30 June 2024
Summer is what, a week old, and we're stuck inside again. At least we got a break yesterday.
The rain that was earlier forecast for Saturday held off long enough for us to get a morning ride in. I'd plotted an inland route from Pennington, never getting far from the start, in case the weather turned. A hadful of other rides were going out on Saturday too. My signups reached 7 then dropped to 4 by ride time.
"Your rides are intimidating," Heddy had told me last Wednesday. I suppose that's true, considering we've been climbing Mine Road in on the regular. On the other hand, everyone knows I lead from the back, and there are a lot of C+ folks in the club who tackle far worse every weekend.
So it shouldn't have surprised me that, when I rolled into the parking lot at 8:30 yesterday morning, everyone there was a B rider or better: Glen, Pete G, and Heddy. Tom, who is putting his hill legs back on after some time on the disabled list, was there to tag along until we turned onto Mine Road. "We might end up following you," I said.
Last week, I made the mistake of approximately mapping our hilly Nova Scotia day. Ridewithgps reported some 15-16% climbs. Ridewithgps always underestimates. I alerted the gang, and two things happened: people reacted with gallows humor; and I stopped worrying so much. There's nothing around here that can replicate those grades, accurate or not, and, given the weather, there's little chance I'll be able to lead a ride up in Warren County where we could attempt to better torture ourselves ahead of time. No, the torture would have to be down here. Whatever shape I'm in come mid-August, that's the shape I'll be in. I'm not going to risk hurting my back or my knees or whatever. If I have to walk my bike, so be it. I'll be on vacation. With my camera.
The first big climb was Mine Road. I decided to look at the hill screen on my GPS as I was climbing. My device reported 14% at the steepest. Ridewithgps gives it an 8.1% as mapped and reports 9.1% after the fact. In other words, percent grade is up for grabs. Anyway, I was last up the hill. I refused to get into my lowest gear, 36-36. I'm saving that for Nova Scotia.
The next climb was Lindbergh, from Wertsville Road all the way to Route 518. I glanced down at my GPS during that last bit before the intersection with Hopewell-Amwell Road. It's one of those rare hills that's worse than it looks. My GPS gave it a 9%. The uploaded ride said 7.1%. The mapped route said 6%.
We had our rest stop at Boro Bean. There were at lest two other groups of bikers there at the time.
After that, we headed up Louellen and Van Dyke, then doubled back to Mountain Church. "This is a stupid route," I'd said to Pete earlier, after we'd done a similar curlicue in the lowlands of Pennington.
Our last climb was up New Road. I checked what my GPS was reporting for incline at what looked like the steepest part. I saw 9% at one point. The upload downgraded that, and the route map farther still. Clearly, if one wants to brag, one must choose the readout from one's GPS.
It's all relative, of course. Go with one metric and stay with it. It doesn't matter what the devices or maps say. As the legendary Matt Rawls used to tell* us, "You still gotta pedal!"
We had our eyes on the clouds as we crossed Route 31 into Pennington. We rounded the corner into the Twin Pines parking lot in barely a drizzle. "Perfect timing!" Glen said. That was it for rain until late last night.
Plain Jim had a no-pace, bring-your-favorite-bike ride planned for 8:00 a.m. today. I got Kermit ready. Kermit hasn't been out since late April. When my alarm went off at 6:10 this morning, I checked my email to find that the ride was canceled by rain. I called up Passo Pardoi on Rouvy; my back called it quits after 45 minutes.
It's so humid out right now that all of our windows are opaque with condensation. The heat index is 96 degrees. We're under a heat advisory and a severe thunderstorm watch. Tomorrow is supposed to be breathable again. I'll ride Miss Piggy to work.
(*He also used to say, "Laurie loves the hills!," which is as untrue today as it was back then.)
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