gomango

It'll happen!

Should be a hoot and a half.

photogravity

I have beer for when y'all arrive back. Six different kinds from which to choose. I heard from Rudi a little bit ago and am now waiting for the peloton to appear.

Prowler 

I'm sorry that I missed seeing you again but the 60 mile circuit was the right choice for me. I just did not have the other 40 miles in me this time. BUT:

Rudi really did an outstanding job planning and leading this ride. The weather was just PERFECT and the roads were great. Lots of variety from peaceful farm roads to scenic rides round the lake to upscale neighborhoods to down scale back woods hovels. Variety all the time and, except for in the "Pinies" the road surfaces were great. The Pinies were a fine adventure, quiet forest, lots of scenery and even some pretty scary sections with weird Druid like amulets hung in lone trees in the middle of nowhere, strange metallic sounds like chains dragging on the ground, spooky hissing sounds and creepy yellow headed creatures lurking behind the trees. Jersey Devils? Donno, didn't stick around.

The lunch stop was a perfect place though the gale force winds coming off the fields were enough to blow the water bottles off the tables. Fresh cooked to order food was well received as we enjoyed the breezy sunshine and prepared for the final leg. A few guys were so fueled by the great food that they decided on an unplanned extra 5 miles to burn off energy. Rudi would have none of that though and ran em down and turned them like a cowboy turning stray cattle. Nice job. Don't mess with Rudi. Plan A is the ONLY plan.

I packed it in at the 81 mile point and got home around 6:15p and got all the animals fed before dark. I know that the cell phone cameras were real busy with photo Ops, artsy landscapes and plenty of selfies. Many of these are likely to be posted soon. I'm a luddite so had no camera.

Thanks again everyone. Great to meet Robbie and Doc and Neal and James and Phil and to see Rudi again. Excellent company for such a trip.

pastorbobnlnh 

@Prowler you were in good company! Glad you had a grand time across the Delaware in NJ and survived the Pinies. BTW, you should write a ballad about this adventure.

My plans for an epic ride here in the FL pan handle were thwarted by the weather. Heavy rain and thunderstorms kept my ride to 20 miles. Mrs. PB was worried so I stayed close by and did a couple of circuits before the heaviest rain and lightening arrived. I got back just before the bad stuff hit.

Hopefully one day next week. Can't wait for the pictures.

Ed.

Pix or it didn't happen.

RobbieTunes

Or a L'efse?

RobbieTunes

Enjoyed the ride, photogravity's beer, and meeting everyone.
Excellent ride, course, and weather. Pine Barrens were extremely cool.

rhm did a heck of a job, and is quick with a wrench.

Headwind is a PITA.

Beer is good, pizza is good.

A.Winthrop was a treat to meet.

Bikes today:
Fotheringill
Web Mason
Raleigh
Cinelli
Fuji S-10S
Lotus
Merckx

All steel, all real.
Not a brifter in the bunch.

Breakfast was excellent, Lunch was excellent, dinner was excellent.

100 miles is a long way.

Vonruden

Sounds like a great time, wish I could have made it...next year for sure. I can't wait to see pics.

Phil_gretz

It was a great day. I really enjoyed the camaraderie. It cannot be overstated what a terrific ride leader Rudi is. And that the bikes were pretty, of course. I agree with Robbie, the wind was relentless returning.

One of the best parts, always, is to discover just how interesting and accomplished our BF members are. What a great bunch of guys with whom to spend a day riding. The best...

seedsbelize 

Nothing like a good, strong headwind on the back side of a century. Separates the wheat from the chaff.
But I thought this was a 200 km ride.

rhm

Well, thanks, guys! I can't tell you how gratified I am that everyone enjoyed the ride! And not just that, 'cuz I knew it was going to be a neat bunch of cool people, but after the after party my wife was equally impressed by what nice people they were (yes, I mean all these strangers I had invited into our home).

Now, as to photos.... Any of you participants who don't want your photo plastered all over the interwebs, please gimme shout and I'll take them down pronto.

The Delaware River at Trenton; Pennsylvania on the left, NJ on the right, and some old guys with old bikes.


Action shots deep in the Pine Barrens:



How many bike forum members does it take to fix a flat tire?


What causes flat tires, anyway?


Among the highlights, not shown, we saw an eagles' nest complete with its proprietors, one in the nest, the other on a branch just above... I suspect Doc has a photo of that.

