another option ride

 It's been a while since I posted about a ride. It's been a while since I did a group ride.

 As I've posted, I haven't either the strength nor the stamina I once did, and while I might be able to get back to that, I'm not sure I'm willing to put in the single-minded focus to get back to that level - I feel like I might have to give up other things that have become important to me. So while my usual crew were planning forty-plus miles with 2300' of climb* at a pace where I was sure I'd be dragging back the group (if I could keep up at all), I found there was another ride with the club that was going a little less distance, with less climb. And folks I like were going along. 

*I used to be a good climber. I still am, sometimes. But I don't love the hills the way I once did. (And I'm not good at descents.) 

So at stupid:30 this morning, I registered, and showed up at the start. It's close enough that I could have ridden from home, but I over-exerted on a project in the garage yesterday, and decided to allow myself a break. I drove in, stopping for a couple of bagels (carbs for the ride, doncha know).

And I had a great time with these folks. You can see the route and my performance on the ride page. It happens that much of this ride went on roads through the neighborhood we moved to a couple of years ago, so these roads are now on my regular solo training routes (this is a new experience for me; I've been riding in the Sourlands for years, and I'm still lost up there most of the time). 

We had riders at a range of experience. For much of the way, I chose to stay in the back with the slower folks, and helped to make sure the group didn't split up too badly. Except for two who chose to go off the front, we kept together at turns, and when there were the occasional requested stops, we went only when everybody was ready. 

Jeff P showed off his new wooden bike:

 It's laminated cherry, with a ZIPP wheelset, a one-by drivetrain, and the Wheeltop electronic shifters. He put on cable caliper brakes, making the sensible argument that he's been riding bikes with caliper brakes for decades and there's no reason to change now. (Of course, I would find this sensible; my road bike, the Yellow Maserati, sports caliper brakes, and bar-end friction shifters.)

At about 25 miles, we turned west on Federal Road, and started about six miles of straight-into-the-wind, which had picked up out of nowhere; it had not been windy previously. We traded pulls, and at one of the stops, a rider pointed out that the tops of the trees didn't seem to be moving... it was as if the headwind were ginned up only on the road surface itself, solely for our consternation. 

It goes that way sometimes.

 

yes, it's classist...

 I know classical music is classist... but I have loved it for years, and I'm not giving it up.

born to run 50th anniversary ride

Above, PFW members in front of the house where Bruce Springsteen spent his pre-teen years.

Every now and then, the club does a specialty ride of some kind. There's a regular repeat of a century to the shore and back, in memory of the late Don Sprague, who led that route for years. We had a ride that included stops and lectures of historical sites in Mercer County, including the Pole Farm and sites on Washington's march to Trenton. (I've been hinting for a member who has special knowledge of Trenton and the D&R canal in that area to lead a ride-with-talks, but the hint has so far not been taken up.)

Club President Mike V has led rides before that have included passing sites significant to Bruce Springsteen. This year, the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the "Born To Run" album, he listed a ride passing by the sites of three houses where Springsteen spent his boyhood. ("Three houses" implies more grandeur than is appropriate; in each case, Springsteen's family occupied half of the house, or less, and one of the houses was condemned and razed, and the land is now part of a parking lot.)

 We had nineteen registered, seventeen of whom showed up at the start (the Excellent Wife [TEW] met us along the route; another did not appear at all, doubtless due to the demands of real life). Despite the range of abilities, we stayed together well for the first part of the ride, up to the sites in question (all in Freehold). 

At the first house:

 

Below: Mike talking in the site of the second house, now the parking lot of St Rose of Lima church. We had to disperse quickly when mass let out.

 Free Wheelers blocking traffic outside the third house:

 Then it was time to get some miles in. We made a stop at the Freehold location of Broad Street Dough Co, a source for designer doughnuts. Riders were VERY impressed; so much so, that as I now live in a location where I might conveniently lead a ride to that stop, that strong hints were dropped that I might lead a ride with that as the stop, as I do to that Italian bakery in Raritan (although one rider opined that I might start the ride there, allowing a pre-ride doughnut, and end it there, allowing for him to bring home a supply),

I don't know. If he had them in the car, and had, say, a forty-minute ride home, how many would you suppose would survive the car trip?

In any case, I'm beginning to plot a route. 

It was a delightful day; the weather, the occasion, and the company all cooperated. I ope to have a similar experience again. Do any members have any good ideas? 

thinking of the roman empire

 It's not a perfect correlation... but he kinda reminds me of Caligula.

getting back to it

 I've fallen off writing about these rides. It's probably part of a general malaise about cycling: I like working on the bikes (and I'm getting more opportunities to do so), and I like teaching about them (I teach the Basic Bicycle Maintenance course at the Princeton Adult School, and, as usual, the course is full for this semester)... but I'm less taken with actually riding the bike, probably because I'm not as strong or as fast as I was a couple of years ago (and I was never very fast, although I used to be good going up a hill).

Other responsibilities, illness, and cataract surgery led to my not riding much over the past year or so, but I've gotten back to it (less because I really enjoyed it, and more because I want to get back into better physical shape). As I've ridden more, I've gotten better (now, there's a surprise), and as I've gotten better, I've gotten more interested in riding more.

