Just finished 207 Mile ride (and I need to brag ;-) Long - Page 5 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-15-2004, 07:25 AM

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungry!)

Congrats! Nothing like doing a double.

You'll probably be hungry for a couple of days.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Please replace earthlink for mouse-potato and .net for .com
Home of the meditative cyclist:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
See the books I've set free at: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

06-15-2004, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the story. That really sounds like fun. I enjoyed the read.

Curt

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungery!) after riding what
> I'm told is an easy double century. It's run by the Central Jersey
> Bike Club (NJ, USA) and it's called the Longest Day (it's held near
> the summer equinox). It's really kind of funny because if you talk to
> people who are not cyclist (and a few who are) they hear '207 miles in
> one day' and think your nuts. Talk to people who have ridden doubles
> and they'll poo-poo it as being easy. Uhm, it's still 200 and 7 miles
> :-). Anyway this is my fourth time doing this and I'd completed it
> with an average rolling speed of 15.6, 16.2, 16.8 and Saturday's 17.7
> mph! Now the story I'm about to tell is from my point of view, none of
> the names are change but I may exaggerate the truth a bit. I'll just
> blame it delirium from too many mile and not enough food. ;-) Yeah
> that sounds good. Also times are estimated but start finish and avg
> speed are real.
>
> So to everyone who did it, congratulations!
>
> Start time: 4:07 AM
> Finish time: 6:54 PM
> Avg. speed: 17.7 mph
>
> Well another Longest Day has passed and hopefully so will the aches
> and pains. :-)
>
> There were 4 members on our team:
>
> Gina - the fastest and strongest member of our team, It's her job to
> drag the old men's butts home. Which she enjoys too much. :-)
>
> Mark - sort of the team captain because he had more experience with
> the ride than any of us (5 times and no common sense ;-).
>
> Dennis - a fast tri-athlete who decided to give a double a try this is
> his first. But he learned fast not to do this ride again. We
> helped him train for his first Longest Day and only neglected
> to mention one thing ...
>
> Greg - our SAG driver. I think he just likes to watch is torture our
> selves. He doesn't get enough credit for his work supporting
> our ride.
>
> and me - I'm the time keeper. I count to 90 and told the person on the
> front of the pace line to come off the front. Yes I did this
> all day long (just call me the Count ;-). I have 4 Longest
> Days and about the same amount of common sense as Mark.
>
>
> 03:00 - We got up and got ready for the ride, we weren't sleeping anyway
> as some 'dang fool' cyclists wouldn't shut up all night!
>
> 04:00 - We're on the road again, it was a dark, 45F and foggy night
> and it was cold! I hate the cold. We rode through the hills in
> Western NJ, these ain't mountains folks, near High Point, NJ.
> Yes, there's not much there so we created a state park around
> the highest point in NJ ;-). These hills kept us slow at the
> beginning. Now might be a good time to point out that I hate
> the cold as flying down these hills at 40+ mph was near
> impossible because of the wind chill! Did I say I hate the
> cold!
>
> 05:35 - The sun was scheduled to rise but it was late due to being
> stuck in Northern NJ traffic and the fog!
>
> 06:30 - Gina demonstrates a new use for McDonalds hot coffee as a foot
> warmer. She put the hot cup up to her feet to warm them. Great
> idea, I wonder if it could be a selling point. At this time
> I'd like to point out that Chester McDonald's has the cleanest
> public restrooms we have ever used and the live flowers in the
> bathroom is a touch of class though it seems lost on me
> (McDonald's, clean restroom, touch of class - yep too much for
> me). BTW, it's still cold!
>
> 06:45 - We're on the rolling hills of Rt 206 between Bridgewater and
> Chester. We're flying at speeds up to 40 miles an hour.
> Traffic still curses us out and flies by us even though we're
> not slowing them down.
>
> 07:30 - We pick up a few stragglers who tag on to our faster pace
> line. There are 4 guys and 3 ladies. At some point a car pulls
> up a propositions the ladies. The leader declines as she is
> married but offer the youngest as sacrifice. :-) We
> eventually pick up the pace a bit and we lose the ladies. We
> manage to keep one gentleman (Tom? Matt?) who hangs with us.
>
> 08:00 - 2 racers on time trail bikes blow by us. We are tempted to
> give chase but figure they're on a casual 40 mile ride and
> decide we have better things to do.
>
> 08:05 - We catch the racers without trying, our egos are boosted. :-)
>
> 09:15 - With a nice pace line down canal road We're in Kingston in no
> time, the 17 year Cicadas can be heard in near by Princeton.
> It sounds exactly like a bad 1950's movie with Peter Graves
> and giant grasshoppers. Anyway Tom decided to go back to find
> his other team member, I think there was some miscommunication
> on their part there. We thanked him and we got on our way to
> Allentown.
>
> 09:45 - We're in Plainsboro at a stop sign at a busy intersection. I
> kind motorist lets us through, we are confused. We figure
> they're not from around here and doubt we'll ever see one
> again. ;-)
>
> 10:00 - Tummies grumbling, 10 mile to go till the lunch stop. We pick
> up the pace, food is a great motivator especially when you can
> eat whatever you want and not worry about whether it will kill
> you. Think about it we're riding in NJ traffic all day for 207
> miles.
>
> 10:30 - It's Allentown NJ, lunch time and we've just completed 100
> miles. We're half way there. My arms hurt, my back hurts and
> my neck hurts. Boy are they going to feel wonderful when we
> get done. Some people think the glass is half full, some half
> empty, I wonder why the bartender hasn't started pouring yet.
> My wife is there with my 2 dogs and I try to sit down as my
> Chow Chow Taz drags me to every tree to sniff and mark. I
> thought my arm was sore earlier, I was mistaken! I hand Taz
> back to my wife who correct him with a stern voice and he
> listens. Hmph!
>
> 10:45 - Now Allentown is wonderful busy place, cyclist love to stop
> there. But we were slight impressed with the porta-potty with
> the Auto Shopper as reading material. Not as classy as Chester
> McDonald's but still unusual. At this point I apply Coppertone
> Sport spray on sun block. This stuff works but I should have
> probably paid more attention to the evenly part. It's now a
> nice sunny breezy day great day for a picnic. One last thing
> to do and that is to apply 'Butt Buttr' (chamios creme).
>
> 10:50 - We're on the road again and we begin a fun fill pace line at
> 21 mph.
>
> 12:00 - We pick up a new stranger, John. He's tall and riding solo or
> just hitching rides with fast groups. Which is a good idea as
> the wind is out of the East and South-East which is a cross
> wind head wind combination. We continue at 21 mph, wind be
> damned!
>
> 12:30 - Some where around here we remember seeing a park, a beautiful
> park with nice shady trees, clean bathrooms and paved
> roads. We keep riding
>
> 13:00 - We still haven't found the park and I can't take the pace no
