Jack and Laura and Blake and Tom Went Up a Hill

This year the riding has been a little flatter but today we headed to the hills around Gladstone.  It wasn't the best day weather wise as there was a good chance of afternoon showers and the it was extremely humid.

I have ridden out of Gladstone a number of times over the past few years and decided to reverse my normal route to change things up a little. This meant putting a few hard climbs at the beginning of the ride. We ended up doing this route.

The climb up Calais was a little harder than I it looked like on the map. I had to stop 3/4 of the way up because I was about to go aerobic. There is something with this area that and the hills that seem to cause me problems. It probably didn't help that I gave blood earlier in the week.

After the brief stop I cranked up the rest of the hills to the ridge and along Pleasant Hill. It was so humid that the sweat was pouring down my face. I don't think I have ever sweated so much.

We cruised along the base of Schooley mountain before heading up the hill by Long Valley. The plan was to stop in Califon for the break. This included going down West Valley Brook which was a little too beat up to really enjoy.  I put a few extra miles and a climb in the route before the stop to get the route to 45 miles.

The stop was at the general store where Jack had made a quick adjustment to his rear derailleur to be able to get into his lowest gear. He would need that gear as I took the most direct route up the hill after the break because I forgot to put a waypoint in the route to take the easier way up.    

The payoff was that we had almost 6 miles of perfect downhill down Guinea Hollow and Rockaway Rd both freshly paved. These are now officially the best roads in NJ.

At the bottom of the hill we had only 9 miles left and headed over a few more annoying hills before heading up Black River then one last climb over 206 to get back to Gladstone. The humidity and intense sweating caught up with me as a cramped up on the last climb.

Despite the cramps and humidity it was still a good ride since we did a hilly ride with Jack and Blake and there were no crashes or major mechanical problems. We also got lucky with the rain as it held off until the drive home. This was a very scenic ride so I will be up this way again in the fall when it is cooler and less humid.   

Firing on all Synapses

Today was the first time Laura and I rode our Synapses on a ride with Jack. The last time this happen Jack crashed on his way down Federal Twist. Laura has a theory that when our Synapses are together they fire off like synapses in the brain causing problems for people riding with us (i.e. Jack and Blake). I would like to point out that this wasn't a problem until Laura Synapse was damaged to the point it had to be replaced. It seems this year we are making up silly superstitions to explain random problems and then coming up with new religious artifacts (Holy Kickstand) to try and ward off random problems.

The ride today, lead by Laura, was to Clinton from Lambertville. Besides Laura and myself, Jack, Blake, Celeste, Andrew, and a couple of other people showed up. It was a hot start and an up hill grind as we headed towards Clinton. We ended up doing this route. We don't go to Clinton a lot so I really wanted to do the ride. the way up Seabrook Blake had a flat. A quick inspection of his tire showed that it was worn pretty thin and had a hole I could almost poke my finger through. Blake decided to turn around since he was only a couple miles from the start and there was a chance the tire would not last the ride. It was the safe thing to do.

The rest of us continued on rolling up the hill. None of the climbs was long or hard and we were in shade most of the time. We had a couple of good downhills before we pulled into Clinton for the rest stop.

After the stop Laura took us along the river, and some gravel, before we had to head back uphill. This was the hardest climb of the ride. It was about 350 ft climb over a mile and a half. It wasn't steep enough to down shift to the triple but with the heat I'm glad it wasn't harder and that there wasn't a lot more climbing.

Jack had his new replacement bike which was the same model he crashed on. He has been a little cautious going downhills which is understandable but he did get close to 30 mph a couple of times. We were close enough to go down Federal Twist again but Jack didn't seem to want to do that (Maybe next time).

The last few miles of the ride was along Rt 29 between Stockton and Lambertville. There isn't much of a shoulder on this part of 29 so I don't like riding here but there wasn't much traffic and the road was freshly paved so it wasn't a problem.

Besides the problems with Blake's tire it was an uneventful ride. So the pairing of the Synapses didn't cause any adverse affect.... this time.

Some New Faces

Most of the regular insane bike posse was busy today heading to the beach with Joe so I wasn't sure who would join me on my ride. The ride was originally suppose to be on Saturday but because of wet roads and a light rain I decided to move it to Sunday.

Besides being concerned by the lack of people to join me I also got word that the bridge on 518 was out so I went early to check it out to see if we could get over it.

At 8:15 Bob road up so I knew I wouldn't be riding alone. Then a couple of other people Brad and Andrew also road in followed by Blake in his car who got there just before the ride because of the 518 detour. Then Ed showed up right before we left so I ended up with a good group.

We could of road up to Griggstown instead of crossing the bridge but nobody had a problem going over the barriers and lucky the bridge is mostly still intact so it wasn't to hard to get across.

After getting over the bridge we did this route which lead us up and over the Sourlands and across the Raritan River a few times before the stop on Wawa on 202. Although the Wawa is an OK stop I wish there were a couple of other choices.

From Wawa we did a loop up toward Readington along Cove and Pinebank which are one of the more scenic roads in the area. Then is was back along Raritan River for a few more miles before we worked our way back to canal and where we started. We had a really good tail wind most to the way back which was good for us but I bet the people coming back from the beach were wishing the wind wasn't as strong.

Happy July 4th

It was almost a perfect weather weekend with  mild temperatures and low humidity. I got two rides in. On Saturday I did an off the books ride before a barbecue at my place.We did this route. I invited the insane bike posse to join me for the ride and barbecue but because of other commitments only Laura was able to join me for the ride which is too bad because it ended up being a uneventful but fun ride. The 66 miles went by quickly as Laura filled me in on her moments of zen in Arcadia National Park.  The only thing that slowed us down was a slight headwind on the way back but Laura still felt good enough to turn the 80 mile ride from her house into a surprise century

By the time I got back home most of the guest had arrived and I spent the afternoon in the pool and cooking for our guests. It was almost a perfect day with a ride in the morning followed by good food and family and friends in the afternoon.

On Monday I went to the all paces ride to check in with people I haven't seen in a while. I caught up with Larry who came in a boat of a Lincoln Continental that he is driving since he crashed his Focus. I ended up riding with Dennis and his C+ group and spent most of the time talking it up with Herb who I haven't seen in a few months. It was an easy 35 mile and a good way to end the weekend.