a tale of two fifties: the lake nock century 2013

Ken G's post on the Princeton Freewheeler Facebook page said:

NOCKAMIXON MEETUP??
Good morning all, I am pre-registered for the Lake Nockamixon Century Ride this Saturday. 8/24. Anybody from the club want to meet in the parking lot and form a group (maybe B/B+ pace)? I was expecting to do the "Hilly 107" but could probably be pretty easily talked out of that since I haven't broken 60 at all this year...

How come I was the only one who responded?

After Ken put up another post, and way too many emails back and forth, we agreed to meet n Pennington at (good heavens) 5:45am for the 7:00 start in Doylestown. I was taming demons all week; Ken is a stronger rider than I, and I was SURE I'd slow him down, or he'd leave me in the dust. But that's not the way it happened.

A 5:45 start precludes my early-morning bagel (the shops don't mostly open until 6:00), so I appeared at Ken's with a Dunkin' Donuts muffin on board, and rode to Doylestown in his car, getting lost when his phone lost signal and couldn't do the GPS thing. On the way, his easy chat allayed  my fears, and we started on the ride. We agreed to do the 107-mile hilly century.

The first rest stop was at about mile 14, and we expected to blast past it, but all my parts are as old as I, and I decided to stop for a toilet break. Well, that meant we had to look at the baked stuff (mostly homemade, and mostly excellent). And the Lake Nock ride is famous for two other things at the rest stops: tomato pies (for those of you not from this area, it's pizza without the cheese) and boiled salt potatoes.

We noted on the first half of the ride, though, that Ken was having trouble; he said his legs felt like bricks. He was behind me on the hills, and took some time to catch up. By the second rest stop, at about mile 47 (and why so long between stops?), we decided to cut it to the 75-mile route, which cut off about two miles further.

As we cut off for that part of the ride, I saw another cyclist calling for a SAG car to come pick him up; he'd had three flat tires, and he was done. I noted he had the 75-mile cue sheet, and begged it off him; a moment later a SAG car came up. We chatted for a bit. As we did, Ken went on slowly. I caught up with him further along.

He was much stronger. I later learned he had soft-pedaled for a while, then stopped and massaged his legs - and that seems to have made the difference. He was far stronger on the second half than on the first. (The was also the not-unattractive gal in the orange jersey with whom he was chatting for a few miles; I maintain my belief that she had a non-trivial role in his recovery.)

He was stronger, I was not. Going up a tough hill at about mile 60, I got a cramp in my left leg; the first I've had on a ride. Ken had electrolyte pills; with the Gatorade I had in my bottles, these helped, but I had twinges, and had to slow down on the serious uphills for the rest of the ride (although I could still do those long, shallow uphills that I can speed up).

The next rest stop was at about mile 73. At that point we decided to do the full 100 miles, but not the extra bits with the extra hills. That piece of the ride came into NJ; Ken says that the Eastern Pennsy folks know that if you want serious hills, you have to come to the Garden State. I was hurtin' on those hills, and I was glad, when we got back into Pennsylvania, that we were not doing a particular hill that ken said was demanding.

The last rest stop was at 90 miles, and I knew I could make it from there... despite the serious climb that started right out of the gate from there; how can you begin such a serious climb from a standing start? We climbed up towards Doylestown,. and when the route flattened out, I tried to increase my average, which had fallen sadly. (Ken had done a meatball wheel true for a rider there; more on this later.)

Here's the route info (I guess that average is OK, for that distance and climb). Ken said he didn't want to stay at the end long, and I think he meant it... but Ken's been riding in this area (indeed, several places around this country and elsewhere) for decades, and while it's not true he knows everybody, He knows a LOT of people, and began to check in... and then maybe we WOULD eat something... and that massage looked good (he assured me later that it was, but it's just not my thing). So we were at the end for about two hours. While there, we talked to the wheel-true fellow, and Ken pointed out that those wheels were sold at Pure Energy Cycling. And on the way home, we stopped there, and Ken met ANOTHER guy he knew. I was in no hurry, and it was good to tag along and meet these folks, and I can talk bikes (and other stuff) with Ken for hours anyway.

The title of this post was Ken's suggestion; the "two fifties" are the first half of the ride, when he was hurting, and the second half, when I was. I'm not entirely sure he wasn't sucking out my life force by the end of the ride; I wouldn't rule out voodoo.

Pics below. First rest stop:

Second rest stop. There's Ken on the left, talking to some more people he knows.

The lady in the orange jersey makes a cameo towards the left of center, below.

The excellent SAG vehicle. There were others.

A spiffy Schwinn - a SCHWINN! - at the last rest stop, followed by a lug-porn-and-new-old-stock Coppi:

The last rest stop.

Ken's computer. PROOF!