rowing for the team

My coworker, Michelle, goes to at least one gym, and maybe several; regular crossfit isn't demanding enough for her so she goes to places that are more serious. Until a real local gym aficionado comes along, she'll do.

Weeks ago, she'd spoken about a rowing challenge from local gym Bodhi to support the Somerville Ambulance & Rescue Squad. I only found out yesterday that I didn't have a conflict, and offered to go, and Michelle was able to make space for me on her team.

The event was to take place on Division Street in Somerville, which has been closed to traffic and made into a pedestrian mall.

For the $25 charge, the organizers offered support and water (and some gimmes), and set up maybe a dozen rowing machines for the teams. We were to row the equivalent of 13 miles, a half-marathon; we had two hours to do it.

There was a crowd of people there, all of whom were way younger and far more fit than I.

And the young lady in the picture below was chief organizer and cheerleader. She has a flair for it.

The counters on the rowing machines are set so that as the difficulty is increased, the distance equivalent is farther, so we had the pointer set fairly high (although not at the maximum that Michelle usually uses!) Pardon the potato quality of this picture of the rest of my team at the start.

That's Lauren, another coworker, on the left in the blue jacket, then Mel, then coworker Michelle, then Julie on the right.

Gettin' down to work:

We took turns doing distances; most of the team was faster than I, but I did slightly longer distances than some. Michelle put in the most.

A better team picture at the end:

Yes, that's a cane on which I'm leaning. It's my excuse for my poor performance.

The organizers had made sure that refreshment would be available...

.... but I'm afraid, after hearing about this place from The Excellent Wife (TEW), that my attention was elsewhere:

...and soon I expect I'll be tuckin' into a pizza. Or two.

father's day escape ride

When I posted this ride, I didn't know how beat up I'd be from yesterday, so I put it in for only 32 miles, with a stop at about mile 20. My public reasoning was that some of my riders like to ride in from home, and this would be a reasonable distance if they were going to add ten or 20 miles, but the real reason was that I wanted to be able to finish and still do the chores that needed to be done today.

Also, today is Father's Day, and I thought some of the guys* might like a shorter ride. It turned out one of the fathers on the ride did want to get home within a reasonable time. So there.

*Guys: Fathers are male. I will brook no nonsense about this. There may be those who have females acting in the place of a father, but fathers are male. Period.

Laura OLPH, Ricky, and Prem came out. I didn't get pictures until the break, because I was a little turned-around about leading this ride. I've set a goal of trying to get a leader's jersey this year, which requires leading ten rides, on which other people actually come and sign the ride sheet (theoretically, they also have to do the ride, but I'll bet if I turn in a ride sheet with signatures on it, that will be enough, at least one or two times). Leading is easier said than done for me, because I'm lost all the time. My bike GPS makes it possible, but I'm still all head-over-teakettle about leading.

The ride page shows my ride in from home, a little extra I did heading up towards Millstone looking for a trash can (there aren't any at the parking lot where I like to start), then the ride itself, and my ride home. 15.3 average over all that, which is better than I had thought, considering how tired I was and how out-of-shape I've been.

We stop at the bagel place in the Princeton North Shopping Center near 206 & 518.

It was crazy busy and a bit chaotic; it took a while to get out. Here's Ricky and Prem:

...and Laura

Laura was riding Rowlf, her beautiful Colnago.

I saw another customer looking at it; he said he was thinking of building a tandem because he had some welding skills, but in talking to him, it sounded like he knew less about building bikes than I do about monetary policy in the colonial era, so I don't expect to see him and his wife pedaling around soon.

Prem & Ricky, I got your bikes, too. Prem was worried about some noise around the cranks of his bike, and he should be: Ricky told his tale of woe about having to have his frame built up after damage to the bottom bracket. Ricky, however, found the guy who can do the rebuilds, and recommends him every chance he gets. But evidently, you're supposed to have your carbon fiber frame checked every 3000 miles, which is more than once a year for many riders. (Hrmph! I'm sticking with my ride-it-till-kingdom-come titanium frame!)

about what I could handle today

Last week, Laura OLPH blasted out an email to the Hill Slugs; she'd thought of doing 100 miles today... but I've been a complete mess on or after any ride over 50 miles this year, so I certainly wasn't up for that, and emailed back my trepidations. She must not have been overwhelmed by the response from anyone else, either, so she rejiggered a route to about 80 miles from her house, or 62 from Mercer Park. She sent me an email saying if I could do 50, I could do 62...

...but that's a 25% increase over what I thought I had in me. I was reluctantly thinking of accepting, when I got an email from Tom H:

If you don't want to do the metric (and I'm pretty sure you don't) then you can ride with me. I plan to ride from my house at 8am to MCP then meet Laura there and ride with the group for about 20-25 miles before breaking off or home. I plan to do about 50 miles. 

