A Few Nice Days

Over the past couple of weeks we have had few days which were actually NOT as hot as hell. Last Saturday was the first day in a while below 90 where the humidity was low. Laura scheduled her pick your distance ride to Belmar. She and a few others were doing a hundred miles a couple of others started in Etra for 67 miles. Since the route almost goes by my house I met them at their first rest stop and did 55 miles. It was nice to ride out of my house for a PFW ride since I don't get a chance to do that much anymore. It was low 80s and low humidity so for the first time this summer I didn't feel like I was riding inside an oven. 

With a light west wind we made our way quick to the beach and our normal stop in Belmar by the beach for a break. The beach was crowded but not overly so and the traffic wasn't all that bad as we didn't have much of a problem getting in our out of Belmar. 

On the way back there was a small head wind but it didn't really slow us down. I left the group when they turned towards Freehold and headed home. I had about 10 miles more to get home and cruised home with out a problem. For once I did over 50 miles and didn't cramp or feel dehydrated.

The past week most days were over 90 with high humidity. I did a quick ride early Wednesday morning just to get some miles in but was home before 10am. I didn't really leave the house the rest of the week. Saturday was another 90+ degree high humidity day so I decided skip riding and instead do a ride on Sunday where the weather would be in the upper 70s with low humidity. I thought of doing Jim's Sunday ride but on Thursday it was almost full and the start of his ride is at least an hour away for me. I looked at other rides but nothing appealed to me so I scheduled to lead a ride out of Yardley.

I usually don't lead rides on Sundays especially when another person I normally ride with, like Jim, has a scheduled ride because I don't like to split up the group. However Jim always has more than enough people to fill his Sunday rides so I don't think he had a problem with it. I know I pull a few people off his ride but I'm sure he didn't miss them.

We did this route which goes over the 95 bridge into Pennington and back through Lambertville and New Hope. It's hilly but I haven't done a lot of hill work this year so figure it would be a good day for a hilly ride. 

There was some emails before the ride stating that Stony Brook Rd was closed because of a bridge out. The way around Stony Brook would have involved a short but steep climb up Van Dyke so we checked out the bridge out. The bridge over "Zippy Creek" is gone. The have poured the foundations but there was no walkway for the workers to get over the creek. However "Zippy" is not much of a creek and only about a foot and a half wide so we made our way down the embankment and walked over a couple stones to get over to the other side. The only problem with the crossing is that some people got some mud in their cleats so had to clean them out before starting again. 

We made our way to Lambertville and stopped at Union Coffee for our break then headed over the bridge to New Hope to continue the ride. Lambertville and New Hope were really crowded so it was slow going over the bridge and through New Hope until we got out of town. 

There were still a few more climbs left and I was mostly in the back on the way up the hills. The last 5 miles was along the river and that is when to ride became a race as most of the group sprinted for home. 

The weather had stay cool and dry so I wasn't too worn out after the ride. I know there is still some more hot weather ahead this summer but hope we get a few more days like this.

The Summer Heat

Even though the average temperature has been below normal, the humidity has be off the charts which means the heat index has been really high for a lot of my rides this month. You can start rides early or try and stay in the shade but it only helps a little. There is just no way you can avoid sweating your ass off in this weather so you just have to hydrate as much as you can and don't push too hard yourself if you want to ride in this weather. 

This past Saturday I lead a ride to Robling from Bordentown. I wanted a flat ride after last weeks hilly Round Valley ride. On early Saturday morning when I checked the list of registrants it was mostly my usually crew however when I got to the start of the ride I there were a few other people there, that registered right before the ride, that I don't normally ride with but knew they were fast riders. It was going to be a hot and humid ride so I didn't want to push the pace. Because of the possibility of rain later in the day I was hoping for cloudy skies but it was only partially cloudy so the sun was beating down on us. 

We made our way quickly through Bordentown and towards Robling. On Old York Rd there is a trail I take to get to Robling as it is the best way to get across 130 to the roads along the Delaware river. I was behind the group as I had to wait for a rider that had stopped for a few seconds for an adjustment. I jumped on the trail but the rest of the group sped ahead of me. I thought about dropping the who group but instead waited by the turn in the trail where they could see me and yelled at them to turn around. Everybody had the route on their GPS so not sure why they missed the turn. 

We continued on through Robling and down to Burlington City where we stopped for pictures by the Eagle and Burlington Bristol bridge which has become a tradition on this ride. From there we made our way out to quieter roads while detouring through a park and over a sidewalk just to keep things interesting. 

On this ride we usually stop at the Jacksonville Deli but I added a few extra miles so we could go to the Olde World Bakery which has a better bathroom and better food. It was still relativity sunny and ridiculously hot at the bakery. We stood around in the shade but I still felt over heated. 

