Saturday's NJ600 was so well run as usual with such nice and kind volunteers, They are kind even busting your chops. I could not get my leg over the saddle (I never can) at I guess 200 mile control and our ever present Rick quipped, that is what happens at 65 and we both laughed. I just could not get back on the bike, I wish I had a video.
Three punctures for me and unfortunately a pretty nasty crash on one of those stupid unmaintained MUP trails. That is the third crash I have witness on those gawd awful, unfriendly rando routes. Dogs, rollerbladers, joggers, walkers, runners, Freds, messed up road surfaces, stantions at stop signs every 500-1000 feet. Nuff said. Other than that, a glorious weekend. Calm winds, sunny, and moderate temperatures. Stunning days.
The last 200k was in my neck of the woods and I know all roads literally. When the route first came out, it was pretty good. Then after the pre-ride the NJ leadership changed the route to what I think was near perfection with a great mix of flat roads with rollers to several challenging climbs albeit nothing too hard. Nice views and it even went past NJ's last remaining covered bridge. We had a touch of suburbia, horse farms, cranberry farms, Pineyville, "Down the Shore", a nitro burning funny car drag strip 200 feet off the route (needed the adrenaline rush), bridge towns of Lambertville, New Hope, Frenchtown, and scenic farmland vistas at the Northern end of the route. For the most populous state in the country, it was a really nice route and very enjoyable. The second day's hills were just challenging enough to feel it in the legs without them breaking. They gave us pretty much the nicest and easier climbs. I think I recorded 7,900 feet on day 2.
As we headed South from "Princeton" towards the turnaround, Cape May. Nine of us had two locomotives doing the lion's share. I could hold wheels no problem but we were hauling ass (and then stopping 15-20 minutes at controls, LOL). For example, the one fellow took a 10 mile (not minute) pull at 23-27 mph and we did it in 26 minutes or perhaps a few seconds under. As I struggled to pull thru, I playfully said to him, "That's all?", I guess there is a big difference from mid 40's to mid 60's in age. I chatting about the pace with another older fellow who has 51 hour PBP and Tour Divide finish and then I started counting similar riders in the group, we were not wheel suckers but our pulls might have been a couple minutes versus like what seemed forever for out two relatively young locomotives. The route recalled a 600K that I rode completely solo in 2015 and at the 10 hour mark, I was a full 40 miles ahead of Saturday's pace although I did have two punctures a short detour to a bike shop this time. I laughed at myself not too long after and decided to just enjoy the beautiful day and wonderful roads. Now I understand why almost nobody completes PBP once they hit 70.
An ACP SR in the bag ain't bad. Randonesia is starting to fade in or it could be the second double espresso