Clamdigger 104k randonneur ride 5.03.2021

 Rode a Permanent randonneur 'metric century' route, officially 104km, out of Toms River NJ.
I got an early start for the 1h 15m drive, arriving at the first Control (a Wawa, no surprise) just a few minutes after the 5:57am sunrise.

Early in the ride I pedaled thru the Ocean County College campus, which was wooded, spacious and quiet. There were signs for Covid testing, but I wonder if that is still happening.
Later, the route went along Toms River and Barnegat Bay, which was enjoyable on a quiet, off-season gray May morning. Temps 60-73F. Winds were not much of a factor, 6-8 mph.
In some watery reeds near the shore, I saw a couple red-winged blackbirds, first I've seen in months (altho I just learned they don't migrate). Also saw a young osprey, egrets, a swan and a turkey-ish bird which I did not recognize, plus a dead hawk, frog and crab on the road.

The route used the Barnegat Branch (rail) Trail for one mile-plus, a cinder path.
An interpretive sign mentioned that the area once hosted a large Atlantic white cedar forest, but after being logged it did not regenerate. That wood is good for birdhouses. Later the route was on gravel (Good Luck Road) for a short distance. The non-paved sections were fine for my 28mm tires.

Both coming and going along a stretch of US 9, I passed the de-commissioned (2018) Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. I believe when it was coming up for its re-licensing, it was the oldest such plant in operation in the country, operating since 1969. Rather than try to come up to code to pass inspection, the company struck a deal for an extension and an agreement to close at the end of the term. Two of my brothers, a pipe-fitter and a welder, worked there over the years as members of United Association union Local 322. At the entrances there are signs for Holtec, a company which now has a big chunk of riverfront real estate in Camden NJ, lured there by huge incentives from a state economic development program. A major road was even re-routed to give the plant the sizeable plot of Delaware riverfront land it desired.

There were a couple long, quiet pine-country roads (Lacey and Dover) which I also enjoyed. Plenty of spots for 'nature breaks.' And there were a couple full-service restrooms along the way. Such relief.
Have to mention that there were also several busy stretches with too many cars and too little shoulder. Had to have my wits about me; the helmet mirror was essential.
As usual, my Garmin gave me several erroneous 'Off Course' warnings. Glad I had printed out the cue sheets to double-check myself.

Pictures, map and route elevation profile here:

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/66622712

Donuts and Hoagies 102km randonneur ride 4.14.2021

I rode the Donuts and Hoagies 102k randonneur Permanent route yesterday, so named because many of the Controls are Wawas (hoagies), along with an independent donut shop and a Donkey Donuts.
Nice Spring day for a bike ride (altho with just a few sprinkles late [I suppose that's appropriate for a ride with 'donuts' in the name]), starting and ending at Village Park in the fine old town of Cranbury NJ. I only had 1 off-course 'bonus mile', which is pretty good for me on an unfamiliar route. My total was 64.4 miles.

One especially nice thing about riding solo, with no timetable to meet someone, I just wake up whenever, go thru my morning routine, prepare the bike and gear, head out when I am ready, arrive at the start point without worrying about traffic, then saddle up. It is a zen way of going.

From my home to the start point, I had a one-hour drive, part of which was on the New Jersey Turnpike, and I either saw or crossed over the Turnpike many times during this ride.
Rode on a lot of back roads, too. Saw lots of skunk cabbage, which was always one of the first signs of Spring we would see when Bill S and I, as boys, hung out 'down the crick' and got our feet wet despite parental warnings.

When I entered my Results on the Randonneur USA site, I mistakenly entered my Moving time, not my Overall time. *urk* It looks like I finished about an hour earlier than I actually did. But I can't find any way to Edit my info there. The Contact link just takes you to Bugzilla, where you create an account, which I did, only to find it is only for reporting Bugs, which this is not; it is user error.                     EDIT: Found on the RUSA site an email address for requesting corrections. Response was almost instantaneous, and the correction was made within an hour of my request. Kudos!

I took care to do plenty of hydrating in the couple days leading up to the ride. Along with taking Saltstick capsules, I drank less than 2 water bottles-full along the ride itself, but I had to pee plenty. I recall going at least 2 times in the woods, once at the Millstone Twp muni building (thank you, kind civil servant, for letting me in), and at least 3 times in porta-potties. Riding solo and not carrying a lock, I was not comfortable leaving my bike outside a Wawa, e.g., to go inside for a nature break, so I didn't.

Noticed during one porta-potty nature break that the structure's plastic has a recycle triangle with a '2' in it. I guess it's appropriate that a potty would be a #1 or a #2.

Pictures, route map and elevation profile here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/65506676

Millville 100km randonneur ride 2.24.2021

 2.24.2021

With Rick L (a strong rider). Emerging from "the land of the ice and snow," the weather today was good for a change: mostly sunny, mid-40s to low 50s F, and the winds at the start were only 6mph but got to 12 mph by the end. Mostly they were crosswinds, but there were some unexpected headwinds (in the second half, of course).

