Hot and Humid

Summer is now at full strength and with that comes the hot and humid weather. Last weekend I wanted a flatter ride and so went on Larua's ride out of MCP last week. It was a mostly flat ride to New Egypt to stop at a coffee shop. It was meant to be a sort of a birthday ride because the mileage was the age of Jim and Laura added up in kilometers if you started from Laura's house. The ride was suppose to happen a couple of months ago, when it was close to their actual birthdays, but I scheduled a conflicting ride and it wasn't until now that we could all agree on a date. Except that last Saturday Jim had to work so he could not come on the ride. Even thought a ride created to be a certain mileage to match the age of a couple of people one who isn't there my seem like a stupid idea its as good an excuse as any to plan a ride and besides we enjoy the stupid.

Besides Laura and myself, Ricky, Andrew and Chris join us for the ride. I got there early and hid under the shade of the pavilion as it is bright and sunny, already 80 degrees and at least 120% humidity. I'm sweating without even moving. Once we got moving and I had some air moving across my skin I hoped it would feel better. It did a little but was still ungodly hot.

The route Laura took as was on familiar roads through Imlaystown and down across 537. We hit a dead end when Laura tried to find a back way to the rest stop. We retraced our steps and found the right back road that eventually got us to the coffee shop. The rest stop had good food, a bathroom and Gatorade so I would stop there again if I was down that way. What it didn't have was good air conditioning and it was as hot inside the place as it was outside. I stayed out in the shaded breeze way.

It was over 90 by the time we left the stop and headed for home. We took it slower than normal because of the heat and I was definitely dragging a little when we went through Allentown. Laura decided to stop to get some water which I was happy about. We stopped in Bruno's which was a nice break. I ate a gel pack while I was there and that gave me enough energy to get back home. I had almost 57 miles by the time I was back home and was definitely starting to get dehydrated.  

July 4th was another hot and humid day and instead of doing the all paces ride I got Laura, Bob and Ricky to join me for an earlier ride to Rova farms. We did this route which is my shorter Rova farms route. This is one of the flat rides I like to do when I don't feel like going down to the pine barrens. Starting the ride at 8am didn't really mean it wasn't already hot but at least we would be home earlier before the weather got to death march status.

I actually felt better on the 4th than I did last Saturday so maybe I'm getting acclimated to the heat. It was still a slow slog down to Cassville. As expected our usual antique store/deli was closed as was the bar and doughnut shop but luckily Mr T's Deli (no not that Mr T) was open and was a good alternative and now may be my preferred stop when I'm down that way. It was another 57 mile hot ride but I did it with only one stop this time.

I was busy Saturday so ended up on Jim's ride out of Blackwell Mills on Sunday. To get more miles I rode up from Rocky Hill. It was suppose to be cooler and less humid but it didn't really feel any different than my last two ride. Yea it was 85 instead of 90+ but when sweat is dripping off you 2 minutes after you get out of an air conditioned car its ridiculously hot.

I got to Blackwell Mills about 20 mins early. I sat at the picnic table to wait for Jim but swarms of flies were attaching my sweat soaked body so I got back on the bike and headed up the canal slowly to keep the flies off me.

Jim's ride are nice and relaxing which means I didn't have to push myself in the heat. It was also good catching up with a few people I don't normally see. Jim decided to change his stop on 206 from the bagel place to Thomas's Sweets. You have to ride a little on 206 to get there so he wanted an alternate route. I looked at the map and saw there was a way to get there from a parking lot and dirt path on 518. It seemed like a good idea but while riding over the grass to get to the dirt path I hit hard dip in the ground and flipped over the handle bars and fell to my right. It was a quick unexpected jolt but I wasn't going real fast and landed on grass so a little rash on my knee and a slightly askew break level was the only damage.

 As most people who ride with me know I don't shy away from these off road detours but this time it bit me in the ass. The dirt path we had to descend was almost too steep to do safely so this will be the last time we will be coming this way.

On the way out of Thomas's Sweets we found a slightly easier way through the Wawa parking lot so the problem with getting in and out of Thomas's Sweets has been solved.

I ended up with 45 miles and besides the fall it was a good day of riding. I just hope there will be a few cooler and less humid days ahead this summer or I may need to find a way to add air conditioning to my bike.