sunday ride from hart's cyclery

I was looking for an easy ride today, and Gary W's out of Etra is usually a bit harder of a push than I wanted to put in; it's hot, and I'm tired. Laura OLPH suggested that she might or might not come out today, but when I mentioned going on a ride from Hart's Cyclery led by Ken G, she said in an email:

Ken used to ride with us back in the day.  He's a former racer who's been out of the loop for a while.  Ken is a top-notch guy, a gentleman cyclist... However, it's a hilly B on a post-metric day where the heat index will already be 90 at 9 a.m.  I don't know if I'm up for that.  On the other hand, I know the turf and can drop out at any time.

...and in a subsequent email:

For tomorrow, I'll see how I feel when I wake up.  There's nothing a shot of caffeine can't paper over for a few hours.  Plus, I have to hit up Ross for an RfM donation, and there's the matter of the RfM posters, and I need a pair of gloves, and Big Bear sometimes has dried pears, and peer pressure (which I don't mind succumbing to in this instance because I know the roads and can bail)... So, I'll probably see you tomorrow.

 And she did. 

I was at the store long before she (and long before the start), and saw a reference to the Guru Fit System, about which The Excellent Wife (TEW) has been showing some interest. I texted her about it, and she texted back asking if anybody knew anything (about which, more later).

Besides Laura and I, seven others showed: Ken, sometime-Slug Robert, and others I don't know as well, including a married couple from the South visiting relatives locally. We did this route, which didn't go into the Sourlands (much; see edit below), largely because many of the best roads were newly chip-sealed, and until traffic has had a chance to wear the new chips into the road, the gravelly-surface does not play well with road-bike tires.

Heavens, it was hot. I was grateful for a less-challenging ride, and for every bit of shade we had. We stopped in Hopewell at a convenience store a bit before the half, and I had learned my lesson: lots of sweets and drinks for me! Then off again. One of the newbies fell off the back; when I went back to find him, he had dropped a chain and was having a bit of a problem getting it back on. He later said that this ride was just the pace for him... and I unapologetically tried to recruit him for Laura's Hill Slugs.

And back to Hart's Cyclery just about noon, when it had just opened. Ken asked us to at least go inside, but I had resolved to buy something to support them for supporting this ride; I had planned on cleats (I can always use cleats and tubes), but I wound up with a top-tube carrier that I can put my camera in (maybe there will be some pictures on this blog, eh?). While we were there, a contingent from the Major Taylors dropped in; they had ridden from Plainsboro and were going to head back there. Sheesh, just thinking about it makes me sweaty!

And I saw the very-impressive Guru machine. It looks like a fit can be fairly dialed-in; seat height and setback, and bar height and for-and-aft position, can be adjusted while the rider is pedaling. I'm not sure that much precision is necessary... but it might make TEW more confident about a bike purchase, and that might be worth the money. I'll chat with her about it when she gets home.

Edit: From an email this afternoon from Laura: "We were on the Sourland Mountain when we went up Stony Brook to Snydertown and down Linvale. The Princeton Ridge (Great Road to Ridgeview to Cherry Hill and Cherry Valley) is part of the same geologic formation but isn't called part of the mountain."