life was a person on a horse standing in the middle of the street. It was truly a one horse town with out any food store.

From there headed to the famous Shades of Death Rd which is connected with a number of scary stories  that end badly. We stopped at the end of the road to take a picture of road sign. Laura did her usual dramatic pose.

We then headed up the hills of Jenny Jump forest which only had one tough spot but also had a killer downhill. From there it was a short slightly uphill ride back to the start. After a quick lunch we were on our way and the trip was over.

The last few times I road up in North Jersey it was by myself so it was fun to do these rides with other people. 

The Pace of Things...

Where's Barry

OK so shoot me. I lost another one. Being a ride leader sometimes leads to some tough decisions. The first decision I had to make was when to ride. Saturday would be cloudy with a 50% chance of rain after 1pm but Sunday would be a perfect sunny day. I knew if I moved the ride a few people would be disappointed since they won't be able to make the ride because they were going to the PFW fall picnic.

After looking at the weather on late Friday I decided to move the ride to Sunday. I had gotten stuck in the rain a couple times this year and did not want another wet ride. We would also be on a few busy roads so I didn't want to chance riding is wet and low viability conditions.

As soon as I posted the news on my blog and sent out an email blast I had some people question the decision and some bloody biker went as far as to question if I had any bollacks.

The decision to ride on Sunday ended up being a good one. Although the weather forecast actually looked a lot better Saturday morning it did end up raining around 1pm which meant we would have been riding in a steady medium rain for at least an hour.

Sunday was a little cool but it was sunny and clear. I ended up with 9 people at the start. I had not expected that many but I guess the word got out through the blog.

The ride to Sandy Hook from battlefield park on Monmouth is a mostly flat ride and so it wasn't hard to keep the group together. Once there are more than 4 or 5 rides it is sometime hard to keep track of everybody. What I usually do with larger groups is just make sure the slowest person is still in my mirror.

The only time we really got strung out was the hills in Atlantic Highlands along the Navasink river. I was having a good day because the hills didn't feel as hard as they usually do. I stopped at my usual intersection after the last downhill section. When Dave pulled in I knew I had everybody so we continued on. About a mile later after a couple of turns somebody realized we had lost Barry. I sent everybody across the road to the Quick check while Ed and I went back to find Barry.

As I retraced our path I was hoping to see him coming towards us but none of the bikes passing were him. I went back to the bottom of the Navasink hill and when I haddn't found him decided to keep going back to the last place I saw him on the ride. If he was lost that was bad but if he had a mechanical problem or got hurt I wanted to make sure we didn't leave him behind.

After going back over the Navasink hill to the last place I saw him I felt a little better that he was not sitting on the side of the road broken down or hurt. The only logical explanation is that he was lost or decided to turn around. In either case the chances of finding him were very small so Ed and I headed back to the Quick check.

From there we continued on to Sandy Hook and took a ride around the bike paths. It was one of the clearest days that I have been to Sandy Hook so we had a good view of the NY skyline. We stopped at Gunnison beach this time to admire the view from one of the old gun turrets.

From there it was the usual way home over the Shrewsbury river and through Little Silver. I manage not to loose anybody else.

When we got back to the parking lot I saw that Barry's van was gone so I know that he made it back. He may be mad at me for dropping him but at least I know he was OK. He didn't have a cell phone so there was no way to contact him during the ride to find him. I did call his home number and left a message for him to call me but he never call back so I'm still not sure what happen to Barry.


9/20 - ***UPDATE I got a note from John this morning who talked to Barry during the week. It turns out Barry continued on the Navasink Road and didn't turn on to Locust like the rest of us did. When we went back to find him he was already past where we were looking for him. He did make it to Rt 36 and did see the Quick Check and did go to Sandy Hook and through Little Silver on the way home. The bottom line is Barry made it home safely and I need to do a better job keeping track of people on my ride

Childhood Memories

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When I was a kid the summer vacation was a camping trip some where in the north east. The destination was usually on or near the lake or ocean. The vacation consisted of hanging out by the water and visiting the local town and attractions.

One of my favorite lakes we visited was Lake Winnipesaukee. It is the biggest lake in New Hampshire and its shores are dotted with interesting little towns, marinas, and a lot of cottages and motels to enjoy the lake from. As a kid we camped in one of the bays and I spend the days swimming and sailing in the lake. It really is a beautiful place and in some ways even more scenic than Lake George or Lake Champlain.

