ride on a beautiful day

For the last Sundy of the month, I usually post a C+ rated ride (instead of the B-rated rides I usually lead); I started on the theory that The Excellent Wife (TEW) could come along on some of the rides that I lead, but then we had a disagreement about how fast the rides were actually going and she didn't want to come. I kept leading the C+ rides because I liked the people I met on 'em, but TEW wasn't coming.

Things have changed, however, and for today's ride, TEW agreed to come along (it doesn't hurt that she's seen the pace of my last few end-of-the-month rides, and knows she can keep up). Also along came Alan & Gale C, Andrew A (whom I've not seen since I don't know when; he's been off bike-camping on his own), Rob N, and Ed K, who's the founder of the Bicycle New Jersey Facebook page (he's made me a moderator, but with the limits I'm imposing on my Facebook use, I'm doing little in support these days...). Ed had something come up and couldn't ride with us from the start, although he did meet us at the stop and rode with us for a bit thereafter.

Also along can Juan R, a Princeton student, who had a new (and unfamiliar) bike, and who said he was not used to riding in groups.

(He did fine. Several of us spent much of the first part of the ride using our wiles to try to persuade him to join the club).

We did this route (OK, that one includes my ride to and from, but it was MOSTLY that route). I apologized for the long out-and-back on 518 Hopewell-Rocky Hill Road, but I'm trying to manage some variety from that start location, and miss the hills that are on both sides (one of my occasional riders will happily tell you how I nearly killed her by taking her on Provinceline Road last summer when the 518 bridge was out).

We got to the Boro Bean, apparently about fifteen minutes after every other rider in Central Jersey did. We opted not to get drinks or snacks there, as the line was just too long (although the toilet did see some use). Gale mentioned a social engagement and left from there, although Alan came back with us to pick up his car.

Much better picture of Juan, despite the mask.

Juan went home at Great Road (his bike is hi primary transportation right now), Ed headed for Rocky Hill when Alan, TEW and I headed back up towards Montgomery - and then when I called for a turn onto Butler Road, TEW exclaimed, "Oh, no!" and continued up Canal Road to Suydam and back to the school where the car was; she's convinced that her way has fewer hills.

She is undoubtedly right. I know better than to disagree.

laura olph's idea of short and simple

Disclaimer: Honesty demands that I begin this post by letting you know that a woman came along on her first Hill Slug ride today. I think she was a bit trepidatious at the start, but by the time we were about 70-75% through, she said, "I'm hooked." And she said it again, through the tiredness, at the end of the ride.

That said...

Laura OLPH's blog post announcing this ride read, in part:

Sunday is the 7th annual Ride for McBride, and I will be there for the 50-mile route... To save my legs for Sunday, Saturday's route will be short and simple. 

Well, since I also intend to do that ride tomorrow, I thought this sounded like a good idea. I showed up at Laura's for the usual extra miles... to be surprised when Sean rolled up, in his wool Campagnolo getup, riding a lovely repainted Masi frame kitted out with all his gorgeous Campy stuff from the 1970's.

Yummy. Sean's had reasons not to ride and wasn't planning to come out with us, but he rode along for a while. He'd had all that stuff on a purple frame that just didn't fit right. This seems to suit him better.

We went to the Twin Pines to find seven others waiting.

That was Ken G; and a couple of others who looked like fast boys to me; and Nevada, who's been looking for ascents; and Blake who doesn't need to look for 'em, he's just that good on hills; and another woman whom I thought I recognized but couldn't place; and Ricky, who's become a Slug regular.

Laura didn't have a route planned. But there was a discussion of avoiding new chipseal road surfaces, and the plan became to head up to Sergeantsville.

I needn't have worried about the lookin'-like-fast-boys: one was Ed, and we got to talking about being good at math and science vs. being good at writing, and the other was Jose, who stopped with us for pictures.

The woman I couldn't place turned out to be Sue, with whom I'd ridden about a month ago. She'd been talking about wanting to do hills, and I talked up the Hill Slug rides, with the easy attitude and the waiting for the folks in the back. She was sufferin' in too high of a gear. She got advice from, well, probably too many of us, and she ground her way to the top of some hill or other... and then she apparently found another lung or something, and did pretty well for her first ride. She was the one who wound up being hooked.

But we were rolling up to Sergeantsville, and I was beginning to think the come-on of "short and simple" in the ride description was false advertising if it wasn't actual fraud.

When I began to breathe again I got a look at Jose's bike.

Yes, that is two-color bar tape that picks both up the accent colors on the frame. What you may not notice right away is that the end caps are different colors, each matching one of the accent colors. And yes, there is a light-green cast to the hub. Jose wins the day on style.

We restored ourselves in Sergeantsville, along with a couple on a tandem.

From there, we rolled around to show off the Sergeantsville covered bridge to Sue... and then we started to head back.

Ken G told me about this sign at the top or another hill:

Here's a better one Ken sent me as I was typing this up:

He's a chiropractor. If he'd had a table out when we were going by, he'd have taken all we had.