Among the not-such-a-highlights, a total of four flat tires (only one of which was on my bike, though as I have often stated on this forum, I am a magnet for flat tires; no doubt the other riders were afflicted by my bad tire mojo). Also, my chain bounced off my derailleur once (it's a primitive early derailleur on which this is possible). Worse, one sudden Pine Barrens bump caused the circlip spring that holds the cog(s) onto my Sturmey Archer hub to pop off its groove, jamming the cogs and chain. That was a real head scratcher, and caused a delay of twenty minutes or so. You could say it's what I get for riding a 75 year old bike, but the truth is I just put it together in the last months and the fault must be entirely my own.

iab

Nice pictures. More please.

rhm

I have a few more, but they are essentially different takes on the same themes above. I tried to keep stops to a minimum, so the photos tend to show six people standing around while one person futzes with a bike.

Despite my efforts at keeping stops to a minimum, ridewithgps shows 7 hours 21 minutes moving time, 4 hours 24 minutes stopped! That includes breakfast, rest stops, mechanical stops, lunch, etc... but still, amazing how it adds up, huh?

rccardr 

More pics! First, the bikes:
Rudi's Fotheringill

Jim's Merckx Corsa Extra, which he painted over the past winter

Robbie's Lotus, pretty much original and very snappy

Phil's Fuji S-10-S

Carla the Amazing Wondersteed


For some reason didn't get a shot of Neal's Wes Mason, but it will appear later on somewhere.
Group shot of The Six Hard Men (TSHM) at the Delaware River, just prior to plunging into the NJ undergrowth:

rccardr 

Said undergrowth.
TSHM gazing out into the natural beauty of the banks of New Jersey

And across the canal at a eagle's nest. Hard to see, but the nest itself is at the very center of the picture. Seemed larger when we were there...


Wait a minute, here's the picture of Neal with his Mason. Proof positive that he can ride rings around us with his eyes closed!


Sadly, no pictures of breakfast or the Astonishing Cheese Danish. At about Mile 25 we met up with Todd at Waln Mill. Lovely place, and all of the water was potable, a surprise feature that was exclaimed over multiple times. I guess maybe in New Jersey that's not always the case?


At one point I did catch Carla gazing longingly in the direction of said potable substance, so perhaps there's more to this than I understand


Onward. A brief stop around mile 45 while we waited for a few riders to re-group after Flat #1 caused by a Truly Significant Pothole. Allow me to mention that this was the only WaWa I've ever seen that did NOT have a restroom. Clearly not an establishment that caters to the elderly gentleman crowd.


Todd's nice Raleigh. He claimed that he had repainted parts of the frame, but I couldn't find where the old stopped and the new started. Great job!
The Trash/Recycle crop was suggested by Neal, who pointed out that it was totally appropriate to the ride.

lotekmod

I'll reiterate that Rudi did an outstanding job organizing this event and picking the route. For those of you who only know the New Jersey portrayed in bad reality TV shows, don't be fooled, it isn't called the Garden State for nothing. We passed through some beautiful historic towns, rode along the Delaware river, through endless farms, and onto some eerily unused roads in the Pine Barrens. The only thing less than perfect were the winds, but hey, that's nature.

Everyone I met was awesome, just really great people and riders on really nice bikes. I'm already looking forward to the next ride!

Forum members who couldn't make it this time- Don't miss the next one!

rccardr 

And so, into the Pine Barrens, home of the Pinies (Pineys?), the Jersey Devil, and our only really serious mechanical problem, which Rudi mentioned in his travelogue earlier on this thread. What he didn't mention was the amazing number of odd-sized tools that were immediately produced from various capacious saddle bags in order to effectuate the repair.


This is Rudy knowing exactly what the problem is and precisely how to fix it


This is Robbie distracting Rudi and suggesting that perhaps a Whitworth Hammer would be an appropriate repair alternative. Rudi is understandably skeptical.


Meanwhile, Neal is showing off his sporty Barrens duds and newly acquired sunglasses. Carla lounges in the pine needles behind him.

rccardr 

Again, onward, finally and eventually and after two more flats, to Lunch at Budd's Farm Market. By then the wind was picking up strongly and we were bucking significant headwinds and crosswinds. The rest of the ride was mainly through farm country (which, as Jim has pointed out above, was really lovely), which meant fewer trees and less windbreak. So we sat and ate and got good and stiff for a while.

Several of us had root beer while awaiting the preparation of our repast. Rudi appears to be wondering whether I am drinking my Stewarts at a greater rate than he is consuming his.

Is he thinking he can take a long pull and then switch bottles?