This year since my wife's family wasn't able to go to Cape Cod for our usually trip we decided to check out Lake Winnipesaukee since I want to see if it had changed since I had been there. This time we stayed at a hotel since I prefer not to rough it any more. The hotel we picked was on Belknap Point which overlooks the main part of the lake and is near some of the main towns. The hotel rooms are about 5 feet from the lake so when you look out your window you feel like you are on a cruise ship sailing on the lake. The hotel was built in the late 60s and it doesn't look it had be updated much since then but it was clean and comfortable so we had no complains.

The main attraction was the view. I spent half the time at the room just sitting on the balcony staring at the lake. It was just so relaxing to take in the view and watch the different boats go by. I don't meditate but if I did I imagine I would have the same peaceful feeling as I did just sitting by the lake.

Besides just relaxing we did do some sightseeing, swimming and even rented a boat for half a day to explore the lake. We were blessed with perfect weather so no matter where we went we had great views of the lake and surrounding mountains.

One of the main places we visited was Castle in the Clouds which is a mansion build on one of the hills overlooking the lake. I don't remember visiting this when I was a kid so it was all new to me. Besides the hand crafted house the grounds also contain a beautiful small water fall.

Besides swimming and sailing on the lake one of my more vivid memories of Lake Winnipesaukee is getting ice cream at Kellerhaus. They had good home made ice cream but the best part is they had a huge fixings bar that let you add fudge, caramel, marshmellow, sprinkles and a lot of other stuff. I remember getting the three scoop boat and just piling on all the toppings. Of course I also remember walking out of there feeling like my stomach was going to explode.

Luckily Kellerhaus is still there and has its ice cream fixings bar. It wasn't as big or had a many toppings as I remember(I guess it looked bigger when I was a kid) but is was still good. I got a more sensible two scoop cup and didn't overload on the toppings. The one cool thing they have in the fixing bar that I remember is the whipped cream. Not only is it rich and thick but it come out of a soda fountain like nozzle so there is an endless supply.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to get back to Lake Winnipesaukee. It was a beautiful as I remember and a good place to just relax.

Technology to Help You Ride

After doing the last three weekend rides mostly in Pennsylvania I decided to do a ride back in New Jersey this week. It was metric to the Pinelands from Bordentown and a nice flat change of pace. Jack H who I haven't seen in over a year joined us. When we last saw Jack we were at Peace Valley at last years lying bastard ride and his derailleur was stuck in the spokes of his back wheel.  I still don't know how that happened.

The reason we haven 't seen Jack is he had back surgery over the winter and so he was off the bike for a while. It looks like the surgery was successful because Jack seemed to be riding as good as ever. Dave, Joe and Chris also came along. Dave also had some back surgery. In fact he has had surgery this past Tuesday and was already back doing a metric. Although we all drool and desire the latest bike technology to help us improve our riding abilities it is really the advances in medicine that will keep us on our bikes as we age.

The Lying Bastard Ride

This is the story of the Lying Bastard ride. Since it turns out I'm the lying bastard what is included below may be slightly exaggerated or totally imagined but it may have more truth in it than most are willing to admit. I have kept the names the same to embarrass the usual participants.

Here are the cast of characters that I had to deal with on this ride


First there is Jaunty Jim. Who always has a song in his heart. Just don't encourage him to sing it.











Then there is Laura Queen of the Hills Slugs

( Visual (Muppet) Approximation)



Of course we can't forget Dave the cheeky Brit

Winter (no show) Larry

Yes as always Larry said he would come to the ride but bailed at the last minute.
I'm actually happy that Larry didn't make it because the last time he and Jim were together on a ride they broke out into a medley of show tunes that required hours of death metal to get out of my head





Blake, Mike, Joe,  and the rest of the insane bike posse were too ugly to include here.

The weather was perfect as it is on all rides I lead. Somehow I just know how to pick days a month ahead of time where there will be no chance of rain. 

I first did this ride as part of looking for new routes for my Philadelphia book a few years ago. This is one of those rides that doesn't look bad on paper but when you ride it you find some hidden short steep hills and more rollers than expected that make it feel hillier. When I decided to change the start location to Frenchtown I wanted to make sure I kept the character of the ride the same.  On the original ride we had a mile climb with a 10% grade to start then some rollers and then a very short (400 ft) but very steep (20%) grade that had most people falling or almost falling off their bikes. It was the hill where I earned my name.

