marty's double-trolley ride

 

The Excellent Wife (TEW) spent some time leading the group on this one.

Fellow club member Marty A has a route that follows the old Trenton Trolley line in both directions, out to Conover Park and then back in. TEW liked it enough that she suggested I steal it from him, and, as he was leading the route today at a pace that both of us could manage, we decided to go along. TEW has been in such good shape that she suggested we ride from home and back, extending Marty's planned 25-ish-mile route to about 36 miles. So we did.

After some cancellations, we wound up with eleven.

 

We left from Village Park in Cranbury. With my recent health issues, I was a bit worried about the pace and distance, but I needn't have been. I swept, but there wasn't much need of that, either; despite a large range in ages, everybody kept together, and rode with courtesy and predictability.

 

The stop on this route is at the West Windsor Community Park, with a good restroom, but no place to buy drinks or snacks; you have to bring your own (which TEW and I had done).

 On the way back, got a pinch flat on a block of wood, and mystified one of my fellow riders with my tire-changing prowess. (Nothing to it, really, between having a decent technique, a tire that was stretched out from many miles of use... and using a tire brand known to be easy to change, unlike that brand starting with C that some of my fellow riders prefer*.)

When we got back to Cranbury near the park, TEW engaged her feminine wiles to woo me away from the ride, and into the clutches of Gil & Bert's Ice Cream. I am a sucker for her feminine wiles.

 ===

* Yes, they perform well on curves, but other tires do, too... and if they're so tight you can't change them on a ride, and have to call an Uber to get home, I submit they are not the best tires for the amateur rider.

back to a group ride

 I led a ride today for the club; my first in about six weeks. The ride was about 32 miles; with my trips to and from home, I went about 38 miles.

 To regular riders, that won't sound like much. To me, though, it was huge.

 If you read my last post, you may remember that I was having trouble due to a hypertension medication that was slowing me down. I could barely finish the 30-mile ride I did that day; I was dropping off the back of the group and had to stop and rest often after the stop. 

Subsequently, I saw my doctor again. I tried to get him to take me off the medication that slowed my heart, but he did not agree to that (my blood pressure numbers are still problematic). He did cut that medication in half, and added another medication, a centrally acting alpha-2 adrenergic agonist, to go along with the angiotensin II receptor blocker I've been on for some time with no complaint. I was to split the beta blocker morning and evening, and take the other two medications once a day.

The medication he added is called clonidine. I took one dose, and it sorely and severely affected me. I had all of the symptoms of a bad flu except the respiratory effects - but I did have bone aches, arthralgia, weakness throughout my body, poor focus (I surely should not have been driving that day!), and insomnia. 

Clonidine was a drug we used in the 1980's and 90's to treat opiate withdrawal, because the reported side effects sounded like they would ease opiate-withdrawal symptoms. Clonidine was famously ineffective for withdrawal, though. And if it did to the poor opiate patients what it did to me... we should never stop apologizing to them.

I stopped the clonidine immediately. And I moved both doses of the beta blocker to nighttime, figuring that if I'm trying to sleep, slowing my heart might actually be beneficial. And I started doing short rides four or five times a week. 

I slowly started getting stronger, until I could do my short rides at a pace that was as fast as I could do them before. And even though they were short, this week I felt like I had enough stamina to complete a group ride.  So I posted a 32-mile group ride, at a pace I thought I could manage for today.

I limited the ride to fifteen, and it filled up; I had a club member contact me to see if he could drag along! And then I had five or six cancellations. Still, I wound up with eleven to start.

When I got to the planned start, though, the park was closed! There was a firetruck rally, of all things.

 

My riders found their way to one of the available lots, though, and we left from there.

 

 I like this route, although some of it is traffic-y: it goes over roads with which I'm familiar, and it's not too hilly. a couple of the riders said they liked it, too.

We stopped at the Bagel Bazaar in Dayton (which used to have other names...):

 And from there back to the start, including fighting a headwind on which I had not counted.

For me, it was quite a good ride. It was a good mix of people I knew well,  and people I did not. They were friendly with one another, and rode together well.

And it was a personal victory. For much of the time, I was leading from the front; I never fell far behind; and while I was tired at the end, I was able to take care of my usual other responsibilities today...

...including writing this post. Thanks for checking in. You can check out the ride page.

beautiful bike at revolutionary ramble

 At the Revolutionary Ramble yesterday, friend Laura OLPH knewI'd be taken with this lovely Roadini from Rivendell Bikes, so she got me a few pictures. 

 I really love them, and I wish I could justify getting my own. There will be a post soon about the Yellow Maserati, my titanium bike, and why I think it's the best for me at this point in my aging life.

supporting the revolutionary ramble

 The Morris Area Freewheelers have offered the Revolutionary Ramble, a charity ride supporting their EMS services, for decades. But clubs and volunteering are falling on hard times: their membership is down, and there are not volunteers to run the ride the was it has been in the past. They reached out to my club, the Princeton Free Wheelers*, for assistance with the event, and the club agreed, and even sent a director of the event, Emad S. 

*Yes, the Morris Area group thinks that Freewheelers is a single word, and the PFW thinks it's two words. Don't argue with me. 

The Princeton club had an Event for years that we put down a few years ago. I was one of the loudest voices calling for the PFW Event's demise, so I felt something of a responsibility to help out. I agreed to head up one of the rest stops (after all, as tough as it is, it's only a single-day commitment). Most of my crew were other PFW members.

 In an effort to get back to regular posting, I got some pics at the stop.

 

I'm way tired, but it went well. I'll plan to do it again.