The Midnight Ride of the Sinister Nuts

The 3-man Fixed Gear Fleche Team of last year returns this year with a full complement of 5 riders. Since it will be ridden on the 234th anniversary of Paul Revere's ride which left Boston on April 18th, 1775 the team name was chosen to commemorate Paul Revere's ride, with the obligatory modification required of all fleche team names (one if by land, two if by fixie?)

Last years route was modified to keep the best parts, and those that weren't well received were deleted. It was interesting that the first editing of the course came out with "just the right mileage" to make it approvable by the RBA just as it was submitted. Changes included deleting the route along the Raritan Bay and the Jersey Shore down Sea Girt, proceeding directly from the Cranbury Controle over to Sea Girt, and adding on additional mileage on Route 9 continuing along the shore to Tuckerton (vs. Barnegat last year) before making a "bee line" back to Frenchtown via Route 539.

An added benefit of this new route is that it is "fixie friendly" which means to say, we're all fairly seasoned randonneurs that are all friends (you couldn't ask for a MORE FRIENDLY group of riders) and we'll all be riding fixies - running the gammet of a "vintage" Paramount track bike from the 60's, a Whitcomb from the 70's, a Bob Jackson from the 80's, and two more recent vintages, a Rivendell Quickbeam and a Surly Crosscheck.

Although we all are experienced riders, some are in better shape than others at this point of the season so as one can see from the attached elevations, the rout pretty much starts in the New Jersey Highlands, goes down hill to the mid-central plane before proceeding to the coast. There is a very slight ride as one passes through the Pine Barrons, and then it is pretty flat as the ride follows up the Delaware from Washington's Crossing up to Frenchtown for the penultimate (22 hour) controle. There is a necessary climb up to the Weisel Youth Hostel finish in Quakertown but rigorous scouting has located the "easiest" routing back up to the hostel, even if it means that there will need to be an additional mile or tow added on to make it without needing to resort to "geezer gearing" (the 17-21 Surly Dingle one rider has or the "flip-flop" - both fixed, no single speed coasties allowed) let alone the obligatory "24-inch" gearing that all riders will be keeping in reserve.

The group will depart at 9:00AM on Saturday morning with a completion anticipated for 24 hours later at the Weisel Hostel. At this time, the weather is calling for sunny and temps in the 30's at the start with highs in the 60's Saturday and lows in the 40's in the night with the temps returning to the 60's on Sunday. No word on the wind but it SHOULD be a tailwind all the way. I'll post this now, and provide an update on Sunday after we complete the ride.

The Season's Officially Begun - The Eastern PA 200K April 4th, 2009

Note: Sometime I'll figure out how to properly post pictures in their right order. As it is, these are the ones I took of Wind Gap from about 5 miles away, the stone house, the whitecaps crossing the Delaware at Milford, and my "mudflap of the ride" - Rat Fink.

I saw in the paper today that with today's Paris-Roubaix, the cycling season is "officially" begun. The season for me, however, officially began last Saturday, April 4th, with my completing the Eastern PA ACP 200K. While the winter roads of PA and NJ were a little broken up from the winter, they were a far cry from the pave of northern France, but in turn, we were fortunate to be able to experience the spring winds that are normally found in the Midwest - a steady wind of 25 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph through out the day (although listening to the NOAA weather on the way home the recorded peak gust was only 49 mph.) As far as temperatures went, the forecast was for the low 50's. It was 49 degrees when I arrived at the Hostel at 5:05AM so as far as dressing for the conditions, it didn't appear that there would be a warming trend over the day's ride.

How time flies ... when I realize that I had last ridden this course in May of 2005 when it was still part of the NJ Randonneurs series, and although it was a great course the first time I rode it, Tom has made some improvements to the course, claiming "This edition of the PA200k combines the best of the Spring and Fall editions held in 2007." I'd have to agree with this as he made a great ride EVEN better. Those looking to get their legs back (including yours truly) were relieved to see that he didn't take out any of the "gratuitous" climbs including Lower Saucon Road Fox Gap, and Lommason's Glen (after which riders are rewarded with equally magnificent downhill runs) but Tom also managed to reroute the brevet in between the climbs to take in some of the beautiful vistas that a brevet up and down, along the Delaware River has to offer.

