It's Just a Flesh Wound

Riding is very safe sport if you keep your equipment in shape and follow some common sense. If you ride a lot however eventually you will make some mental mistake or come across something in the road that will cause you to take a fall. The result is usually a little road rash and a new story to tell.

This past Saturday I did an adhoc ride with Laura, Cheryl, Chris and Blake. This was a route that Blake came up with that gave me a chance to continue to break in the new Cannondale since it was going to be a hilly ride. The route started in the CVS in Lamberville and went up to Milford on the Jersey side then came back on the PA side. If you want the details of the route I have posted a ridesheet here

For once the weather was perfect, clear mild and no wind. From Lambertville we climbed up the familiar roads to the ridge then cruised along some roads that I hadn't been on before. It was just a perfect day for a ride and the route and the group made this a really enjoyable ride.

At Milford we crossed over to the PA side and had a rest stop at nice general store on Bridgeton Hill Rd. After the stop we headed up the toughest climb of the ride. It's a 400 ft climb that has grades in the ~10-12% range. I totally flub the down shift at the start of the climb. I tried to switch to the lowest front chain ring while trying to up shift on the rear cassette. I ended up in way too high a gear and came to a complete stop. After I got the bike back in to the correct gears for the climb I continued up the hill which was pretty tough. Still I am getting use to the gearing of the Cannondale and really starting to get a good feel on how it climbs.

The PA side of the Delaware has a lot more ups and downs than the Jersey side after a while on the ridge we had to come back to the river and then head back up to the ridge on Dark Hollow. Dark Hollow is a long shallow climb that never seems to end but I actually enjoyed it once I got into a rhythm.

We headed back down the ridge down by Stover Park. Blake warn us that this was a tough decent and to be careful. I kept is slow but probably not as slow as I should because I came around an inside of one of the corners and ran into a pile of gravel. I tried to wrestle the bike through the turn but I had too much momentum and the gravel was too deep. I went down in a semi controlled way and tried to keep the new bike from hitting too hard. It was a relatively slow fall and I slid for about 10 feet in the gravel sand mix. The fall really didn't jar me too much but I came down pretty hard on my elbow and hip and could feel the burn of some road rash.

I yelled back to the rest of the group about the gravel. Luckily Chris took the turn slower and wider than I did so he missed the gravel. The only thing worst than falling is having somebody else ride over you. Chis also yell back that I was down so everybody else missed me and the gravel.

I got up and dusted myself off. The slide had caused some gravel to slide up and into my shorts which didn't feel good. I had a deep gash on my elbow that was bleeding but not real bad and some road rash on my thigh and side of my knee. After every asked me if I was OK their next reaction was hey let's take some pictures of bloody Tom to post on the Internet. This makes be think that if I every have a more serious accident on the road, there would be a chalk outline of my dead and mangled body and bike on Internet before my wife got word :-)

I cleaned my self up as best I could. I had some bandaids but they won't stick though the sweat and blood on my arm. The road rash burnt a little but it really didn't stop me from continuing to enjoy the ride. The most important thing here was the bike was fine and only had a little tear in the handlebar tape as a result of the fall.

In another 5 miles we were in Carversville at another general store where I cleaned most of the sand and gravel out of my wounds. Cheryl was getting tired of climbing since she had taught a spinning class the night before so we took the easy way back to avoid the hills.

The hot shower after the ride got the rest of the dirt out of my wounds and felt great. The road rash is still ugly. It feels like a mild sunburn and will take a few weeks to heal. Despite the accident the bike and I are doing fine will be back in the road in a couple of days.

The New Bike

Anybody who really gets into riding usually owns more than one bike. I bought my first real bike over 18 years ago. It was a Miyata 7-21 It was a relatively low end bike but it was so much better than an the 10 speed Schwinn I had. It was the bike that allowed me to actually keep up with the people on the B rides and start to become a serious rider. On the Miyata I went through the usual progression of a new riding and slowly increased my mileage until I did my first century. I also learned how to ride with a group and improve my bike handling skills.

After 8 years on the Myata I was a serious rider and was looking for an upgrade. I was looking for something lighter with better components and after a lot of research I was lucky enough to run into Tom at Speedway in Hightstown. He showed me the Feather and after a test ride there was no doubt that is was going to be my new bike. The Feather is a very light titanium bike with Dura Ace components and handles like a sports car. I was amazed how much better it felt than my Miyata and with it I was able to increase my average by a couple of miles an hour.

