Rainy Riding

Looking through my posts for this spring I realized that rain has been a supporting character in most of them. It seems like this year has been rainier than other years, at least on the weekends. Last weekend I did a ride out of Mansfield down to Chatsworth and back. We didn't get wet but I did have to move the ride to Sunday instead of Saturday because of an all day rain storm.

Because the ride was on mother's day I didn't get a lot of people joining me. Only Jack and Laura showed up. Before the ride we were stopped by a cop in the parking lot to get advice for what kind of road bike to buy. Its hard to give someone everything they need to know to buy a good bike in a few minutes but hopefully we gave him some good pointers.

The ride itself was long and windy mostly out of the west. It was sunny but mid 50s and didn't really warm up much during the ride. We made our way through Pemberton and eventually to a quick bathroom stop at Lebanon state forest where we meet a retired gentleman who had an interesting story about his dog accidentally getting high.

From there we made a quick stop in Chatsworth at general store that has been open for 151 years. I have never stopped here because it was a real general store where you buy grocery and household items but wanted to see it before it closes down in a month.  It was then 10 miles into a stiff breeze to get the Nixon's. The one and only please to stop in the deep pinelands. At Nixon's we ran into Mary and Tru who were doing a 70 mile loop. 

On the way back I went on some different roads to try them out and add miles. One of them lead us past an airport/playground/hotel which is were airplane geeks spend their weekends. In Smithville I uncharacteristically went around a bridge out. It felt wrong but wanted to prove I don't have to go over every bridge out I see.

By the time we got back we had 68 miles. It felt good to do a long ride after the hills of Danville.

This past Saturday the weather report looked good. Laura was planning a long ride to Belmar to take advantage of the weather. I couldn't go because I had to get home early. I could of  went with them and then turned around after 25 miles but wanted to do some hills to be in better shape for Ithaca.

I planned to go to Rocky hill and do a quick 40 miles in the Sourlands. On Saturday morning when I woke up it was cloudy which was some what expected but when I looked at the radar there was some light rain to the west. It looked north of where I was going and was moving north east and looked light so I thought I would be OK. I got Pete to join me and he meet me in the parking lot at 518 and Canal.

It was getting darker and there were a few sprits of rain as we when over the new bridge on 518. By the time we crossed 206 it was a little steadier. I hopped it would stay light and we would just punch through it. As we climbed up Hollow Rd it was getting heavier and the road and my shoes were getting very wet. We meet someone coming down from Lindbergh who said it was a sluice up ahead.  That's when Pete turned for home. I decide to keep going because at this point I was already wet and it looked a little better to the south.

I continued along the ridge south where the rain lighten up a little. Riding in the rain is not a good feeling because your shorts feel like wet diapers and your feet feel like you are wearing cold wet rags. Still if you aren't too cold and the visibility isn't too bad you can accept the fact that you are going to be riding wet and just keep going.

Obviously many people were surprised by the weather because I saw a LOT of bikers riding and everyone I passed was like WTF is with this weather.

I made my way to Stony Brook and down into Hopewell. I then made my way to Bayberry and around Princeton on Pretty Brook, Stuart, Cherry Valley and Terhune eventually making my way back to Rocky Hill. After I came down Stony Brook the rain had mostly let up but the roads were still wet. I ended up doing a totally different route than planned but did manage 37 miles and 2000 feet of climbing.

I did get the miles and climbing I wanted but the ride totally sucked. Hopefully I have paid my dues to the rain gods and I won't have to worry about the rain for my next few rides.