Well, I was pretty sure I didn't either, so I got my butt outta bed (yeah, like that's a problem for me) and was at Tom's house in way-plenty of time to start. We headed over to Mercer Park at a pace that was better than I thought I had in me, and collected the troops - Tom, of course:

and Ricky:

Laura rode in with Jack H; she hadn't seen my car and didn't think I'd be there at all (my presence was apparently a pleasant surprise for her, and that was a pleasant surprise for me). We explained that Tom and I would be doing 25 or so with her ride, and then heading off so that Tom could get back with his wife, who's recovering less-quickly-than-expected from knee surgery, and so that I wouldn't have to call an Uber or an ambulance to get home.

After Laura appeared, Peter came out of the car. He's a long-time racer who could have ridden rings around any of us, but he was doing a recovery day. He seemed a little socially hesitant.

And off we went, heading towards Jackson. I hadn't seen Ricky since I stopped going to the New Brunswick Bike Exchange; we chatted a bit about that (and I've sent off a list of tools that I think they could use), and I caught up with Laura (and she with me; it's free therapy for me - we're might be in a contest these days to prove who is the crazier).

I got to talking with Peter about this group, and then about riding generally. He likes track racing, and road racing, and gets skills and strength from each that he uses on the other. I learned a lot, and made polite noises, and knew I was WAY out of my depth. We're never going to ride at the pace he can manage, but he was pleasant enough; I hope he comes back.

As we approached Cassville, Tom and I peeled off to head to the Antique Shop/Luncheonette where we were going to have the break. They mostly serve hot breakfasts and lunches, but they had cold drinks and a place to sit, and the most wonderful gimcrackery for sale:

Don't you love the huge fish with the USA flag design?

Can you see the "Love Me - Love My Dog" pillow in the pram?

Uhh... antiques?

And back. Tom had promised a "pastoral pace" on the way back, and it was more pastoral than we had kept with the group (my average was 16.6mph at the break), but it wasn't easy - I finished with tired legs, an average of 16.3, and immense gratitude that there weren't any more miles to do. But Tom is a good ride companion for me; we have similar irreverences, and tolerance for each other's foibles (although the casual observer might not notice that last thing).

I'm doing a 32-mile ride tomorrow from near home, and next week, Tom is thinking of a more demanding ride if his wife is able to walk on her own. I wish Tom's wife a speedy and complete recovery. I wish the same for myself.

tew improves my mood

I was just crushed that the rain interfered with the ride yesterday; my mood was darker than it had been (and I've been pretty low), and finally The Excellent Wife (TEW) decided she couldn't put up with it One. Single. 'Nother. Minute., and dragged me down to the Princeton Art Museum, on the theory that art never fails to improve my mood.

The Princeton Art Museum is a little jewel; it's not a huge museum, but they've got a little of everything.

And it probably won't surprise people that know her that she was absolutely right; despite my dark fog on the way in, I was smiling and making a little joke by the time we left.

I need to remember this. The price is right, there are no calories involved, and the transportation is much easier than to either NYC or Philly. And I can probably get a couple of chores done on the way home.

ride for June 10 - cancelled

OK, I need to get a ride in. Let's do about 38 from Blackwells Mills/Six Mile down to Rocky Hill. Thhe way there will be circuitous; the way back will be direct. I suspect about  1200-1300' climb. Stop at about mile 25; if we're desperate, we can stop at about mile 16 (but we never do).

Start location here. For the usual suspects, I'll try to have your names pre-printed on the ride sheet.

Low 15mph (maybe high 14mph). If you want a faster ride, Gary Wotton's going out of Etra the same day.

Probable route (subject to change without notice).

Edit June 10 5:50 am: Looking rainy. I'll edit by 7am if I'm gonna cancel.

Edit June 10 6:36 am: All the services are calling for rain; I'm cancelling.

bicycle of springs

Youtube wackball Colin Furze made a bicycle with springs in the frame instead of a downtube, seat tube, and top tube:

It's maybe the dumbest idea ever, and I love it.

what is that in the canal?

Weather threatened yesterday, so rather than do a group ride, I did this solo, and then we drove to Philly to see the Museum of the American Revolution, which was better than I thought it was gonna be. The Excellent Wife (TEW) goes to such places to critique them for what they get wrong, but I think even she was happily surprised.

We'd planned to go to the Reading Terminal Market for food, but walking from the car to the Market, we kept seeing these interesting eateries. We stopped at High Street on Market, where I had the pastrami sandwich that makes lesser pastrami sandwiches kick the sand and grumble about the unfairness of life, it was that good.

But that's not what I'm writing about today.

