The Frozen Bastard Ride

I didn't really expect a crowd since it was cold with possible snow flurries but they all showed up anyway. I had sent out an email late Friday to the usually suspects after trading some emails with Laura and Jim earlier in the week. I had to ride Saturday since I was busy on Sunday and I had decided to do the Lawrence Hopewell trail. I knew Laura would be coming since she was desperate for a ride after spending a couple weeks in England off the bike.

By Saturday morning I got replies from almost everybody and when I got to the starting point Dave, Joe, and Jim were already there. A few minutes later the other Jeff L surprised us by riding up followed by Laura who also road in about 5 minutes later.

With everybody showing up it felt like one of our normal summer rides expect for the fact that it was 31 degrees, we were all on mountain or cross bikes and we were riding through the woods on gravel instead of the roads.

The Lawrence Hopewell trail is well laid out trail and a good way to get some miles in the cold. Its a series of connected paved paths, gravel paths and roads that take you through Lawrence and Hopewell. You can see the trail map HERE.

We did a 20 mile loop starting at Princeton Pike just south of Province Line and then headed through Lawrenceville up to Rosedale Lake and Pennington before circling back through ETS. It was cold and didn't get much above freezing for the entire ride but once we got moving I was mostly warm.

Most of the trail is well maintained and it goes through a lot of the locale parks so it is somewhat scenic. The only issue is that the trail is a little mushy in areas and because of the recent snow and cold weather there was some ice we had to deal with.

Despite the cold and ice it was nice to have a ride with most of the regulars and hear them bitching and moaning about me about getting lost which I kinda did when we road around the roundabout at the hotel in ETS. I eventually got back on the trail and we made it back to the start where Laura distributed some chocolate from her trip. I don't plan to have any rides in the book for the winter but hopefully we can do some of these adhoc rides and get together as the weather permits.

Lug Nuts

The bicycle as we know it has been around for over 100 years and there are many interesting stories on how innovations occurred along the way. This Sunday I attended the Philly Bike Expo mostly to attend a seminar by Gary Helfrich on the history and theory of titanium frame building. For those of you not familiar with Gary he was one of the founders of Merlin Metalworks, the first company to build titanium frames. As a proud owner of a titanium bike(a Feather not a Merlin) I wanted to learn more about the history of the titanium bike.

I didn't know much about Gary before the seminar but it turns out he is a crazy mad scientist and a very entertaining speaker. He had a lot of great stories not only from his 10 years as a roadie for Aerosmith but from the insanity that ensues when starting a new business while trying to do something  that other more knowledgeable people had tried and failed. Although Gary did a lot of drinking and drugging along the way his passion for bike building and titanium made him the leading expert in both disciplines.  For a glimpse of his genius and crazyness you should check out this link. as it will give you a general idea of his story.

I really enjoyed both his talks. We also got to see the Bike Snob who I think is even more funny in person than on his blog. All this was besides the actual show itself which is a exposition of cool custom bikes along with many cool bike accessories and cloths. I have included a few pictures below but you can see more pictures on Jim's post.

The main difference between this years show and the one I attended a few years ago was that I saw a lot less lug construction and a lot more welds. I know some people have an almost pornographic attraction to lugs but I think welds can be as attractive if they are done right. And after understanding how difficult it is to do a titanium weld properly I have an even better appreciation of how good they look.

I was lucky enough to have Jim along with me as he is a titanium bike geek and didn't mind getting up for an early ride. We ended up getting to Philly at 7am and doing an hour an a half ride around the city and through the Wisahickon before riding to the show. On the way back we found some public art that you see below. All in all it was good day for a couple of bike geeks.

Missing Friends

I have met a lot of people while biking who I would call friends. I don't see them much out outside of riding with them because we all have our separate lives but when you ride with someone 4 or 5 hours week after week you get to know them pretty well. The social aspect of biking can be as beneficial as the physical part. I enjoy the people I bike with because they don't take life too seriously and when we ride together it is more about having fun than sitting in a paceline and averaging a certain speed.

