sourland spectacular

Laura OLPH and I had some disagreement about whether she had formed a team to ride the Sourland Spectacular today (I thought she had, but it was news to her), but six of us got together to do it anyway: besides us, there were Ron S, Jackie, Joe M, and Ed C (first time I've seen him on a ride since about Easter!).

The organizers of the event said that the final route would be up by Thursday night, so insomniac Plain Jim downloaded a cue sheet at 4:30 Friday morning and loaded the route into MapMyRide.Com so I could get a .gpx file for the Garmin. But on the way out of the first rest stop, they had us go right instead of left, or left instead of right, and we wound up doing this route. I have never had a GPS route file for an organized ride that was accurate, and this was no exception.

It was cold at the start; one rider said he saw 46°. Here are a few of us shivering at the sign-in:

Before we left, Jackie had a flat; she & Ron repaired it... and then she had another about twenty feet into the ride, so back she went to the mechanic at the start. Here's Oscar from Hart's setting 'em straight.

And so off we went. The first rest stop was also the third rest stop; I forgot to get pictures the first time we went... possibly because just before the stop, there was a fish head the size of a softball in the road. Was it left by a huge, but disoriented seagull? Was it a message to the damn bikers that we would sleep with the fishes? The mystery has not been cleared up.

After the rest stop (and the wrong-way direction that so confused the GPS - grrr...), we proceeded along. Some pictures of that part of the route (I zipped up some hills to get some pictures of people coming behind me).

Laura and Joe M (and some people I don't recognize) below:

I like this of Jackie:

Later, Laura & Ron:

The second rest stop was at a winery (I forget which). It was beautiful.

There's Carol Heffler, below, manning the rest stop. Her husband, Michael, is one of the forces behind this ride.

Some pictures at the third stop:

This woman told us that she had seen to the disposal of the offending fish head:

There's Joe getting something to drink...

... from this delightful young lady:

Ron & Jackie. I think that's Ed you can see between them. How did I not get a better picture of him?

After the ride, Laura was complaining of back pain, so she hung from a low branch for a minute (I think she'd seen Jackie do it). Then she did a couple of pull-ups to show us how it's done:

Not only is that John W looking at you in this picture, it's Peter H sitting on the ground looking away.

Good swag at this ride. Biking caps (too small for my big head, so The Excellent Wife [TEW] got mine), pizza from Nomad Pizza, pulled pork sandwiches, brownie sundaes, and free samples of Bai Antioxidant drink. Bai may be snake oil, but it's good-tasting snake oil. Laura & Jackie at the table:

Good ride. Great day. Lots of swag, good stops, not-too-demanding route. Some of the proceeds go to the support of the Sourland Planning Council. I'd do it again.