I was still feeling okay as we rode bake towards Bordentown at a brisk pace. The group started stretching out as we moved along. We would stopped and regroup a couple of time at major intersections but most of the faster people were racing for home and I was starting to fade by mile 45. I had nothing left for the last few small hills on the way back. I wasn't cramping which I was amazed at given the heat and humidity but knew I would if I pushed it too hard. 

I was definitely dehydrated at the end of the ride. It wasn't that I did drink enough it's just that my body can not replace the water and electrolytes as fast as I was losing it. Still when I look at my average speed I came in at 15.7mph which is the fastest I have even done this ride. So I'm not getting slower I'm just riding with faster people who make me feel slow.

It's Always Cloudy in Round Valley

I haven't done a ride to Round Valley since 2020. When I did that ride we discovered that they had closed the road around the reservoir to work on one of the dikes that hold back the dam. I have not been back since. I was planning on going there next weekend but Laura scheduled a ride for this Saturday so I signed up for her ride to see what has changed. 

The good news is that the road around the reservoir is open again. However like almost every time I do this ride it was a cloudy crappy day. This time with the addition of heat and extreme humidity. Laura schedule the ride to start at 8:30am to try avoid some of the heat but we didn't get going until 9am because she had a flat on her car. Luckily she was able to get a ride from another rider to the start of the ride. 

I was sweating just sitting waiting for the ride to start. I was well hydrated before the ride but was still worried I would cramp with the hot and humid weather we had especially since it was already 80 degrees and close to 100% humidity.

I was glad that once we started that the pace was reasonable as I didn't want to have to push myself to keep up. The first part of the route has just a few rolling hills and in general I felt pretty strong today although I knew we have a couple of long climbs ahead.

Around mile 10 Laura had another flat this time on her bike. I waited with a few others in the shade while it was fixed. I asked once we got started again if they found what caused the flat and they said they couldn't find anything. When I get a flat it always makes me a little anxious when I can't find the cause because I am worried I will get another flat.

We made our way to Stanton and started the trek along Stanton Road which brings us up to the reservoir. This is a 7 mile stretch that has a few rolling hills before the long climb to the reservoir. I fell back behind the group on the first roller when they stopped to regroup I kept going wanted to get ahead a little so I won't slow down the pace that much. 

The traffic on Stanton Road was light. There are about 5 miles of rollers with some good downhills before the main climb. I spend this time like I do everytime looking around each corner asking myself when will the big climb start. I was surprised that the group had not caught up to me before the climb. 

The long climb up to the reservoir is really three small climbs. Someone years ago named each part by painting words on the shoulder of the road. The first one which is the steepest and longest is called Papa bear. The next two are called Mama bear and finally Baby bear. I didn't see the name on the road this time for Papa bear but I saw the wall of the dam on the right that marks the start of the climb so as soon as I started up Papa bear I switched to Granny gear. 

The actual climb isn't super steep or that hard if you are in shape. I really didn't need to be in the granny gear but took it easy and spun up just to conserve my energy and try to reduce my chance of cramping. Once over the top I glided down to the parking lot by the entrance of the reservoir for a view. As you can see by the picture at the top is was cloudy. I'm sure Round is very scenic on a bright sunny day but as much as I have been here I have no visual evidence to back that up.

I waited in the parking lot for the group to catch up but after 10 mins they were no where in sight still. When they finally showed up about 5 mins later they said that Laura had another flat so for those of you keeping score Tires 3 Laura 0.  It turned out there was a small nail or radial thread in the tire that they missed before that caused the flat. This time they found the cause and there were no more flats the rest of the ride. 

The road around the reservoir looks the same as before and there was not much evidence of any construction or they work that kept the road closed for over two years. 

We made our way to the usual stop in Whitehouse Station. Although it was mostly cloudy the sun still peaked out and made if feel really oppressive. I was glad when we started again as the wind provided some relief. The way back from our rest stop does have a few rolling hills but no real climbs. I faded a little on some of the rollers but was able to keep up with the group. When ever I go on a hilly ride with this group I always feel a little pace anxiety. I don't want to be the one holding the group back. I am a little slower than I use to be going up hills but also some of the slower people I use to ride with don't come on these rides so the pace is just a little faster. When I start fading on the climbs I feel like an antelope that can't keep up with the herd and is about to be culled by a predator. 

Laura doesn't leave anyone behind so the group stopped at major turns to regroup. The way to Neshanic was mostly flat so it was easy to keep up. There was just a couple small climbs on the way back but we all pulled about the same time and even though this was a hot day and more the the 45 miles I like to do for hilly rides I didn't cramp(although I was close to having one). 

I ended up coming in at 14mph which is around my normal average for this ride which was good for such a hot day.