12.6

On the last Sunday of the month, I like to lead a C+ ride. I started this thinking The Excellent Wife (TEW) might like to come out, but it didn't work out... but now I've got a few bike-y friends who aren't up to my regular Sunday rides (not Dave H, up there in the picture; he's a regular on my rides), but who still like to come out.

Judy F came out today, along with Dave and Laura OLPH. We did the same route I did a couple of weeks ago, and brought it in at 12.6mph, a nice, leisurely pace for a humid day.

We stopped twice: once at Veteran's Park in Montgomery, where the restrooms were open, and where a porta-potty has been restored!

... and where we met the folks from Marco B's ride, whippin' in from Mercer Park.

One of those riders (who will remain anonymous on this blog) told me if I kept leadin' these slow rides, I'd turn into a slow old man. After a recent brouhaha on the Freehwheelers Facebook page, I told him that with a Medicare card in the drawer and two pensions coming in, I'm already an old man. Still, it set me up for several miles of uncomfortable rumination.

We stopped again at the Bessie Grover park at Camp Meeting Road... where another porta-potty has been restored...

... and where I caught a quick feed and the others hung out in the shade.

Laura turned off home after that, and Dave, Judy, and I headed back to the Claremont School, whence we'd started.

So don't let the pace put you off; if you're up for a leisurely-paced ride, come on out for my last-of-the-month rides.

We also discussed possibilities of pickup points for folks who like to ride in, but don't like to start at Claremont School. Parking at the places on Canal Road is pretty bad, but we might use either Blackwells Mills or the Griggstown crossing as pickup points. Watch for info in future ride listings.

avoiding the chipseal

Laura OLPH listed a ride at the last minute (I didn't see it until headin'-for-9pm last night) for 40 miles at a low B pace. I signed on, and showed up at The Pig at 8:30 this morning. (The Pig is open for window service, 8-12 Tuesday through Saturday. Hope is the thing with feathers.)

A few others came along, too. (You only get the good pictures; I chuck the worst of 'em, and there were a lot for the discard bin today.)

Laura had a distance in mind more than a route, although she wanted to wind up in Lambertville. We wound up taking a route that was largely about avoiding the new chipseal surface that seems to have taken over the Sourlands.

This next picture is in just because I like it.

Bless her heart (readers familiar with Southernisms will get the hidden meaning), Laura took us up Poor Farm. Here we are at the top, putting our lungs back in.

Yes, we'd gotten rained on a bit.

At Mt Airy-Harbourtown Road:

We turned onto Alexsauken Creek Road. You can do that road far faster than I ever do, but that entirely misses the point for me. Alexsauken Creek Road is fifteen minutes of vacation. (Well, maybe ten.)

We stopped at Rojo's, which is also open for window service. There's seating for them and Liberty Pizza in a lot across the way.

I don't know the details of the Liberty Pizza donation program, but that number is impressive.

On the way back, we wound up on much of the same route we'd taken on the way out (one of the roads was gravel, and I'm undecided about whether chipseal was worse than that). See the ride page here.

When I got back, the garage door needed seeing to; a cable had broken and needed replacing. Had to do that before I could put the bike away!

not very good at being american

Several sheriffs in North Carolina say they won't enforce the state's mask mandate

...on the same day that the US reported the highest single-day spike in new COVID-19 cases.

I don't think I'm very good at being American, after 65 years of trying.

The American way is freedom. But I can't think of exercising my freedoms without, at the same time, thinking of how those freedoms might impinge on the rights of someone else.

It's always a balance.

c+ ride for june 28 2020

It's the last Sunday of the month, so I'm scheduling a ride at a C+ pace.

I still think the Blackwells Mills/Six Mile lot is too busy (and there's no porta-potty there, last I looked), so I'm planning to start again at the Claremont School, 175 Claremont Road in Franklin (08823). There was a porta-potty in the back the last time I looked, and there are outdoor places with some privacy for those off-put by the porta-potty. And we seem to be the only people who use the lot.

More-or-less this route, same as last time, although we'll go a bit slower. We can stop at Vet's Park in Montgomery, where the restrooms were unlocked last week, and at the little park at Camp Meeting Road. I do not expect to stop at a store; bring food and drink.

This is a Princeton Freewheelers Club Ride, subject to the usual club rules, and the special coronavirus rules (social distancing, and wear your masks at stops unless you're eating). I'll probably have the list pre-printed so all you'll have to do is sign; you can bring your own pen, or you can have me sign for you. Because I know the special web magic to do it, I'm limiting to ten; please sign up.

