Meander 2024.11.03

 I wanted to return to Central Jersey and ride the Meander to Milford 100k Permanent again ever since riding it 18 months ago with buddy Rick, when we both thought it worthy of a repeat visit. So there I was, driving north on the Interstate highway Sunday, heading back up to Hopewell NJ. This was my opportunity with a good weather forecast and light winds (but no Rick available, alas). However, the forecast did show that the feels-like temperature at the 7am desired start time would only be in the mid-30s F, later getting up to around 60. I knew I could properly layer up and peel down for that kind of temp swing. But about 20 minutes into my drive, I realized I forgot to pack my windbreaker jacket and my RUSA vest. *urk* Not wanting to turn back, I figured I would give it a go without those items and ride myself warm in the early part of the route, which involved plenty of hill-climbing. I had packed a couple pairs of gloves and at the last moment included a balaclava, fortunately. Plus I had a plastic bag which I could put over my chest under my jersey as a wind barrier. And I figured that I could always turn around and ride back to the start if it turned out to be just too uncomfortable. Onward.

In Hopewell I found a spot to park where it seemed unlikely I'd have my rig towed (often a concern). I geared up and rode to the nearby start point, turned on the Garmin, loaded the route and headed out, finding a welcome porta-pot in the first mile (always a plus). The early hill-climbing did get my mind off the cold, as hoped, so I was able to enjoy the great autumn scenery of Mercer (and later Hunterdon) County as I pedaled thru the countryside. Early on, tho, I had a most difficult time trying to shift out of the big chainring. When I finally was able to get into the small chainring, I decided to just leave it there all day. I needed the low-end gearing for this ride, and I didn't want to chance not having it at crucial times. 

Nearing the halfway point, I saw Bridge Out Ahead signs. Not knowing if or how that might affect me, I pedaled on, hoping for the best. When I got to the bridge site, I saw my route was blocked and there was no way for me to ride or hike-a-bike thru the area. (There was even a separate sign, No Pedestrians No Bicycles.) That meant turning around and climbing back over the ridge I had just cleared. On Google maps I saw it would be maybe an additional 5-mile re-route, and I started back the way I had just come. Eventually I made my way to the Control at around the mid-point of the ride, but was way late in getting there (I am not a fast rider; I ride like a 75 year-old.). It had taken me about 4 hours, which meant I had just 2 hours 40 minutes to complete the second half of the ride, which would be just as hilly as the first half. Discouraged, I decided to just take a straight, 10-mile easy route on a wide-shouldered state two-lane road following the Delaware River downstream to Lambertville, where I would re-assess my situation. When I got there (with lots of tourist traffic on the narrow busy streets on a glorious fall Sunday), I had the option to pick up the prescribed route for the rest of my return, but again, I was running out of time and would have had many hills to face. Not happening. So I chose the county two-lane road that headed directly back to Hopewell, thinking, Okay, it's not in the cards for me to properly complete this Permanent route today, so I'll just chalk it up to experience and enjoy the rest of it.

Then, during the final 10-mile leg, it occurred to me that I had passed by the 2 intermediate Controls, as necessary, and would likely have the required minimum distance, so if I could finish within the 6:40 time limit, I could claim RUSA credit for the ride after all. I had no idea how far it was to the Hopewell finish, but I just pedaled up and down as best I could to give myself a chance. Lo and behold, I found myself entering the handsome downtown with about 5 minutes remaining to get back to the start. It turned out that when I got there with a couple minutes to spare, I was just short of the 62.7 miles of the official route. So I rode past the start a couple blocks, then hung a U-turn, came back to the start and hit the button on the Garmin to end the ride - with 1 minute to spare. Sweet.

Coda: For this flatlander, the 3600' of climbing was a lot. I was able to keep the Cramp Monster at bay riding in first gear frequently, with liberal use of SaltStick capsules and Clif Bloks with added sodium. Sixteen ounces of Ensure nutrition shake in a water bottle and two two-packs of fig bars rounded out the nutritional intake that got me thru. (I ate none of the many osage oranges that hazardously littered the road shoulders in a number of places.) Two porta-pot visits and two stealth pees took care of that end of things. All in all, it was a nice bicycle mini-adventure.

Ride map, profile, pictures here: Meander · Ride with GPS

The Last Go-Round?

I worked the South Jersey Wheelmen's Jersey Devil Metric Century out of Parvin State Park on Saturday 9.21.24, the 45th edition of the club's Devil ride, a full century ride until about 3 years ago. 