> more as I am about to bonk (no it doesn't mean that). So we
> stop and the solo rider proceeds on without us. I proceed to
> devour food, water, Gatorade and any hand that gets in my
> way.
>
> BTW, we're now in the Pine Barrens, it's pretty. Now a note
> for those who are not familiar with NJ other than Port
> Elizabeth, the Oil refineries and Newark Airport. Really the
> rest of NJ doesn't look like that. We also have lots of
> farms. Most are now growing houses but we still have lots of
> farms. The particular section we were in can only describe it
> as a Desert with Pine trees! ;-) Once your in the Pine
> Barrens you will see Pine trees, white sand, Blueberry farms,
> white sand, Cranberry bogs, white sand and the road ahead of
> you. You don't want to stop there because the sun will beat
> down on you and you will shrivel up in the heat (I like it
> there at least it's warm). If you must stop you will deal with
> ticks, snakes, Mosquitoes (NJ's state bird), Pine flies, Green
> Heads (a swat won't kill these things), snapping turtles,
> no-see-ums, and the Jersey Devil, who I am told, considers
> 'Butt-Buttr' like steak sauce. Hmmm. At this time Mark's tire
> explodes (pinch flat) and I decide it's not my problem as I
> continue to eat.
>
> 13:05 - Mark has been arguing with his tire for 5 minutes. He's got it
> back together but he notes that the tube remained under the
> tire bead no mater what he did. I being the team mechanic (I
> can count and fix things, too bad I can't tell a story worth a
> dang) I was elected to figure out what to do. After a bit of
> fidgeting with the tire I managed to get the tube to come out
> from under the bead. the only thing I did different was use
> different curse words. And with that magnificant triumph
> under my belt I proceeded to lay down on the hot pavement. It
> feels great as it loosens the muscles in my back.
>
> Now you've probably notice that I haven't complained about
> Pine flies, Green Heads or Mosquitoes. Well one of the nice
> benefits of a good wind is that flying bugs have difficulty
> flying in a good wind. Another benefit is tail wind, there's
> nothing better than a tail wind. Well we didn't get one of
> those!
>
> 13:10 - We're back on the rode again but we're only doing a 19 mph
> pace (what a relief).
>
> 13:35 - We found that great Park we saw last year! We must be getting
> old as it looks nothing like what we remembered and we decided
> to take our chances in the woods.
>
> 14:00 - We come across another team with one of our bike club members,
> Matt, with them. We say hello to Matt and he gets all wound up
> with hello's, how are you's and such. Matt is what some mihgt
> describe as a little hyper (and you might call the Atlantic a
> little lake ;-). Matt seemed quiet as we only heard him when
> they were a few hundred feet way and for a few hundered feet
> as he passed. :-) Actually I was very glad to hear Matt's
> voice as he brings a certain amount of energy, joy and
> enthusiasm to any 207 mile ride (I'm not sure I could handle
> him for much more than 210 miles ;-). I guess we were keeping
> about the same pace as they didn't seem to get far ahead of
> us. Despite that we decide that we should stay the course on
> not give into the temptation to give chase. Gina is the most
> disappointed.
>
> 15:30 - The team who passed us is now a few yards ahead of us. This
> game of 'I'm in front' will continue for the rest of the ride.
> :-)
>
> 15:35 - A motor cycle gentleman (loose term) takes kind note of
> Dennis' posterior, Gina is upset that he hasn't noted her
> figure and we explain that she's not his type. At this point I
> shut my mouth to any further comment as they would have:
>
> A) only put my foot in my mouth.
> B) got me in trouble with my wife
> C) left me stammering in stupidity
> D) led to the inevitable question "Does this make me look
> fat?" to which there is no correct answers only worsening
> wrong ones.
> E) All of the above.
>
> 16:00 - We are now having difficulty reeling Gina in. We've been
> pushing the pace and beating into a head wind for the last 50
> miles (with about 40 to go).
>
> 17:30 - Last call! We hit the WaWa at about mile 183. We hit the rest
> rooms (they're clean but nothing special) and tank up on
> caffeine and sugar. Other teams stop there and we talk about
> there day so far. Everyone seems to have had a pretty good
> day. Matt's team passes us for the last time.
>
> 17:45 - We're back on the bikes and begin another push of 19 mph. We
> want off the bikes and into clean clothes and lots of
> food. The wind begins to get stronger and I begin to notice it
> getting colder (I hate the cold!).
>
> 17:50 - Who put that @#$%! hill there. Some DOT engineer thought he'd
> be funny and put an over pass over the water way. What are
> they trying to do, kill us? ;-) A few more miles and we
> turned onto Rt 626. Nothing happened there.
>
> 18:30 - We just hit mile 200 and Dennis asks: 'Where's the
> lighthouse?'. We neglected to tell him that it's really 207
> miles, oops. Dennis is not a happy cyclist.
>
> 18:45 - We turn right and finally see the lighthouse, Only 3 more
> miles until we get off these @#$%! bikes. Dennis's spirits
> pick up as well as our pace. We figure it will only hurt for a
> few more minutes. Someone starts with 'Are we there yet' every
> couple of seconds. We pick up the pace further. ;-)
>
> 18:54 - We're done and we've beating our best speed and arrival
> time. We finished at almost a mile per hour faster and 1.5
> hour earlier. I have polka-dotted sun burn (remember apply
> evenly). So now I take inventory: only the sunburn on my arms
> hurt. My neck is burning (muscles not sunburn), my legs burn a
> bit but I can still walk, my lungs burn (I've never had that
> happen before) and I'd prefer not to sit on my bicycle seat
> for a while. I guess not too bad. So I drank over 450 oz of
> fluids (Gatorade, Coke and water), ate a Turkey sub with lots
> of mustard (Mmmmustard), 8 packets of GU, 3 power bars, a fig
> newton, a banana, 2 rice krispy treats, 2 hand fulls of gorp,
> several soy pretzels and 1 double caffeine mocha cliff shot (I
> hate the flavor but needed the caffeine). A rather light diet
> considering the mileage. But the love handles are still there,
> ARGH! And because we had arrived a full hour and half early
> the mosquitoes were going to be deprived of this meal of 4
> cyclists. BTW, may I note that we had 208 miles not 207 miles.
> Was that extra mile really necessary. OK so it's a .5 % error
> so we'll give it to them.
>
> Previously I mentioned the sun block and that it would become
> important later. Well, it's later. Apparently I had failed to
> apply it evenly to my arms and if I had been wearing the TdF
> polka dotted jersey it would have continued right down to my
> gloves. My face, neck, ears and legs were fine but I now have
> polka dotted arms. It wouldn't be so bad except I live in the
> flat lands and can't climb to save myself. ;-(
>
> So we headed down to Gina's parents place at the shore, where
> we had lots of good food and good company: Gina's parents,
> Gina's husband John, her cousin and his girl friend, Gina's
> conure and her father's conure. Gorgeous birds!
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Text only)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (SourceForge)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (HCS II)

06-15-2004, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the story. That really sounds like fun. I enjoyed the read.

Curt

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungery!) after riding what
> I'm told is an easy double century. It's run by the Central Jersey
> Bike Club (NJ, USA) and it's called the Longest Day (it's held near
> the summer equinox). It's really kind of funny because if you talk to
> people who are not cyclist (and a few who are) they hear '207 miles in
> one day' and think your nuts. Talk to people who have ridden doubles
> and they'll poo-poo it as being easy. Uhm, it's still 200 and 7 miles
> :-). Anyway this is my fourth time doing this and I'd completed it
> with an average rolling speed of 15.6, 16.2, 16.8 and Saturday's 17.7
> mph! Now the story I'm about to tell is from my point of view, none of
> the names are change but I may exaggerate the truth a bit. I'll just
> blame it delirium from too many mile and not enough food. ;-) Yeah
> that sounds good. Also times are estimated but start finish and avg
> speed are real.
>
> So to everyone who did it, congratulations!
>
> Start time: 4:07 AM
> Finish time: 6:54 PM
> Avg. speed: 17.7 mph
>
> Well another Longest Day has passed and hopefully so will the aches
> and pains. :-)
>
> There were 4 members on our team:
>
> Gina - the fastest and strongest member of our team, It's her job to
> drag the old men's butts home. Which she enjoys too much. :-)
>
> Mark - sort of the team captain because he had more experience with
> the ride than any of us (5 times and no common sense ;-).
>
> Dennis - a fast tri-athlete who decided to give a double a try this is
> his first. But he learned fast not to do this ride again. We
> helped him train for his first Longest Day and only neglected
> to mention one thing ...
>
> Greg - our SAG driver. I think he just likes to watch is torture our
> selves. He doesn't get enough credit for his work supporting
> our ride.
>
> and me - I'm the time keeper. I count to 90 and told the person on the
> front of the pace line to come off the front. Yes I did this
> all day long (just call me the Count ;-). I have 4 Longest
> Days and about the same amount of common sense as Mark.
>
>
> 03:00 - We got up and got ready for the ride, we weren't sleeping anyway
> as some 'dang fool' cyclists wouldn't shut up all night!
>
> 04:00 - We're on the road again, it was a dark, 45F and foggy night
> and it was cold! I hate the cold. We rode through the hills in
> Western NJ, these ain't mountains folks, near High Point, NJ.
> Yes, there's not much there so we created a state park around
> the highest point in NJ ;-). These hills kept us slow at the
> beginning. Now might be a good time to point out that I hate
> the cold as flying down these hills at 40+ mph was near
> impossible because of the wind chill! Did I say I hate the
> cold!
>
> 05:35 - The sun was scheduled to rise but it was late due to being
> stuck in Northern NJ traffic and the fog!
>
> 06:30 - Gina demonstrates a new use for McDonalds hot coffee as a foot
> warmer. She put the hot cup up to her feet to warm them. Great
> idea, I wonder if it could be a selling point. At this time
> I'd like to point out that Chester McDonald's has the cleanest
> public restrooms we have ever used and the live flowers in the
> bathroom is a touch of class though it seems lost on me
> (McDonald's, clean restroom, touch of class - yep too much for
> me). BTW, it's still cold!
>
> 06:45 - We're on the rolling hills of Rt 206 between Bridgewater and
> Chester. We're flying at speeds up to 40 miles an hour.
> Traffic still curses us out and flies by us even though we're
> not slowing them down.
>
> 07:30 - We pick up a few stragglers who tag on to our faster pace
> line. There are 4 guys and 3 ladies. At some point a car pulls
> up a propositions the ladies. The leader declines as she is
> married but offer the youngest as sacrifice. :-) We
> eventually pick up the pace a bit and we lose the ladies. We
> manage to keep one gentleman (Tom? Matt?) who hangs with us.
>
> 08:00 - 2 racers on time trail bikes blow by us. We are tempted to
> give chase but figure they're on a casual 40 mile ride and
> decide we have better things to do.
>
> 08:05 - We catch the racers without trying, our egos are boosted. :-)
>
> 09:15 - With a nice pace line down canal road We're in Kingston in no
> time, the 17 year Cicadas can be heard in near by Princeton.
> It sounds exactly like a bad 1950's movie with Peter Graves
> and giant grasshoppers. Anyway Tom decided to go back to find
> his other team member, I think there was some miscommunication
> on their part there. We thanked him and we got on our way to
> Allentown.
>
> 09:45 - We're in Plainsboro at a stop sign at a busy intersection. I
> kind motorist lets us through, we are confused. We figure
> they're not from around here and doubt we'll ever see one
> again. ;-)
>
> 10:00 - Tummies grumbling, 10 mile to go till the lunch stop. We pick
> up the pace, food is a great motivator especially when you can
> eat whatever you want and not worry about whether it will kill
> you. Think about it we're riding in NJ traffic all day for 207
> miles.
>
> 10:30 - It's Allentown NJ, lunch time and we've just completed 100
> miles. We're half way there. My arms hurt, my back hurts and
> my neck hurts. Boy are they going to feel wonderful when we
> get done. Some people think the glass is half full, some half
> empty, I wonder why the bartender hasn't started pouring yet.
> My wife is there with my 2 dogs and I try to sit down as my
> Chow Chow Taz drags me to every tree to sniff and mark. I
> thought my arm was sore earlier, I was mistaken! I hand Taz
> back to my wife who correct him with a stern voice and he
> listens. Hmph!
>
> 10:45 - Now Allentown is wonderful busy place, cyclist love to stop
> there. But we were slight impressed with the porta-potty with
> the Auto Shopper as reading material. Not as classy as Chester
> McDonald's but still unusual. At this point I apply Coppertone
> Sport spray on sun block. This stuff works but I should have
> probably paid more attention to the evenly part. It's now a
> nice sunny breezy day great day for a picnic. One last thing
> to do and that is to apply 'Butt Buttr' (chamios creme).
>
> 10:50 - We're on the road again and we begin a fun fill pace line at
> 21 mph.
>
> 12:00 - We pick up a new stranger, John. He's tall and riding solo or
> just hitching rides with fast groups. Which is a good idea as
> the wind is out of the East and South-East which is a cross
> wind head wind combination. We continue at 21 mph, wind be
> damned!
>
> 12:30 - Some where around here we remember seeing a park, a beautiful
> park with nice shady trees, clean bathrooms and paved
> roads. We keep riding
>
> 13:00 - We still haven't found the park and I can't take the pace no
> more as I am about to bonk (no it doesn't mean that). So we
> stop and the solo rider proceeds on without us. I proceed to
> devour food, water, Gatorade and any hand that gets in my
> way.
>
> BTW, we're now in the Pine Barrens, it's pretty. Now a note
> for those who are not familiar with NJ other than Port
> Elizabeth, the Oil refineries and Newark Airport. Really the
> rest of NJ doesn't look like that. We also have lots of
> farms. Most are now growing houses but we still have lots of
> farms. The particular section we were in can only describe it
> as a Desert with Pine trees! ;-) Once your in the Pine
> Barrens you will see Pine trees, white sand, Blueberry farms,
> white sand, Cranberry bogs, white sand and the road ahead of
> you. You don't want to stop there because the sun will beat
> down on you and you will shrivel up in the heat (I like it
> there at least it's warm). If you must stop you will deal with
> ticks, snakes, Mosquitoes (NJ's state bird), Pine flies, Green
> Heads (a swat won't kill these things), snapping turtles,
> no-see-ums, and the Jersey Devil, who I am told, considers
> 'Butt-Buttr' like steak sauce. Hmmm. At this time Mark's tire
> explodes (pinch flat) and I decide it's not my problem as I
> continue to eat.
>
> 13:05 - Mark has been arguing with his tire for 5 minutes. He's got it
> back together but he notes that the tube remained under the
> tire bead no mater what he did. I being the team mechanic (I
> can count and fix things, too bad I can't tell a story worth a
> dang) I was elected to figure out what to do. After a bit of
> fidgeting with the tire I managed to get the tube to come out
> from under the bead. the only thing I did different was use
> different curse words. And with that magnificant triumph
> under my belt I proceeded to lay down on the hot pavement. It
> feels great as it loosens the muscles in my back.
>
> Now you've probably notice that I haven't complained about
> Pine flies, Green Heads or Mosquitoes. Well one of the nice
> benefits of a good wind is that flying bugs have difficulty
> flying in a good wind. Another benefit is tail wind, there's
> nothing better than a tail wind. Well we didn't get one of
> those!
>
> 13:10 - We're back on the rode again but we're only doing a 19 mph
> pace (what a relief).
>
> 13:35 - We found that great Park we saw last year! We must be getting
> old as it looks nothing like what we remembered and we decided
> to take our chances in the woods.
>
> 14:00 - We come across another team with one of our bike club members,
> Matt, with them. We say hello to Matt and he gets all wound up
> with hello's, how are you's and such. Matt is what some mihgt
> describe as a little hyper (and you might call the Atlantic a
> little lake ;-). Matt seemed quiet as we only heard him when
> they were a few hundred feet way and for a few hundered feet
> as he passed. :-) Actually I was very glad to hear Matt's
> voice as he brings a certain amount of energy, joy and
> enthusiasm to any 207 mile ride (I'm not sure I could handle
> him for much more than 210 miles ;-). I guess we were keeping
> about the same pace as they didn't seem to get far ahead of
> us. Despite that we decide that we should stay the course on
> not give into the temptation to give chase. Gina is the most
> disappointed.
>
> 15:30 - The team who passed us is now a few yards ahead of us. This
> game of 'I'm in front' will continue for the rest of the ride.
> :-)
>
> 15:35 - A motor cycle gentleman (loose term) takes kind note of
> Dennis' posterior, Gina is upset that he hasn't noted her
> figure and we explain that she's not his type. At this point I
> shut my mouth to any further comment as they would have:
>
> A) only put my foot in my mouth.
> B) got me in trouble with my wife
> C) left me stammering in stupidity
> D) led to the inevitable question "Does this make me look
> fat?" to which there is no correct answers only worsening
> wrong ones.
> E) All of the above.
>
> 16:00 - We are now having difficulty reeling Gina in. We've been
> pushing the pace and beating into a head wind for the last 50
> miles (with about 40 to go).
>
> 17:30 - Last call! We hit the WaWa at about mile 183. We hit the rest
> rooms (they're clean but nothing special) and tank up on
> caffeine and sugar. Other teams stop there and we talk about
> there day so far. Everyone seems to have had a pretty good
> day. Matt's team passes us for the last time.
>
> 17:45 - We're back on the bikes and begin another push of 19 mph. We
> want off the bikes and into clean clothes and lots of
> food. The wind begins to get stronger and I begin to notice it
> getting colder (I hate the cold!).
>
> 17:50 - Who put that @#$%! hill there. Some DOT engineer thought he'd
> be funny and put an over pass over the water way. What are
> they trying to do, kill us? ;-) A few more miles and we
> turned onto Rt 626. Nothing happened there.
>
> 18:30 - We just hit mile 200 and Dennis asks: 'Where's the
> lighthouse?'. We neglected to tell him that it's really 207
> miles, oops. Dennis is not a happy cyclist.
>
> 18:45 - We turn right and finally see the lighthouse, Only 3 more
> miles until we get off these @#$%! bikes. Dennis's spirits
> pick up as well as our pace. We figure it will only hurt for a
> few more minutes. Someone starts with 'Are we there yet' every
> couple of seconds. We pick up the pace further. ;-)
>
> 18:54 - We're done and we've beating our best speed and arrival
> time. We finished at almost a mile per hour faster and 1.5
> hour earlier. I have polka-dotted sun burn (remember apply
> evenly). So now I take inventory: only the sunburn on my arms
> hurt. My neck is burning (muscles not sunburn), my legs burn a
> bit but I can still walk, my lungs burn (I've never had that
> happen before) and I'd prefer not to sit on my bicycle seat
> for a while. I guess not too bad. So I drank over 450 oz of
> fluids (Gatorade, Coke and water), ate a Turkey sub with lots
> of mustard (Mmmmustard), 8 packets of GU, 3 power bars, a fig
> newton, a banana, 2 rice krispy treats, 2 hand fulls of gorp,
> several soy pretzels and 1 double caffeine mocha cliff shot (I
> hate the flavor but needed the caffeine). A rather light diet
> considering the mileage. But the love handles are still there,
> ARGH! And because we had arrived a full hour and half early
> the mosquitoes were going to be deprived of this meal of 4
> cyclists. BTW, may I note that we had 208 miles not 207 miles.
> Was that extra mile really necessary. OK so it's a .5 % error
> so we'll give it to them.
>
> Previously I mentioned the sun block and that it would become
> important later. Well, it's later. Apparently I had failed to
> apply it evenly to my arms and if I had been wearing the TdF
> polka dotted jersey it would have continued right down to my
> gloves. My face, neck, ears and legs were fine but I now have
> polka dotted arms. It wouldn't be so bad except I live in the
> flat lands and can't climb to save myself. ;-(
>
> So we headed down to Gina's parents place at the shore, where
> we had lots of good food and good company: Gina's parents,
> Gina's husband John, her cousin and his girl friend, Gina's
> conure and her father's conure. Gorgeous birds!
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Text only)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (SourceForge)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (HCS II)

06-15-2004, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the story. That really sounds like fun. I enjoyed the read.

Curt

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungery!) after riding what
> I'm told is an easy double century. It's run by the Central Jersey
> Bike Club (NJ, USA) and it's called the Longest Day (it's held near
> the summer equinox). It's really kind of funny because if you talk to
> people who are not cyclist (and a few who are) they hear '207 miles in
> one day' and think your nuts. Talk to people who have ridden doubles
> and they'll poo-poo it as being easy. Uhm, it's still 200 and 7 miles
> :-). Anyway this is my fourth time doing this and I'd completed it
> with an average rolling speed of 15.6, 16.2, 16.8 and Saturday's 17.7
> mph! Now the story I'm about to tell is from my point of view, none of
> the names are change but I may exaggerate the truth a bit. I'll just
> blame it delirium from too many mile and not enough food. ;-) Yeah
> that sounds good. Also times are estimated but start finish and avg
> speed are real.
>
> So to everyone who did it, congratulations!
>
> Start time: 4:07 AM
> Finish time: 6:54 PM
> Avg. speed: 17.7 mph
>
> Well another Longest Day has passed and hopefully so will the aches
> and pains. :-)
>
> There were 4 members on our team:
>
> Gina - the fastest and strongest member of our team, It's her job to
> drag the old men's butts home. Which she enjoys too much. :-)
>
> Mark - sort of the team captain because he had more experience with
> the ride than any of us (5 times and no common sense ;-).
>
> Dennis - a fast tri-athlete who decided to give a double a try this is
> his first. But he learned fast not to do this ride again. We
> helped him train for his first Longest Day and only neglected
> to mention one thing ...
>
> Greg - our SAG driver. I think he just likes to watch is torture our
> selves. He doesn't get enough credit for his work supporting
> our ride.
>
> and me - I'm the time keeper. I count to 90 and told the person on the
> front of the pace line to come off the front. Yes I did this
> all day long (just call me the Count ;-). I have 4 Longest
> Days and about the same amount of common sense as Mark.
>
>
> 03:00 - We got up and got ready for the ride, we weren't sleeping anyway
> as some 'dang fool' cyclists wouldn't shut up all night!
>
> 04:00 - We're on the road again, it was a dark, 45F and foggy night
> and it was cold! I hate the cold. We rode through the hills in
> Western NJ, these ain't mountains folks, near High Point, NJ.
> Yes, there's not much there so we created a state park around
> the highest point in NJ ;-). These hills kept us slow at the
> beginning. Now might be a good time to point out that I hate
> the cold as flying down these hills at 40+ mph was near
> impossible because of the wind chill! Did I say I hate the
> cold!
>
> 05:35 - The sun was scheduled to rise but it was late due to being
> stuck in Northern NJ traffic and the fog!
>
> 06:30 - Gina demonstrates a new use for McDonalds hot coffee as a foot
> warmer. She put the hot cup up to her feet to warm them. Great
> idea, I wonder if it could be a selling point. At this time
> I'd like to point out that Chester McDonald's has the cleanest
> public restrooms we have ever used and the live flowers in the
> bathroom is a touch of class though it seems lost on me
> (McDonald's, clean restroom, touch of class - yep too much for
> me). BTW, it's still cold!
>
> 06:45 - We're on the rolling hills of Rt 206 between Bridgewater and
> Chester. We're flying at speeds up to 40 miles an hour.
> Traffic still curses us out and flies by us even though we're
> not slowing them down.
>
> 07:30 - We pick up a few stragglers who tag on to our faster pace
> line. There are 4 guys and 3 ladies. At some point a car pulls
> up a propositions the ladies. The leader declines as she is
> married but offer the youngest as sacrifice. :-) We
> eventually pick up the pace a bit and we lose the ladies. We
> manage to keep one gentleman (Tom? Matt?) who hangs with us.
>
> 08:00 - 2 racers on time trail bikes blow by us. We are tempted to
> give chase but figure they're on a casual 40 mile ride and
> decide we have better things to do.
>
> 08:05 - We catch the racers without trying, our egos are boosted. :-)
>
> 09:15 - With a nice pace line down canal road We're in Kingston in no
> time, the 17 year Cicadas can be heard in near by Princeton.
> It sounds exactly like a bad 1950's movie with Peter Graves
> and giant grasshoppers. Anyway Tom decided to go back to find
> his other team member, I think there was some miscommunication
> on their part there. We thanked him and we got on our way to
> Allentown.
>
> 09:45 - We're in Plainsboro at a stop sign at a busy intersection. I
> kind motorist lets us through, we are confused. We figure
> they're not from around here and doubt we'll ever see one
> again. ;-)
>
> 10:00 - Tummies grumbling, 10 mile to go till the lunch stop. We pick
> up the pace, food is a great motivator especially when you can
> eat whatever you want and not worry about whether it will kill
> you. Think about it we're riding in NJ traffic all day for 207
> miles.
>
> 10:30 - It's Allentown NJ, lunch time and we've just completed 100
> miles. We're half way there. My arms hurt, my back hurts and
> my neck hurts. Boy are they going to feel wonderful when we
> get done. Some people think the glass is half full, some half
> empty, I wonder why the bartender hasn't started pouring yet.
> My wife is there with my 2 dogs and I try to sit down as my
> Chow Chow Taz drags me to every tree to sniff and mark. I
> thought my arm was sore earlier, I was mistaken! I hand Taz
> back to my wife who correct him with a stern voice and he
> listens. Hmph!
>
> 10:45 - Now Allentown is wonderful busy place, cyclist love to stop
> there. But we were slight impressed with the porta-potty with
> the Auto Shopper as reading material. Not as classy as Chester
> McDonald's but still unusual. At this point I apply Coppertone
> Sport spray on sun block. This stuff works but I should have
> probably paid more attention to the evenly part. It's now a
> nice sunny breezy day great day for a picnic. One last thing
> to do and that is to apply 'Butt Buttr' (chamios creme).
>
> 10:50 - We're on the road again and we begin a fun fill pace line at
> 21 mph.
>
> 12:00 - We pick up a new stranger, John. He's tall and riding solo or
> just hitching rides with fast groups. Which is a good idea as
> the wind is out of the East and South-East which is a cross
> wind head wind combination. We continue at 21 mph, wind be
> damned!
>
> 12:30 - Some where around here we remember seeing a park, a beautiful
> park with nice shady trees, clean bathrooms and paved
> roads. We keep riding
>
> 13:00 - We still haven't found the park and I can't take the pace no
> more as I am about to bonk (no it doesn't mean that). So we
> stop and the solo rider proceeds on without us. I proceed to
> devour food, water, Gatorade and any hand that gets in my
> way.
>
> BTW, we're now in the Pine Barrens, it's pretty. Now a note
> for those who are not familiar with NJ other than Port