TEW and I had thought to do something today, but that didn't get together. I went out and did this ride to test some neighborhoods in Princeton (one of my Princeton routes goes up Mt Lucas, and the last time I led a group that way, the ensuing bitchification suggested that perhaps another route should be sought). I think it passes within inches of Andrew A's house, so if he rides in, he can peel off as it's convenient to do so.

I went early to try to avoid some rain that may come later (although if yesterday is any guide, I needn't have worried). Now, as I was riding by the canal, I noticed these orange and black tubes floating on the water. In some places, there were two sections, one on either side of the canal, but most of the way, there was just this one, and it went on for miles:

That's at some bridge or other, looking upstream and down.

It's floating too high to have water going through it. Perhaps it's to guide debris floating on the surface somehow? I saw this at the same bridge:

I'm not sure that's anything to do wit the tubing, but there certainly was enough debris hung up at the bridge.

I haven't got a clue. Any ideas?

memorial day all paces, with link to photo album

How could I not lead off with that nearly-perfect picture of Newell?

In an effort to stay married to The Excellent Wife (TEW), I've been trying to lead rides at her pace on the All-Paces rides, so that we get a date credit, even though we're on our bikes (it's complicated, but dates don't always count as dates if there are bikes involved). At the Spring Fling,TEW was enough under-the-weather that she couldn't come, and we had hoped she'd be up to a Low-C+ pace by today. But she hasn't been riding much due to weather and other commitments, and then there was the threatened rain and other distractions. She almost didn't come today, but my persuasions were effective, and we came to do the ride.

We had three other takers: Esther, who'd ridden with me at the Spring Fling; Winter Larry, who really could have done a faster ride; and a newbie, Ani, not yet a club member, but who could have kept up with Larry (at least). At some points we were strung out over distance, but we all got to the stop together, and we all made it back, and TEW and I are still on speaking terms.

Neat tricks: first, I've popped for a paid membership at RideWithGPS, and one of the perks is that they will automatically create a pre-formatted cue sheet. I printed a few copies to hand out. Well, since they'll do that, I also printed out a few from the break at Roy's BACK to the start, in case anybody needed to turn around (easy-peasy; set up the route in reverse and save it...).

Ride page. The careful eye will note that the elevation on the ride page, even after correction, is more than 50% higher than expected elevation from the route-planning page. Hrmph.

But, of course, some of you are only here to get to the link to the picture album. I can't say I blame you.

death march ride with friends.

Well, I don't think it was a death march ride for THEM.

A day or two ago, I was copied (along with others) on an email Tom H sent to Blake about a non-club ride he was planning to lead. After a few weekends with ugly weather and other commitments, I resolved to go, and I remember thinking a bit on the way down to the start about friendship, and getting invitations to stuff like this, and gratitude.

The only ones who were available and who responded were me and Jack H.

Tom's in front; Jack's in the orange.

Tom had a 50+ mile route from his house that he said was gonna be flat; his wife is recovering from knee surgery and Tom didn't want to be away all day. The distance was probably more than I should have taken on; it was a hot; humid day and I haven't the miles in my legs that I'd like. Within a few miles, I was a bit sick to my stomach; I pulled over in case emesis was imminent, but it wasn't (too bad; it might have helped).

The guys were waiting when I came around a curve. I told them about how I felt, and we agreed to continue, even if I was going to hold them back a bit. I thought some more about the nature of friendship.

We had a stop at a nondescript convenience store in Farmingdale (where Tom customarily stops on his rides to Belmar). Some Gatorade helped the agita to pass. But they didn't have a usable toilet, so we resolved to stop at the Dunkin Donuts in West Freehold.

We did, and I got another Gatorade. And we met this 79-year-old guy out with his bike and his dog.

He expressed some interest in the club, and we told him about D-rides, Team Social Security, and our token octogenarians. I hope he comes out.

Back we came over the straightest safe route Tom could think of. At Etra Park, Tom saw a dog running loose into the park and decided to go after it. I got dizzy standing in the sun, and moved into the shade with Jack; after a short while, Tom gave up on the dog and we proceeded back to the start.

I was beat. This is at least the second ride this year where I've been beat at the end. Jack had added miles and had more to go, and, as far as I can tell, he may still be riding away. Tom said he wasn't in much better shape than I, and that everybody has bad days.

I'm hoping it was just a bad day. But I'm also grateful for friends who invite me, and who look out for me when I'm not at the top of my game.