So of course this ride started with a long tough uphill that was steeper than expected. It was also much longer than expected. And to try and make sure I could drop the lying part of my name I posted the route on line so everybody would know what they were in for. Of course that itself is a lie because I did change the real route to add a short loop to make it worst with out letting everyone know I added another small but very steep hill.

I added this extra loop for a few reasons.

First because I wanted to add a similar very short but steep hill to take the place of one people thought we were going to by pass as I promised the group a surprise (surprises are not always good).

Second I wanted to compare the accuracy of my Delorme mapping program to RidewithGPS. Delorme said the hill grade would be in the 15-19% range. RidewithGPS said 7-9% range. I has suspected that RidewithGPS always reported lower grades and elevation gains than reality so I'm sort of happy to report that Delorme was the most accurate and pretty close to reality. It means I can more of these hidden gems.

Third and most importantly this loop was totally unnecessary that confused Mr Garmin and added nothing to the ride but a painful hill. I through about doing the loop twice but did not want to send a certain few in the group into an uncontrollable OCD loop.

The result of all this was that by the time we got to the top of the Geigel Hill we already had well over 1000 feet of climbing and only 10 miles to show for it.

Laura being the drama queen she is just got off the bike and lay on the ground like she had fainted but none of us were buying it.

Dave (who was the one who dubbed me as the lying bastard)  made his usual inferred character defamatory comments all the way up the climb. For some reason they don't sound like insults coming from him. Maybe its the accent. 

The pay off for the climbing was that we now were at Lake Nockamixion and had a relatively flat ride as we headed pass the dam towards the Perkasie and our rest stop. We stopped at a deli in a shopping mall that has decent food.

Perkasie is a normal small town except for the fact that all the streets are named and laid out similar to central Philly. It also has a Manayunk like section that we had to ride through. The hills aren't as long but they are almost as steep.

From here we headed to the strange but nicest part of the ride. Its wooded with rolling hills, traffic free and even has a covered bridge. The strange part is we go through a area known as Rock Ridge (named for the town in Blazing Saddles) which has a couple of retirement homes some homeopathic spas and an out of place Greek temple.

Once we got around the lake we headed back towards Frenchtown on some roads we had not been on before. Although it was mostly downhill, with great views.  we did manage to find a couple short but steep sections which had people calling out a shorten version of my name (i.e You Bastard!!!) The payoff was the last downhill to back to the Delaware. As its name implies Red Cliff Rd is a screaming downhill that we will be doing again. Then it was a short stretch on 32 and we were back.

The purpose of doing this ride is to go some place we don't normally go and try a few new roads. As always the ride ended up being  harder than expected so I don't think I will loose my lying bastard title anytime soon and I'm OK with that. Although people complain and call me names they still come on a rides like this because it is always ends up being a stupid kind of fun. Sometimes the anticipation of a ride is much better than the actual ride itself but in this case the ride was a good as imagined. In fact it was so much fun we may do it again it Sept.

Lancaster Covered Bridge Metric

This pass Sunday I did the Lancaster Covered Bridges Metric which I haven't done in a while. I don't do many event type rides but the Covered Bridges Metric is a well organized ride in a nice area so it is worth doing on occasion. I went with Chris and made it a long day trip. We usually make a weekend trip out of it but I was too busy to do that.

The weather forecast called for a chance of showers but it looked like the rain might hold off  as we drove into the school where the ride started. Unfortunately the rain started a few miles in. It was never more than a little drizzle and it only rained on and off for about a third of the ride but it still meant we rode mostly on we roads. Still even with the less than perfect weather is was still a good ride and I'm sure I do it again. Hopefully in better weather.

Cheryl's Last Ride

This pass Saturday Blake led a ride out of the park and ride in Yardley. It was a 50 mile ride through the hills of Pennsylvania. We had the usually crew Jim, Laura, Blake, myself and Cheryl. The weather was perfect for the ride and the only really tough hill was Eagle Rd (Jericho Mt) which luckily we did towards the beginning of the ride. The main purpose of the ride was to stop at the store in Carversville. It's got good food, a nice place to sit and is a popular place for bikers to take a break. We actually meet some people from the Philadelphia bike club who were riding in the area.

