Laura OLPH has a number of rides she does every year, and one of them is her "pick your distance" Belmar century. If you leave from her start, it's 100 miles; she'll pick up riders at Mercer County Park, from where the ride is 85 miles; she'll then pass Etra Park, from which the ride is 68 miles. I don't do 100-mile rides these days*; 70 is about the most I like to do, so I wait for 'em to come in at Etra, and I proceed from there.
*The most compelling argument for me against doing hundred-milers came from Tom H, who said something along the lines of, "I've never been 80 miles into a ride, and said to myself, 'Y'know what I could really use right now? Another twenty miles' ". It continues to make sense to me.
Here we are meeting up at Etra Park:
With the ride being about fifty miles one-way, Laura has sensibly planned rest stops at the quarter-way point in both directions. We picked up Tom H at the Jackson Minit Stop.
It was just the best day: not hot, clear, a slight breeze.
We pass the Manasquan Reservoir on the way out.
And the next thing you know, we're in Belmar.
One of our number is visiting from Germany, and decided we needed a picture of all of us at the shore. I didn't get a copy yet (it's on someone else's phone), but here we are, either assembling for the picture, or disintegrating afterwards:
And back. On the way back, we stop at a Dunkin Donuts on Monmouth Rd.
One of our number had a bit of a bonk on the way, so we were careful to keep the rider escorted (and pulled into the wind, when necessary). There may have been a car ride back to the rider's car, where they started, from Etra. I might have been involved. I might have been driving.
Ride page. Long, but a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment