Meditations

If you stare at this picture for a few minutes you will either enter a meditative state or a psychedelic acid trip. Either way it will provide a good mental vacation.

This weekend I had to cancel my planned Saturday ride because of rain in the area. I couldn't move the ride until Sunday because of family stuff but got a quick 40 mile ride in early Sunday morning before my commitment.

When I do these rides by myself I can sometimes get into a meditative state that allows my mind to focus on a topic and do some metal explorations. Today my mind was trying to understand how I have been changed by people that have come into and out of my life. In general we are all born with certain personality traits but then are shaped by our environment and the people we associate with. Its hard to quantify how much we are changed by the people in our lives.

Some influences are easy to understand the effects. For example I know my career has been shaped by the friends I have made along the way. They helped motivate me to learn new technologies, helped me find jobs when I needed one and most importantly taught me that you need to take risks to advance your career.

Others influences like my relationship with my in-laws is harder to measure. They are good people and have a lot of life experience. Every time I ride past Rova farms I can't help but laugh at some of the stories that they have told me about that place. I know that I have a much much better understanding of how life has changed since their time because of these and many other stories that they have told me. But how much has hearing their stories and perception of the world changed me I have no idea even though I think I am better for knowing them.

At the end of the ride I decided that trying to qualify the influence that people have on me is not important.  What is important is being open to engaging with different people and being open to explore their experiences. This may lean to some new knowledge that may change me for the better and hopefully I can give something back in the process.

Now let me stare at this pattern some more to see if I can solve the mystery of why the weather always sucks when I schedule a ride....

My Ride Signature

Thought no fault of my own the rides I lead have a certain set of characteristics that make them unique. If you come on my ride you have a good chance of seeing a bridge out sign and/or making some type of detour on dirt. Sometimes you get both like today.

I had a Pinelands cruise scheduled for Saturday but rain and cold made me move it to Sunday. Sunday was sunny but still cold. It was barely 40 degrees at the start and didn't warm up much. Laura, Jim and Jack joined me. It wasn't any near as windy as last week but what wind we had was in our face for most of the ride.

I had a 52 mile ride planned with  45 mile option if it turned out too cold. Once we got going it was warm enough to go for the long ride. It was cold enough that most of the horses we saw had coats. A few had some really cool coats with peace signs and zebra strips.

After a stop a the Wawa in Vincenttown we headed back. I had planned to go up Birmingham Rd to Arney's Mount but there was a bridge out sign. As most people know I can usually get around any bridge out as there is usually a way to get across that the workmen use.  This time however besides a small wooden 2x6 that won't hold the weight of my bike let alone me there was really no way to get across.

I looked at the map and found a bike path, just behind us, that would get us back on the route. I wasn't sure what kind of surface the trail had but it turned out to be hard packed sand so it was ridable on a road bike.

A couple of miles later we were back on the road again and to the top of Arney's Mount. All in all it wasn't a bad detour and only added a mile to the ride. By the time I got back I was tired but glad I decided to do the ride.

Don't Fear the Wind

Those of us who look forward to our weekend ride closely watch the weather to make sure we can get a ride in. This weekend the weather didn't really cooperate. Saturday was a rain out and Sunday was cold with winds close to hurricane strength. Road riding was out because anything over 30 mph is insane and dangerous. Ed had suggested a towpath ride on the canal and some emails were sent around but most people were still reluctant because of the wind.

Sunday morning the Laura suggested bailing on the towpath but Ed and I said why not and convinced her and Chris to join us. We started in Princeton by Carnegie Lake and headed south. Chris had suggested going south because the canal towpath is more protected as you head towards Trenton.

The wind was constant 25 -30 mph with gusts well in to the 40s.  However once on the path the wind wasn't really noticeable. I could hear it but couldn't feel it that much. The weather reports on Saturday night had warned about downed trees and power outages. We did have some loud thunder storms during the night and a lot of strong wind but there were no wide spread power outages.

On the path there were a few sticks on the ground but they were easy to ride over or around. There was only one spot with a branch we had to go off the path to get around. There were still puddles and some muddy spots but nothing really bad.

I had never been south past the bridge over route 1 but we continued all the way into Trenton to the War memorial.

The last few miles were on a paved path. At the War memorial we turned around and headed back. We actually had a slight tail wind. There were a few spots on the way back where we had a couple of good cross wind gusts but the ride back was not worst than a normal ride.

So although it might have been sounded like an insane idea to ride in this wind in actuality because the canal is in a small valley it is well protected and was a good way to get a ride in when the weather is severe