> Elizabeth, the Oil refineries and Newark Airport. Really the
> rest of NJ doesn't look like that. We also have lots of
> farms. Most are now growing houses but we still have lots of
> farms. The particular section we were in can only describe it
> as a Desert with Pine trees! ;-) Once your in the Pine
> Barrens you will see Pine trees, white sand, Blueberry farms,
> white sand, Cranberry bogs, white sand and the road ahead of
> you. You don't want to stop there because the sun will beat
> down on you and you will shrivel up in the heat (I like it
> there at least it's warm). If you must stop you will deal with
> ticks, snakes, Mosquitoes (NJ's state bird), Pine flies, Green
> Heads (a swat won't kill these things), snapping turtles,
> no-see-ums, and the Jersey Devil, who I am told, considers
> 'Butt-Buttr' like steak sauce. Hmmm. At this time Mark's tire
> explodes (pinch flat) and I decide it's not my problem as I
> continue to eat.
>
> 13:05 - Mark has been arguing with his tire for 5 minutes. He's got it
> back together but he notes that the tube remained under the
> tire bead no mater what he did. I being the team mechanic (I
> can count and fix things, too bad I can't tell a story worth a
> dang) I was elected to figure out what to do. After a bit of
> fidgeting with the tire I managed to get the tube to come out
> from under the bead. the only thing I did different was use
> different curse words. And with that magnificant triumph
> under my belt I proceeded to lay down on the hot pavement. It
> feels great as it loosens the muscles in my back.
>
> Now you've probably notice that I haven't complained about
> Pine flies, Green Heads or Mosquitoes. Well one of the nice
> benefits of a good wind is that flying bugs have difficulty
> flying in a good wind. Another benefit is tail wind, there's
> nothing better than a tail wind. Well we didn't get one of
> those!
>
> 13:10 - We're back on the rode again but we're only doing a 19 mph
> pace (what a relief).
>
> 13:35 - We found that great Park we saw last year! We must be getting
> old as it looks nothing like what we remembered and we decided
> to take our chances in the woods.
>
> 14:00 - We come across another team with one of our bike club members,
> Matt, with them. We say hello to Matt and he gets all wound up
> with hello's, how are you's and such. Matt is what some mihgt
> describe as a little hyper (and you might call the Atlantic a
> little lake ;-). Matt seemed quiet as we only heard him when
> they were a few hundred feet way and for a few hundered feet
> as he passed. :-) Actually I was very glad to hear Matt's
> voice as he brings a certain amount of energy, joy and
> enthusiasm to any 207 mile ride (I'm not sure I could handle
> him for much more than 210 miles ;-). I guess we were keeping
> about the same pace as they didn't seem to get far ahead of
> us. Despite that we decide that we should stay the course on
> not give into the temptation to give chase. Gina is the most
> disappointed.
>
> 15:30 - The team who passed us is now a few yards ahead of us. This
> game of 'I'm in front' will continue for the rest of the ride.
> :-)
>
> 15:35 - A motor cycle gentleman (loose term) takes kind note of
> Dennis' posterior, Gina is upset that he hasn't noted her
> figure and we explain that she's not his type. At this point I
> shut my mouth to any further comment as they would have:
>
> A) only put my foot in my mouth.
> B) got me in trouble with my wife
> C) left me stammering in stupidity
> D) led to the inevitable question "Does this make me look
> fat?" to which there is no correct answers only worsening
> wrong ones.
> E) All of the above.
>
> 16:00 - We are now having difficulty reeling Gina in. We've been
> pushing the pace and beating into a head wind for the last 50
> miles (with about 40 to go).
>
> 17:30 - Last call! We hit the WaWa at about mile 183. We hit the rest
> rooms (they're clean but nothing special) and tank up on
> caffeine and sugar. Other teams stop there and we talk about
> there day so far. Everyone seems to have had a pretty good
> day. Matt's team passes us for the last time.
>
> 17:45 - We're back on the bikes and begin another push of 19 mph. We
> want off the bikes and into clean clothes and lots of
> food. The wind begins to get stronger and I begin to notice it
> getting colder (I hate the cold!).
>
> 17:50 - Who put that @#$%! hill there. Some DOT engineer thought he'd
> be funny and put an over pass over the water way. What are
> they trying to do, kill us? ;-) A few more miles and we
> turned onto Rt 626. Nothing happened there.
>
> 18:30 - We just hit mile 200 and Dennis asks: 'Where's the
> lighthouse?'. We neglected to tell him that it's really 207
> miles, oops. Dennis is not a happy cyclist.
>
> 18:45 - We turn right and finally see the lighthouse, Only 3 more
> miles until we get off these @#$%! bikes. Dennis's spirits
> pick up as well as our pace. We figure it will only hurt for a
> few more minutes. Someone starts with 'Are we there yet' every
> couple of seconds. We pick up the pace further. ;-)
>
> 18:54 - We're done and we've beating our best speed and arrival
> time. We finished at almost a mile per hour faster and 1.5
> hour earlier. I have polka-dotted sun burn (remember apply
> evenly). So now I take inventory: only the sunburn on my arms
> hurt. My neck is burning (muscles not sunburn), my legs burn a
> bit but I can still walk, my lungs burn (I've never had that
> happen before) and I'd prefer not to sit on my bicycle seat
> for a while. I guess not too bad. So I drank over 450 oz of
> fluids (Gatorade, Coke and water), ate a Turkey sub with lots
> of mustard (Mmmmustard), 8 packets of GU, 3 power bars, a fig
> newton, a banana, 2 rice krispy treats, 2 hand fulls of gorp,
> several soy pretzels and 1 double caffeine mocha cliff shot (I
> hate the flavor but needed the caffeine). A rather light diet
> considering the mileage. But the love handles are still there,
> ARGH! And because we had arrived a full hour and half early
> the mosquitoes were going to be deprived of this meal of 4
> cyclists. BTW, may I note that we had 208 miles not 207 miles.
> Was that extra mile really necessary. OK so it's a .5 % error
> so we'll give it to them.
>
> Previously I mentioned the sun block and that it would become
> important later. Well, it's later. Apparently I had failed to
> apply it evenly to my arms and if I had been wearing the TdF
> polka dotted jersey it would have continued right down to my
> gloves. My face, neck, ears and legs were fine but I now have
> polka dotted arms. It wouldn't be so bad except I live in the
> flat lands and can't climb to save myself. ;-(
>
> So we headed down to Gina's parents place at the shore, where
> we had lots of good food and good company: Gina's parents,
> Gina's husband John, her cousin and his girl friend, Gina's
> conure and her father's conure. Gorgeous birds!
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Text only)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (SourceForge)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (HCS II)

06-15-2004, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the story. That really sounds like fun. I enjoyed the read.

