For this month's 100k permanent, I decided to ride buddy and frequent co-rider Rick's new-ish route without letting him know. I figured it would surprise him. And I wanted the flexibility of doing an early start without having to coordinate with anyone else, so I drove my car to Atco NJ a little before sunrise, and commenced to ride solo.
My younger brother let me park at his house, and I joined the course en route at roughly the midpoint less than a mile away in downtown small-town Atco.
At the start the temp was 32F, and felt like 26F due to 6mph winds. After my halfway point in Vineland, it was 41/36F, winds 7mph. It was cold enough.
I had a little fun with Rick, texting him a couple pics of where I was early on, knowing he would recognize his route and realize I was riding it.
I liked the course, especially early on a Sunday with little traffic on some nice country roads. It is one I would ride again.
Before halfway thru, I felt my thigh muscles protesting again, like they did during last month's 100k. Hmmm. Not riding enough?
The course has 'gravel' in the name, and there is a good 1.5 mile stretch of gravel road, complete with some full-road puddles after the previous day's rain. But it was no real problem, and a nice change of pace. Around that same section of the route I sensed a bit of a 'tobacco road' vibe. 'Nuff said.
My front derailleur was a bit balky early, then flat-out wouldn't shift to the big chainring. I futzed with it roadside for 15 minutes, to no avail; the cable adjuster and the ferrule/cable housing wouldn't move independently of each other to hold an adjustment. I found I was able to perform 'manual' shifts while riding along by reaching under the downtube and pulling the cable. Then I mostly tried to leave it in the big ring. Thank goodness I have 10 cogs in the rear to give me some range, and the route is in South Jersey flatlands.
Later in the ride I stopped to pee at a construction site porta-pot, and surprisingly, while walking alongside the bike I sank in wet sand, as did my bike wheels. It wasn't really convenient to clean the bike off, so I had crunchy rim brakes for a while. I tried to ride going easy on the brakes, and I finished fine.
A good day on the bike, and my 12th month, completing my second RUSA P-12.
Route map, profile and pics here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/108924802