The Feather became my everyday bike and the Miyata was used only occasionally on vacations or on the rare instances when the Feather was in the shop. 10 years ago when I started doing hillier rides I would take the Miyata out on the tougher hillier rides because it had a triple and allowed me get up the tougher hills without my heart rate hitting its max or blowing out my knees.

The last few years I have started doing more hilly rides as I explore the areas around Califon and Schooley's Mountain. There are a couple of tough climbs on these rides so my Miyata is getting used more. The bike is showing its age and needs some upgrades if I am going to keep putting miles on it. The wheels bearing are shot and need to be replaced. The brakes also need replacing and the index shifters no longer indexes. I thought about stripping the bike down to the frame and building it up again will all new components but the Miyata is a pretty old and although a decent frame it's really not worth rebuilding.

This started a search for a new bike. It is amazing how many different bikes there are to choose from. I thought that the fact that I had some pretty detailed requirements for the hill climber I wanted would help narrow the field but it really didn't. I spent over a month looking around the Internet and stopping into bike shops to look at bikes. I narrowed it down to the Specialized Robaix, Cannondale Six or Cannondale Synapse. I considered a couple of the Bianchi and Trek models but none of them seem to be exactly what I wanted.

A couple of weeks later I test drove all the bikes and finally decided the Cannondale Synapse was the bike for me. The Cannodale Six was almost as good but the Synapse seemed to fit me a little better and the model I wanted came standard with most of the components I wanted.

So a week later I had a new bike a Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 courtesy of Hart's. The bike is an all carbon frame. I was never a big fan of carbon because 10 years ago when I bought the Feather carbon bikes were a lot heavier and tended to have structural problems after a few years of riding. Today however the technology of carbon frames have really advanced and they are as reliable as any bike frame. They also can really tune the frame to be stiff and comfortable all at the same time. They have also been able to make carbon bikes a lot more affordable.

The Synapse is the most comfortable bike I have ever rode and is amazingly compliant yet has great power transfer so its also very efficient. Cannondale has really done a great job designing this bike and has really advanced the state of art here which is why it has got a lot of good reviews.

The bike has Shimano 105 components which is a good compromise between performance and price. If this was my one and only bike I might have sprung for Ultegra or even thought about Dura Ace but since this is my hill climber which I will ride about 30 % of the time the 105 components should be just fine. As with bike frames components keep advancing and the major difference between the 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace is weight and the difference is not real important for a recreational rider like me.

I opted for a triple on the bike since this bike will see a lot of tough hills. I have heard all the arguments about a compact versus a triple and the trade offs between each. For me it wasn't that hard a decision. A triple gives me a bigger set of gears to get up the hills. Yes I do have more overlap than a compact and yes it weights a little more (1/3 pound) and makes shifting a little more complicated but the lower gearing will keep my heart rate down and my knees happy when I'm headed up a 15 or 20% grade. If I had gone with a compact it would have been fine for 90% of where I go but for some of the real tough climbs I would either be standing or walking which I don't want to do.

To make this a bike that could climb ANYTHING I even changed out the rear cassette from the standard 11-28 to the new SRAM 11-32. This may seem real extreme to some people but I'm not one of those super thin 140 pound zero % body fat racers so I need a the extra low gears on some of the tough hills I climb. As I have become more adventurous I have shed my fear of hills and will try any climb. This has lead me to some of the steeper parts of NJ. On my hillier rides I will now climb some hills in the 10-15% ranges and may even do a 20% grade every now and then. So although the gearing is extreme it allows me to spin up any hill no matter how steep without burning myself out.

So how does it ride. One word. GREAT!!!

I only have a couple hundred miles on the new bike but so far the it is exactly what I wanted. I'm still making a few minor adjustments to the bike but almost have it dialed in and I am starting to get comfortable on it. One of the nice things about the bike is how comfortable it is. It really soaks up all the little road bumps and makes for a very smooth ride. But one of the amazing things about the frame is that the cushy ride doesn't cause any lost in efficiency. When you apply power to the pedals it is completely transferred to the rear wheel. I can tell that the power transfer is very efficient because I am spending more time in the big gear on the front chain ring.

