good ride, good company, good day

 

The storm Saturday night knocked twenty degrees off the temperature and cleared out dozens of points of humidity. My club ride for Sunday morning was full at fifteen. A few at the start:

Before we started, a rider who had been an almost-regular, but whom I hadn't seen in quite a while rolled up: Mini B. I was, of course, delighted to see her; although she wasn't registered, she said she'd ride with us for a while, and roll off when she felt she'd had enough.

We got started, and on the first stretch, John W also appeared to ride along. I'm flattered they came out!

My route went from Franklin to Kingston and then to Princeton. We rolled through town, and got to Rosedale, where I warned the folks that we were going to get separated; at the top and below are pictures of regrouping at ETS.

From there, we go across Bayberry, and then Moores Mill/Mt Rose to Pennington/Hopewell Rd (518). The sheep were out, but I didn't get pictures. We stopped at the Boro Bean.

Outside the Bean was this excellent Centurion. I finally determined the owner, and told him how much I liked the bike - it turned out he was an authority on Centurion bikes, and the author of the article about Centurion bikes on the Sheldon Brown site. He's a sort-of celebrity among a tiny group of enthusiasts. (It's a gorgeous bike...)

On the way out after the Boro Bean, I saw a number of folks in BMS Coast-to-Coast-for-Cancer jerseys, apparently on a break from their ride. I rang the bell and waved; they waved back... is it possible that one of those enthusiastic waves was from Sweta P, whom I've just ridden with a couple times recently?

Good ride, good company, good day. Go check the ride page.

the early bird

 

I like that picture of Terry L.

Look, I know it's not everybody's cuppa tea to get up early to make a ride, but one, I'm an early riser anyway (even as a retiree, I'm usually up between four and five am), and b) it's been awful hot and sticky, so it makes sense to get out and back before the day heats up (and there is a threat of precipitation later). So when The Excellent Wife (TEW) pointed out to me that one of the club octogenarians, Spence H, had posted a ride starting at 7:30 for today, I was all about it and signed up.

Spence doesn't post his routes, and he's got a reputation that his rides can go longer than posted. I learned today that it's because he makes 'em up as he goes along. It's a good way to ensure that your fast riders don't get too far in front of you, although I still like to post the routes for my rides so that people know what they're signing up for.

Anyway, nine at the start. Please pardon the pic quality; I've already deleted the worst.

When asked where we were going, Spence said Allentown, and maybe we would stop at Stonebridge Bagels. So off we rolled.

We came upon an accident at 33, and waited for the emergency vehicles to pass before we went through.

The weather got more humid as we went on; I remember complaining how I was going to need a shower even though it had been so rainy earlier in the month. 

As for riders off the front? Yeah, a lot of the time, that was me. Despite the heat and stickiness, I had a pretty good day. Go check the ride page.

At the stop:

Bike pics: Jeff L's lovely Serotta:

... and Rickety's purple Cinelli:

...and Herb's bike, mostly because that saddle is unique. Herb likes it. I tried a similar one, and no, thank you.

 And back. Spence asked me which way I wanted to go back. Wait, really? I'm always lost... except I wasn't between Etra and Cranbury; I know two ways to go, and I have a preference for the one by Maxwell, up Main in East Windsor, and over Old Cranbury Road to avoid the deadly circle at 130. And that's the way I led back.

At the end, Rickety wanted a picture with Spence. I got a few, and I think this is the best of the lot:

And for the rest of this hot spell, I'm gonna be looking for early starts.

bicycle eccentric

 So there are the bike racers, in which I have no interest...

...and there's the mainstream bike industry, which sells mostly bikes like everybody else in the mainstream bike industry sells... which, for road bikes, are mostly bikes that look like the ones the racers use. Even the gravel bikes have gearing high enough that they could be competitive on the road...

...and then there are certain bicycle eccentrics. Like Russ Roca of Path Less Pedaled (although his Youtube channel is more active than his website). He's an advocate for the non-competitive side of cycling. He goes for low-geared, wide-tire bikes. One of his slogans is "party pace." He was one of the forces behind that extra-long-pull bar-end friction shifter with which I'm so enamored.

Or Ron Romance, aka Ronnie Ultraromance. His name was Wheeler (I've seen Benedict and Jonny both given for his old first name), back when he was a racer. Now he's kind of a performance artist (he's also got a Youtube channel). Frankly, I find him a little hard to take in large doses... but he does interesting things with Campagnolo shifters. He really likes Campagnolo shifters, and finds that, if he sticks to eight speed cassettes, he can make a ten- or eleven-speed Campagnolo shifter work with Shimano drivetrains. The limit screws on the rear derailleur keep him from shifting too far, and he gets gear-range by using a double chainring with a wide disparity between the front gears - say, a 48-tooth large ring couple with a 24-tooth small ring. It will work well enough.