The brevet started out of the Weisel Youth Hostel on Richlandtown Road in Quakertown, PA promptly, for some, at 6:00AM and 5 minutes later for the rest of us that, due to the weather forecast, were realistic about not making it ins under 10 hours. Although the group might not have required splitting into two groups, in this case it was probably prudent of Tom to due so, as there weren't any major climbs to "naturally" split up the groups for a couple of miles and seeing how the wind gusts really blew some of (the lighter) riders around the road, it was good to not have everyone bunched together.

The gravel driveway out of the hostel also helps to break up the the riders, yes there was a flat on this section, and on my 28mm's I was leading out the second group of rider. It was probably good I had made some distance initially as about a block down the road, an opossum crossed into my path, requiring me to do a "quick turn" that would have made my LCI instructor proud - and it was good to not have to take down the rest of the group with this deft little maneuver.

Rick and Juan were riding in the second group and at this point of the ride, I managed to ride along with them and mentioned to Rick that although Juan was anxiously waiting to see what my "mudflap of the ride" was for this brevet, I could tell that he was not to impressed with my selection of Rat Fink for this ride - see photo of the mudflap (as a follow-up to last month's "What, Me Worry?" Alfred E Neuman.) Since Juan had NO IDEA of who Rat Fink or Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, or Kustom Kulture is, I guess this pretty much dates Rick and me.

We initially heading out north into the rustic farmland of the Saucon Valley. Following the first real climb up Lower Saucon Road (a 30X34 works well if one remembers to keep pedaling) I was getting prepared to do the second leg up Lower Saucon Road and its steep climb right after the nice downhill run where the last time I mistakenly put my bike into the 52X11 for the down hill) when I looked down at the cue sheet and saw that we were going cross country to connect with Buttermilk Road - another steep climb Tom reserves for the end of brevets that finish in Easton. (For the record, with as much climbing as there is on Lower Saucon Road, it NEVER becomes Upper Saucon Road.)

I was please to see that this detour actually made the route much more pleasant. The connection over to Buttermilk only included one climb and joined Buttermilk near the crest where the route wasn't so steep. Since I wasn't out of breath from this less strenuous route up out of the Saucon Valley, I actually had time to enjoy the view before I joined back onto Lower Saucon and rode the downhill into Easton directly into the wind. There was no coasting on this section and on the way down I thought of the NOAA weather alert I'd heard on the morning regarding the high winds, indicating that when approaching these high wind areas "high profile" vehicles should use particular caution - I guess a 68cm bike would meet the definition of "high profile."

Crossing over the canal on onto Lehigh Drive, I was rewarded with a tailwind all the way into Easton. Tom made some modifications to the route coming up out of Easton via College Avenue, as opposed to the previous routes circuitous path up to Cattell Street. Although a little steeper, it is nice to have the simpler, more direct, routing.

The next section was the familiar, and also pleasant ride up to the Wind Gap controle via Lower Mud Run, Upper Mud Run, and Pen Argyl Roads. I was pretty much riding on my own between two groups and it was nice to see another rider catching up to me - especially when I was able to ascertain that I was holding my own on the headwind sections (at this time the mist could be felt as freezing rain/sleet) and only when I was taking it easy savoring the tailwinds did they make up distance on me. As the rider got closer I recognized him as Guy so we rode along together for a short bit - until the first climbing section where I let him go ahead, knowing what was ahead for a headwind as we would soon be approaching Wind Gap.

Although I've ridden through Wind Gap many times, and seeing that it is the only "gap" in this Appalachian ridge line, I never really gave it too much thought until I approached it fighting a 35 mph headwind. From a distance, it didn't look too bad but remembering my college chemistry and the examples used to demonstrate the Bernoulli effect, I quickly did some calculations to figure that I'd be experiencing those forecasted 40 to 50 mph wind gusts. I also took a lot of photos of the Gap on this ride but in looking at them later, they really didn't look all that much different from the other days.