Curt

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungery!) after riding what
> I'm told is an easy double century. It's run by the Central Jersey
> Bike Club (NJ, USA) and it's called the Longest Day (it's held near
> the summer equinox). It's really kind of funny because if you talk to
> people who are not cyclist (and a few who are) they hear '207 miles in
> one day' and think your nuts. Talk to people who have ridden doubles
> and they'll poo-poo it as being easy. Uhm, it's still 200 and 7 miles
> :-). Anyway this is my fourth time doing this and I'd completed it
> with an average rolling speed of 15.6, 16.2, 16.8 and Saturday's 17.7
> mph! Now the story I'm about to tell is from my point of view, none of
> the names are change but I may exaggerate the truth a bit. I'll just
> blame it delirium from too many mile and not enough food. ;-) Yeah
> that sounds good. Also times are estimated but start finish and avg
> speed are real.
>
> So to everyone who did it, congratulations!
>
> Start time: 4:07 AM
> Finish time: 6:54 PM
> Avg. speed: 17.7 mph
>
> Well another Longest Day has passed and hopefully so will the aches
> and pains. :-)
>
> There were 4 members on our team:
>
> Gina - the fastest and strongest member of our team, It's her job to
> drag the old men's butts home. Which she enjoys too much. :-)
>
> Mark - sort of the team captain because he had more experience with
> the ride than any of us (5 times and no common sense ;-).
>
> Dennis - a fast tri-athlete who decided to give a double a try this is
> his first. But he learned fast not to do this ride again. We
> helped him train for his first Longest Day and only neglected
> to mention one thing ...
>
> Greg - our SAG driver. I think he just likes to watch is torture our
> selves. He doesn't get enough credit for his work supporting
> our ride.
>
> and me - I'm the time keeper. I count to 90 and told the person on the
> front of the pace line to come off the front. Yes I did this
> all day long (just call me the Count ;-). I have 4 Longest
> Days and about the same amount of common sense as Mark.
>
>
> 03:00 - We got up and got ready for the ride, we weren't sleeping anyway
> as some 'dang fool' cyclists wouldn't shut up all night!
>
> 04:00 - We're on the road again, it was a dark, 45F and foggy night
> and it was cold! I hate the cold. We rode through the hills in
> Western NJ, these ain't mountains folks, near High Point, NJ.
> Yes, there's not much there so we created a state park around
> the highest point in NJ ;-). These hills kept us slow at the
> beginning. Now might be a good time to point out that I hate
> the cold as flying down these hills at 40+ mph was near
> impossible because of the wind chill! Did I say I hate the
> cold!
>
> 05:35 - The sun was scheduled to rise but it was late due to being
> stuck in Northern NJ traffic and the fog!
>
> 06:30 - Gina demonstrates a new use for McDonalds hot coffee as a foot
> warmer. She put the hot cup up to her feet to warm them. Great
> idea, I wonder if it could be a selling point. At this time
> I'd like to point out that Chester McDonald's has the cleanest
> public restrooms we have ever used and the live flowers in the
> bathroom is a touch of class though it seems lost on me
> (McDonald's, clean restroom, touch of class - yep too much for
> me). BTW, it's still cold!
>
> 06:45 - We're on the rolling hills of Rt 206 between Bridgewater and
> Chester. We're flying at speeds up to 40 miles an hour.
> Traffic still curses us out and flies by us even though we're
> not slowing them down.
>
> 07:30 - We pick up a few stragglers who tag on to our faster pace
> line. There are 4 guys and 3 ladies. At some point a car pulls
> up a propositions the ladies. The leader declines as she is
> married but offer the youngest as sacrifice. :-) We
> eventually pick up the pace a bit and we lose the ladies. We
> manage to keep one gentleman (Tom? Matt?) who hangs with us.
>
> 08:00 - 2 racers on time trail bikes blow by us. We are tempted to
> give chase but figure they're on a casual 40 mile ride and
> decide we have better things to do.
>
> 08:05 - We catch the racers without trying, our egos are boosted. :-)
>
> 09:15 - With a nice pace line down canal road We're in Kingston in no
> time, the 17 year Cicadas can be heard in near by Princeton.
> It sounds exactly like a bad 1950's movie with Peter Graves
> and giant grasshoppers. Anyway Tom decided to go back to find
> his other team member, I think there was some miscommunication
> on their part there. We thanked him and we got on our way to
> Allentown.
>
> 09:45 - We're in Plainsboro at a stop sign at a busy intersection. I
> kind motorist lets us through, we are confused. We figure
> they're not from around here and doubt we'll ever see one
> again. ;-)
>
> 10:00 - Tummies grumbling, 10 mile to go till the lunch stop. We pick
> up the pace, food is a great motivator especially when you can
> eat whatever you want and not worry about whether it will kill
> you. Think about it we're riding in NJ traffic all day for 207
> miles.
>
> 10:30 - It's Allentown NJ, lunch time and we've just completed 100
> miles. We're half way there. My arms hurt, my back hurts and
> my neck hurts. Boy are they going to feel wonderful when we
> get done. Some people think the glass is half full, some half
> empty, I wonder why the bartender hasn't started pouring yet.
> My wife is there with my 2 dogs and I try to sit down as my
> Chow Chow Taz drags me to every tree to sniff and mark. I
> thought my arm was sore earlier, I was mistaken! I hand Taz
> back to my wife who correct him with a stern voice and he
> listens. Hmph!
>
> 10:45 - Now Allentown is wonderful busy place, cyclist love to stop
> there. But we were slight impressed with the porta-potty with
> the Auto Shopper as reading material. Not as classy as Chester
> McDonald's but still unusual. At this point I apply Coppertone
> Sport spray on sun block. This stuff works but I should have
> probably paid more attention to the evenly part. It's now a
> nice sunny breezy day great day for a picnic. One last thing
> to do and that is to apply 'Butt Buttr' (chamios creme).
>
> 10:50 - We're on the road again and we begin a fun fill pace line at
> 21 mph.
>
> 12:00 - We pick up a new stranger, John. He's tall and riding solo or
> just hitching rides with fast groups. Which is a good idea as
> the wind is out of the East and South-East which is a cross
> wind head wind combination. We continue at 21 mph, wind be
> damned!
>
> 12:30 - Some where around here we remember seeing a park, a beautiful
> park with nice shady trees, clean bathrooms and paved
> roads. We keep riding
>
> 13:00 - We still haven't found the park and I can't take the pace no
> more as I am about to bonk (no it doesn't mean that). So we
> stop and the solo rider proceeds on without us. I proceed to
> devour food, water, Gatorade and any hand that gets in my
> way.
>
> BTW, we're now in the Pine Barrens, it's pretty. Now a note
> for those who are not familiar with NJ other than Port
> Elizabeth, the Oil refineries and Newark Airport. Really the
> rest of NJ doesn't look like that. We also have lots of
> farms. Most are now growing houses but we still have lots of
> farms. The particular section we were in can only describe it
> as a Desert with Pine trees! ;-) Once your in the Pine
> Barrens you will see Pine trees, white sand, Blueberry farms,
> white sand, Cranberry bogs, white sand and the road ahead of
> you. You don't want to stop there because the sun will beat
> down on you and you will shrivel up in the heat (I like it
> there at least it's warm). If you must stop you will deal with
> ticks, snakes, Mosquitoes (NJ's state bird), Pine flies, Green
> Heads (a swat won't kill these things), snapping turtles,
> no-see-ums, and the Jersey Devil, who I am told, considers
> 'Butt-Buttr' like steak sauce. Hmmm. At this time Mark's tire
> explodes (pinch flat) and I decide it's not my problem as I
> continue to eat.
>
> 13:05 - Mark has been arguing with his tire for 5 minutes. He's got it
> back together but he notes that the tube remained under the
> tire bead no mater what he did. I being the team mechanic (I
> can count and fix things, too bad I can't tell a story worth a
> dang) I was elected to figure out what to do. After a bit of
> fidgeting with the tire I managed to get the tube to come out
> from under the bead. the only thing I did different was use
> different curse words. And with that magnificant triumph
> under my belt I proceeded to lay down on the hot pavement. It
> feels great as it loosens the muscles in my back.
>
> Now you've probably notice that I haven't complained about
> Pine flies, Green Heads or Mosquitoes. Well one of the nice
> benefits of a good wind is that flying bugs have difficulty
> flying in a good wind. Another benefit is tail wind, there's
> nothing better than a tail wind. Well we didn't get one of
> those!
>
> 13:10 - We're back on the rode again but we're only doing a 19 mph
> pace (what a relief).
>
> 13:35 - We found that great Park we saw last year! We must be getting
> old as it looks nothing like what we remembered and we decided
> to take our chances in the woods.
>
> 14:00 - We come across another team with one of our bike club members,
> Matt, with them. We say hello to Matt and he gets all wound up
> with hello's, how are you's and such. Matt is what some mihgt
> describe as a little hyper (and you might call the Atlantic a
> little lake ;-). Matt seemed quiet as we only heard him when
> they were a few hundred feet way and for a few hundered feet
> as he passed. :-) Actually I was very glad to hear Matt's
> voice as he brings a certain amount of energy, joy and
> enthusiasm to any 207 mile ride (I'm not sure I could handle
> him for much more than 210 miles ;-). I guess we were keeping
> about the same pace as they didn't seem to get far ahead of
> us. Despite that we decide that we should stay the course on
> not give into the temptation to give chase. Gina is the most
> disappointed.
>
> 15:30 - The team who passed us is now a few yards ahead of us. This
> game of 'I'm in front' will continue for the rest of the ride.
> :-)
>
> 15:35 - A motor cycle gentleman (loose term) takes kind note of
> Dennis' posterior, Gina is upset that he hasn't noted her
> figure and we explain that she's not his type. At this point I
> shut my mouth to any further comment as they would have:
>
> A) only put my foot in my mouth.
> B) got me in trouble with my wife
> C) left me stammering in stupidity
> D) led to the inevitable question "Does this make me look
> fat?" to which there is no correct answers only worsening
> wrong ones.
> E) All of the above.
>
> 16:00 - We are now having difficulty reeling Gina in. We've been
> pushing the pace and beating into a head wind for the last 50
> miles (with about 40 to go).
>
> 17:30 - Last call! We hit the WaWa at about mile 183. We hit the rest
> rooms (they're clean but nothing special) and tank up on
> caffeine and sugar. Other teams stop there and we talk about
> there day so far. Everyone seems to have had a pretty good
> day. Matt's team passes us for the last time.
>
> 17:45 - We're back on the bikes and begin another push of 19 mph. We
> want off the bikes and into clean clothes and lots of
> food. The wind begins to get stronger and I begin to notice it
> getting colder (I hate the cold!).
>
> 17:50 - Who put that @#$%! hill there. Some DOT engineer thought he'd
> be funny and put an over pass over the water way. What are
> they trying to do, kill us? ;-) A few more miles and we
> turned onto Rt 626. Nothing happened there.
>
> 18:30 - We just hit mile 200 and Dennis asks: 'Where's the
> lighthouse?'. We neglected to tell him that it's really 207
> miles, oops. Dennis is not a happy cyclist.
>
> 18:45 - We turn right and finally see the lighthouse, Only 3 more
> miles until we get off these @#$%! bikes. Dennis's spirits
> pick up as well as our pace. We figure it will only hurt for a
> few more minutes. Someone starts with 'Are we there yet' every
> couple of seconds. We pick up the pace further. ;-)
>
> 18:54 - We're done and we've beating our best speed and arrival
> time. We finished at almost a mile per hour faster and 1.5
> hour earlier. I have polka-dotted sun burn (remember apply
> evenly). So now I take inventory: only the sunburn on my arms
> hurt. My neck is burning (muscles not sunburn), my legs burn a
> bit but I can still walk, my lungs burn (I've never had that
> happen before) and I'd prefer not to sit on my bicycle seat
> for a while. I guess not too bad. So I drank over 450 oz of
> fluids (Gatorade, Coke and water), ate a Turkey sub with lots
> of mustard (Mmmmustard), 8 packets of GU, 3 power bars, a fig
> newton, a banana, 2 rice krispy treats, 2 hand fulls of gorp,
> several soy pretzels and 1 double caffeine mocha cliff shot (I
> hate the flavor but needed the caffeine). A rather light diet
> considering the mileage. But the love handles are still there,
> ARGH! And because we had arrived a full hour and half early
> the mosquitoes were going to be deprived of this meal of 4
> cyclists. BTW, may I note that we had 208 miles not 207 miles.
> Was that extra mile really necessary. OK so it's a .5 % error
> so we'll give it to them.
>
> Previously I mentioned the sun block and that it would become
> important later. Well, it's later. Apparently I had failed to
> apply it evenly to my arms and if I had been wearing the TdF
> polka dotted jersey it would have continued right down to my
> gloves. My face, neck, ears and legs were fine but I now have
> polka dotted arms. It wouldn't be so bad except I live in the
> flat lands and can't climb to save myself. ;-(
>
> So we headed down to Gina's parents place at the shore, where
> we had lots of good food and good company: Gina's parents,
> Gina's husband John, her cousin and his girl friend, Gina's
> conure and her father's conure. Gorgeous birds!
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Text only)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (SourceForge)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (HCS II)