 

 All this to say that I went out on one of the weekday club rides this past Wednesday. Since it's a weekday ride, most of the folks who come are retired. The regulars who used to do this ride called it "Team Social Security", although that seems to have fallen out of use.

As you can see from some of the pictures, the "Team Social Security" moniker would still apply.

 

The rides are usually about 30-35 miles, and while they advertise C, C-plus, and B-minus paces, they tend to go faster; riders go off the front, and sometimes wait at turns or stops (and sometimes don't). This ride was advertised as having B-minus and C-plus rides doing the same route (so that riders who tired after starting with the faster group, could get "picked up" by the slower group  when we came along). There was a certain amount of self-reflection and reassessment of personal abilities as some of the riders looked at the fast folks who came for the B-minus ride... and it may be that one decided to roll with the slower group, instead.

That said, though, one of the things I like about this group, is that they look out for one another, and don't let people just fall of in the back. I'm an occasional drop-in, but the regulars know one another's abilities, and consider whether someone may be having an off day. They know that some don't climb well, for example, but will keep up handily on flats and descents. They keep a brisk pace, but they care for one another.

 

My current schedule doesn't allow for me to come out on all of their rides, but I think I need to join them more frequently than I do.

 

You can see how we did on the ride page. 

 

I've got a couple of interesting rides planned for the upcoming weekend, and I plan to do posts about them, as well. And now that I've written that, perhaps I'll feel responsible enough to actually do it.

 

uh... rapture?

 So today's September 25, after the Rapture was supposed to happen on the 23^rd or 24^th.

 It looks like everybody's still here, at least in this neighborhood.

The only possible explanation is that it happened, but none of my fellow-citizens qualified to be taken up. 

old man completes sourland spectacular ride

For weeks, The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I have been chatting about doing the Sourland Spectacular.

 

 On one side, it's just the kind of cycling event I like: LOTS of people come out*; it supports a cause that's both local and credible; it's close to home; it's not too expensive (and while they would be grateful for fundraising, they don't require it).

 

(*For some of my associates, the fact that lots of people come out is a detractor. They say it's because a huge ride like this, with so many people whose riding styles you can't predict, is dangerous. I don't deny that, but I suspect that a certain amount of "I'd really rather just be with friends" and "too many people overwhelm me" flavors are also in the mélange.)

 

 But then there are all those hills. And there's no guarantee that the weather will cooperate. Last year, the weather did NOT cooperate.

 

 This year, however, predictions were for a good day. A week or so before the event, emails started going around among my usual riding associates; one suggested doing the metric century (100km; the route was 63-plus miles, over the hilly terrain of the Sourlands); another suggested the 42-mile ride, and that was what they agreed on. As the week progressed, I decided to go along with 'em.

 

 During the week, I had lunch with another regular rider of about my age, and the topic came up. He expressed surprise that I had agreed to the 42-mile ride, when a 28-mile alternative was also on offer. "Don't you know you're going up Poor Farm?", he said, mentioning a hill where some strong riders have gotten off and walked the last bit of the climb. "And Goat Hill?", which is a climb not demanding for the steepness, but for the length.

 

 I'd decided to do it, though, and arranged to be at the start to meet the guys. TEW came along, too - she'd do the 28-mile route, which was more demanding that the rides she usually does, but she decided (and I agreed) that she didn't have to impress anybody, and if a hill was too steep, she'd just join the others who were walking.

 

There were others at the ride from my club, the Princeton Free Wheelers. 

 

I did pretty well, especially for a septuagenarian. The ride page shows I finished with an average of  13.3mph. I mostly kept up with the guys I rode with, and we all had a good time slandering the younger, lighter folks that whipped by us fairly regularly.

 

I DID have a bit of a scare, though. I'm not a great descender, and somehow, I got out in front of the group going quickly downhill on Covered Bridge Road. That takes a few tight turns just before Lower Creek Road. I was trying to keep my speed up so as not to be in anybody's way, and as I came around one of the turns, I barely missed the grill of a car coming up the other way. No harm, no foul, of course... but I'm not the first of my group to have had (ahem) unpleasant experiences on a fast downhill. I would do better to get out of the way, and regulate my velocity.

 

Enough of that. Many thanks to the volunteers. You can do these roads on your own, of course, but having the stops and support available makes it a different experience.

 

 One of the volunteers was kind enough to take this one of friend Bob N, me in the middle, and TEW. (Sorry, folks, it's not the best picture of any of us...)

 

 And one of the routes is a shorter one for kids and families. I saw a family where the child on his own bike was between mom and dad (didn't get a picture), and this one of the daughter in the trailer was too good to miss.

 

 Lunch is provided, of course, offering the opportunity for exaggerated complaints and shameless bragging. I thanked my riding companions for not having dropped me at ever opportunity (one admitted he thought I might drag behind when I first signed on, but said I'd done well on the hills). 

 

(The Excellent Wife also completed. There's a certain amount of pride in the air about the house today.) 

 

I keep saying I need to do more of these. Perhaps I will, next season.