Countdown to Marysville...

Nature reclaiming what was left at the side of the road.

After thinking about it off and on for four years I'm only a few days from resuming and finally completing the cross country ride that was so rudely interrupted in 2009. The weather here has been a little crazy recently but today was gorgeous and perfect for a (probably) last ride before heading to Ohio on Saturday. I have done three different rides in the low eighties (miles, that is) the last couple of weeks but was still a little uncertain of my readiness for some of the climbing and long days. So today I headed out to the hills of Hunterdon and then decided I would extend it a bit and see how I would do with distance as well. So I lit out for Frenchtown, a pretty little town on the Delaware. To make things a little more fun there was a steady wind out the north that was in my face for the entire trip. But blue skies and low humidity made it a perfect cycling day and even with the breeze in my face cruising up highway 29 was sheer joy. My average speed at the halfway point was not too good but I found a little sandwich shop right on the water, had my sandwich and soda and contemplated the return trip with a tail wind. Long story short: I did 95 miles (I know Mark - it's not an official C), about 4300 feet of climbing and brought my average speed up to a respectable 15 mph by the time I wheeled into the driveway. I was hoping for one more day tomorrow but they are predicting another round of thunder-storms the next couple of days so I think today may be the conclusion of the training - next ride will be for real.
And the photo above? I took it a few days ago simply because I was intrigued by the idea of the natural world taking over this symbol of the machine age....It will be interesting to see when the car finally disappears into all the greenery.

And finally...We've all been there, right? Maybe in a car, certainly on a bike and for me more than once over the years. Not too often though is there an actual sign to tell you what you might only have suspected and really didn't want to admit.

Cory's Ride

Yesterday was another scorcher - temps in the 90s and hardly a cloud in the sky. But thanks to a series of unlikely coincidences it turned into one of the best ride days of this young season.
Cory's ride is sponsored by Anchor House and is commemorative ride for Cory Golis, a young man (16) who was killed on an Anchor House ride 15 years ago. I still remember the shock I experienced picking up the paper on the morning after the accident. A scholarship fund was established in his memory and the Cory's ride has been a local event ever since. I have not done the ride since my own accident but saw a reminder on facebook on Friday morning. Coincidentally I got a call from my friend and former AH roomie and riding partner Mark Grasman looking to set up a ride for Saturday. Mark is a terrific rider but has been sidelined for a couple of years with heart issues and only recently got the medical OK to get back onto the bike. So after a series of back and forth phone messages we made arrangements to meet at 7:30 (very early for me!) and do the 50 mile course: perfect for Mark because (as I assured him) the area was mostly flat and for both of us we would be back before the worst of the heat and could relax with the picnic lunch and cold River Horse (beer). As it turned out nothing is ever that simple...For reasons we don't need to go into we got a late start and the sun was out and beating down on us almost immediately. We were among the last folks in the SAG at the 25 mile mark...although that did mean we had no competition for the ice and water. And my prediction of a flat ride was just a bit exaggerated. Somehow they found all the rollers they could build into the course and we ended up doing just shy of 2500 feet of climbing in a 49 mile ride - and given the mid-90s on the thermometer both of us were pretty much out of water the last couple of miles.
But it was truly one of the fun rides of the year...all the beautiful farm country of Millstone and Allentown/Crosswicks, lots of familiar folks from the Anchor House rides that I did for five years before the XC, and more than anything else a great reunion ride with Mark - and as we rolled into the picnic area at just about noon thank God the beer cooler was still full - a River Horse never tasted so good.

Memorial Day Ride

General Doyle Military Cemetery New Jersey

After three days of wind, rain, and cold today was finally the kind of day that we expect at the end of May. I left the house a little late but was not going to miss the first decent day in a week. Nothing really significant to report except that I did head over to the military cemetery pictured above. The photo doesn't really do it justice. It is a huge cemetery and every single grave has a small American flag to mark the gravesite. I'm assuming that perhaps a Boy Scout group or something similar makes it their mission to get all the flags posted and it is most impressive. There were many people of every possible variety on the cemetery roads and searching out particular graves: motorcyclists with their Rolling Thunder vests, young people, mid-aged, elderly, black, white - all presumably remembering brothers, sons and daughters, fathers, grandfathers, husbands. Riding through the grounds I felt like I was participating in a kind of religious experience. I gave my own silent salute of tribute to these who made the ultimate sacrifice and rode out with a sense of solemnity and emotion that I don't often feel on a bike ride....