Although I have done a number of rides with Blake in this area he did hit a few roads I haven't been on before. We did this route which I will probably steal some roads from the next time I ride in this area. At the end of the ride we all said our good byes to Cheryl who is moving to Florida. Although she may be back occasionally we are really going to miss her since she has been part of our insane bike posse for many years.

Down the Upside

 
 I have been exploring the area around Califon for over 5 years and have some really good routes that I use to lead rides a few times a year. There are so many good roads and ways to put a route together that you can ride here a 100 times an still not know it all. For this Saturdays ride around Califon I wanted to change things up a little and come up with route that felt a lot different than my normal ride. What I decided to so was to do a lot of the regular roads backward. Basically go up our normal downhills and down our normal uphills.

We ended up doing this route. When I first planned out the route it looked wrong and harder than the normal route yet as I looked at it there was no individual climb harder than are normal climbs. For example instead of climbing 440 feet up Valley Brook we climbed 450 feet up Black River Road. I did add a couple of new downhills and uphills but statistically the route did not look harder than normal. Of course actual physical effort may not match ride statistics. We have all be on 4000 ft vertical rides that were easy an other 4000 ft vertical rides that felt more like 6000 ft.

We started out from RVCC and I had a most of my normal riders. Laura, Jim. Blake, Barry, Cheryl and surprise guest Larry. We worked our way through Tewsbury and up Black River Road. I was concerned with Black River not only because I knew it would a long climb with a couple of steep spots but because last year when I came down this hill the road surface was really beat up to the point it was total gravel in some areas.

Luckily they had fixed or repaved most of the broken up areas the only problem was the actual climb. We have been down this road a number of times a when the road is in good shape it is a great down hill. It fact when you go down it and get to the bottom you say I'm glad we didn't have to climb that one. Well to be honest now that we were actually stupid enough to climb the hill I can say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was long and steep in a couple of spots and about halfway up I switched into the bottom ring of my triple but I was never concerned about running out of gears to get up the hill.

Once we got to the top of Long Valley I did a loop around some of the local roads before our rest stop. We found one cool totally unexpected downhill (Coleman Rd) which was smooth, straight and traffic free. This one will be on my list of must do roads the next time we are in this area.

Our rest stop was in a combination deli/liquor/coffee shop that has a everything and more a biker needs for a good rest stop.

After the rest stop was an immediate 240 ft climb to get back to the ridge. This was another hill we had been down a few times and I wasn't looking forward to going up but again it wasn't too bad. From here we headed down into Califon and down Valley Brook a 440 ft drop that we normally climb. That felt really good. I then made a hilly detour around the north side of Califon before going through town.

Then a flat ride along the Raritan before going up Hoffman Corner. Hoffman Corner is a steep downhill with a good view. I wasn't really looking forward to going up it. It was steep but the first part was doable. I think what most of us forgot was that there were two steep downhills on Hoffman Corner and most of us forgot about the first one which is almost as steep.

We took a break at the top of the hill since some of us were feeling the strain of all the climbs. Unfortunately we still had some more uphill to go. It wasn't real steep but since this was towards the end of the ride when even the smaller hills felt hard.

Once we got to Suttons Rd however we had almost continuous downhills for 6 miles. We started on Sutton then down Guinea Hollow and lastly down Rockaway. Although I don't think I want to go up Hoffman Corner again I am going to find a way to do the Suttons, Guinea Hollow, Rockaway downhill together again because it was a blast.

The last 6 miles of the ride was mostly flat until the last climb back up to RVCC which always sucks. Doing the normal roads backward turned out to be a decent route. I don't think I would do this exact route again but I now have a different perspective on some of our regular roads and how some of the combination work together so I have some more choices when planning rides around Califon.

Happy 4th of July

This past weekend was the July 4 holiday. As usually it was filled with a couple of rides and a family barbecue. This year was a little unusual as the holiday was on Friday instead of Monday. The plan was to ride Friday the 4th, go to the family barbecue on the 5th and ride again on the 6th. My plans changed when a passing hurricane came through on Friday. The hurricane when further out to sea than expected and we didn't get much rain but there was the imminent threat for most of the day.