That is why I look forward to the weekends when we usually get together. I usually ride on Saturday but this Saturday was a rain out so I headed to Cranbury on Sunday to ride with Winter Larry. I figured it would be a good ride because I had not seen Larry in a while and I knew a few other of my friends would be there. I was wrong of course.

The weather wasn't the best. It was in the mid 40s and the wind was blowing 20+ with gusts in the 30s but it was rideable. I suspected Larry might bail as he tends to do this when the weather is at the edge of riding. I'm not calling him a wimp but this is not the first time I showed up for a Larry ride and he wasn't there and it won't be the last.

There were 4 other people there waiting for Larry. Marc, Barry and a couple of other people I didn't really know. Since they were looking for a ride leader and I was looking for some bodies to block the wind I lead them on a loop up through Dayton, Helmetta and back through Jamesburg. It was about a 30 mile loop. There were a few spots where we almost came to a stand still because of the gusts of wind but it was manageable (I averaged 15mph). Since I rode into the ride I ended up with 43 not bad for a crappy November day.

Although I knew there would be a chance Larry would not be there today. I did expect Laura or Jim or Ed or a few of the other regulars as they rarely miss a change for a ride. No matter I will catch up with them on the next ride. And can talk about last weeks Columbia trail ride where I convinced them to head up one of the steepest hills we've ever been down. Laura looks like she is about to fall over. And I thought she looked slow going downhill!

And the stupid picture we took where they put the wall in front of the trail. It more slowed us down then stopped us. 

Of course this week we got the news that our friend George passed away. He was a great person and always livened up the ride. He was proof that riding can keep you young at heart. He was part of our riding family and he will be missed.

Heading South

After a couple of weeks in the hills I wanted something flat. I could have went to the Pinelands but I have done that enough this year and wanted a different kind of flat. I decided to go to South Jersey and do a loop from Batsto to Smithville and back. This was a longer variation of a ride from my NJ Book. We did this route which was a little longer than a metric and had less than a 1000 ft of climbing.

This was yet another ride I had listed on Saturday that I had to move to Sunday because of rain. (The 4th in a row for those keeping count) Even with moving the ride and the extra ride down to Batsto I still have 3 other people join me Laura, Barry, and Marc.

The ride was a lot like most of my Pinelands ride with similar scenery. The main difference was the Mullica, Wadding and a few other small rivers that broke up the forest. We also got to Oyster Creek and got a view of Atlantic City and the bay.

It was a nice flat ride and an easy 65 miles at a decent B pass. It will probably be my last long ride of the year.

I did not put any rides in the PFW book for November because I want to do some exploring. If I decide to do something interesting and want some company I will post something on this blog.

Jim Makes the Ride

Although I sometimes make fun of Jim I actually enjoy riding with him. I haven't seen him much the past couple of months because I had to move the day of my last 3 rides because of weather. Of course he suspected I was part of some conspiracy to keep him from my ride but it was just dumb luck.

So again I had to move my Scenic Pennsylvania Hills ride to Sunday from Saturday, because of rain, and expected some moaning from Jim but instead of more conspiracy theories Jim was actually able to show up. Besides Jim, Jack, Laura, Marc, Joe, and Barry join me for the ride.

This was a hilly ride from Bulls Island to Perkasie and back. Along the way we went passed through Doylestown and Peace Valley Park. Some of these roads I hadn't been on in a few years so it was nice to visit them again. It was a cold morning so I was in tights and a jacket. Because it was sunny I thought I would be peeling off cloths by mid ride but it never really warmed up that much.

On the way through Peace Valley I managed to get a picture of a blue hereon who was only a few feet from the bike path. Peace Valley is usually where I start my Lake Nockamixon ride from. Although we had already done some climbing the two roughest climbs were between Peace Valley and Peakasie. The first one was on the other side of the Peace Valley lake. Its a 300 ft climb in less than a mile with the first part of the climb around a 10% grade.