The mid-September weather was really fine. I have ridden or worked this rain-or-shine event, always held on the third Saturday of the month, since around 2010, and there has not been a bad-weather day in that stretch. (A Covid-19 no-ride day in 2020, yes.)

Four Boy Scouts and two adult leaders showed up and signed up again this year, after spending the night in the nearby park campsites. The kids are working on a cycling merit badge, so we can be proud of assisting with that.

Still, attendance was down again year-over-year. I wondered if we would be putting on this event, the sole survivor of our club's three open-to-the-public rides, again next year, considering the longtime-trending-downward participation.

A lot goes into putting on such an event, in both time and money. Months in advance, insurance binders and state-park permits have to be obtained (and paid for), along with approval from the Quinton volunteer firemen to use their firehall as a food and comfort station.  Also leading up to the day-of is food procurement and prep, lining up who is responsible for what (parking, registration, food set-up, driving a SAG vehicle, manning the Quinton food stop). In the week or so before the ride, road-marking is done. This year a few of us went out on a pre-ride of the two courses (63- or 32-miles) on the Sunday before the public ride, looking for new road-work detours while testing the cue sheet and Ride with GPS file, plus double-checking the road markings. (And still, on ride day we found that some 3 miles of new chip-seal was laid down in the interim!)

All the volunteered time and effort gives our club an annual focus, maybe even the main reason for SJW to exist. It brings together a current core group of about 15 members (out of only 44 total, another downward-trending number) for a common purpose of putting on a good show for the riding public to enjoy, the last of its kind in the area. Even if the dollars don't work out, it may be enough in that it pays dividends in terms of club esprit de corps.

Jersey Devil Metric Century pre-ride

On Sunday 9.15.24, on the Spesh Roubaix, with four South Jersey Wheelmen friends I pre-rode the course that will be used Saturday 9.21.24 for our club's 40th+ annual Jersey Devil Metric Century open-to-the-public ride out of Parvin State Park in Pittsgrove Township, near Vineland NJ.

I wanted to ride at 8am Saturday, to encounter the exact traffic conditions that the public will face in the upcoming ride, but the schedules of my buddies didn't coincide. For one thing, some club members used Saturday to spray-paint road markings in preparation for the event. Rather than ride alone, I opted to ride with company on Sunday. And with only about 1600' of elevation, I had a good ride doing the 63-mile version with one buddy, while the others chose the 32-mile version. We had some 10mph headwinds on the return portion, but not too bad. I felt strong enough that it was not a slog, and the cramp monster did not rear its ugly head (until the 50-minute drive home on the expressway...).

For the public ride, I will be working registration and then driving my RAV as a SAG vehicle, combing the course to help out riders and food-stop workers as needed. Like our club membership (now down to 44), the number of ride participants goes down every year, but we remaining Wheelmen and women still enjoy working together to put on such an event, the last of its type in the area. With the reduced participation, it is possible that this is the final year we put on this ride. However, we said that last year too.

Fun with bikes.

SJ Wheelmen pre-ride · Ride with GPS

Pre-ride New Jersey Randonneurs Cape May brevet

With Rick L on 5.26.24, I rode the 200k Northern loop of the upcoming Cape May 600k.

We picked a good traffic day, a Sunday in the middle of a three-day weekend. Warm and summer-like, with little wind.

Went thru Princeton both outbound and inbound. Big doings there, apparently too late for commencement weekend, tho.

Saw lots of mountain laurel and phlox (an old fave); smelled honeysuckle, creosote and roadkill.
Rode thru some very scenic town and country areas of Mercer, Hunterdon and Warren Counties. Lots of one-lane bridges. And lots of hills...
Climbed more than ever before; had to constantly fight off the Cramp Monster. I was overmatched.
Nice day for a walk, and I took at least ten of them, uphill.

Appears all my walking up climbs threw off the mileage and elevation shown on RwGPS (link at bottom). Course is rated at 124.3 miles and 6665' of climbing.

Rick was good about it, and waited up ahead for me numerous times. He may have saved the day by giving me a Drake's Funny Bone.

On the Spesh Roubaix, which, as it turns out, performs well in first gear.

