ride with bob

No, not that "Ride with Bob."

Some of The Usual Suspects were in contact for a ride for yesterday, but I didn't go. I had a fever early in the morning of the previous day. The fever had passed, but I still had a headache at the time the arrangements were being made.

The next day I got up with no fever or headache and feeling great... but in these days, I decided to go for a COVID-19 test at a local doc-in-the-box. I didn't have to leave the car; the doctor took an exceptionally long probe, and inserted it an exceptionally long way up my nose... it was not the worst pain I've ever had, but I will be grateful for an excuse not to repeat the experience. I'll know in four or five days what the outcome was. (In view of the fact that I did almost 40 miles with 1600' of climb that day, and a longer and hillier one today, I suspect the result will be negative. Does that mean I'll need to have those nasal probes done again?)

Bob N couldn't do the Saturday ride either, so he asked if anybody was going out today. I was the only taker. We agreed to meet at the Six Mile/Blackwells Mills lot. When I got there, the lot entrance looked like this:

I guess they're serious about not wantin' people to park there.

Bob had a route of about 40 miles that had a bit more climb in it than I'd done the previous day. He's been along on a number of my rides, and lives in the area my rides go, and wanted to show me a few things, like where a road is due to go in that will make it easier to get to that Thomas Sweet I like to stop at. We cut across the lawn of the Montgomery Lower Middle School:

(Bob said it was about twenty yards; I think it was longer), where we found another of those town paths.

This one has one of those relative-distances-of-the-planets setups (not the relative sizes, though, as far as I could see; I suspect they'd be too small at this scale).

EVERYBODY was out today. We stopped in front of the closed Sourlands Cycles store for a quick snack, and waved to a number of riders who passed; we went up Greenwood to Rileyville Road, pulled off to find a quiet place to relieve ourselves, and were surprised to see a convention of visitors parked there; we rode for miles on Wertsville Road waving to everyone else riding for miles on Wertsville Road.

In 2015, I had a bad crash on Amwell Road (also see this, and this). I've avoided riding on Amwell since then (I don't even drive on it much). But Bob just led away onto Amwell Road... and I did fine. I owe him for a desensitization session.

From Amwell, we turned onto a cutoff that was never completed. It's a shame it doesn't go anywhere I want to go, because it looks like this:

... and Bob tells me there's rarely traffic on it. But it did get us much of the way back to Six Mile Run.

Once there, Bob was going to make it an 80-mile day, but with yesterday's ride (and climb) and this one, I decided I'd had enough, and went home to finish the chores and continue to practice for retirement. I hope to get good at it.

intimations of mortality

So I got two things in the mail yesterday that are inescapable evidence of my advancing age and imminent decline.

The first was confirmation that my Medicare card is coming.

The second was confirmation that one of my pensions will start next month. I haven't heard yet about the other one. (Don't get excited; between the two of 'em, I can afford bagels for the month.)

In other news, I woke up yesterday with fever, tenderness, and muscle aches. With some terror, I made an appointment for a test for novel coronavirus, but it's likely that it was just a reaction to the second Shingrix vaccination I had had the day previously, as 1) about one in six vaccine recipients report similar effects, and 2) the symptoms have disappeared this morning (I'm going for the test anyway).

As for the post title, it's a reference to this. I'm a 65-year-old White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant male with too much education, and every now and again I gotta drag my culture around.

east windsor to the manalapan reservoir

Edit 5/26/20: As the excellent Steve Schraeger pointed out, Manasquan, not Manalapan, of course. Yo soy el idioto del mundo.

This morning, Tom H led a few of us on a ride to the Manalapan reservoir. Parking at his place is dodgy, so Laura OLPH and Jack rode in, and they picked me up at Etra Lake Park in East Windsor.

The park was still locked up at the time we left.

I parked among the fishermen and dog-walkers.

...and soon thereafter, Tom, Jack, and Laura appeared.

We headed out to the Manalapan Reservoir along some roads I recognized, and others I didn't, but I'm lost all the time anyway, so they might all be roads I've ridden on dozens of times. Just as we were crossing Route 9...

Of COURSE there was a bridge out, and a road closed for construction, and...

Of COURSE we got through anyway.

We went to the boat launch at the reservoir. For a socially-distanced location in these COVID-19 days, it was hoppin'.