Start at 8:30; it's gonna be hot.

recuperating, in good spirits

In my post for Saturday's ride, I mentioned that I had seen Bob N and John W; I didn't mention that Bob had had a disagreement with a speed bump that had thrown him off his mount. He made it home, and got seen for his wounds, evidently; I got this picture today:

Although his right is immobilized by the cast, I'm glad he's found something useful to do with his left hand. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery, and no more ambushes from traffic-calming devices.

in lieu of father's day ride

I'm not a father, and mine is deceased, as is my father-in-law, so we didn't have any special plans for the day, and I didn't schedule a club ride for today due to the threat of rain (that did not, in fact, materialize [nor did it for yesterday]). I took advantage of the free time to do another early ride today that was almost the same route as yesterday's.

A couple of things to note: First, at 8:06 this morning, the Blackwells Mills/Six Mile lot, from which I used to like to start, looked like this:

A little busy; I don't know what I think about starting from there yet. Do youse have any thoughts?

Between 9:30 and 10:00 I passed by the two lots at the Griggstown Causeway. One was better (by River Road):

... but the other really wasn't:

And that chain at Day Lily Court on the path I like to use between there and Magill is still high enough to cause problems; you'll want to avoid it (stay on the sidewalk and roll down a convenient driveway):

And I'm happy to report that both the gents' and the ladies' restrooms at Veterans' Park in Montgomery were unlocked (yes, I checked both doors; no, I didn't look any further into the ladies' restroom. Sheesh).

Finally, there's a bit of a tempest in a teapot at the Freewheelers Facebook Page after I posted about my speed on yesterday's ride. If you find that kind of thing off-putting, you may not want to look at the average speed on today's ride page.

Weather and schedule permitting, I'm planning to list a C+ ride for next week. I hope to see some of my not-quite regulars.

not just 'calories in, calories out'

I know it's not really science, it's science reporting, but this article from Aeon points out that the "thermodynamic" model of calories in vs. calories expended for the obesity epidemic doesn't explain, for example, why other species (the article cites mice and marmosets) are also getting fatter, or why a daily calorie variation of less than 2% does or doesn't cause us to gain weight.

Chemical, cultural, and hereditary causes are considered. As with most things, I doubt there's a single (or even one major) cause; I suspect it's a convergence. We may find that all of the factors noted in the article are in play, or only a few, or that there's other stuff we had not even considered.

Some of whatever leads to our body size is undoubtedly just dumb luck.

a few miles before breakfast

I'm not always as grumpy or disapproving as I am in that selfie.

The weather prediction for later today is for humidity and rain, so I figured if I was gonna get out for a ride, I better go early. I was shooting to be on the road by seven, so I did my usual dose of Dunin' Donuts coffee (48 oz with half&half & Splenda; I admit to being a coffee Philistine). I almost made it; responding to a text from A Higher Priority made me about ten minutes late. I got on the road, but before I get out of the condo association, I missed my mirror, which meant I didn't have my helmet on; went back to don the helmet, and then on the way.

There was some chatter among Tom's Insane Bike Posse of a ride this morning, but s/he travels fastest who travels alone, so off I went. I figured about 40 miles would be good, if the weather allowed.

As I was rolling up Canal Road, I saw this:

Well, that was a surprise, in the middle of ruby-red Republican Somerset County, NJ. Or perhaps not: it's not that other lives don't matter; it's that black lives do, too, just as much as any others. 

On I went, over roads that are familiar enough that I don't need a route in the GPS to find my way (well, mostly; keep reading). Found another place to empty a bladder in the absence of the usual porta-potties (but I'll be glad when they're back; I feel I'm risking a fine for public nuisance). Unusually quick speed, too, in the first half.

I got to Burnt Hill and decided I'd add a few pedal strokes by doing a loop through Skillman Park that was the old Village for Epileptics, and came up behind a couple of cyclists who turned out to be John W and Bob N. I didn't get pictures (I was carrying the cell phone instead of the camera, and didn't make a point to stop for the pictures), but we rode together for a while until I turned off to head for home...

...which I did a bit early, and wound up rollin' up 206 instead of Bridgepointe, as was my intention. I figured out my error reasonably quickly and got turned around, and went over the bridge at Dead Tree and on up to Harlingen.

Now, I've been on that stretch of Harlingen dozens, maybe hundreds of times... but I never noticed this until Ricky posted a pic on Facebook this week:

That sign in the back?

...also in ruby-red Republican Somerset County, NJ. There's more sense in the world than I give credit for.

