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.
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