To Be Or Not To Be

Today's ride was not to be.

On and off again, I've been modifying a front fender for my mountain bike.  Riding in the puddles of Mercer County Park has soaked me, and I thought fenders would not be a bad idea.  The rear clamps to the seat post, and the front secures under the fork crown.

Last night I also received a couple emails from Chris and John who were riding mountain bikes in the forecast snowfall the next morning.  I made plans to meet them at Six Mile Run Reservoir Trails.  The following video is courtesy of Video Trails Review.


This morning, I finished installing the front fender on my mountain bike in a huge rush, grabbed my gear, and ran out the door.  I told Dale that I like to test ride repairs before driving a ways to meet others for a ride.  She suggested a quick trial in our parking lot.  A good idea that ended in a crash within ten feet.  When my front fork shock compresses, the tire smashes into the fender mount and locks the wheel.  I broke my camera mount off the bike frame in this same parking lot fall, so no video of today's fiasco.

I ran back upstairs to drop off the mountain bike and grab the cyclocross bike.  On the way out the door, I asked Dale to email Chris and John that I was late and to not wait in the cold for me.  The CX bike would not be ideal for where I was headed, but I could still meet Chris and John for the ride in the forecast snowfall.  Since I had never been to Six Mile, I bollixed getting there and arrived half an hour after the planned meeting time.  Fortunately, Chris and John did not wait.  I started out the trail in the hopes of running into them, and I still wanted to ride anyway.

I struggled for nearly a mile and could not keep my chain on.  It would just fall off, like a dozen times.

OK, I've given it a good go, but now I need to try and get back to the car.  Once back at the car, I put on my glasses and found a damaged chain link from a previous ride when a stick jammed in the rear changer.  OK, I'll remove the damaged link with my chain tool from my tool bag, and still ride and maybe meet Chris and John on their way in.  When I broke my chain tool after half an hour of fussing with the chain, I threw in the towel.

Today's ride was not to be.

I've now removed the offending fender from my mountain bike; the camera mount was not actually "broken" but rather unceremoniously "removed" when I fell, so now that bike is repaired and the camera remounted.

I bought a new chain tool and a "missing link" and repaired the cross bike, so I'll give this another go.
Someday

New Bike for Christmas!

My Honey Boo bought me a bike for Christmas!

Finally a Successful Mountain-Bike Ride in NJ!!

Sure my adventures mimicking a drunken U-Boat commander/swamp buggy driver were entertaining, but not the sort of thing that I wanted to repeat.  This evening was a success!  I rode over to Mercer County Park and successfully found/followed/rode some terrific trails.  Single-track, technical from roots, mud holes, and log piles.  Well, yes, of course I did fall once, but that is fairly requisite to count as a good effort.  I definitely will be repeating this ride and exploring more trails in the area I rode for the first time today.  I tracked it with mapmyride.com here:  http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/100916099

No pictures; just hanging on for dear life.

To Alpaca, Or Not To Alpaca

So I went out with OLPH the other day for a personal guided tour to a nice ride from my house.
Why didn't I think of this before!!
Why didn't my personal shopper at Neiman Marcus think to suggest this to me??
The New Jersey Transit Bus routes have not produced the pleasant cycling experience I was seeking, and OLPH promised me a field full of alpacas and a lovely loop.  Twenty miles of winding roads in 80 degrees and 80 percent humidity later, we get a cardboard cut-out of an alpaca.  They knew not to be out that day.

OK, you can't blame your ride leader when she saw a whole mess of 'em last weekend and they decide to stay inside with the air-conditioning and the PlayStation.

However, we did come across a ride leader seriously lacking.  Choose your ride leader carefully as I did.

OLPH checked online to find out that the store usually targeted for snacks, water, bathroom was closed that weekend.  When we arrived on our way to the next best rest stop in the area, we discovered 8 or so riders milling about the middle of the road.  The ride leader was bitching that the store was closed and suggesting that any riders needing a bathroom just head to the back of the store and piss on it.

Nice.

OLPH tried to tell the other ride leader where we were heading just down the road . . .

and he cut her off: "I have a route."  I thought to myself: ya, a well planned route I see.

So we excused ourselves and headed to a Dunkin Donuts for iced coffee, clean bathroom, and fairly poor tasting well water for our water bottles.  As we were almost ready to leave, about half of the other group of riders mutinied the alleged ride leader and showed up at DD.

Choose your ride leader carefully.

Hi, remember me?  Well this entire move across the country, make a home, get a job, has pretty much filled my dance card.  I have been the Executive Assistant to the Dean, Rutgers Business School for about two months now.  It is a terrific position with much to do and plenty of opportunities for growth and professional development.

I have done hardly any cycling or working-out since moving, but have begun finally.  Each ride until lately has been an adventure with little to do with my initial planned route, but I am slowly learning the roads here.  This weekend was a good one.  On Saturday, I joined in the May Birthdays Ride.  I rode with Laura, Jim, and 14 other Princeton Freewheelers (the bike club that I joined before leaving California).  Maybe 4 people on the ride had birthdays in May.  It was a good, flat, 43 miles.  When we all returned to Laura's house after the ride; there was quite the birthday feast and merriment.

The next day, I rode a 37 by myself.  I have always enjoyed riding alone and this was a good one.  Laura has been helping me map out good routes on the quieter roads.  It was the second day of perfect weather and I got in probably something around 2,500 feet of climbing and descending in that 37 miles.  I did not take any pictures or stop except to try and remove some serious oobleck that my tires picked up and I smeared all over my hand trying to remove the gravel sticking to my tires.

Ya.  That's just about how my hand looked.  I'm telling myself that it was plant-based natural sap oobleck.  Here are a couple pictures that I took in Hopewell from a previous ride.

It was a great weekend with 80 miles of cycling, and some quality time both days with Dale and Macy.