Dateline: Middletown, Delaware, August of some forgotten recent year
The White Clay Bicycle Club Shore Fire Century Ride, Metric
Jen Wolf and I tackled this ride together, goodness knows when. I wasn’t yet 50, but I was plenty old, so we figure it counts! I am starting to worry about the number of states I have left to conquer. I think I was 48 for this one, 2010. I see there are many rides each year from this club, so perhaps, I will return, but I am going to give myself credit for this state for now. I writ-a the blog, I make-a the rules!
This ride was flat, flat, flat, which makes it a good choice for a first long ride. We had tackled 50 miles in the hills of Morris and Somerset New Jersey, but 65 was going to be a stretch for us. We rode steady, high gear, hard as we could. It was a beautiful sunny day, low humidity, not terribly hot until the finish. Much of the route had been recently “chipped,” which occluded the road arrows and would have made it very difficult to find our way had we not secured the LAST route map at check in. This at 8 am… I guess a lot of people must have awoken to a gorgeous morning and decided to ride. It seemed that millions of wooly bear caterpillars didn’t get the memo about the ride, since for 65 miles, they were crossing the road in vast numbers and often not making it to the other side. We stopped to help a few. There were good rest stops and lunch was provided by a pizza place along the route. Pizza may not be the best food to eat mid ride, but how could we resist a slice. When cramp set in, we tried pickle juice as a cure, and it worked!
The terrain alternated between farm and subdivision, and many people were out on their porches to wave and cheer riders on. Small towns, quiet streets, local beers, a big ride. What’s not to like? And with a metric century under my belt, I have the confidence to do a 100 mile ride this year, definitely on to do list for 2015 as I explore America.