The second one was a 80 ft climb for 400 ft that maxes out at a 20% grade. Part of the reason I put this hill in was because I always have problems getting up this hill with out walking. Its not a matter of power but of balance since I can't keep my front wheel on the ground. This time I just shifted into the triple and stood the whole way up. So found a way to manage the hill. The other reason I put this hill in was because I knew it would annoy Jim which is always fun.

After a rest stop at a slightly over priced  coffee shop in Perkasie we road along the ridge. below Lake Nockamixon. I was keeping an eye on Barry because I didn't want to loose him again. One of the nice things about having Jim on the ride is he likes to sweep so it helps me keep the ride together.

He was also the first one to notice that Barry dropped his chain. Now when most people drop their chain it just falls off the front chain ring but when Barry dropped his chain it actually came undone and fell completely off the bike. When I turned around I saw Barry actually picking his chain up off the road. I've never seen that before.

Jim's obsessive compulsion with keeping his bike clean and mechanically sound came in handy because he had a chain tool and some spare links so he was able to put the chain back together and get Barry riding again.

So I'm glad Jim  was able to make the ride today because he is a handy guy to have around.

North Jersey Weekend

Click Here for more Pictures 

For the pass few years I have gather a few of the willing and headed away on a bike trip. I had a couple different ideas for this year trip out of state but for a couple of reasons could not get it a big trip put together this year. Laura had mention that she wanted to ride up the Delaware and ride Old Mine Rd. After looking at a couple different routes I couldn't find a ride worth doing. It however put the idea in my head that it might be fun to revisit some of routes up north I haven't done in a few years.

So that's how this years bike trip ended up in being to North Jersey. It was a simple trip. We headed up early Saturday morning to the Delaware Gap to do  ride around Old Mine Rd. Then stayed over night and did a ride around Hope and Tranquility with a stretch along the famous Shades of Death Rd.

There were five of us Laura, Larry, Jack, Ed and myself. We lucked out with perfect weather. It was a little chilly at the start but is was sunny so it warmed up quickly. The ride along Old Mine Rd was hilly and scenic. You could not ask for a better day to enjoy the views. The road up here are also as close traffic free as it gets. The only thing that detracted from the ride was a few spots where the road was so beat up that is was hard to find a clear path.The worst part was a the beginning  and end of the ride when we had to climb to and from Millbrook Village where we started. It was so rough that Ed actually lost his water bottle in the first couple of miles. It not only fell out of the cage but rolled off the road and in to the woods never to found again. The climb back to Millbrook was even worst.  It was a steep 400 ft climb in  just over a half mile on a road that was more potholes than pavement. Last time I did this climb on my old Myata I had to stop half way up to catch my breath. This time I was able to make it up but almost fell a couple of time because of the bad road.

Despite the few bad patches of road it was a beautiful ride. Although Old Mind is next to the Delaware you don't actually see the river most of the time. We did ride over into Pennsylvania at Dingmans Ferry to hang out by the river.

On Sunday we headed to Allamuchy to ride around some of the nicest roads in this part of the state. Fall is in full swing up here so the leaves have started turning and the colors were vibrant. The most scenic spot were around Kittatinny Valley State Park where we made a slight detour to check out the lake.

This a very rural area which make it a good place to ride. The only problem is that there is almost no places to stop. NJBikeMap has a food in Johnansonburg but when we pulled into town it looked like a ghost town and the only sign of life was a person on a horse standing in the middle of the street. It was truly a one horse town with out any food store.

From there headed to the famous Shades of Death Rd which is connected with a number of scary stories  that end badly. We stopped at the end of the road to take a picture of road sign. Laura did her usual dramatic pose.

We then headed up the hills of Jenny Jump forest which only had one tough spot but also had a killer downhill. From there it was a short slightly uphill ride back to the start. After a quick lunch we were on our way and the trip was over.

The last few times I road up in North Jersey it was by myself so it was fun to do these rides with other people. 

The Pace of Things...