The efficiency makes the bike a great climber. This is especially noticeable on 3 to 5 % grades where I'm climbing a gear or two higher than I do in my Feather. It also has no problems on steeper grades but the difference isn't as noticeable. A couple of days after I got the bike I headed to one of Michael's hilly rides and as expected he went up a couple of steep grades including the top half of Federal Twist.

For those of you who haven't been up to the top half Federal Twist its a pretty nasty climb in the with parts as steep as 15 to 20%. It's a tough climb but with the triple and my extreme gearing I was able to spin up with the top of the pack. It still took a lot of energy to do the climb but I still had something left when I got to the top.

On the flats the bike also cruises pretty well. Laura pulled in front of me on the flats at the top of the ridge I asked her if she was actully pedaling at which point she gave me the finger. I then said "let's see what this thing and do" and shifted up a couple of gears and stood on the pedals and took off. The bike really accelerated quickly and I was able to maintain a good pace and leave Laura in the dust although she quickly caught up at the next light.

Going down some of the down hills I tested the handling . I didn't push it to the edge because I am still getting the feel of the bike and don't know where the limits are. One of the criticisms of carbon frames is that they sometimes feel like dead wood and don't allow the rider to get a good feel of the road. The cushy ride of the Synapse definitely deadens some of the road feel so it takes a little more work to carve the bike around turns at high speed but I suspect that this will get better as I become more familiar with the bike and become more tuned to is ride.

All and all I am very happy with the bike and know I made the right choice. I'm a little sorry to see my Miyata be retired after many great years and rides together but I suspect after a some more quality hours in the saddle of the Cannodale we will become good friends. My Feather is still my main bike and it's sports car like handling makes it a joy to ride. But when the roads get hilly and I want more of a luxury ride I will be more than happy to bring out the Cannondale.

Where's Herb?

The Pineland Cruise ride that I do out of Bordentown always draws a bit of a crowd. It's easy flat 65ish mile ride that is always fun. Being one of the hottest days of an already hot year I thought that only a few die hard people would show up but I ended up with 14 people crazy enough to think that riding in 95+ degree heat was a good idea.

Because of the heat I started the ride at 8:00am and cut the ride to just over 50 miles. I tried to kept the pace easy so we would have something left for the end of the ride. Our first rest stop is a Wawa in Brownsmills and always has some interesting local characters going in and out.

It was hot but the riding wasn't too bad and everybody keep cruising along. Right before Vincetown Big Joe had a flat caused by a cut in his tire. We will probably be busting Joe for a few years about this since the cut in his tire wasn't new and for the fact that 4 miles later it blew again. Then a few miles later at the rest stop we put in yet another tube. Joe has these Campy rims that are almost impossible to get the tire off of and it was only with the help of Laura's super strong metal reiforced levels that we were able to get the tire on and off 3TIMES.

At the second rest stop Herb ended up leaving a few minutes early to get some Gatoraid at a deli a few miles up the road. Because of the 3rd change of Joes tire it was around 30 minutes before we headed out of the second rest stop to meet up with Herb. When we got to the deli we didn't see any sign of Herb so we figured that he gave up on us and headed back to the start. But when I got back to the start there was no sign of Herb. Crap, since I drove Herb to the start I need to find him because I didn't know how to tell his wife that I lost him.

I waited at the school in Bordentown for about 15 mins before heading out, by car, on the road to try and find him. I though that he might have gotten back to Bordentown and saw that we were not back and then decided to ride home. I knew which way he would have headed home but before I was going to drive that route I decided to retrace the roads back to the deli where he should have been. By the time I got to Chesterfield I saw Herb on Chesterfield Road and picked him up.

It turned out Herb was in the bathroom in the deli when we went by there which was unexpected because they never let us use the bathroom there. It as a strange coincident that caused us to miss each other. Herb ended up doubling back to the second rest stop to find us then realized we missed each other and headed back to Bordentown and would have ridden home if I he had to. Luckly we have ridden a lot together and know how each other thinks so I knew one way or the other I would find him or he would make it home.

At the end of the day despite the heat, flat tires, and loosing Herb it was still a good ride that gave us another interesting story to tell.

Schooley's Mountain

The ride up Schooley's mountain is one of the hillier rides we do and definitely a challenge. I always wait a few months into the season to do this ride so I can get some hill training in. Originally this ride was suppose to be Saturday but we finally got some rain so I postpone the ride to Sunday. This meant that I had a small group just me Laura, Mike M and Jeff which was fine with me.

