twin lights ride

Tom's listing for this ride included the following:

Join Tom as he heads to Sandy Hook to survey the beach from Twin Lights overlooking the beach. Terrain will be flat to rolling with a few hills just on the way to the beach plus one really steep but short hill to get to the light houses.

And, despite:

• A bridge out (in both directions), with a section of dirt road and having to ride under a lowered crane boom;
• A flat tire (mine; rarely happens, but both of my last two have been on rides that Tom H has been on... I'm not saying there's a cause-and-effect relationship, but there is certainly a correlation);
• Rain (not driving rain, but rain nonetheless):
• A wicked 20% upgrade at a hairpin turn just before the lights, which meant a wicked 20% downgrade ending at a T-stop;
• A dogleg ramp over the highway at Sandy Hook, so we could ride along the seawall and avoid the traffic on Ocean Avenue between Highlands & Sea Bright;
• The walk-way/rideway along the seawall being so covered in drifted sand that we eventually decided we'd take our chances with the traffic;
• Another flat tire (someone else's) on the ride back (I thought I heard the POW of an inner tube exploding from being incorrectly seated, necessitating another tube change, but I might have been mistaken)...

... despite all that, this was still a fun ride. I complain incessantly about Tom's rides, both when I'm on them, and afterwards, but I always enjoy them. I enjoy Tom, and the people he gets to go out on the rides with him. I'm not going to try to list the riders, except that this was Ed "The Shoulder" C's first group ride since his skiing accident, and Neil Cherry came out with Mark H, the first time I've seen Neil in an age. He hasn't been riding much, and I didn't recognize him until I heard his voice. For those of you who know Neil, you'll either be relieved to know his humor has not changed, or disappointed to know it has not improved.

Laura OLPH's got her post up on this ride already, and it includes excellent pictures of the ride, the lighthouse area, and Ed with a donut with frightening lilac-colored frosting.

Here's the route. Mine was a bit longer because I was close enough to 70 miles to make it worth riding around the parking lot to achieve the goal. It takes some of the curse off being rained out for my ride today.

Thanks, Tom. Good ride. It doesn't mean I'll stop slandering you, but it was a good ride.