06-15-2004, 08:08 AM

Thanks for the story. That really sounds like fun. I enjoyed the read.

Curt

"Neil Cherry" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I'm feeling pretty good (and still really hungery!) after riding what
> I'm told is an easy double century. It's run by the Central Jersey
> Bike Club (NJ, USA) and it's called the Longest Day (it's held near
> the summer equinox). It's really kind of funny because if you talk to
> people who are not cyclist (and a few who are) they hear '207 miles in
> one day' and think your nuts. Talk to people who have ridden doubles
> and they'll poo-poo it as being easy. Uhm, it's still 200 and 7 miles
> :-). Anyway this is my fourth time doing this and I'd completed it
> with an average rolling speed of 15.6, 16.2, 16.8 and Saturday's 17.7
> mph! Now the story I'm about to tell is from my point of view, none of
> the names are change but I may exaggerate the truth a bit. I'll just
> blame it delirium from too many mile and not enough food. ;-) Yeah
> that sounds good. Also times are estimated but start finish and avg
> speed are real.
>
> So to everyone who did it, congratulations!
>
> Start time: 4:07 AM
> Finish time: 6:54 PM
> Avg. speed: 17.7 mph
>
> Well another Longest Day has passed and hopefully so will the aches
> and pains. :-)
>
> There were 4 members on our team:
>
> Gina - the fastest and strongest member of our team, It's her job to
> drag the old men's butts home. Which she enjoys too much. :-)
>
> Mark - sort of the team captain because he had more experience with
> the ride than any of us (5 times and no common sense ;-).
>
> Dennis - a fast tri-athlete who decided to give a double a try this is
> his first. But he learned fast not to do this ride again. We
> helped him train for his first Longest Day and only neglected
> to mention one thing ...
>
> Greg - our SAG driver. I think he just likes to watch is torture our
> selves. He doesn't get enough credit for his work supporting
> our ride.
>
> and me - I'm the time keeper. I count to 90 and told the person on the
> front of the pace line to come off the front. Yes I did this
> all day long (just call me the Count ;-). I have 4 Longest
> Days and about the same amount of common sense as Mark.
>
>
> 03:00 - We got up and got ready for the ride, we weren't sleeping anyway
> as some 'dang fool' cyclists wouldn't shut up all night!
>
> 04:00 - We're on the road again, it was a dark, 45F and foggy night
> and it was cold! I hate the cold. We rode through the hills in
> Western NJ, these ain't mountains folks, near High Point, NJ.
> Yes, there's not much there so we created a state park around
> the highest point in NJ ;-). These hills kept us slow at the
> beginning. Now might be a good time to point out that I hate
> the cold as flying down these hills at 40+ mph was near
> impossible because of the wind chill! Did I say I hate the
> cold!
>
> 05:35 - The sun was scheduled to rise but it was late due to being
> stuck in Northern NJ traffic and the fog!
>
> 06:30 - Gina demonstrates a new use for McDonalds hot coffee as a foot
> warmer. She put the hot cup up to her feet to warm them. Great
> idea, I wonder if it could be a selling point. At this time
> I'd like to point out that Chester McDonald's has the cleanest
> public restrooms we have ever used and the live flowers in the
> bathroom is a touch of class though it seems lost on me
> (McDonald's, clean restroom, touch of class - yep too much for
> me). BTW, it's still cold!
>
> 06:45 - We're on the rolling hills of Rt 206 between Bridgewater and
> Chester. We're flying at speeds up to 40 miles an hour.
> Traffic still curses us out and flies by us even though we're
> not slowing them down.
>
> 07:30 - We pick up a few stragglers who tag on to our faster pace
> line. There are 4 guys and 3 ladies. At some point a car pulls
> up a propositions the ladies. The leader declines as she is
> married but offer the youngest as sacrifice. :-) We
> eventually pick up the pace a bit and we lose the ladies. We
> manage to keep one gentleman (Tom? Matt?) who hangs with us.
>
> 08:00 - 2 racers on time trail bikes blow by us. We are tempted to
> give chase but figure they're on a casual 40 mile ride and
> decide we have better things to do.
>
> 08:05 - We catch the racers without trying, our egos are boosted. :-)
>
> 09:15 - With a nice pace line down canal road We're in Kingston in no
> time, the 17 year Cicadas can be heard in near by Princeton.
> It sounds exactly like a bad 1950's movie with Peter Graves
> and giant grasshoppers. Anyway Tom decided to go back to find
> his other team member, I think there was some miscommunication
> on their part there. We thanked him and we got on our way to
> Allentown.
>
> 09:45 - We're in Plainsboro at a stop sign at a busy intersection. I
> kind motorist lets us through, we are confused. We figure
> they're not from around here and doubt we'll ever see one
> again. ;-)
>
> 10:00 - Tummies grumbling, 10 mile to go till the lunch stop. We pick
> up the pace, food is a great motivator especially when you can
> eat whatever you want and not worry about whether it will kill
> you. Think about it we're riding in NJ traffic all day for 207
> miles.
>
> 10:30 - It's Allentown NJ, lunch time and we've just completed 100
> miles. We're half way there. My arms hurt, my back hurts and
> my neck hurts. Boy are they going to feel wonderful when we
> get done. Some people think the glass is half full, some half
> empty, I wonder why the bartender hasn't started pouring yet.
> My wife is there with my 2 dogs and I try to sit down as my
> Chow Chow Taz drags me to every tree to sniff and mark. I
> thought my arm was sore earlier, I was mistaken! I hand Taz
> back to my wife who correct him with a stern voice and he
> listens. Hmph!
>
> 10:45 - Now Allentown is wonderful busy place, cyclist love to stop
> there. But we were slight impressed with the porta-potty with
> the Auto Shopper as reading material. Not as classy as Chester
> McDonald's but still unusual. At this point I apply Coppertone
> Sport spray on sun block. This stuff works but I should have
> probably paid more attention to the evenly part. It's now a
> nice sunny breezy day great day for a picnic. One last thing
> to do and that is to apply 'Butt Buttr' (chamios creme).
>
> 10:50 - We're on the road again and we begin a fun fill pace line at
> 21 mph.
>
> 12:00 - We pick up a new stranger, John. He's tall and riding solo or
> just hitching rides with fast groups. Which is a good idea as
> the wind is out of the East and South-East which is a cross
> wind head wind combination. We continue at 21 mph, wind be
> damned!
>
> 12:30 - Some where around here we remember seeing a park, a beautiful
> park with nice shady trees, clean bathrooms and paved
> roads. We keep riding
>
> 13:00 - We still haven't found the park and I can't take the pace no
> more as I am about to bonk (no it doesn't mean that). So we
> stop and the solo rider proceeds on without us. I proceed to
> devour food, water, Gatorade and any hand that gets in my
> way.
>
> BTW, we're now in the Pine Barrens, it's pretty. Now a note
> for those who are not familiar with NJ other than Port
> Elizabeth, the Oil refineries and Newark Airport. Really the