Following a short stop at the Petro Mart controle where I enjoyed a breakfast sandwich from the microwave. Since at this point I realized that the sun wouldn't be coming out very soon, and my wool socks with my sandals were getting wet from the constant mist, I also put on a second pair of socks under my heavier outer wool socks. Apparently I wasn't the only one that was getting cold toes at this point since later on when I ran into Tom he mentioned that the Petro Mart owner had called him to complain that one of the riders had been seen putting their socks into the microwave and was wondering if we had seen it. Based upon the time that the owner provided regarding when it was done, it appeared that it was about a half hour before the time I arrived to use that SAME microwave to heat up my breakfast sandwich - no wonder it tasted so good that morning. I thought it was just that I was so cold and hungry.

Surprisingly, Wind Gap wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. We were in the "dead zone" as we approached the summit, and at the top, it appeared that, due to what I remembered from my Transport Phenomenon course in college, boundary conditions, the wind wasn't all that bad either but...as I rode the descent Cherry Valley Road, I had the wind full in my face. My "high profile" vehicle was subject to some turbulence, the buffeting was minimized doe to my extra mass.

The calm of Cherry Valley Road was pleasant, as always, and pretty much out of the wind. I was looking for the tailwind boost up Fox Gap but I guess when one is riding up the hill at 4mph, one really isn't going to get much of a boost from the wind. I could tell that there was a tailwind as, at that point, I was getting pretty warm, even with my windbreaker and wool jersey unzipped, and the fog from my breath was heading away from me up the hill.

The informational controle at the top of Fox Gap was one of the drawings one is required to send in as part of the application to the "Minneapolis Institute of Art" correspondence school. Needless to say, I guess I'll keep my day job. Following this, we took Tom's new "favorite" routing down to Portland along Lake Minsi and the Million Dollar Highway, before stopping at the Portland Diner for the "lunch stop" controle. I managed to snap a couple of photos of the stone "castle" as I rode by and chuckled to think that the Million Dollar Highway must be REAL OLD, for if it wasn't and if it were build today, they'd need to call it the Billion Dollar Highway.

I wasn't really all that hungry for diner food, especially knowing that at Belvidere Deli I could get a good 12" tuna sub so I made this a quick stop and was able to join up with a group of riders including Guy, Rick, Bill, Juan, Jack, and John Dennis as they were just leaving. John must have also recognized Rat Fink on my mudflap as in his ride report he "pegged" (incorrectly, I might add) that I was "a 60-something rider." (Note, for the NEXT Brevet be sure use Hanna Montana for the mudflap!!!)

The pace at this point was great, at least for me, as the rest of the group was "taking it easy" as they worked off their lunch from the Portland Diner. However, this merry group's time together was limited as Bill flatted. He offered that he was fine and that everyone should go on without him but only Guy, John and I took him up on his offer with the remaining riders, who had been riding with him all day, choosing to stay with him. I was happy to push onto Belvidere where that tuna sub sandwich really hit the spot. I managed to almost get it down by the time that Bill and the group who stayed with him passed by. I quickly wolfed down the rest of the sandwich and caught up with then but this time it was my turn to hang back and take it easy as I climbed up Lommason's Glen as meanders up the same ridge that could be done in half the distance by going up Fiddlers Elbow (with it's 28 deg. climb) instead.

One really knows one is at the TOP of the climb when you see all the cell phone and microwave transmission towers as one does just before taking the turn off Harmony Brass Castle onto Montana, and then seeing that one can't go any higher, knowing one has a 2 mile downhill into the next valley.

As much as I KNOW Tom likes the descent down Sweet Hollow Road (in its entirety), perhaps the highlight as far as vistas go was his choice to delete the Asbury loop and pass through Stewartsville, heading directly to Bloomsbury and up Jug Town mountain the steep way, straight up Milford and Staats Road. The reward for the climb was one of the best views of Pennsylvania, and not having the vegetation on the trees allowed one to see Easton and Bethlehem all the way to Allentown and beyond. Additionally one knew that the next section descended back down to Milford via Sweet Hollow.