Startled a guy with his dog (not close, he just didn't realize anybody was nearby), but he recovered enough to courteously return a friendly hello.

Even tho the distance has been no big deal in the past (including last month), I struggled mightily today. My thigh muscles and my knees hurt, and I even had a short spell of dizziness (very unusual). Lots of cramping, too, even tho it was not warm and I was diligent about taking my Saltstick capsules. Then Rick suggested it might be related to my first Covid-19 vaxxing, which took place less than 48 hours prior. I hope that's it. I'd hate to give up these 100kms, but I have no intention of continuing if they are going to be suffer-fests.

Pics, route map and elevation profile here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/63025197 

Veterans Memorial 104k randonneur ride 3.22.2021

 

3.22.21 (Best friend Bill's 70th birthday)

 I rode Rick's Veterans Memorial 100km randonneur route on this fine Spring day (temps 37-60F, ENE winds 5-7mph). This one was 104km, or 64.5 miles, from Vineland to Estelle Manor (where the Atlantic County Veterans Cemetery is located), Corbin City / Tuckahoe,Woodbine, Belleplain State Forest, Port Republic, back thru Buena Vista to Vineland.

Had a false start (forgot to select the route to Navigate in my Garmin), which meant it was best to return to the car, reset my device and start over. Known as 'bonus miles' in the biz, I had 1.6 of them today.

At least a dozen times I heard vernal pond 'peepers' while passing some standing water back in the trees near the road. A couple different times I heard a cock crowing. Saw a turtle sunning himself in a creek along Post Road, but when I circled back I found he was camera-shy. Country stuff. I love it.

Passed a rider going the other direction on NJ-50, and I gave him a wave. He did not return it, at least while I was looking. Maybe he did not approve of my blinking front light and hi-viz vest. Or maybe he just did not want to let go of his aero bars.

Solo, on my Spesh. After last month's suffer-fest Millville 100km, I didn't want to drag another randonneur along to ride at my pace, not knowing if I could even finish. It went well, tho. And being solo, I was able to stop frequently whenever I saw a photo op. That kind of thing can drive co-riders nuts. 

About 51 miles into the ride, I reached in the back pocket of my Randonneurs USA for the last of my Clif bar and bumped up against something else. Huh? Ah, it was my Clif Shot caffeine gel (Double Espresso). Score! I had meant to consume it at about the halfway point, but had forgotten about it. I sucked the sweetness down, and shortly thereafter I was well-fortified for the long haul up Union Road.

 All in all, this was a good day on the bike.

Pictures, route map and elevation profile here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/64251000

Perkiomen Trail ride 11.03.2020

11.03.2020  The Perkiomen Trail gets mentioned occasionally in discussions about interesting places to ride in the Delaware Valley. It is a 19-mile-long multi-use rail-trail along the Perkiomen Creek in Montgomery County PA, beginning at the junction with the Schuylkill River Trail by Valley Forge. It was partly funded by Natural Lands Trust, which funds some green space in our local area. It seemed worth checking out, so a few fellow bike-club members (Jim C, Paul M, Roy D, Rick L and I) picked a day to ride it in early November (Election Day, as it happened) with a good weather forecast. We met in Audubon NJ and braved the Schuylkill Expressway on a 1.5 hour drive that was supposed to take 50 minutes (but slowed by highway tree-trimming). Oh well.

Our three-vehicle convoy found the sizeable parking lot just off the Oaks exit of US422; problem was, we could not find any restrooms. Being men of a certain age having just taken a long, stressful drive, we all went scrambling off in different directions toward our chosen personal patch of woods for a nature break. Then we assembled on the bikes in a more relaxed frame of mind. Our machines were varied: two hybrid bikes, one full-suspension MTB, one custom-built randonneur bike, and an old Raleigh Super Course.

Once saddled up and riding, we found the trail pretty enjoyable (even saw an eagle close up as it took flight). Following the creek, it is a mix of some paved but mostly gravel woods riding, with short stretches of roadway on the fringes of towns. It goes North thru Collegeville, Schwenksville and Upper Salford to Green Lane Park, where it ends unceremoniously by the creek, deep in the woods. Once there, we broke out the snacks, took a few minutes to rest and enjoyed the November sunlight filtering thru the bare trees.
 

Altho most of this trail was along an old Reading Railroad right-of-way, the 8%+  grade in the last stretch down to the water made it clear that this section was not part of any train line. It was a real bear climbing back up, beginning the return. But after a bit, we had topped out and were happy to sense we were rolling downstream the rest of the way. The pedaling was easier, and the company was enjoyable. All in all, a good, memorable 40-mile day on the bikes.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/58549828

Tabernacle 112km randonneur ride 1.15.2021

I rode a Randonneurs USA route today with a long-time randonneur, bike-club buddy Rick L. The route looped from New Egypt to Tabernacle to Jacksonville to Chesterfield and back, with stops at mandatory 'controls' per RUSA rules. The control in Tabernacle was the very familiar Nixon's Deli.