I saw one fisherman come in in his goat, tie it off temporarily, set up his trailer in the water, drop a bow-mounted motor in the water and run the boat onto the trailer, just as pretty as that.

Then we went to the causeway.

That boat above is a pedal-driven kayak. What a great idea!

Ride page.

i feel like i'm finally getting it

The headline in USAToday reads:

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear hanged in effigy as Second Amendment supporters protest coronavirus restrictions

One of the pictures:

Another:

Not a lot of African-Americans in those pictures, either.

we're not back to normal

There are a few things that I remember specifically about today's ride. First of all, the Pig is not open yet, although we gathered there.

Second, I ducked into a porta-potty, after which Laura OLPH gave me a lecture and a peroxide wipe. I took both.

Third, we came across Ron M, Chris C, and Ken W, who might have been doing some of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail. I didn't get pictures of them.

Fourth, we met Tom H in Sergeantsville, even though he didn't come with us.

Fifth, at the end, Ricky sounded like he was about done with social distancing rides. I like to ride, and I especially like to see my friends, but I don't think I can blame him.

We're not back to normal.

Ride page.

less facebook, i think

I think Facebook is making me less tolerant of people with whom I disagree. I think it stokes my outrage and diminishes my toleration. I'm afraid that, over time, there will be fewer and fewer people with whom I speak (and to whom I listen). I'm afraid of developing resentments against people who are friends, or trying to be friends.

I'm afraid I will become less civil, less polite. I don't want to rebuff well-intended advances from people trying to make them in good faith.

The echo chamber of people who already agree with me should not be the only place I put my ears.

I'm not cutting it off, but I'm not staying long, either.

arbitrary mileage ride

I don't usually adhere to arbitrary mileages on rides. For example, if we get to the end of a ride and my mileage shows 48.8, I don't do an extra trip around the block to get the computer to show 50.

And after yesterday's ride, I didn't want to commit to anything demanding. I figured I'd do a recovery ride today: maybe 20 miles, maybe pretty flat.

But then I noticed on my RideWithGPS page that I was less than 29 miles from breaking 1400 miles for the year. Pretty good for mid-May, even in a year that wasn't corona-crazy.

Well, that made a difference. I went to the route-plotting page and found that most of the convenient routes were either substantially less than, or substantially more than, the number I expected...

... but if I took a trip up Coppermine to do that 300' climb, I could get in a route that should be only a bit over the 29 miles. OK; I'll take the Krakow Monster, the heavy-but-comfortable bike, and take it slow up Coppermine.

So I wound up with this arbitrary mileage ride. And:

Dag. Five miles over. I thought I planned it better than that.

on the way back to normal

No, we're not there yet. But:

1. There was weather that seemed a bit more like what I'd expect for the season,
2. Several of us got together for a group ride, from a start that we've used before, and
3. I'm finally showing some decent speed on a long ride.

Tom H invited a few of us on a ride out of Bordentown. I rode down early, and saw Chris C and Jack H; Chris was doing a different ride.

It turned out I was in the wrong lot; when I rolled over to the correct one, the gang was mostly "assembled", although we were still keeping our social-distance:

You can barely see 'em in the pictures, right?

We decided to go out in two groups: a group of four and a group of three after that. I went out with the second group: Laura OLPH and Jack H. Jack got a factory-refurbished GPS of the same model I have, and I gave him some pointers on its strengths and vagaries.

We left Bordentown, and went through the Hanovers, and around the lake at Browns Mills. I caught Laura lookin' fast:

... and then lookin' a bit more recognizable:

No conversation as we were riding today, and little at the stops; we were too far away from each other.

The Excellent Wife (TEW) will know why I posted this picture.

We stopped at a park near Vincentown:

...but, of course, no cafe, no toilets, not much of anything (and the angle of the pictures doesn't really show the separations we were keeping).

The rest of the way back, the "two groups" was honored more in the breach than the observance, although we did maintain separations.At one point, a couple of riders blew by and I chased for a while. Old habits die hard.

Almost 56 miles at 15.8mph. I feel better about this ride than most I've done recently. Thanks to Tom for setting it up, and to the rest of the gang for coming along. Here's hoping we can resume regular Club rides soon.

tempus fugit

The birthday card from my sister reads:

... but I think what she's really asking is how can she be that age, minus the difference in our ages.

The excellent hand-stamped card is made by my brother-in-law. I think he ought to sell them.