By the time we got back, they had about 47 miles; Laura and I had over 54, with just south of 3000' of climb. Short and simple. Hrmph.

Two things, though:

1. Yes, I'm still doing that Ride for McBride tomorrow, and
2. Yes, I'll still ride with her again, probably at the next opportunity. After all, I got Sue hooked. I feel a certain culpability now.

bike maintenance class June 7

We spoke about bike chains tonight. The link I like to use, that can be re-used, is the Wipperman link.

One of the places they're available is Universal Cycles.

bike maintenance class 5/24

We spent most of this class on brakes, and I forgot to tell youse about the brake adjustment screws on vee-brakes, so I'm putting it here as a reminder to myself.

I also want to remember to re-do the stuff on truing wheels. Few of you were there when we did that.

For next week: shifting and shifters.

Homework: go look up Bike Snob NYC. (I hope he's not too profane this week...)

Oh, yeah. One of you said you get most of your stuff online. You can get cheap handlebar wrap at Nashbar... but I like to spend a bit more and get the Specialized-brand S-wrap tape; Kim's has it.

easy flat 30

Laura OLPH had hoped to do a ride yesterday for her birthday, but weather threatened, so she cancelled... and then the threatened weather didn't appear, so Laura was all mopey about having cancelled. She had thought to do some hills today, but had partaken too well in the junk food, yesterday, so she opted for John K's offering instead.

John K has become the drill instructor, or something like that, for the JDRF charity rides in this area, and he was taking out a couple of comparative newbies on a flat 30 today. Laura opted for that, and, in support of her birthday, I joined that ride. Laura added over 20 miles to and from her home... but I was lazy and disorganized this morning, and just showed up at the Reed Recreation Area above Allentown, which, apparently, you can only find if you already know how to get there, because I can't find it on any maps and the location baffles the GPS.

In addition to John and Laura, we had Cheryl:

and Maggie.

So we were five.

Because it was a JDRF ride instead of a Freewheeler ride, John had a different form to sign, but the rest was similar: helmets, ride safely, don't be a jerk.

We did this route, at an easy pace. We stopped for wardrobe adjustments (mostly to shed layers no longer needed)...

and at a park that had a porta-potty.

(I like that picture of Cheryl, above.)

(I like that one of John, too.)

I made an adjustment to one of the newbies' pedals, and did a quick lesson in gear selection with the other, and started my rant about mirrors (oh, crap, there's more than one), but managed to stifle myself before anybody actually yawned with boredom. (I'll stop talking about bikes when you look bored... but that doesn't mean I'm done, by any means).

The folks had to get back to their real lives, so I came home, after picking up some flowers for The Excellent Wife (TEW). Then she and I went out to the Princeton U Art Museum, where I was not blown away by the show on Jewish contributions to colonial and 19th-century culture, but both TEW and I loved the show about the Newcomb Pottery Enterprise. And the price is right; if youpaly your cards right and don't mind waliing, you can even park for free.

Here's hoping you had a good Sunday. Been doin' anything cool?

Edit: John reminds me that the JDRF rides are fundraisers. So I'm including links to John's fundraising page, and Cheryl's, and Maggie's. If you've got the cost of a week's worth of Starbuck's in your pocket, you might throw some cash at 'em. I'm gonna do it as soon as I finish this edit.

hot date, and making up the hundred

The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I decided that for her first group ride of the season, I'd tag along to make it a hot date. Max F does a "low C" ride out of Cranbury on Sundays and that seemed just the ticket, so I packed up the Krakow Monster and her road bike, and we showed up at Village Park this morning. We met a few others, including a newbie on her first group ride.

We potted along for an easy 17 miles. At one point, on Plainsboro Road, we got passed by the "Back by Lunch" B ride that I sometimes go on; I was greeted by several of their number.

We turned up Petty, and went around by Culver...

... and had our stop at the bagel place on Georges Road in (I think) Dayton.

We came back along a similar route, some of the same roads; you can see here. About 17 miles. This was a good idea; TEW and I need to do more bike dates.

Although she was tired, I felt like I needed to get more miles in, so when we got home I put up the Monster and pumped up the tires on the Yellow Maserati, and hit the road. I stopped in at the Wawa for an apple fritter (early in the ride; I hoped I'd burn it off), and then to the cash machine (why not? I was passing the bank, and I was gonna havta go anyway), and then to Kim's to pick up some new cleats. I hadn't seen the Kim's crew for a while so I chatted for a bit.

When I got back on the bike, I kind of bobbled over towards Colonial Park... and realized that if I brought this ride in at 26 miles, I'd have 100 for the weekend (but I didn't want to ride a lot more than that; I was tired). So the route page shows some of the permutations I made, including riding around the parking lot of the rental apartments down the street, to make it up: 26.6, at 16.3 average. Not bad; much of it was in-town riding and on the second day of a weekend.

I've been eating everything in the house, when I can stay awake. How're youse-all doin'?