Or Grant Petersen, the guy for whom the bike term "retrogrouch" was coined. He started Rivendell Bikes (they still host his blog, and he's still a factor there, even though he's no longer in charge). He's been a longtime critic of the stranglehold that the bike racing culture has on road bikes sold around the world. He's got no place for lycra, for clipped-in shoes, for drivetrains with more than nine speeds. He thinks if you aren't going to ride like a racer, you should be able to get bikes that let you ride the way you want to (and can). Not everybody likes his bikes, but he does make sense.

I'm not as smart, as famous, as anything as these guys... but I have to admit that I'm also a bicycle eccentric. I have a bike with a titanium frame with caliper rim brakes and exposed cables, and I love it. It's currently wired with bar-end, friction shifters (some of you won't even know what friction shifters are! I don't "snap" from one gear to the next; I slide, and I have to adjust to make sure the gear engages correctly), and flat pedals. 

I love it. I ride the bike I love. (I wrote a post about riding the bike you love in my old blog.)

I've made suggestions to fellow riders about changing bikes or components so that the bike would better suit their riding style. For example, you wouldn't need such a big gear in the back, if you'd be willing to have smaller gears up front (and be honest: other than rolling downhill, how often are you ever in that big chainring/smallest cog combination? Most of us are rarely above about the fourth-smallest cog we have when we're on the flats). Or if you really like a light bike, and never ride in the drops... how about a bullhorn bar, that would give you all the positions you'd have on the top of a drop bar, and save you the weight of the lower part that you never use anyway?

I use my drop bar (it's a 1980's vintage Cinelli Campione del Mondo, and I'll happily bore you by pointing out what makes it beautiful to me), but that big ring on the front was more of a hindrance than a help. I swapped out my 50-tooth big chainring for a 46. If I had it to do again, I might go for the wide-disparity double chainring like Ronnie Romance (god help me) and forego all the money I spent on extra-big cassettes and long-cage rear derailleurs.

As I said, I've made suggestions, and I don't think any of 'em have ever been taken. I'm giving up. Ride what you have.

As for me, with Candide, I will cultivate my own garden.

family values on a pair of socks

 It might be too small to read. The text on the sock says, "You look so disappointed. Are you my mother?"

Wait - you mean enough other people felt like that, that they decided to make socks about it?

Original here.

the primal forces are apparently appeased

 I got lucky with that picture of Joe E.

Between other commitments and rain on, like, every Sunday, I haven't led my usual Sunday ride in over a month. So when I heard that the clouds were finally parting, I took my cue from Noah and sent out the dove, and when he didn't come back, I posted a ride over my usual roads and a stop at Sweet Gourmet for today. (Sweet Gourmet may be taking over from Blawenburg Bistro as a favorite stop, if for no other reason than the fact that Sweet Gourmet's schedule of closings is more convenient.)

I had nine takers, most of whom were regulars, so apparently I haven't been completely forgotten after all the weather and whatnot.

I got my usual variety of abilities among my registrants. We let those who want to, ride off the front and wait at the turns; others are content to maintain the published pace. I try to make sure nobody's left alone in the back (with the help of the excellent Dave H, who not only sweeps, but provides coaching and tips for the folks near the back), and my average was in the C+ range (you can see on the ride page).

This route goes along Amwell Road for a distance, and then crosses Amwell Road two or three times. Now, back in 2015, I had a dispute with the goddess of Amwell Road, and she wound up getting the better of me. So now, each time I take a ride on or across Amwell Road, I try to appease the goddess, or at least get her to take me instead of any of my riders, and I frequently warn my riders of my dispute. 

This time, though, we traveled and crossed without apparently engaging her attention. I owe her an obeisance.

I didn't get pictures there, but we also travel on Homestead Road, which has hills that are worth complaining about. I don't do Strava, but I made a segment of Homestead Road on my RideWithGPS account, strictly so I could call the segment, "I hate Homestead Road". Some of my fellow riders apparently agreed with me.

We stopped at Sweet Gourmet in Montgomery.

On the way back, we rode across the one-way bridge on Dead Tree Road. Now I, myself, don't have history there, but fellow rider Tony G does; a year ago, he was dragged off his bike and into the water (some say it was a bridge troll, but I think it was a water nixie who was upset that he had a prettier bike than she did. Nixies are renowned for jealousy.) As has been his practice on every ride he goes on, that crosses that bridge, since that occurrence, Tony got off the bike and kissed the bridge.

The practice is apparently effective; he's been safe ever since.