I still wanted to get 2 rides. So on Saturday I decided to ride up to the family barbecue in Long Valley from my house. It would 58 miles and only hilly in the last 14 miles. I figured if I took my time I could do the ride and still feel good enough to lead a hilly ride on Sunday. The ride to Long Valley was nice except for the constant head wind which I had for the entire ride. It wasn't a very strong head wind but it was something I felt through the entire ride and definitely slowed me down.

After I crossed Rt 22 I started getting into some real hills. I was riding my Feather because most of the ride was flat and there were no real steep hills that I couldn't power my way over in the Feather. The weather had heated up since it was mid afternoon but as I approached the hills I felt the cool air rolling off the hills. I climbed up Rockaway the Guinea Hollow and I think the temperature actually dropped a few degrees.

Having the hills at the end of the ride was tough. I usually don't have a problem keeping hydrated but the wind and the length of the ride were getting to me. At the intersection of Frogtown and Valley Brook there as a short steep hill I had to stand up on. After standing for one pedal stroke both legs cramped up. I had to click out quickly to avoid falling. Both legs were cramped and I couldn't real bend them for a few minutes. Luckily I was only 5 miles from the finish but there were still a few hills a head. I managed to make it but I came close to cramping again at each little hill.

I spent the family barbecue trying to re hydrate so I could survive my Sunday ride.


On Sunday morning I felt sore but good enough to do the ride. I had 7 people on the ride besides me. It was the usually group with a couple of new people. This route was a route that Blake came up with a few years ago while I was breaking in my Synapse. Its also the ride I fell on with the Synapse on its 3rd ride. It is a good route so I wanted to do it again. This time with out the fall! (You can read about the ride and fall here)

This rides goes up the to the ridge on the NJ side and then down through Milford before crossing the Delaware and climbing some hills on the PA side. Its a really pretty ride if you don't mind the hills. I tweak the route this time to include Hickory Corner Rd. This is a great downhill the only problem is that you have to get to it which involves a long semi steep climb. It was worth it but I was glad I had the Synapse and the granny gear.

We had a nice stop in Black Eddy before going up Bridgeton Hill which is a 12-15% grade and a tough way to start after a stop. We had some more ups and downs before heading up the long shallow climb that is Dark Hollow on our way to Stover Park and the site of my previous fall.

Laura stopped to take a picture right before we took the road into the park. I thought she was close behind but when I took the road into the park (which has a "No Outlet" sign on it because only walkers and bikers can get through on the road) she and Jim went other way down a dirt road. I was concentrating on not falling and didn't notice them missing until we got to the other side of the park. I waited but they didn't show up and eventually they called me telling me they took a wrong turn. I gave then an alternate way back since it would have taken them a while to back track.

I do feel a little bad that they missed the turn as I try to make sure I don't loose any body on the rides. However the truth is I don't really like them much any way so I wasn't that concerned that I lost them. I mean look at the picture of Jim below striking a pose. He's got a face you just want to slap. And every time he is on the ride I have this constant ringing in my ears.

Besides they ended up having a cooler downhill than we did in the way back so I think loosing them made the ride better for all of us.

Of course I'm only kidding about being happy loosing Jim an Laura because I'm not the type of bastard that would post such derogatory things on a public blog. At least most people don't think so.

Cocoluxe 2014

This past Saturday I went back to Cocoluxe to lead a ride. I had been here a couple of times last year and wanted to explore some more.This years ride was longer and hillier than last years in part because I wanted to hit the highest point in Summit county and in part because I wanted to make the ride longer. There are no flat spots around here so longer is hillier. Here is a link to the actual route we did.

Even though the starting point for this ride is a hour from our normal staring points I had a good turn out. I had Cheryl, Blake, Ron, Marco, Barry, and Jim show up. I knew when I said the ride would be around 4500 feet of climbing that would be like fly paper for Jim. I also expected Ed but I guess he was busy.

There is no warming up in this ride as the climbing starts with in the first mile up and out of town. I have not done a lot of hills this year and I definitely felt my lack of training this year as I was towards the back of the pack. After about 5 miles I had to stop for a few minutes because of what can best be described as a stomach cramp. I get these on rare occasions where I push hard up hills. It probably has something to do with what I ate the night before and how well hydrated I am. The affect is I get a painful cramp in my stomach and start feeling a little light headed. The good news is that it goes away quickly once I sit down for a few minutes.