As we headed towards our climb up Rockaway Rd. Mike stopped to check his rear derailleur because he was having problems shifting to his lowers gears. When we got to the top of Rockaway Mike checked his gears again and found the problem. His rear derailleur cable was broken at his shift lever. We tried to see if we could fix it but there was no easy fix with out a new cable so we tied the cable off to one of the cable guides so that Mike was stuck in his next to lowest gear. This meant that he went from 27 speeds to just three. He could basically only shift his front derailleur. We thought about finding a bike shop but couldn't find one that was close and open.

Even with a slightly disabled bike Mike keep powering up the hills. I actually felt a little guilty every time I made a shift.

We slowly made our way mostly uphill to Califon where I took a few new roads to get around the backside of town and started the last climb up to Schooley's Mountain.

Once on top of Schooley's we cruised a few miles to our rest stop in Long Valley. There is an old general stop and post office with a nice picnic table that make a good place for a break.

After the break, single gear Mike took off to Hackettstown to meet his wife and the rest of us headed down hill back to the start. We did have a good down hill on Four Bridges Rd. and a few other places but was disappointed with the downhill on Black River Rd. Black River Rd use to be one of my favoritesa couple of years ago but the road has become so rough and strewn with potholes that it's not much fun.

Of course it wasn't all downhill. We climbed over 1500 feet on our way back to the start. The climbs on the way back weren't as bad as the climbs up to Schooley's Mountain but it was a hot and humid day and we were getting tired. On the bottom part of Four Bridges just before we got to Tanners Brook there is a tough little climb that had Laura telling how much she hated me.

We did get a few nice views on the way back and stopped to take the picture at the top of this post at the corner of Doolittle and Hackelbarney(You gotta love the road names in NJ). You can see more picturesfor the ride here. By the time we got back to the start we were pretty tired but were still glad we did the ride. This is definitely one of the tougher rides we do and but it is good to occasionally push yourself close to your limits to keep improving. I have included a profile of the ride with some stats to show how much climbing we did. Jeff had a Garmin and sent me the stats after the ride. His stats were about 100 feet lower than mine but its still close so it's good to have independent conformation that my legs have a right to feet bad after climbing over 4000 feet.

Click on the profile below to get see a larger view

Belmar and Back

I haven't been to Belmar this year so when the Joe's led a ride there this Saturday I decided tag along. The Belmar ride is one of the more popular long distance rides we do. From Etra park it is at least an 70 mile round trip so you have to be prepare a 4 or 5 hours in the saddle. There are lots of variations to the route so it is never the same twice. The weather also plays a role so if you have a stiff west wind or hit and unexpected storm your going to have a tough ride back.

Saturday was a great day weather wise with light winds, sunny skies and relatively cool temperatures. George was planning to turn around when we got to Farmingdale but the riding was easy so he decided to go all the Belmar and back.

Even though it was the holiday weekend it wasn't as crowded as I expected. Yes there weren't any open parking spots and the beaches were full of people but Ocean avenue was rideable. After the stop in Belmar I split from the group and headed to the next town north, Avon, to visit with my niece who was on the beach there.

I only stopped for about a half hour at Avon then made my way back home. The wind was light so I didn't mind not having anybody to block the wind on the way home although it was a bit of a lonely ride. Because I rode from my house to Etra park the whole trip ended up being 80 miles and I was a little tired when I got home. It was my longest ride of the year and I was glad I made the trip since it was probably coolest day we are going to have for a while.

Thank You Mount Holly Bicycles

Every bicycle ride is an adventure and some more so than others. This past Saturday I headed to the pinelands with Herb and Mike M for a long but flat ride. I have been doing a lot of hills lately and wanted to do something flat to work on endurance.

For the most part I do my own maintenance on my bike and try to detect problems before they occur. During my normal quick check of my bike before loading it in the car I saw that the sidewall of my front tire had a small bubble in it. It might have been fine for the 60 mile ride that I had planned but I grabbed my spare tire and threw it in the car. When I got to Bordentown where the ride started I quickly changed the tire and we all went on our way.

Everything was going great until about 15 miles into the ride. I went to start pedaling after stopping for a light and the TOP of my speedplay pedal fell on the ground. Speedplay pedals are the ones that look like lollipops The bottom of the pedal was no where to be found and neither were the two screws that held it together. About a half mile before the light I remember hearing something bounce off my bike. I thought it was just a rock but it must have been the bottom of the pedal.

