pfw fall picnic, and road closed

 

 

The Princeton Freewheelers All-Paces Rides and Fall Picnic was yesterday, and, while I led nine of us on this ride, the most important thing about it for this blog, I think is the photo album hosted on the PFW web page. Click the four-arrow icon at the lower right of the Picnic album to get the slideshow at a size you can actually see. Thanks to Luis Chen for some of the pics.

I happened to mention to Neil Cherry that I'd like to have a route that went to Charleston Coffee instead of the one I had, and within an hour or two he had sent me this. It's way better than what I'd come up with, and I'm grateful. Next time I need a 27-miler out of Tall Cedars Picnic Area, expect I'll use that.

 

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Today, while about fifty of the active club members were off doing the Sprague Memorial Century (or at least a part of it), I led a ride with four members out of Claremont. We did one of my routes that goes through Prtinceton, then to Hopewell and Montgomery before heading back. Except for tired legs on Prretty Brook Road, it was uneventful until we got to Bayberry Road:

Well, I'm not a regular in Tom H's Insane Bike Posse for nothin', you know. So I decided we'd press ahead. 

The first bridge was open...

So was the second. But then:

We debated going back to Carter or down to Elm Ridge... but the somebody (probably Dave) noticed that the creek was dry, and we might be able to walk and carry the bikes to the other side.

It's a trick I took from Tom H's book, although not one of the ones he's actually published.

We stopped at Boro Bean, as had a few other bikes.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, although we went faster than I like to go. (I'll get complaints about the speed. Don't worry about it; if you'd been along, you know we would have adjusted without comment or complaint.)

more of my racism

 I've been listening daily to Make Me Smart with Kai & Molly. They have a feature where listeners can leave a voice message in answer to the question, "What's something you thought you knew, but later found out you were wrong about?"

I called in with this one last week

This is Jim from Central Jersey. I'm a cisgendered white male, about to retire in a couple months, and one thing I thought I knew was how far down my racism and misogyny went, and I thought I had a handle on it. But the Youtube algorithm decided to send me some Tiktoks and such about feminism and antiracism, and holy cow. Stuff I thought was inconsequential, or polite, I now see how intrusive and thoughtless I was. And I can't even always go and apologize; it's not fair to use my white-guy protections to make myself feel better, at the risk of dragging up and replaying misery for someone else. The best I can do is live with my past, and do better. Thanks for making me smart.

They didn't use it.

recovery ride

Another picture from the excellent Martin Griff. If I as going that fast at the time, I certainly went a lot slower most of the rest of the time.

So after yesterday, I was glad I'd scheduled a shorter, flatter ride for today. Fourteen others came out. (Holy bananas: over twenty last week, and fifteen [including me] today? Huh?)

 

We were the usual mix of faster and slower riders, and I wasn't really successful in keeping the group together as we did one of my usual routes, but we did manage to stay connected enough to make all the turns together. 

I wasn't in front much of the way (I was too tired for that), but the folks that were waited for the rest of us. People who come on my rides apparently know that we wait for everyone to keep up, and either that's OK... or they don't come back. And that's OK.

We stopped at Thomas Sweet.

In other news, the picture above reminds me that the Montgomery Cinema is apparently open again.

Below, another pic from Mr Griff:

Herb C (no, not that Herb C; there's another Herb C) asked me about tire types and some other bike mechanic stuff, and I got to talking... and the next thing I knew, the whole rest of the ride was mounted up, ready to go, tappin' their feet and lookin' at their watches and wondering if we were ever gonna get this thing goin' again, already. I should know better than to get started like that when I'm on a ride.

On the way back, Ernie mentioned that, while he didn't mind the incline on Butler Road, he didn't like the rough road surface, so we adjusted the route to come back on Suydam... and several other riders mentioned what a good idea it seemed to be. Gang, you gotta tell me this stuff; how do I know there's a problem if nobody makes a complaint or a suggestion?

Oh, well. That's what I've been chewing over while I was cutting my hair this afternoon. And now it's time to see to the laundry. I hope you stay well.

spectacular reprise

 

(This is a "stuff that works" post because I finally remembered to get a photo of a Mash soda, available at the Sergeantsville store - not too sweet; complicated flavors. Soda for grownups.)

Neither Laura OLPH nor Tom H planned a ride for this week, so a few of the Hill Slugs/Insane Bike Posse figured they'd pop for the ride fee for the "on your own" version of the Sourland Spectacular, and do the 100km route I did last week. I decided I'd drag along for fellowship, although since I'd paid for the ride last week, I didn't think I needed to pay for it again.

Why did I think that was a good idea?

It was a hotter and muggier day. Our pace was slower than last week's, but I'm still beat.

I've got a recovery ride scheduled for tomorrow. I'll need it.

flu vaccine also kicked my @ss

 So when you get to be over 65, and you go to get your flu vaccine, you get the dose that's four times as strong as the dose that the young and fit get.

(Is there any doubt that I'm over 65?)

And like my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, my reaction to this vaccine is no fun. (Although it's nowhere near as bad as that was. Still, I'm wearing sweatpants as a concession to my condition. I'm rarely a sweatpants kind of guy.)

(I'm still in a collared shirt and bow tie, though, even though I'm working from home. Some traditions must be maintained. Stiff upper lip, that's why there will always be an England, and so on.)

Suck it up and get the vaccine anyway. If I can do it, you can. Vaccines work.

big c+ ride

 A fellow club member asked for a slower-paced ride, so I scheduled one for today... but then she couldn't make it, and by yesterday morning I only had one taker. But then people apparently saw the listing, and I closed the registrations when we were up to 23 (including one member who got confusing notices from the website, and registered three times).

We did this route, and despite the fears of some of the registrants, we came in at a real C+ pace (some were probably slower than the average on that page; I had to do a couple of long sprints). The Excellent Wife (TEW) decided she liked the route, not least because we stopped at the Blawenburg Bistro, a coffee shop that's become our local favorite, especially with the demise of the Main Street in Kingston and the Pig in Pennington.

Christine decided we needed a picture of TEW and yours truly.

The excellent Martin Griff forwarded this of me with an OJ and a brownie:

Two new riders today: Albert B and Van G. Albert claims he doesn't do hills, and is put off by my B rides; Van has been a club member for a while, but said this was his first group ride in quite some time. I hope to see them again... as I hope to see my more regular riders again!