> rest of NJ doesn't look like that. We also have lots of
> farms. Most are now growing houses but we still have lots of
> farms. The particular section we were in can only describe it
> as a Desert with Pine trees! ;-) Once your in the Pine
> Barrens you will see Pine trees, white sand, Blueberry farms,
> white sand, Cranberry bogs, white sand and the road ahead of
> you. You don't want to stop there because the sun will beat
> down on you and you will shrivel up in the heat (I like it
> there at least it's warm). If you must stop you will deal with
> ticks, snakes, Mosquitoes (NJ's state bird), Pine flies, Green
> Heads (a swat won't kill these things), snapping turtles,
> no-see-ums, and the Jersey Devil, who I am told, considers
> 'Butt-Buttr' like steak sauce. Hmmm. At this time Mark's tire
> explodes (pinch flat) and I decide it's not my problem as I
> continue to eat.
>
> 13:05 - Mark has been arguing with his tire for 5 minutes. He's got it
> back together but he notes that the tube remained under the
> tire bead no mater what he did. I being the team mechanic (I
> can count and fix things, too bad I can't tell a story worth a
> dang) I was elected to figure out what to do. After a bit of
> fidgeting with the tire I managed to get the tube to come out
> from under the bead. the only thing I did different was use
> different curse words. And with that magnificant triumph
> under my belt I proceeded to lay down on the hot pavement. It
> feels great as it loosens the muscles in my back.
>
> Now you've probably notice that I haven't complained about
> Pine flies, Green Heads or Mosquitoes. Well one of the nice
> benefits of a good wind is that flying bugs have difficulty
> flying in a good wind. Another benefit is tail wind, there's
> nothing better than a tail wind. Well we didn't get one of
> those!
>
> 13:10 - We're back on the rode again but we're only doing a 19 mph
> pace (what a relief).
>
> 13:35 - We found that great Park we saw last year! We must be getting
> old as it looks nothing like what we remembered and we decided
> to take our chances in the woods.
>
> 14:00 - We come across another team with one of our bike club members,
> Matt, with them. We say hello to Matt and he gets all wound up
> with hello's, how are you's and such. Matt is what some mihgt
> describe as a little hyper (and you might call the Atlantic a
> little lake ;-). Matt seemed quiet as we only heard him when
> they were a few hundred feet way and for a few hundered feet
> as he passed. :-) Actually I was very glad to hear Matt's
> voice as he brings a certain amount of energy, joy and
> enthusiasm to any 207 mile ride (I'm not sure I could handle
> him for much more than 210 miles ;-). I guess we were keeping
> about the same pace as they didn't seem to get far ahead of
> us. Despite that we decide that we should stay the course on
> not give into the temptation to give chase. Gina is the most
> disappointed.
>
> 15:30 - The team who passed us is now a few yards ahead of us. This
> game of 'I'm in front' will continue for the rest of the ride.
> :-)
>
> 15:35 - A motor cycle gentleman (loose term) takes kind note of
> Dennis' posterior, Gina is upset that he hasn't noted her
> figure and we explain that she's not his type. At this point I
> shut my mouth to any further comment as they would have:
>
> A) only put my foot in my mouth.
> B) got me in trouble with my wife
> C) left me stammering in stupidity
> D) led to the inevitable question "Does this make me look
> fat?" to which there is no correct answers only worsening
> wrong ones.
> E) All of the above.
>
> 16:00 - We are now having difficulty reeling Gina in. We've been
> pushing the pace and beating into a head wind for the last 50
> miles (with about 40 to go).
>
> 17:30 - Last call! We hit the WaWa at about mile 183. We hit the rest
> rooms (they're clean but nothing special) and tank up on
> caffeine and sugar. Other teams stop there and we talk about
> there day so far. Everyone seems to have had a pretty good
> day. Matt's team passes us for the last time.
>
> 17:45 - We're back on the bikes and begin another push of 19 mph. We
> want off the bikes and into clean clothes and lots of
> food. The wind begins to get stronger and I begin to notice it
> getting colder (I hate the cold!).
>
> 17:50 - Who put that @#$%! hill there. Some DOT engineer thought he'd
> be funny and put an over pass over the water way. What are
> they trying to do, kill us? ;-) A few more miles and we
> turned onto Rt 626. Nothing happened there.
>
> 18:30 - We just hit mile 200 and Dennis asks: 'Where's the
> lighthouse?'. We neglected to tell him that it's really 207
> miles, oops. Dennis is not a happy cyclist.
>
> 18:45 - We turn right and finally see the lighthouse, Only 3 more
> miles until we get off these @#$%! bikes. Dennis's spirits
> pick up as well as our pace. We figure it will only hurt for a
> few more minutes. Someone starts with 'Are we there yet' every
> couple of seconds. We pick up the pace further. ;-)
>
> 18:54 - We're done and we've beating our best speed and arrival
> time. We finished at almost a mile per hour faster and 1.5
> hour earlier. I have polka-dotted sun burn (remember apply
> evenly). So now I take inventory: only the sunburn on my arms
> hurt. My neck is burning (muscles not sunburn), my legs burn a
> bit but I can still walk, my lungs burn (I've never had that
> happen before) and I'd prefer not to sit on my bicycle seat
> for a while. I guess not too bad. So I drank over 450 oz of
> fluids (Gatorade, Coke and water), ate a Turkey sub with lots
> of mustard (Mmmmustard), 8 packets of GU, 3 power bars, a fig
> newton, a banana, 2 rice krispy treats, 2 hand fulls of gorp,
> several soy pretzels and 1 double caffeine mocha cliff shot (I
> hate the flavor but needed the caffeine). A rather light diet
> considering the mileage. But the love handles are still there,
> ARGH! And because we had arrived a full hour and half early
> the mosquitoes were going to be deprived of this meal of 4
> cyclists. BTW, may I note that we had 208 miles not 207 miles.
> Was that extra mile really necessary. OK so it's a .5 % error
> so we'll give it to them.
>
> Previously I mentioned the sun block and that it would become
> important later. Well, it's later. Apparently I had failed to
> apply it evenly to my arms and if I had been wearing the TdF
> polka dotted jersey it would have continued right down to my
> gloves. My face, neck, ears and legs were fine but I now have
> polka dotted arms. It wouldn't be so bad except I live in the
> flat lands and can't climb to save myself. ;-(
>
> So we headed down to Gina's parents place at the shore, where
> we had lots of good food and good company: Gina's parents,
> Gina's husband John, her cousin and his girl friend, Gina's
> conure and her father's conure. Gorgeous birds!
>
> --
> Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Text only)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (SourceForge)
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (HCS II)

06-15-2004, 02:46 PM

> Talk to people who have ridden doubles and they'll
> poo-poo it as being easy.

I know a number of double-century riders, and none of them has ever
poo-pood any 200-mile ride, to my knowledge. Good ride report, Neil!