after the smoke cleared

 ... and pretty maids all in a row.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been champing at the bit to get out and do something, since we've been forced inside by the smoke from the Canadian wildfires. So when Tom H emailed around to do a ride today, I was ALL ABOUT it.

Showing more than a modicum of good sense, Tom help off on choosing the route until he knew what the air situation was going to be, and when he heard that there were fires also in the Pinelands, he set us a route that kept us out of there. We wound up with about 45 miles out of Mercer Park.

Some of Tom's Insane Bike Posse:

Tom was ready in case the smoke got bad again.

The wind seemed to be mostly at our backs early in the day, and we had a great time with the pace. We rolled over sometimes-familiar-to-me roads through Robbinsville and Bordentown. When we got to Columbus, where the stop was to be, we saw chairs lining the streets, and people. It turned out there was to be a parade that day, for a Columbus Farm Festival or some such.

 We took a break at the store in Columbus, and the parade meant that we had to hurry along... but it had the advantage that part of the route was closed to car traffic, but open to us. Now, Tom almost always has a closed road or bridge on one of his routes, but rarely do we get to ride OUT of a closed street, so this was a new experience for us, and affects his average, or something.

 And back. We were heading into the wind at that point, and the wind started to pick up. Several stretches on the way back were "into the wind" battles, and we traded pulls in the wind. And the last four miles or so were a real push into that wind.

But it was a great day, and a fun ride. Go see the ride page.