Ride page.

tube-changing school

I wish they were lookin' at me with such rapt attention, but they were listening to Princeton Freewheeler Club President talk about the Trenton Bike Exchange. From left: Dmitri, Joe, Rick, and Melissa. Those red bars in the lower right are the current robes that my bike, the Yellow Maserati, is wearing

I'm running a pair of bike-maintenance classes at the Trenton Bike Exchange for the club. The first session was on changing your tube, and I found this was a more complicated task than I'd thought when I first tried to teach The Excellent Wife (TEW) how to do it. Those of us who've been riding for a while probalby minimize the difficulty, but it turns out that there are a number of steps just to getting a wheel off (and more for the rear than the front); even how to put the bike down engenders some discussion. Doing it at the exchange means that we can use stands and each person can have a bike to work on, which is much better than the "sit around and discuss" model that's prevalent in these classes (it's better, of course, if you bring your own bike, as Rick did, but I know that's not always possible). By the end, they'd all used tire levers and pumps, we'd killed a couple of CO2 cartridges just for the experience, and we did some quick talk about chains and cassettes.

There will be another on May 21; this time about brakes and shifters. Class is already subscribed, but half of the subscribers didn't appear. Next time, I'm gonna push for part-payment up front.

Ira and I talked about doing something like this at one of the all-paces rides. I thought that, if the weather were nice, we could do it instead of the ride (or maybe under the shelter at one of the picnics); Ira thought a short one after might work better (but we went almost 2 hours last night). What do you think?

grown-up

Look, if I admit that there are cases to be made for limited government, manufacturing here in the United States, and limitations on immigration... can we please get a President who'll act like a grown-up?

worm jerky

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted anything. I did go on the Spring Fling last week and led a C ride; the plan was for The Excellent Wife (TEW) to come and I would lead a ride at her pace so we could make a date out of it, but she cane down sick the night before and couldn't. I did the ride anyway with four or five participants (depending on if you count Jeff & Patricia on the tandem as one or two), but the camera was dodgy, so I didn't get pictures, either. I had fun, and rode with some people I don't normally, but I couldn't see how I was going to get a blog post out of it.

Except I just did, didn't I? Ride page here.

So that was the Saturday. On the Sunday, I ran the mechanic station for the Franklin Food Bank Tour de Franklin, with an assortment of routes from one mile to a metric century. I didn't get many pics there, either. I worked on a number of bikes, mostly filling tires (how do these people ride on these low pressures?) and lubing chains, although there was a certain amount of brake and derailleur adjustment, some saddle-height consultation, and at the end, I did a major tune up on a guy's bike. He and his co-rider had the idea that you shift to the big ring to go up hills. I pointed them towards hill-climbing orthodoxy. We also had a discussion of disk brakes, the essence of which was: if you have a bike you like with rim brakes, and you don't ride in wet or muddy conditions frequently... just get on that thing and ride it.

Retrogrouchy, right? Well, as I write this, I just turned 63 a few hours ago. I'm invoking my grumpy senior citizen privilege.

So yesterday, Tom H put in a ride out of the Park-&-Ride in Yardville for 50 miles with about 2500' of climb. I'm a member of Tom's Insane Bike Posse, and that sounded like a good idea; what sounded like too much was Laura OLPH's invitation to add 20 miles by riding to and from her house to the start, through Trenton and across the Calhoun St Bridge. Instead, Ricky and I drag-raced on I295 to the start, he in his Cooper and me in the Prius. Laura, Jack H, and Robert N rolled in, Peter G drove up, and Ken G rode in on his own route.

Because it was an early-season ride Tom did his ritual of the Holy Kickstand, sprinkled with the Holy Water of Brita; as a regular kickstand keeps the bike upright, so the Holy Kickstand is supposed to keep the bike and rider upright. It's a fun ritual, but it's also a reminder not to ride like a jerk.

We mostly didn't ride like jerks. There were some moderately-demanding climbs, and some traffic, but it was mostly a fine hilly ride on a gorgeous day.

We came down the hill for the break at Carversville, and saw that Fleecydale, which I remember having been under construction apparently since the Carter administration, is open again. The Carversville store is neat.

Everybody else apparently thinks so, too; there were a LOT of riders there.

Finally the bike rack cleared out and we could park!

I got to talking about how I haven't given the bike a good cleaning since fall, and discussion led to the kinds of grime that builds up in various places. When you ride in wet weather, there are often a few worm bodies that get caught by the rear brake caliper. They tend to dry off and stick. "Worm jerky," Laura called it.

I thought I saw Bob N turn green as he quickly removed the detritus from his own rear brake.

Then back. Tom had scored most of the hills in the first, say, 60% of the ride, but there was his covered bridge (are you ALLOWED to ride in this area without crossing a covered bridge?).

Now, covered bridges are frequently over streams; streams are at the bottom of hills; so on the other side of the covered bridge, there was, of course, a hill. Hrmph.

Which brings me to my final whine (well, for this post anyway). If you look at Tom's page, linked above, you'll see he got 2488' of climb. My page, however, shows 2976'. How does he get me to climb 500 more feet than he does when we do the same ride?