Mike and I go back and find the bottom half, the metal plate the cleat clicks into and 1 screw. We can't put the pedal back together because we are missing the other metal plate for the top of the pedal and the other screw. Although I have lost a pedal I still have a spindle so I can ride but not real fast and I don't want to ride that way for too long.

At this point we have two choices. We can find a way to fix the pedal or we head slowly back to the start. Mike pulls out his Blackberry, hits the web and looks for a bike shop (Sometimes it pays to have a smart phone). He finds one about 4 miles away. So we head out pass Smithville then ride along Rt 38 to Mount Holly Bicycles.

When I walk in the door the shop owner ask what I need and I point to the pedal. He doesn't have any speedplay pedals or replacement parts but goes in the back to grab a few screws to see if he can jury rig something. I'm figuring worst case I have to buy a pair of SPDs. As I'm walking around the shop a metal plate pops off my shoe. It was the missing plate from my pedal and was stuck in my cleat. With the times I was off walking around looking for the other pieces of the pedal I'm amazed that it managed to stay there until I in the bike shop.

It was a lucky break because now with both pieces of the pedal, both metal plates, and one screw Steve at the bike shop was able to put the pedal back together. He found another screw that fit but was long and stuck out of the pedal on one side but this was OK. Now at least I had a working pedal with the only problem being I could only use one side of it. No big deal.

The guys at the bike shop were really nice and friendly, they didn't even want anything for the repair so all I could do was to thank them and head out back to the ride. The rest of the ride was uneventful. We had a good stop at Nixon's down in Tabernacle and then made our way back to Bordentown.

The incident reminds me that bike shops aren't like a lot of other business. Yes bike shop owners want to run a successful business and make money but most of them love biking and are very knowledgeable and helpful. That's why it is always a good idea to get to know your local bike shop and if you are in the Mount Holly area may I recommend Mount Holly Bicycles.

One other thing I would like to point out is that being able to use Mike's Blackberry to find a bike shop was a great thing and saved the day but what if you don't have a web enabled phone or are not in an area where you can get a web connection. Well the answer is GOOG-411. It's a service that allows you to call an 800 number and do a google search. All you have to do is call 1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411 and then you will be asked for the city, state and type of business. After that you will get a listing of the closest businesses of the type you want and be able to connect to them or have a text message sent to your phone with their address and phone number. The service is free and is a good number to have in your phone in case you loose a pedal and need to find the nearest bike shop.

Hill Training

For the past couple of weekends I have been working on hills and improving my climbing. Last weekend I did my Lambertville Cruise which has a couple of moderate climbs up the Sourlands. This weekend I headed to Frenchtown to do Michael's ride to Bloomsbury. When you head to Bloomsbury you have to expect at least one tough climb on the way in or out.

Michael took it easy on us and headed up the Delaware and took the easy way into Bloomsbury. There were a few climbs on the way there but nothing major. On the way out of Bloomsbury we had the big climb up Turkey Hill. This is a 500 foot climb over a couple of miles. There are no really steep parts but it is one of those hills that just doesn't want to end. At the top of the hill I actually felt pretty good so I guess the hills and intervals that I have been doing are paying off. I still want to improve a little for some of the rides I want to do in July but I am close to being in good hills shape.

The best part of climbing out of Bloomsbury is the down hill afterwards. After Turkey Hill we head down Sweet Hollow which is one of the best downhills in NJ. It is a 3 mile downhill that follows a winding stream through a rural forest. At the bottom of Sweet Hollow we headed back up the ridge above Frenchtown.

We were a little short of the planned 50 miles so Michael decided a to add another climb to the ride. We ended up going up Hickory Corner Rd which I hadn't been on before. It was 340 ft shallow climb that we grinded our way up. From there we made a couple right turns and headed back down hill on Woolf Rd. This was another road that I hadn't been on before but it will definitely be one that I will do again. It is a screamer downhill that lasts for a while and made the climb up Hickory Corner worth it.

About halfway the way down the hill a kamikaze squirrel ran under Laura's bike. It went under her back wheel but luckily she only ran over its tail so it was able scamper away into the woods.

By the time we got back to Frenchtown we only had 43 miles and although it was a hilly ride it was actually easier than the usually ride lead by Michael. Its was a nice route. I have posted the ridesheet here if you want to check it out. This was a nice way to continue to build up my climbing ability.