After I recovered we continued on through some familiar roads in Califon like Rockway, and Guinea Hollow. Our rest stop was in Long Valley at larger Kausiers that was nice enough to let us use the bathroom.

We then skirted the base of Schooleys mountain before continuing our relentless ups and downs. It is a nice area to ride and except for a few stretches there wasn't much traffic. This is a very affluent area with a lot of palatial estates. The route took us through the town of Mendam on our point to the highest point in Summit county. Although I didn't have any more stomach cramps I was still not having my best day and stayed at the back of the pack most of the time.

We came in the back end of Peapack down a really cool downhill then around a lake before our mandatory stop at Cocoluxe for recovery.

So why am I sitting on a wicker chair putting on my shoes (picture courtesy of Jim). Because it is easier to put your shoes on from a chair than standing up next to the car. What other explanation do you need. 

Round Valley in Reverse

This past Saturday I lead a ride to Round Valley Reservoir. This is a popular ride I do almost every year. Its not the hilliest ride I do but is has a couple mild climbs. I haven't done a lot of climbing this year so I wanted to make the ride a little easier.  To do that I decided to do the route backwards. It still has the same amount of vertical climbing but no climb is as steep or long so it feels easier. You also get a killer downhill after the reservoir.

For a complete description of the ride you can read Jim's or Laura's blog. I had a good crowd  it was a perfect day for the ride. It was one of the few times I've been to Round Valley where is wasn't overcast or foggy.

The hardest hill of the day was Lindbergh. We stopped at the bottom to get a look at what is left of Peacocks after it burnt down last year. They still haven't finished the demolition so there is no telling if and when they will rebuild.

Tour de Philadelphia

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It has been a couple of years since I have finished my Best Bike Rides Philadelphia book. Since then I try to do a couple of rides a year in or around Philly. It is one of the more bikeable cities there is and has a lot of good trails and bike lanes. One of the rides that didn't make the book was a long ride from north east Philly to Center City and back. I tried to do this ride two times last year but got rained out both times. Because of traffic I will only do this ride on certain weekends when I know the traffic won't be bad. So this year I scheduled the ride again for the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

Although the weather wasn't perfect it looked like the rain would hold off so we went for it. I had 5 people besides myself. Laura, Ron Ken, Dave H, and winter Larry. We started from Pennypack park and did this route. The first scenic stop was Bryn Athyn Cathedral before continuing our way towards center city. We wound our way through Jenkinstown and through some of the nicer neighborhoods eventually reaching the Valley Green Inn in Wissahickon Park. The Valley Green Inn was built before Revolutionary war and is still in use today for parties and weddings. This is a pretty area and was our second scenic stop.

From here we climbed uphill to get out of the Wissahickon valley then dove our way into Manayunk. This is a busy area so we had to deal with traffic. Once a year there is a bike race in Philly and one of the main features of the course is the Manayunk Wall. It is a steep climb that maxes out at an 18% grade but it is very short. So while we were in Manayunk we went up the wall. It's really not that tough a climb because it is short. There are much harder climbs out of Frenchtown but it was cool to say we road up the wall.

We stopped for a break in Manyunk although it took us a couple stops to find a good place. From Manayunk we headed into center city and road along the Schuylkill river. They have a good trail along the river but what is even better is that they close the road to traffic on Saturday and Sunday so we road along the wide open road.

For a scenic view of the city I took the group up to Belmont Plateau where you get a good view of the Philadelphia skyline although it was that great because of the overcast skies rolling in. Our next scenic stop was the steps of the Art Museum before heading past the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. There was a lot of traffic here but the bike lanes make it passable. Part of 6th street was closed so I had to take everybody down a one way street the wrong way but luckily there wasn't a lot of on coming traffic.

Our last scenic stop was Penn's Landing for a view of the Ben Franklin bridge and the Battleship New Jersey. From hear we headed back north along Aramingo and Torresdale avenues for most of the way back. These are busy roads through some of the more blue collar and industrial neighborhoods. It wasn't pretty or interesting but the dedicated bike lanes made it a quick safe way back.  The only problem was by this time my bike had developed a gear problem. The chain would skip every 3 or 4 strokes. I tried a few adjustments but nothing seemed to help. I was still able to ride so and shift so we kept riding although is was really annoying. After I got home I traced the problem to a stuck link on a chain I just had replace so I will be bringing back in for a new chain.

