Canal Loop

 

 

 The past two weeks we haven't ventured far from home. Last week was another humid Saturday ride. To change it up a little we headed out of Cranbury north to Helmetta for a fairly flat ride. This Saturday was too wet to ride and I ended up riding on my own on Sunday. I could have done Jim's ride or another out of Mercer Park but wasn't moved by either choice so I did a loop on my own from home to the canal and back. 

With traffic down this year because of the pandemic a ride that crosses route 1 is much easier. I started out from my house a little before 8am and headed into a headwind and and over a few hills to get to the canal. The route I took crossed Jim's route and based on when his ride started I thought I might run him on the road if things worked out. I was hoping for some Slugchronicity as even when we don't ride together we sometimes end up running into each other. Although I did see a lot of bikers on the road today none of them were part of the posse. 

It was a beautiful day for a ride. It was 65 when I started and 75 when I got back home and for once there was no humidity. It was a little windy going out but I had a good push going home. 

I took my break on a path in Herrontown Woods next to a small lake. Then headed back along Carnegie lake and back across route 1 for a quick 46 miles. 

 Now that summer is almost over and the weather is getting cooler I hope for more days like this. 

 

Bad Juju

 

Its been a bad couple of weeks for some of my biking buddies. The good new is that everybody is okay but there were a couple of scares.  First, as most of you know Laura got t-boned by a work truck during her commute. You can see the description and pictures of the accident here

Besides some road rash Laura was fine but her bike Beaker was bent and broken beyond repair. Luckily the truck hit the bike and not Laura or she would have been bent and broken. Although Beaker bit the dust the college will be paying for a replacement so Beaker will ride again.

Last week I lead a ride to the Pinelands. Mike joined Laura, Jim and Chris and myself. Mike's was on his repaired Bianchi bike with rebuild rear rim. Because of the pandemic Mike can't spend the summer sailing around the Caribbean so he has been back on the bike and joining our rides again.

The ride was a good flat uneventful ride. Even through Mike had not been riding a lot he didn't have a problem completing the ride and did it at our normal pace. He did say he didn't feel 100% after the ride but that is to be expected since he had not been riding as much as he use to. I didn't think much about his comments until I got an email from him on Tuesday. He said that after he got home, on Saturday, he still wasn't feeling great and actually called his teledoc and soon after talking to the teledoc he was in an ambulance and on his way to the hospital. It turns out he had a mild heart attack at some point. The good news is that two stents later he is fine and on the mend and hopes to be riding with us again in a month or so. 

I'm amazed that Mike rode so well with his heart not at 100% and show us that we have to seriously take chest pains and other signs of a heart attack and not hesitate to call a doctor. Now that Mike is back at 100% we might have problems keeping up with him once he is back on the bike.

This Saturday I went on Laura's ride to Asbury. She wanted to stop at a coffee shop there and we haven't been that way in a while. It was a hilly ride and I was hesitant to go especially seeing that a few of the fast boys signed up. 50 miles of hills is about the limit I can do without cramping up. I have tried a lot of different things to prevent cramping but haven't found any drink or gel or pre-ride preparation that gets me beyond 50 miles in the hot weather. I have just come to accept it and ride with in the limit my body sets. 

 There were seven of us that started from Frenchtown.

 

It was only a couple of miles before we started the climbing and then is was 6 miles of climbing to get to the top of Rick Rd. Here is the route I ended up doing 

We did some nice downhills along the way but there was on hill we did that I was concerned with.It short and steep and last time I was on this hill I maxed my heart rate. Its call Heart Attach Hill I mean Henderson Hill Rd just by Spruce Run. This time I hit 184 bpm which is the highest my heart has been this year but it didn't feel as bad as last time. In fact I feel good today. I just was not as fast as the other people on the ride. 

A few miles later Ricky got a flat and actually split the side wall of his tire (the white spot in the tire below). Somebody gave him a boot to put in the tire but when this thing happens you are never sure if it is going to last a mile or 50. Of course we were as far away from Frenchtown as we could get but I had looked at the route before hand and had a couple of bail out options in my mind in case I wasn't feeling good today. 

 

 

So about 5 miles later Ricky and I turned off from the group and headed back. This short cut would only remove a few miles from the ride but it would eliminate one of the climbs. We did end up going pass the coffee shop that Laura wanted to stop at. There aren't a lot of places to stop in this area so Laura made a point of calling them to make sure they would be open. However like every other time I have stopped here the place was closed. 

 

This time it was because of the power failure. I have tried to stop here three times and each time it was closed for one reason or the other so I wasn't entirely surprised. Since the pandemic I have always carried extra gatoraid and snacks so that I am self sufficient which turned out to be a good idea today. 

Ricky and I made it back to Frenchtown without his tire blowing out. It was a pretty ride especially along the river. I'm sure I will be back this way again especially once the weather gets a little cooler. 

We have had some bad juju so I might have to break out the Holy Kickstand again to ward off the evil spirits that have affected my friends over the past few weeks to make sure it doesn't get any worse.