Alloway-Bridgeton loop ride 2026.03.11

My first outside bike time in two months, due to the snow that just would not go away. Rick called for a 40-mile ride with the usual suspects, and I declared myself "in" but opted for doing a shorter, 28-mile version, intending to split off from the others. In the end, all four of us set out to do that version except it became 32 miles due to a Bridge Out detour. 

It was a bit dicey for a mile or so on a stretch of state two-lane heavy with trucks moving at speed thru a village with virtually no shoulder. Watch your six, as they say, which is what I did using my helmet mirror and bellowing out from the sweep position, Truck Back! Then a few blocks on the four-lane main drag past the Cumberland County court house in Bridgeton also kept our heads in the game.

The last leg, five miles on Telegraph Road, found us riding thru a drizzle, which turned into a shower while we were loading our bikes back into our vehicles at the Alloway Lake boat launch parking lot. A good safe time was had by all.

Map, route profile and pics here:

Alloway-Bridgeton loop · Ride with GPS

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