********

Pre-Ride NJ Randonneurs 200k · Ride with GPS

Down Jersey (windy) Hundy

I decided to attempt a full-century rando ride in early April, as part of my streak of monthly P-12 (100km+) rides and also to gauge if I was up to attempting a pre-ride of my buddy Rick's upcoming 200k (125 mile) brevet for NJ Randonneurs. I had already commited to working one of the controls for the brevet, and it is usual practice for volunteers to pre-ride the course a week or two before the event and get RUSA credit for riding the brevet.

Lately I've gone back to riding the long rides on Sundays (as I used to do pre-retirement when I worked on weekdays); I like not having to deal with rush hours, school buses and dump trucks. Wanting to get this first ride done early in the month, I went ahead with planning to ride the Down Jersey Hundy on the first Sunday even tho the weather forecast showed I would be going into 12 mph headwinds for hours during the mid-to-later stages of the course. But those winds made the ride unenjoyable. "Got 'er done. But it weren't fun."

Thought I felt a flat while riding in the City of Bridgeton, the most urban part of the course. Sure enough. Pulled over and saw that I was in front of the Salvation Army building, so I decided to hike-a-bike onto their grounds to make my repair. I have a soft spot for the place, since I write the annual donation check from my bike club to their food pantry (open twice a week, with morning and afternoon sessions both days - the need is great, apparently). 

I could not find the source of the leak, but I didn't feel any problem inside the tire, so I went ahead and put in a new tube, aired it up with my frame pump and avoided using the CO2 cartridges I carry with me. The pump got things up to riding hardness without too much effort. Thumbs up, Lezyne. I had shifted into the smallest cog to facilitate removal of the rear wheel for the repair, but forgot to shift to an easier gear before pulling away afterward. And of course the first block was a steep uphill, so I really had to grind it out (too difficult to shift while struggling). *urk*

The trickiest traffic part of this course is where major roads (turnpike, interstate etc) come together right by the Delaware Memorial Bridge. It is a real nexus. As I had done before, I thought it best to yield to a big truck coming uphill rather than assert my right of way to cross the off-ramp Yield area. It is not easy for those big rigs to stop and start on an incline. I waved the semi on while coming to a halt safely in the middle of some road striping, waited until it was clear, then continued across the ramp mouth. Sharing the road. I think the trucker appreciated it.

Random thoughts:

1) I started putting my phone in a handlebar mount, as opposed to carrying it in a pocket. I like the new arrangement. On this ride, I responded to a couple texts en route, using the microphone voice-to-text feature to carry on one brief conversation while riding along. Also, now I can see who is calling me, in order to answer immediately if an emergency arises.

2) Saw that what was a Gloucester County peach orchard last year is now a cleared field with some piles of trees to be disposed of. I guess peaches are not as profitable as other crops. I heard that in Hammonton, peach trees are being removed to make room for still more blueberry bushes.

3) Thinking I needed to pay more attention to fueling, I ate a lot more on this ride, including 2 Lara bars, a handful of Clif Blocks, a Clif Shot Double Espresso (no longer sold!), a bottle of Ensure Plus, and 4 SaltStick capsules. And near the end, I treated myself to more caffeine and sugar - a Diet Coke and two Reese cups from the Circle K on the circle on US-130 in Carneys Point.

4) It's curious that the various platforms show a wide range of elevations for this route. Ride with GPS mapping shows it as 1589', while my Garmin file uploaded from this ride shows it as 2149' on RwGPS, but 1801' on Strava! Guess it is not an exact science.

5) Unless I can build up my bike fitness using the trainer in the basement, I don't think I will be attempting any more full-century rides this year. It appears I don't have the leg strength I had as recently as last year, alas.

Ride map, elevation profile and pics here:

Down Jersey Hundy · Ride with GPS

Burden Hill, 2023 Year in Review

I let this ride go until late in the month, 12.26.2023, and with Rixter, rode the Burden Hill 100k RUSA permanent route, completing my third P-12.

It's a good feeling, the P-12, keeping my consecutive-month streak alive at 36. 

Without really setting any goals beyond most miles ever, I accomplished a lot this year, including most miles ever, drawing up and getting approved by RUSA three new permanent routes (Burden Hill being one), riding two 200ks, two full centuries, five time trials (with varying results), one NJ Randonneurs' brevet populaire (Juneteenth 117k) and two bike-overnites (one using my tent at Bass River State Forest). I added a new old bike, a 2008 Trek Madone 5.5, purchased from a club buddy who purchased it from another club buddy who had bought it new. Plus I finally learned how to clear my nose while riding without a hanky. 

Map, route profile and pics here:

Burden Hill · Ride with GPS