Too much work...

The new tube I put on last night held and out I went today. Once I made it the first eight or ten miles I knew I would be OK. Completely different day today: very humid and once the sun finally broke through the fog the temps got up into the high 80s before I was safely home. First day in such heat and I was drinking like crazy. I also decided it was a day to get in some hill work and I got more than I bargained for: a couple of mile long climbs, three different hills where the grade exceeded 20% and the first time this year that I hit 4000 for the entire ride. I ended up doing 72 miles and not surprisingly broke my (and my dentist's) no Gaterade rule. I keep thinking that in three weeks I will start my Ohio to Boston venture with a 98 mile/6000 feet of climbing day and I'd certainly like to think that I will be ready.

And so it goes....

 Sourlands stream

Today was one of those days. I'm more and more focused on getting ready for my trip to Marysville and the completion of the cross-country adventure. So I did about 65 miles yesterday and figured I would follow up with another 60 or so today and maybe crank it up a bit tomorrow and do an 80. The day was perfect: sunny and warm and very little wind (of which we have had a lot this year). I passed a road named "Lost Rd" and thought I should really take a picture of that - how many times have I been lost and here is a street sign which defines it. While I am slightly distracted I hit a real pothole and immediately I have my very first flat of the year. So no big deal right? I've changed hundreds of flats, this won't take long. I pull the tube, find the leak and check the tire, no problem. Insert new tube, fire up the CO2 and wham, the second tube is immediately flat. The hole is in a completely different place and is not the snake eyes of a pothole flat but a little tear in the tire that looks like one caused by glass. So I go over the tire one more time: nothing, it is in fact almost new and the inside looks fine. I try a little patch and fire up the CO2 (my last one) again. Same result - I've now had three flats in about 8 minutes and have no more tubes, no more CO2. I have only my phone and a rough idea of how to give Susan directions - assuming that is that she if even home....Needless to say I did connect, she did figure out how to find me - GPS's are wonderful - and the crippled bike and I made it safely home. And hour later I had torn the tube out again, thoroughly examined both wheel and tire and could find nothing wrong. So I pumped up tube 3 and will wait and see. And Susan and I decided it was a good night to go out for dinner - she earned it and I wanted a cold beer....
On another note I've been following a couple of blogs from the cross country group. They are somewhere East of Flagstaff Arizona seeing high desert and lots of climbing. I am truly looking forward to meeting them in Marysville in a couple of weeks.

A perfect spring day...

After three days of rain the sun came out this morning and we had what was perhaps our first almost-summer day. The temps went up to the low eighties and there was barely a cloud in the sky. I went out thinking of my cross-country colleagues who are now assembling in Los Angeles and will set out on their epic adventure on Sunday morning. There are emails flying all over the place and even though I don't join the group until Marysville Ohio I am part of the group address so I am part of the excitement although from a considerable distance. One part of me is a bit envious but by the same token I also think I have a bit more training to do before I'm really ready for the day to day rigors of the tour. I'm just as happy riding the New Jersey roads for awhile. And in that vein I had some good news yesterday...Tom Ryan (my roomie from both '09 and the Maine/Fla ride) wants to go out with me to Ohio and ride the first day with the group. It will be good to start off my ride with him - will be an auspicious and appropriate start for the ride.            

The photo at top, left is interesting. I stopped for a bit of water and a fig newton along a country road and the little flag caught my eye. It turns out to be a kind of mini-cemetery from the late 1700s. And more surprising, all the grave markers that I could read were Revolutionary War veterans/casualties. There are the half dozen standing markers and then maybe another 8 or 10 small markers flush with the ground that go back a few yards into the woods. Although it is a bit overgrown it is also obvious that someone must tend these grave sites on at least an occasional basis. It was an amazing little discover and I was somewhat overwhelmed by the significance of the site. And an interesting coincidence...roughly a mile away is one of the largest active military cemeteries in New Jersey; in fact a funeral headed for the gate passed by as I was taking my photos.                                                                                                                                     

The second photo is simply a pretty horse farm - don't ask where the horses are, they were there last week- that I thought worth stopping to take a shot.                                                                                               

April showers bring May flowers...