Crossing the Delaware at Milford back into Pennsylvania it was one time that it was actually GOOD to have to walk one's bike across the bridge. The wind was blowing directly down the river at this point, making for some pretty impressive white caps on the water. I took several photos but they aren't as impressive as actually being there. Again, my mass, as well as that of my bike helped to keep me on firm ground but some had difficulty with the wind. The Homestead General Store controle was a welcome break at this point as I was total dry and I managed to make short work of a gallon of water. Resuming the ride, the course went down the Delaware and with the tailwind, I lost track of distance and missed the turn up Red Hill Rd that came 1.5 miles down the road (gosh, it seemed to be only a half mile.) Since I was so rested, the extra mileage wasn't all that bad and I got to catch up and ride the rest of the brevet back with all those who arrived at the controle just as I was leaving before.

The remaining ride pretty much routed back to the Hostel through Tinicum County on a route that was new to this 200K, but were familiar from previous 200Ks ridden since Fall on the PA R-12 series, crossing a couple of the covered bridges as we rode to mail Post Cards at Point Pleasant and get in the required mileage to make it a 200K by the time we meandered our way back to the south shore of Lake Nokamixon and the Hostel

Although we could have probably made better time, this last section was pretty much ridden directly into the wind and the only good thing about having to pedal DOWN the rolling hills was knowing that somewhere on the way down, one would get out of the wind hand have a period of calm, which was welcome even as one rode back up out of the valley back into the wind. All-in-all it was a great ride, and we did manage to beat the 12 hour mark, even if only by a couple of minutes. Some of the early arrivals had already left but there were enough riders still there, and still out on the course arriving over the next hour, to have enough company present to swap stories as we enjoyed the PA birch beer, grilled beef and chicken that Tom had waiting for us.

Of the 42 registered riders, there were 37 starters and 30 who finished within the allowable 13.5 hours. For more information see: http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA200K.html

The next ride is the Midnight Ride of the Sinister Nuts - a fleche team made up of 5 riders, all on fixies of various vintage. I'll post more on this soon.

Spring is Sprung???

What a difference a week makes! Last Thursday I began my morning commute to work over ice covered roads from Monday/Tuesday's blizzard and a temperature of 2 deg. F. This Thursday, it was still below freezing (25 deg.F) but the weekend temperature of 75 on Saturday and Sunday pretty much made light work of the foot of snow and the light rain from the previous day had ended around 8:ooPM with a setting full moon to greet me as I wheeled the bike out of the garage at 5:00AM. The roads looked dry and the forecast for the rest of the week looked good so I brought out my second set of wheels with my late/fall-early spring Armadillos and swapped this set out for my winter 35mm Nokians. The extra 5-minutes it took to make this wheel swap was easily made up with the lighter/faster Armadillos (this is relative as many would regard the Armadillos as "unridable" due to their weight, steel beads, and stiff casings.) Without the constant "din" of the 106 studs on the pavement I could "actually" hear the early morning birds, as well as the tires of the cars as they overtook me, and as I approached the various intersection. In the morning this isn't a problem as it is still dark, but now that it is light out, it is nice to have another sense to draw upon for safety. With the switch to daylight savings time, it is nice to now be able to see the views along the roads in the portion of the commute that is in the more rural areas of NJ.

The weather looks to be good through the weekend and into Monday but since they're forcasting rain for Monday afternoon that is expected to change over to sleet, freezing rain, and possibly snow, I'll keep the Nokians in the garage next to my bike so that I'm ready. Winter isn't yet over, and in previous years, we've had blizzards in late March and I've run into ice as late as April 16th.

The One Month Anniversary

Today marks the one month anniversary of my little fall. Since my wife (and mother) possibly read this drivel, I was a little vague in describing the full extent of my injuries. One month later I'm almost fully recovered so I'll "fess up." As I went down, my back pack struck the ground, along with my head/helmet, and the force of the impact, resulted in the back pack strap ripping out a 1 1/2 section of my collar bone. Fortunately it was a good break so when it was reset, the sections healed so well that I can't even feel where the bone had come out. When I mentioned that there was some internal bleeding, as the bone broke, the blood drained into my pectoral area and although I didn't suffer any damage to these muscles, the draining blood made it appear as if I had really bruised myself. The doctor suggested that he aspirate the pooled blood but I chose to see what happened if we just left things alone. Fortunately the blood was all re-absorbed.

