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600 miles!
Total Training Miles: 615.3
It's our last weekend before the PMC ride.
Things have been a little hectic this week -- I started a new job on Monday and we've had some car issues all week that finally resolved themselves Thursday. Also, we have the kids this weekend, so it's a little trickier to get our rides in.
Anyway, we had planned to get out early this morning but a certain child woke up at 3:30 am and threw a monkey wrench into the works. Bottom line, I ended up sleeping in until after 8:00 and the morning basically got away from us.
So, Plan B was hatched: we would ride in the afternoon instead. Luckily the recent heat wave has broken so a 3:30 ride was quite doable. With Mark (supposedly) down for a nap, we set off from the Aaron Ridge House in search of something that would bring us over the 600 mile mark.
We rode out toward Stoopville Rd via the usual route and decided to make up a loop as we went. So we hung a right on Stoopville and then a left on Highland which we took all the way to Woodhill. From there it was down to River (via Slack) and then we rode up Aquetong to Van Sant to cross the covered bridge in the "reverse" direction. Eventually, we found ourselves on Eagle and rode up Mt. Jericho, again in the reverse of how we usually do it.
Mt. Jericho in that direction is more gradual at first, but the last hundred feet feel like they are straight up. Cresting the top, I tried taking a photo and posting with my new phone, which I will use to blog "live" on the ride next weekend. From there it was a very familiar route back to the ARH and over the magic number of 600 training miles.
In other news, we got a nice feature story in our local paper -- the Advance of Bucks County -- which is available here. For the record, last year we did the 163 mile route, not the 192 miler!
Saturday afternoon ride stats
Distance: 19.92 mi
Moving Speed: 12.6 mph
Moving Pace: 4.46
Max Speed: 37.2 mph
Elevation Gain: 1,453 ft
Max Ascent Grade: 14.4%
Moving Time: 1:39:52
top of mt. jericho
Brian
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Into the home stretch
Total Training Miles: 595.38
After an evening spent celebrating a birthday with friends, we were just a bit slow to get going this morning. Also, by 7:00 the temperature was already 75 degrees and climbing, so the motivation to get on the road was a little hard to find. However, we knew that if we didn't get moving the day would slip away to scorching heat, so off we went at about 8:20 -- on our way to Carversville.
We decided to concentrate on "seat time" rather than hill climbing, so we actually worked to avoid the big hills. We skirted Mt. Jericho by taking Pineville to Buckmanville, then we took Street Rd. to Lower Mountain to Aquetong, staying on Aquetong to Carversville. We arrived at the General Store already drenched in sweat, but even so we still managed to enjoy the freshly made donuts.
After refilling our water bottles, we took off down Fleecydale with the intent to visit the sheep over on Cuttalossa. However we realized that River Rd. is still all torn up in the Lumberville area so Plan B was established -- cross the pedestrian bridge and ride 29 all the way to New Hope. This looked like it would work out pretty well, however the blazing sun took a toll on Janet and by the time we arrived in New Hope she had had enough.
Unfortunately, we still had to get ourselves home, so we negotiated our way through town and picked up River Rd which we rode all the way to Stonybrook -- after a minor directional mishap on Taylorsville that saw us turning around after a mile. By the time we got back to the ARH -- 42 miles later -- we were wiped out. Our home thermometer told us it was somewhere between 95 and 98 degrees out and it definitely felt like it.
With just one more training weekend before the ride, we feel that we're pretty well prepared. We'll hit over 600 road miles before then, and we've done 2 or 3 rides in some pretty nasty heat. PMC here we come!
Sunday morning ride stats
Distance: 41.99 mi
Moving Speed: 11.8 mph
Moving Pace: 5.06
Max Speed: 32.3 mph
Elevation Gain: 2,581 ft
Max Ascent Grade: 10.9%
Moving Time: 3:34:17
Cornfield on Street Rd., Bucks County, PA
Brian
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A ride in three parts
Total Training Miles: 553.39
We've been looking forward to this weekend because it's really the last one before PMC where we can log some decent mileage. Next weekend we'll need to just do some light riding and the weekend after that is the ride itself!
So, we arranged with my friends Joe and Chiu to do a three-part ride: first Janet and I would ride out to Lambertville to meet them at Pure Energy; then we'd all do a loop around Joe's neck of the woods; finally, we'd part ways and Janet and I would ride back home. It looked like about 45 or 50 miles with plenty of potential for hills.
We began early by going out to Eagle and tackling the big hill. The cows were out so I stopped to take a quick photo in the morning light. Up and over Mt. Jericho, we just slowed down to wave at the animals at London Purchase Farm.
We decided to take Lurgan to Van Sant -- across the covered bridge -- and down Aquetong to River Rd. Then we just rode straight into New Hope, crossed the bridge to Lambertville, and pulled into Pure Energy at 8:30.
We had made an appointment to finalize Janet's fitting (seat height mostly), so Arounkone attended to that while we waited for Joe and Chiu. A little after 9 they came in with another friend Bill in tow. Once we finished our coffee and settled the tab, we took off up the hills of Franklin St., Highland, and Goat Hill Rd.
Joe showed us around the quiet, hilly roads of the Harbourton/West Amwell area, and we tried valiantly to keep up with Bill and Chiu. About 20 miles later we pulled back into the lot of Pure Energy -- which was very busy -- to complete part 2 of the ride.
After refueling with drinks and snacks, we said goodbye to the NJ crew and Janet and I rode off for part 3 and home. We did not want to do Windy Bush Rd., so we simply took River Rd. all the way to Brownsburg Rd. From there it was a pretty standard route on Woodhill to Creamery, etc.
A very nice ride, although it was extremely hot out, especially in part 3. Later in the afternoon temps reached the upper 90s, so I'm sure it was in the mid-90s most of the day!
Saturday ride stats
Distance: 46.23 mi
Moving Speed: 11.6 mph
Moving Pace: 5.09
Max Speed: 38.2 mph
Elevation Gain: 3,564 ft
Max Ascent Grade: 15.8%
Moving Time: 3:58:36
The herd out for the morning on Eagle Rd., Bucks County, PA
The hustle and bustle at Pure Energy, Lambertville, NJ
Brian
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Previous Posts
PMC 08 Photo Highlights
Provincetown!
Into the homestretch
Halfway there!
Onto the cape
Wake up everyone it's time to ride!
Thunderstorms + dinner tent = trouble
We made it! Well to Bourne that is.
Last stop before Bourne
Lunchtime + some shoutouts
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