Velognome 

2 years ago out of Boundbrook the gravel was "refreshed" for about 10 horrible miles. It's pea gravel an inch or so deep. Past that it was hard-pack to Trenton. It's a very nice fall ride ride on the weekdays, I think it may get busy on weekends.

rhm

Yeah, I've ridden a 1/2 mile section several hundred times (part of my commute) and another 5 to 15 mile section of it, up to Griggstown or so, many many times as well. It's perfectly rideable. Rather nice. Where there's a road paralleling it, such as river road, the latter is preferable. It's barely two miles from my house. Full of pedestrians on weekends, though!

eddubal

There is actually a road route (Northern Route) either way that is fairly simple and seems fairly decent (don't know about hills) that follows the canal path which could end in or around Princeton that might be a good alternate. If anyone knows a good place in Princeton to meet, this might be a good place for a C&V "rumble."

rhm

I'm just a few miles south of Princeton, so my house is an option. There's another forum member who lives in Princeton proper; a few pf us have met at his house before. But he's made himself scarce on C&V lately.

And then there's Triumph Brewpub. Good beer. I'm not sure what their hours are.

marley mission

rhm - i'm in monroe so pretty close to you - hope there are others that can join a good group ride - i'm mostly lone wolf - which i like - i was wonderin - what kinda pace you all ride at - i log alot of miles (200+ / weekly) but tend to ride rather slowly (14 - 15 mph) - i would hate to slow down a group looking to hammer

JunkYardBike

I'm thinking of possibly riding to the Tour of Somerville Monday. There and back to my place would be a 3/4 century ride. Or I may see if my wife and kids want to meet me there.

This is the road race that is widely regarded as the place where it all started for professional cycling in the US.

JunkYardBike

I'm not a hammer. I'm usually the nail.

eddubal

I think we're pretty chill about the pace. We usually don't ride C&V to hammer. Okay, short sprints maybe, but we don't drop. It's a fun ride on interesting rides. I wouldn't call it a "family" style ride, but we don't mind waiting and grooving on each other's rides while the slower ones catch up. That's part of the fun.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

well put. I got my Dawes all tuned up for tomorrow in the swamp. Useless brakes and all (they're actually slowly improving...but they still are awful by any standard)

14-15 mph is like a fast cruising speed for most of the rides we've done. In general we probably average around 13mph I'd guess...i dont really know. Roadies generally pass us. We had a Guy on a mountain bike drop us last time, but we did catch up to him when he ran out of cork. Hills are a personal affair. Do em at whatever pace suits ya and we always regroup somewhere near the top or not long after that.

JunkYard, I got nothing going on Monday. It's 40 miles from me to Somerville. Lemme see how I'm feelin tomorrow afternoon and perhaps I will meet ya down that way. Are you gonna ride route 206?

marley mission

good to know guys - this weekend is turning out to be busy for me but summer should make it much easier to find some time to join one of these jersey rides

JunkYardBike

Nah, thogh I think the shoulder is decent through some of the area. I'd ride backroads through Chester then Mendham/Peapack Road, then Liberty Corner and Somerville and somesuch roads. Unfortunately, that would make the ride longer for you if you're coming from Sparta.

rhm

In October, Junkyardbike, Zaphod, and I met in Princeton and did a metric century, finishing up with dinner in Princeton. Want to do a repeat performance on Monday?

Marley, your riding style sounds like it would suit me fine. I commute 90+ miles weekly and often don't get out for any rec riding on the weekend.

Alternately we could start at Griggstown Causeway, or Millstone, or Neshanic Station, or....

I may even, possibly, borrow the car and drive to start point.

eddubal

Well, we had a good albeit Hot ride in the great swamp. ZB mapped out a good route but we did get turned around a couple of times. I found out when I got home that Bikeroutetoaster sometimes puts little appendixes on your route while you're mapping it which really screws with your cue sheet. We went almost 5 miles more than expected, but ended with a fun downhill that Zaphod sadly got stuck at a light in the middle of.

I hope I didn't push things too much. I know I had a much easier time pushing appreciably longer cranks. We did swap at one point and the Dawes is a fun bike. It was the first time that I had ridden a Brooks saddle as well as use mustache bars. I found out both were actually very comfortable to use and I was surprise how soft the Brooks was. My only memories of a leather saddle had been on my dad's old UO8 which was probably shot by the time I was able to ride it.

All in all a good time that we're going to have to try again sometime.

marley mission

sounds like you guys had a great time - so looking forward to a ride - millstone is my stomping grounds - great riding

ColonelJLloyd 

Glad you all had a nice ride.




I waited for you. When you didn't show I set off for home but got a little turned around.

Thankfully some friendly folks drove by and, when they could tell I was lost, invited me to join them for some local seafood. Nice "gated" community.

-holiday76

Octaweiners!

rhm

Mocktapus!

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

looks like i missed out on a lovely ride there Col. sorry!

Its these damn Bike route toaster directions. They keep putting nonsense turns on the cue sheet! ...otherwise I would have been right there eating SquidFurters with ya.

eddubal, I had a blast and I'd love to do that route again now that we know how it goes and what to expect. It turned out really well and Honestly I think if we'd had more water and slightly cooler weather both of us had enough steam to do another loop when we got back Glad you liked the Dawes. How'd ya like that suicide Front Derailleur? eddubal's Peugeot was really nicely outfitted for easy cruising. And comfortable to boot. I would have fit just fine if I dropped the saddle a bit, but when you mentioned the Cyclo RD was acting funny on the Dawes I went all mother hen and had to switch back! in my defense I had just done a bunch of service to the cable and shifter mechanism the previous day and I would have really kicked myself if it broke so soon!

JunkYardBike

Okay, for the central jersey folks:

This Sunday, June 5, weather permitting, I'll be joining a friend at 7am in Princeton for a metric century that will do some climbing in the Sourlands. Nothing too terrible, but there will be hills. An early start to beat the heat.

If you're interested, let me know and I'll PM you with the start location.

eddubal

That suicide shifter was freaky! I felt like I was bent-over double to reach it! Definitely takes getting used to.

Don't worry about mother-henning it. That's the last thing that I wanted to do is to help rebuild a cyclo on the side of the road.

I should have taken a third or fourth bottle of water. I ended up drinking another 64 oz after the ride and was still ready for more. I did find out QuickChek iced tea is less expensive than bottled water!

Fun ride and ready for more. We should do some tweaking and we'll have an epic ride in the swamp.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

I agree, that swamp is a great place to ride.

rhm

I'm in! Who else?

I will try to leave the house a couple hours early and get some miles in before we meet up... maybe I can knock off my June century this way. If not... June is young yet.

JunkYardBike

Or just take us on a detour and whistle innocently the entire way...

rhm

That's 'Plan B.' Don't tell you-know-who.

JunkYardBike

I'm not worried about you-know-who, I'm worried about me. Keep an eye on your bike, or you might encounter some mysterious mechanical issues that will have you reconsidering the length of the ride.