I probably could not have injured myself at a more fortunate time as I had completed the requirements for my second R-12 award the Saturday before and didn't have another brevet until this last Saturday. We're still a couple of months away from out ACP Brevet Series and the Fleche.

As I recovered, I still managed to continue my bike commute to and from work (didn't miss a day although with my arm banded to immobilize my collarbone, it wasn't to pleasant to bike the 30 mile round trip commute) but my day was pretty much, get up, (slowly) get dressed, (slowly and CAREFULY) ride into work, put in a full day's work (attempting to find an excuse to sit at my desk as much as possible - even if it was still painful to type on the computer), (slowly) bike back home, eat and lay down with a hot pad on my shoulder. For the first two weekends, I eliminated the commute into work and just stayed in bed with the hot pad.

It is amazing what a little time will do. Last week, I began to feel more stength in my arm, and I was even able to stand up on the bike. I threw all caution to the wind and even managed to get in a 200K Brevet last Saturday. My randonneur bike is a little more stretched out than my folding commuter bike which resulted in my collar bone hurting a little when I stood up (did I mention that the doctor told me that it would take 6-8 weeks for the collar bone to heal and the brevet was at 3 1/2 weeks?) Needless to say, I took all the hills in my 30X34 gear - it wasn't pretty but I DID manage to get around the course in 10:20 so I'm 1/12 the way into my third R-12. (I ride report will follow shortly.) One of those I rode with admitted that he had broken his collar bone 4 times (all bicycle incident related.) He said that the last time he saw his doctor, the doctor admitted that collar bone fractures pretty much took care of healing themselves. "All one need to do is make sure that the two broken ends were in the SAME room and they'd manage to find a way to get themselves connected back together."

As much as the collar bone appears to have no apparent funtion, I did manage to fine ONE activity where a fully functional collarbone is required. It is a fundamental part of the bowing motion. Monday was my first rehearsal since the accident. (I play the double bass.) We were sight reading the pieces for our upcoming Spring concert. One selection will be Haydn's Nelson Messe (Mass). I had a heck of a time playing all of the the sixteenth notes in the piece - especially those movements marked with a tempo of "Allegro" and "Vivace." We'll see what next week brings.

I missed the line and went down HARD

I've been a little out of action for a couple of days due to a little fall on my commute to work last Wednesday. We had a nice midwinter thaw over the weekend and it was around 34 deg. when I left for work at 5AM on February 11th, my birthday. As I came down the final 14% grade into High Bridge to catch the train I saw that I had a car WAY behind me so instead of slowing way down for the 10mph turn, I took it a little faster than normal and chose a beautiful line that gently swerved into the center of the lane before cutting into the shoulder to make the turn. What I failed to remember was that I was still on my Studded Nokians and as I banked over my fixie with the 12" clearance and 172.5 cranks, the I came off of the studds and the back end quickly fell out from under me. The last I remember was realizing I couldn't revover the bike and going down on my back. I vaguely recall the driver of the car that was behind me stopping to see if I was ok, and another driver from the other direction asking if they should call me an ablulance - to which my reply was "I think I'm ok and besides I DON'T need anyone to tell me why I hurt so much." I picked myself up and rode the last couple of blocks to the train where I folded up the bike and got on the train. It is amazing how nothing really hurt too much immediately after the fall. As I sat on the train for the hour ride to my next leg of bikeing I realized that I was bleeding a little from my cut on my hand (a superficial polyester burn from the inside of my gloves, and although my tights weren't ripped, I must of had a couple of "rug burns" on my knee, as well.



The ride from Westfield to Rahway was a little slower than usual and although my muscles hurt, I could still grip the handlebars so everything must have been ok - for the time being. The warm shower at work felt good, and I appeared to have full motion of my arm but it was beginning to hurt a lot to raise my arm and pulled it back. I noticed that I could still breath deeply so I figured the ribs must be ok, as well. However by mid afternoon, it was starting to hurt to breath deeply and it felt as if I must have pulled a lat muscle or something.