The last 9 miles of the ride was along the Pennypack creek. The creek is surrounded by a beautiful park and has a well maintained paved bike trail. There were a couple of puddles and left over mud from storms of the previous week but it was a nice way to end to ride. It was a real contrast to the busy streets we had just been on.

The final distance was 55 miles and although there were no real tough climbs we had climbed over 3000 feet of little rolling hills. This isn't a ride I would do a lot but it was a nice change of pace.

Rocky Mountain High

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There are many inspiring places around the US that must been seen in person. Each of these places from Arcadia National Park to Yosemite have unique features and history. Every couple of years my wife and I take a driving trip to visit one of these places. This years trip was to the Rocky Mountains.

We spent a week driving around the Rocky's and saw them from many different angles and in a lot of different weather conditions. It was a great trip. For a quick summary of the trip you can just click through the pictures or read on for more details.

We started our trip in Colorado Springs in the Garden of the Gods Lodge across from the actual Garden of the Gods. They never said which gods created these gardens but I'm assuming it was relatives of Buddha since it was a bunch of rocks in a western zen like setting.

While in Colorado Springs we took a chance to head to the top of Pikes Peak.  We could not get to the top because snow had closed the final 6 miles of the road but we did get 11,450 feet and got some good views

After Colorado Springs we headed off for a scenic ride to Vail. The ride started out sunny and along the way we saw 4 of the 31 14,000 ft peak in Colorado as well as checked out a real ghost town. As we got closer to Vail and higher into the mountains it started to snow. At our first 11.000 ft pass the viability turned to almost zero and we came close to hitting a semi trailer making a U turn.  We went through 2 more 11,000 ft passes to get the Vail and the visibility and roads were a little better.

Vail was worth the trip. It is a beautiful European like village and what was even better is that it was almost empty. It turns out that even though there was plenty of snow on the mountain ski season was over. Most of the ski resorts are on government land and because of some animal migration the government decides when to close the resorts which this year was April 20th. The result was a we got one of the most luxurious rooms we ever stayed in for just $100 and had a world class meal in a good German restaurant. In fact we had the entire restaurant and wait staff  to ourselves. Now I know what VIPs feel like.

From Vail we had another scenic drive to Golden Colorado. Along the way we saw the famous Red Rock Amphitheater. The next day we continued from Golden pass Buffalo Bills grave into the heart of the Rockies and made our way to Estes Park which is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park was almost as empty as Vail. In fact the we were again the only resident of the condo village we stayed at.

We spent 2 days riding around Rocky Mountain National Park taking in the views and just relaxing at our condo.  Although the first day was a little cloudy the second day was perfectly clear so I took a lot of pictures to try and capture the scale and magnificents of what I was seeing. The park had a lot of places to take in the view and because it wasn't crowded it was easy to stop and take it all in. Although some of the roads in the park were still closed from the winter storms I don't think there was much we missed.

After Estes Park we headed to Denver where we took in a baseball game before heading home the next day.

Spending a week in and around the Rockies was one of the more scenic trips we have taken. From the views we saw it is easy to understand America the Beautiful was written from here.

I Wanna an Easter Egg

This past weekend was Easter and my wife and I hosted both our families for Easter dinner. Its a large gathering of around 20 or more people but it is always a lot of fun. We usually have a lot of traditional Polish food like perogies and stuffed cabbage as well as assorted other non traditional food like stuffed shells. My wife tries to make something visually spectacular for desert. This year she made and Easter egg from cream puffs and chocolate oreo balls. It was a simple but delicious dessert that was a crow pleaser.


By the way for those that remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon about Easter here is a link to I wanna an Easter egg.

Getting the Band Back Together

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I had put a ride into the book for April 5 but when the book came out it wasn't there. No matter between a few emails and a blog post I got the word out. Most of the regular crew showed up. Laura, Ron, Al Cheryl, Joe Dave, Herb and Mary.

We ended up doing a windy ride to New Egypt. The ride down to New Egypt wasn't too bad but the ride back was tough. It was one of the windier rides that I have done. Still it was good seeing every one after a long cold winter.