Last nite, Rick had emailed that I should take it easy on him, as he hadn't been riding much lately. As if.
At one point early on, he was way up ahead of me. I yelled, "Am I taking it easy enough on you, Rick?" He was so far ahead, he may not have heard me.

The route took us past the Fort Dix firing range, where we heard lots of rounds being fired. And there were a lot of low-flying huge aircraft coming and going around McGuire AFB. Can't help staring at them, they are that awesome.
At one point much later, a roadwork crew necessitated a detour, and we wound up going thru the Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, the first NJ state-operated one (1986).

Along Burrs Mill Road I pedaled past my long-time good friend Len's driveway; I worked for Len for over 2 years 1975-1977.

We heard, then saw, a handful of chevrons of geese flying at the same time in the gray wintry sky; there must have been over a hundred geese in our view.

Again, double-digit winds, and of course they were in our face during the long return thru open farm-field country. Glad I had a riding buddy to share the misery. At one point Rick said, "Uphill with the wind in our faces." I thought, Does it get any better than this?
I had attached a larger under-saddle bag when I saw the temps were predicted to be going from the 30s to the 50s, figuring I would start peeling off layers and storing them in the bag. Didn't happen; I stayed layered up. Wind-chilly day, but then it is January. We were glad we could get the ride in.

Pictures, route map and elevation profile here: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/61499698 

Woods ride on the Winter solstice 12.21.2019

I am not much of a mountain-biker or trail-rider, mainly because I prefer road-biking and I don't want to expose myself to a lot of Lyme-disease ticks or chiggers. But after a few frosts, I do like to get out to enjoy the woods, and riding some not-too-challenging trails is a good way to do so. I mentioned this to my bike-club buddy Jim C, who is still racing MTBs in his mid-70s (!), and he said 'Anytime.' So we picked a day. I chose the trails behind Batsto historical village in Burlington County NJ, because I'd ridden there before, and knew they are not too technical for me. Lots of single-track, but not a lot of log-jumping, with no monster climbs or screaming descents.

As before, I took my 1990 Schwinn High Plains, a made-in-Mississippi rigid-fork chrome-moly lugged-frame (with spider paint!) bike that was quite respectable in its day. The bike found me a few years back when a friend, who'd bought the bike off Craigslist for his son to ride to work, asked me to sell it for him on CL, as his son was not interested in it. After having it listed for $125 for several weeks with no bites, I asked if he'd take $100 for it, not telling him I'd be the buyer. He said OK, so I 'sold' it for him and gave him the cash. Weeks later, I told him I was the buyer, and hadn't wanted any special consideration. I like riding a vintage bike, and at the rate I'm going, I won't be doing a whole lot of MTBing, so why spend the money to upgrade?

[EDIT: It finally occurred to me that my sore shoulders were being caused by riding my rigid-fork Schwinn on some technical single-track. I stopped riding that bike for a while, and eventually (6 months +/-) the soreness went away. So I sold the bike!]

The day was cold enough (mid-20sF at 9am) to discourage others in our circle from joining us, but I was layered and wasn't uncomfortable, altho I did sweat too much and took note of that for future reference. Despite the cold, still it was Saturday and there were at least a half-dozen other riders in the Batsto parking lot also making final preparations to head out on the trails. Jim knew several of them, and one 'marveled' that I was going to be riding the old (hey, it's 'vintage'!) non-suspension Schwinn. He was diplomatic about it, and I didn't apologize for it.

We headed out, with the intent of doing the 19-mile Orange trail. At the split, Jim kindly suggested that we could take the 8.5-mile Blue trail, then ride it again in reverse if we felt like doing that much mileage. I figure he saw how inexperienced I was, and was giving me an 'out' for the longer distance. So I chose the Blue trail. And since we had both driven a long distance to ride, I decided at the end, yes, let's ride it again in reverse, which might have surprised Jim. By the last few miles, I felt jelly-legged but kept turning the pedals, and I wound up having a good 2+ hour workout and a memorable ride that left me smiling.

At one point, my right-side (platform) pedal must have clipped something unseen that was sticking up, and that sent me off into the brush.  But I wound up still upright and straddling my bike; JC complimented me with a 'nice save.' Cool.

When we started out, a guy Jim knew started with us. Those two promptly opened up a gap just riding their usual pace. Jim waited up for me, then gapped me again. After several of these sequences, he let me ride in front of him, so I could set my own pace and he could keep an eye on me, I figure.
On an early pause, Jim asked what tire pressure I was running, as he'd noticed I was 'deflecting' over every little obstacle. I told him I was running 50 lbs psi, and he replied that he was running 20! So I promptly aired down a bit and noticed a difference in the ride. Later I aired down a bit more, but maybe too much, as I had to work noticeably harder at pedaling. But now I know to start out around 30psi (my weight / 6).

Jim also told me I should try picking out and taking the outside line on the turns (unlike what I thought race-car drivers did) in order to keep my momentum and ride more efficiently. I tried it and really liked it. It also made it easier to correct my line mid-turn, if necessary, by simply leaning more. So I think I learned a lot. Thanks, Jim! I am looking forward to getting out there again.