There are a few four-letter words in the cycling lexicon that are better left unsaid in normal conversation. The first is the dreaded F-word and the second is the W-word - both four letter words but equally ugly to a rider. I've been lucky recently with the F-word (f=flat for the uninitiated) recently. No glass, no nails and none of those nasty sssssssss sounds while I'm riding along. However, the last couple of days the W-word has been much in my world...again, for the uninitiated, W = wind. Yesterday I would swear that there was some evil force watching my route and every time I turned and changed directions the wind changed and continued to blow directly into my face. I did a relatively short ride of 35 miles but the wind was in my face for at least 20. Would be good training if I were headed to Texas...Made me want to warn all my cross-country colleagues but I didn't - they will make their own discoveries just as we did. Today was a little less intense but I had chosen a hilly route and so every time I hit the wind it seemed like it was combined with a 12% grade. In fact I did a much longer route and much climbing today but on the way home the last ten miles is flat and even directly into the wind it was a piece of cake. And as evidenced by the two photos today was a truly beautiful day - dogwoods, flowering fruit trees all in bloom combined with a perfectly blue sky and temps in the high sixties are pretty hard to beat.

BD Ride

Yesterday was ridiculous - windy, overcast and very cold - we almost expected snow. Today was the exact opposite. A little bit of breeze but out of the south and the temperature hit 74/75 by midafternoon. Was truly a perfect day for a ride and I took full advantage of it. I headed over to the west where we find the hills of the Sourlands and had a truly wonderful ride. All the trees are in bloom, the daffodils and forsythia are still in their glory and everything that is supposed to be green is following the proscribed order of things. I remember many years ago when I was approached about transferring to New York with the prospect of living in New Jersey and all I could imagine was turnpikes and oil refineries and it took quite a bit of persuasion before I decided to take a chance and accept the move. I am still a little surprised but this little state has a natural beauty, especially in the spring, that can be breathtaking. All these many years later I am glad and grateful that I can get out and enjoy it.
I had thoughts of riding my age today but alas it was not to be. I had a heavy date with a lovely women (with whom I live) for dinner and so cut it short but just a bit. I did get in my first metric century of the year with couple of miles to spare. Also climbed 4800 feet and wasted 4000 calories (all of which I'm sure were replaced at dinner tonight). Top this off with a wonderful meal and a nice wine at Princeton's best seafood restaurant with Susan and it has been a wonderful day....

More Signs of Spring in New Jersey

Gorgeous day - sunny, blue skies, but it was deceptive. I dressed for cool but it was COLD! I was thinking maybe high fifties with a little breeze - it was in fact 44 with a very cold light wind (notice how "breeze" becomes "wind" when it is cold. It did actually warm up just a bit as I moved along the roads and, of course, I generate my own heat simply by pedalling. In spite of my complaining however, it was truly a beautiful day. Last week the lawns, fields, and trees were still looking wintrish (is that a word?) but today everything is green. Trees are budding, wildflowers are all over the place and the flowering trees are all in full bloom. Even the dandelions at this early spring day are pretty impressive...and I can say that as someone who does not have to do lawn maintenance anymore. And in this Garden State one of the sure signs of spring is the farmer out on his tractor plowing and discing for the planting season - the photo above is one of several I saw today. Also of note...the tangled trees are a reminder of Hurricane Sandy. The woods on the backroads I ride are full of such scenes, some with even bigger trees.
So I still have almost two months until my ride with the XC folks but I am beginning to get serious about making sure I'm in shape to enjoy it. Today was an easy ride of 42 miles at almost 16 mph - not bad for a cold windy day.

Spring in New Jersey

Not much riding today - it is pouring down rain and promises to continue for most of the day. But yesterday and the day before were classic east coast spring days. I do believe that someone roamed through New Jersey at some point randomly dropping daffodil bulbs and planting forsythia. I went out Wednesday for ride through the Sourlands and Delaware River area and the countryside was filled with images of the beautiful spring flowers. In addition the flowering trees - cherry, pear, tulip - were in bloom as well. I could easily have stopped every few hundred yards to snap a photo. Much as we all complain about the everlasting winter the emerging life of New Jersey springtimes are worth the wait.