Signs of Spring

When I last left you I was drinking away the pain of hard work and lamenting about what a crappy winter it was. I did get out a few times since then and had a couple of rides with Mary and Herb which was fun since I hadn't seen them in a while. Although the snow has melted and there are signs of growth it still doesn't feel spring like. There is hope though since this is the first week since December that snow has not been forecast (although it did sleet on Monday morning). The weather is getting warmer and it looks like it will be nice enough to get my first club ride in this weekend. I know there are a lot of others bikers out there who are depressed and need to get out on the road so lets hope that winter is finally over.

Drinking the Winter Away

My appeal to the weather god got us one decent weekend to ride but with another storm about to dump some more snow on us there is no end in site for winter. Although I haven't be doing as much biking this winter as I normally do I have been doing my best to try and stay in shape for when the weather finally warms up. This weekends cross training work out was the total destruction of the main bathroom in preparation for a total make over.

As the picture shows I took the bathroom down to the studs. It took all day Saturday to rip the walls down and most of Sunday to clean it up the mess that created. After a hard days work of home improvement.there is nothing better than a good drink or some great desert. This weekend I found a way to have both at the same time. I found a Creme Brulee beer. Most of these strange beers that try to mix non beer flavors in usually end up tasting nothing like they should but this beer actually tasted like the top of a Creme Brulee. At 24 ounces and 9.3% alcohol it was the perfect way to unwind after a tough work out.

Note to Weather God

I am putting this message out into the ether to try an appease the weather god, Jim Cantore, or what every divine force that controls the weather

I get it you are angry at us. Between our dumping of toxic chemicals, deforestation, and flooding the air with CO2 we have totally mucked up the environment. I guess you are now trying to punish us by burying us in heavy wet snow that gives us a heart attack as we try to clear our driveways. And even when we do get out on the road we can't see over the 20 foot piles of snow so there is an accident waiting at every corner.

If the constant snow wasn't bad enough what is worst is that our thermometers have spent a lot more time below 20 degrees than above. I don't think colder than a witches teat is even a valid comparison any more.

I am tired of the cold and snow and am looking for an offering that I can give so that I can get out on the bike again. If you need me to sacrifice a virgin that may be tough since there aren't many in these parts. But I am a computer professional so as long as you don't need a virgin of super model quality I may be able to find a shy. slightly unkept, computer professional virgin who is female-ish.

 If you don't answer my plea's then I will have no choice but to take my case to the Flying Spaghetti Monster because we all know he is the one that really controls what goes on in this crazy world.

Penny Pack 2014

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It was a tough week at work where I spent way too much time getting almost nothing done. So I was glad to see that the weather warmed up enough to be able to get out for a ride. Trying to ride during the winter months means toughing it out in the cold, riding trails or spending time on an indoor trainer.

Yet the winter also brings some unique opportunities to see a different side of the outdoors. Although winter can be a stark and barren it has its own special beauty especially after a snow fall.  The past couple of weeks brought a few significant snow storms and although the roads had cleared enough to ride on them I wanted a more scenic ride in the snow so I went to Pennypack park.

Pennypack park is in north east Philadelphia and has a beautiful paved trail along the Pennypack creek. This is not much to this park there is the creek, a few trails, a couple of parking lots, and small nature center that's it. But the park really doesn't need anything else. Pennypack creek and the surrounding woods have a simple timeless beauty. Although Pennypack is a nice place to ride in any season my favorite time to ride here is in the winter.

Because they actually plow the paved trail when it snows this is one of the few places you can easily ride when there is a lot of snow on the ground. I rode here last winter after a snow storm and remember how cool it was riding through the snow but this year was even better. Because of the single digit weather we had this past week parts of the creek were still frozen over. The contrast between the frozen creek, flowing water and snow pack landscape created one of most scenic rides I have done in a while. It was the perfect way to recover from a frustrating week.

First Ride of the Year

Finally got out on the road today with winter Larry. Last weeks snow has melted and the polar vortex has retreated to Canada where it belongs. At 45 degrees it wasn't real cold but the rain from the previous day had left the roads a little wet. Larry had 12 people and decided to do something different. We headed toward the canal and ended up going down Old Georgetown Rd to the canal.

When we got to the canal I broke off from the group. With a strong west wind blowing I wanted to head home with a tail wind instead of circling around to the north with Larry and the group then have to fight a head wind to get home.

It was a short ride of 35 miles but it was good to get out on the roads in 2014.