And why is Robbie, as usual, looking so...jovial?


That's it for the pictures. We had another flat somewhere along the way, I led a small contingent of TSHM astray for additional bonus miles, Rudi rescued us and saved the day, we dropped Todd off at Waln Mill, and somehow wound up back at Rudi's for beer and pizza and schnauzers and Rudi's wife Jennifer, and Andy Winthrop and Photogravity (thanks for the beer, Dallas!) and a very nice evening of slow descent into exhausted sleep.

Couldn't make it? Your loss. This was...epic.

nlerner

Great pics, Rudi and Doc! It was great to ride with you all. Too bad I don't see my missing sunglasses on that pic of me with my eyes closed along the Delaware. Or maybe the NJ Devil took them before or after he sent a staple through your red tire and otherwise managed to puncture Phil and Rudi's tubes.

I was asleep shortly before 10 in my Howard Johnson's motel room, planning on a 5:30 wake up to hit the road by 6. After what felt like a reasonably restful sleep amid the usual motel noise, I got up to pee and figured I'd turn on the coffee maker; good thing I checked the clock as it was only 12:30 am! I did manage to go back to sleep at that point, and felt quite rested at my 5:30 wake up. I'm a bit sore and stiff today, but my bike ride to the grocery store stretched me out some. I'm hoping this was the first of a monthly century series until at least Sept.

non-fixie 

Thanks for the reports and the pictures, guys. Sometimes I wish the Atlantic was a bit narrower.

RobbieTunes

As usual, I charged everything up the night before, and as usual, must have left something "on."
My 3.00 Chinese blinky let me down, so I borrowed one of Rudi's. My helmet/bar cam worked for a while, and I'll try to retrieve the video.

It was a good day.

We left early, as if Rudi had to catch a train, or was late for breakfast.

I wasn't sure which, but we had a superb breakfast, a shame to have to leave.
Breakfast was our first restroom stop as a group. Maybe we should have tipped more....

Then, it was on to meet Todd, who was not at all annoyed that we showed up.
After that, the meat of the ride, and I found out there really is a store called Wa Wa.

We encountered our first minor hills, and Phil shared wisdom with me.
In return, I lied to him about how good he'd eventually feel.

Lunch was an interesting place, excellent. Seems like it made itself known quickly.

After that, more of the perpetual headwind, a flat, and we split up.
I was told "Robbie, we have a situation." Seems the fearless lead group went astray.
Rudi gave chase, while Todd and I, smug in our correctness (always follow Rudi) thoroughly enjoyed a few miles of tailwind.

Back to the bucolic farm, where my intended nap was rudely interrupted by the return of the strays.
I went ahead and drank the potable water, and we bid Todd safe travels.

At that point, Rudi advised of the inevitable slog home, a simple 17-18 miles.
My body begged to differ about 10 miles later.

Phil picked me up with water, and Doc gave me some kind of highly condensed chewable coffee.
We then tightened up and took it in.

After a shower to regain humanity, I met the affable photogravity and the honorable A.Winthrop.

Rudi has a wonderful family, especially to allow such heathen into their realm.

First ride I've ever been on where every bike is steel, and that was taken for granted.
I sure didn't miss the clickety modern wheels, the rattle of carbon, or the whine of more modern riders.
It is surprising how quiet a bunch of C&V bikes really are.
This may sound funny, but there's no way, to me, this ride would have been as good on a modern bike.

I can't say enough about Rudi's leadership throughout the day, his hospitality, and choice in pizza toppings.
He told me things about chocolate milk I sure didn't know.

The only regret I have is there is never enough time.

Doc and I headed back this morning, vowing to do this again.
It's not like we're getting younger.

My wife asked "how was it?"

My reply?
"Well, we all have our own issues, our friends, relatives, etc. Then, once in a while, I get to go and meet truly good folk, and I'm belittled by my own pettiness."

Only for a moment. I'll be back, full ornery, tomorrow.

iab

You didn't give him enough beer and food. How many times do we have to tell you. Beer, food, beer, food, beer, food, beer, food, and so on and so on.


DSC_0043 by iabisdb, on Flickr

jethin

Looks like a good time was had by all. I'd be proud to ride with that high class posse any day. Next time...

ScottRyder 

Great photos! Looks like everyone had a great time.


Scott

pastorbobnlnh 

What a great looking bunch! "TSHM" is perfect!

Just 'splain one thing: Why was @photogravity present in NJ but not on the ride? Just to serve beer? Dallas, a beer wench?