The commute home was slow and painful but I made it back ok on the bike/train/bike and even though it was my birthday, managed to get into bed with a hot pad on my shoulder as soon as I got home that evening at 7PM. I found that I could sleep ok on my back and by morning I was stiff, but still able to ride into work. It hurt more the second day than the first so I take it as a good sign that most of my injuries are to the muscles and not to the bones. Friday was also painful riding to work. I managed to straighten out some pieces of bone in my collarbone during the day and once I massaged the parts into place, it didn't hurt so much. (note to self, try to avoid moving arm to the poit that this pice pops back out.) I missed my weekend rides. The pain is more localized on Monday but the commute wasn't all that painful, as long as I didn't move too quickly. It still hurts, but hopefuly with time things will get better. The forecast doesn't call for too bad of weather for at least a week so I hope to make it through until I need to do some more technical riding. Fortuantly I got in my February Brevet the Saturday before so I'm also looking to see if I can continue my daily commute and be able to ride a 200K in scheduled for three weeks from now.

Now about the bike: Although I'll need to purchase a new helmet (the Giro Transit sacrificed itself to protect my noggin), the purple beast survived the laydown with hardly a scratch. One wouldn't know that either of us had the nasty fall if one didn't notice how slow I'm riding.

WJW's Longest Night - 2008

Although this is generally reserved for randonneering items, I've been too busy fighting the weather on my daily commutes these last couple of weeks so I'll post this item from yesterday. The Western Jersey Wheelmen, (ACP Club Code: 930025), holds a "Longest Night" ride every year on the weekend closest to the Winter Solstice as a compliment to their "Longest Day" ride held on the Saturday closest to the Spring Solstice. The Longest Day is a 200 mile ride and the Longest Night is generally whatever distance the the group can make riding on a local bike trail leaving from Clinton, NJ.

Previous rides have encountered icy, snowy, muddy, freezing rain, and sometimes a nice clear trail under a full mood. The snow storm followed by freezing rain the day before last night's ride made for one of the more challenging rides. True to form, I rode my fixed gear commuter bike 12 miles to the start. This ride in itself would have been adventure enough to qualify for the Longest Night as once the freezing rains the previous night had ended, the temperature had dropped into the teens and had never risen above 25 degrees the following day leaving the roads pretty much a packed slush that had been coated over by a layer of slick ice. The photo is a representative photo that I took on my way back. The 700c Nokian Hakkapeliita W106's 35mm performed flawlessly on the ice, with the 106 nickel-carbide studs doing their stuff.

At Clinton I met up with four other riders and we managed to make it approximately 2 miles down the path before we broke out the celebratory "goodies." The conditions were so slow-going that slips and falls were minimal. One pretty pretty much came to a halt even while pedaling. The only observed fall occurred just after the turnaround and may have been attributed more to a little too much "holiday cheer" rather than the deep snow conditions. On the return trip, on some of the softer, deeper stretches, a couple of us found that we could make better time if we just got off of the bikes and walked. This was also a lot less work, as well.

While we all had a great adventure, and will remember the ride with fond memories, all of us were happy to see the ride end safely back in Clinton and rather than meet for the end of the ride meal at Pizza Como, we all opted to part our ways and head home for some warm recovery fluids. My ride back home was pretty much uneventful and I preferred the iced roads - including the 14% climb up out of High Bridge - over 0% grade of the deep snow along the bike path along the old railroad bed.

Dark Moon 200K - Saturday, December 6th, 2008

We had 12 riders start out the ride and eleven successfully completed the brevet.



The one rider who abandoned, pretty much figured they were under-dressed at the start but managed to use their DNF as a "learning experience' for future brevets. Several of the finishers, came to the realization that, although the conditions never got much above freezing and they'd probably had preferred riding in Florida to the "high teens and middle twenties" that they experienced during the brevet, had they had a warm place to sleep, they probably could have gone on to successfully complete a 1200K in these conditions. A couple are also contemplating working on a training schedule for this year's Iditabike!

Those who saw fit to use their full time allotment of 13.5 hours for the brevet were rewarded with a couple of hours of pelting ice and snow for the last two hours f th ride with approximately 1/2 inch of snow accumulation by the end of the ride. I had my own unique problems - which provided an excellent learning experience and as time permits I'll post a ride report.