On the way back, I figured I'd wind up with fewer than 40 miles, but my stomach was also complaining for sustenance, and I decided a foolish insistence on a number wasn't worth turning what had thus far been a nice ride into a death march, so I proceeded home. On the way, on Canal Road, I came up on a cyclist stopped on the right; she turned out to be Mindy B. We had a few words; she spoke about how she's not ready to come on group rides yet (and I can't blame her).

And then home. I wound up with a smidge over 36 miles at a pretty good clip. Not bad for a guy with a Medicare card in his wallet and two pensions coming in, before he's had breakfast.

can't help myself

When I needed the polls to be correct, in 2016, they weren't. Don't give me that useless excuse about the margin of error; they weren't correct enough.

But I can't stay away from 538's How Popular is Donald Trump. I see his popularity falling off, and I hope against hope that the polls will be correct, this time.

I appear to have given up any discretion, and am instead pinning my hopes on magic that failed me in the past.

no concessions

Better seen here.

Not happening. On workdays, I still wear a white, button-down shirt and "hard pants", as my coworkers seem to call 'em. My sole concession to not leaving the house (sometimes for days at a time) is that I have purchased a pair of cheap slip-on sneakers (instead of real shoes; I can use them to get out to the corner postbox to pick up the mail).

leading horses to water

Some problems are hard. Some people complain about problems, and can't see why the problems aren't fixed. But when they find that the solutions are complicated and difficult, some of these people give up and go back to just complaining.

I find such people frustrating. As I get older, I find I have less patience for them.

If you're reading this, it's probably not you.

approaching new normal

At the start:

At the stop at the park on Camp Meeting Road:

My usual suspects have gotten a little more used to riding under coronavirus rules; there appears to have been more care taken, both with rules and with consideration of different people's understandings of the risks and best practices. It might have helped that there were only five riders today, and all are known to each other.

We left from that Claremont School again (there is a porta-potty in the back, although I don't know how long it will be there). We passed the parking lot at Six Mile Run... which was PACKED, as was the first overflow lot on Blackwells Mills Road; I couldn't see far enough to see the one at the other end. I'm conflicted about starting rides at the Six Mile Run lot.

We did a short (for us), reasonably flat route (the linked page includes my rides to and from home), at the usual Plain Jim low B pace (which is really a high C+ pace, but none of my Usual Suspects have complained). I'm trying to keep routes long enough to be interesting, but short enough so that people are carrying enough food and water, and so that the dearth of toilet facilities doesn't pose a problem. The park at Camp Meeting Road has had the porta-potty removed.

Ken G got a flat in his tubeless tire, with spraying compound and hissing air escaping. It was a dramatic flat, and it was about the only drama of the day. Ken sent us on and said he'd deal with the flat himself, and in a later call stated he'd arrived home.

And that was the most dramatic thing that happened today. It's almost enough to make things seem normal.

nearly perfect

Above, Jack H rocks the very excellent Vermont jersey, blazing in the morning sun.

Today was nearly perfect for a ride.

Tom H set a route out of Columbus/Mansfield that was flat,and about 60 miles. A number of people I like were coming, and we agreed to a slightly early 8:30 am start.

After a bit of GPS weirdness, we got going, heading first to Browns Mills. On the way I passed (as I have dozens of times) this place that I'm sure used to be a gas station. I remember the old Mobil Pegasus logo, and this old shop has one outside.

For no good reason I can figure out, that logo has a pleasant association for me. I'm glad I finally got the picture.

Laura OLPH has a favorite road intersection: one of the roads is, I think, Hog Hollow, and I can't remember the other.This one might be my favorite:

Four Mile and Mt Misery Road. I'd love to give directions to someone where that intersection was a landmark.

From there, we went to the Brendan Byrne State Forest, where Tom assured us the ranger station would be open for water and plumbing.

Yeah, not so much. It was OK though; we weren't desperate for water, and as for plumbing... we improvised.

No, I didn't get pictures of the improvisation. Hrmph.

It was a great ride, though; we had a tailwind for much of it, and even the headwinds weren't bad. And traffic appeared low (although not as low as in weeks past; apparently New Jersey is coming back from COVID-19). We were pretty quick today.

We stopped at Nixon's (because if you're in that neighborhood, you HAVE to stop at Nixon's), and some of us (including me) actually went inside! (Masked, of course, and I used hand sanitizer on emerging.)

I wound up with a bit over 60 miles, at an average speed of 16.4mph, which speed, on a ride like this, I haven't seen in years.  Today was nearly perfect.