Stats Don't Tell the Full Story

When I go on a ride I usually look at the route to see the mileage and terrain to see how hard the ride is going to be. However the stats don't always give you the full story of what a ride will be like. For example I did a ride down the shore just over a week ago. It was along the ocean which is flat but the headwind made it feel like a slow climb. At the end of the ride I did a loop away from the beach through a couple of neighbors that had a few small hills. Even though at the end of the ride I only had 300 ft of climbing and 28 miles it felt like I did a 40 mile hilly ride. 

This past weekend we had a perfect day for a hilly ride. I decided to lead a ride out of Gladstone through the hills around Califon and Chester Township. It is a hilly route but a route we have done a few times before. It's over 3000 ft of climbing so it is one of the hillier routes we do. However I have been feeling good and wanted to push myself to see how good my hills legs were this season.

The actual ride banter started a day before the ride when the one of the insane posse complained that they didn't want to do anymore hills but signed up anyway. I reminded them that they were mentally unstable for signing up for something they didn't want to do but that is the make up of the people I ride with. I do promise some interesting routes and adventures on my ride but that comes with a certain amount of anxiety and pain.

I have a number or rides that climb over 3000 ft and some feels worst than others. The thing that makes the route out of Gladstone feel harder is that there are no real flat spots to relax. It doesn't help that the ride starts out with a couple hundred feet of climbing within three quarters of a mile of the start. 

And the hills keep coming with a few steep but short ones along the way. Still it is a scenic route with some good downhills and the longest climb up Rockaway is a very gentle 300 ft climb that is enjoyable. My legs were feeling okay at the rest stop at 25 miles but there was still a few tough climbs to go. The steepest one was up Pleasant Hill Rd which the stats says was 13%. It felt a little harder but that was probably because I couldn't get into my granny gear. There were a couple of other tough climbs before the cool downhill on Ironia Rd. I usually put in one last hill before the end of the ride but skipped it this time as I wasn't sure I could handle it. 

At the end of the ride I was glad I was able to do the ride but knew that my legs didn't have anything left. I know the people on the ride will say that it was hard and that they don't want to do this types of rides anymore but if I list another hill ride they will probably come along no matter what the stats are.

Perfect Beach Day

The past few days the weather has been perfect for riding. Today was easily one of the top 10 days of the year. Since I'm off from work on Wednesdays I was able to get most of the retired members of the posse to join me for a ride down to the shore. Now that Labor Day has passed and the kids are back in school the shore is a lot less crowed so I decided to do a ride to Belmar. 

We started at the Manasquan Reservoir which is very close to where I live now. It was a little crisp at the start of the ride but didn't need the arm warmers just yet. My route took us to and through the area around Allarie before heading down through Brielle to Manasquan. We went by the inlet then rode the boardwalk along the beach. The beach wasn't that crowded so we didn't have to dodge too many people. 

From there we headed through Seagirt and up along the ocean to our usual stop in Belmar. We have not been to the beach this year so it was a nice change of pace to hang out by the beach in the sun. 

On the way back I took a different way that head north and along the shark river. I did this for two reason. First to visit my wife, for a few minute, who was hanging out on the beach in Avon by the Sea and because I like the view around the shark river. 

We had an east wind so we quickly cruise back to the reservoir and were back by noon. I have no complains about this ride. We didn't have any mechanical or physical problems. The weather was picture perfect and I didn't get a lot of complains from anybody so maybe we will do this one again sometime.