Hi
eye swan is playing tomoroo on Bloomfield ave at multi media art center
cement shoes are playing 9/11 at hack its town town clock/gayzebo
after a for fun community bicycle ride around the neighborhood
heh, shoes jammed the other night, very fun!  rockin!
9/12 the eyeswan is playing at court tavern new brunswick
9/13 I may try this nyc 200k brevet...gwbridge to upstate and back...meh
thinking of taking a long ride/camping trip instead... or?

I rode another century last weekend w patrick.
up to high point. was nice. 

2nyte I rode to grocery store than dropped the grocerys home and jammed around the big block 5 times....5 miles.  Interval Training. 

I'm very tired hungry and happy.
wordemup

This was a mother of a century ride.  Over 10k feet of climbing (and decending).  I signed up for the 'race' but my goal was to finish in a non-embarassing time (under 8 hours) in semi comfort.  I succeeded.  Even though I bonked (not enough sugar?) for a good while nearing the end I finished in 7 hours 40 something minutes.  The hills were pretty killer, it was hot & humid but there was a nice soaking rain and a good bit of shade.  
Oh and I rode there & home so it was about 120 miles all togethor. 


bonked explained:
cycling term, hitting the wall, feels like all energy is sapped from your legs.  When it hits me I feel sweaty and a tiny bit dizzy.  take sugary food asap!  a few minutes off the bike really help too.
euros call bonking 'the man with the hammer'
its debilitating but not usually a show stopper if you can keep it under control.
I think I've only bonked 3 times.

eyeswans gonna play some songs at about 8pm 6/7 satuuuurrrrrday.  gristmill cafe, the big gristmill looking building at rt.517 and rt.206.   

Its totally bikeable from points south by way of sussex branch rail trail. 

Volleyball may be rained out tomorrow...If it rains l'd like to  propose a ballzzdeep session. 

Mostly traveling/errand/purposeful miles but I've been riding bikes alot more lately, it feels really good. 

Princeton 200k
Took the train down to Princeton straight from work Friday. Had a nice ride, window seat and all, bike in the handicap space, fairly straightforward transfer at Secaucus to the Northeast Corridor trackage…. Man those tracks are faster than the M&E. I think I saw the Amtrak Accela go by and it was scary fast, like disturbingly so, made me a little dizzy!
The train let me off at Princeton Junction, outside of Princeton proper, near Plainsboro. So I strapped on all my lights and hit the road to the hotel. Got a little sprinkled with rain on the way there but found it ok.
The hotel is very near the brevet start. Its in this giant office complex, with a very cheesey outdoor mall designed to look like Main Street USA, with cross streets and a fountain. Really dumb, and not surprisingly, no shoppers, dead.
I locked the bike to a bench out front and checked in. I was gonna ask if I can bring in my bicycle but nah... I unlocked the bike and rolled it in an out of the way side entry and wheeled it into my room. The bike got the bed near the window, I took the one with the TV! Ordered some room service. While I was waiting I fashioned a rear mudflap for my fenders to reduce any rooster tail. I used a piece of plastic from a 3 ring binder, and a couple of binder clips. I was thinking, I don’t know anyone on this ride so if I don’t spray dirty road grit water everywhere when I'm riding maybe people will make friends with me.
Welp seems they forgot about my room service order so I called to complain and they sent it up on the house! Nice!
Woke up 6am. It was cloudy but it was'nt raining....
Gathered my stuff, checked out, and checked my bag of overnight stuff with the hotel to hold onto for me. Went out to the massive parking lot to find the randonneurs. They're not hard to spot all dayglo and reflective. I joined about 35 riders at the start. I signed in and an official checked me over... Front & rear lights on the bike, reflective ankle bands, reflective top, and helmet. Check. Put the cue sheet in a baggy and attached it to my handlebars.
It started raining and they let us go in two groups sepearated by a few minutes to not hold up traffic, traffic? What traffic?
We started out riding slow and easy in bunches of between just a couple, and 8 riders, people in and out, a little bit of drafting but the road got wet fast and most folks did'nt have fenders, so its big rooster tails that keep you 6 feet or so behind the rider in front. Some small rises and a couple longer climbs break us up further. We went through downtown Princeton, then a few miles later is big farms and horse stables. In the rolling hills the wind seems to have picked up and the air temp seems colder than when we started riding. The rain got more intense and my gloves and pants started soaking through. Hmmm. This was'nt in the forecast. I was pretty comfortable, soggy but warm but I take an unplanned coffee stop. Actually, my only plan for this ride going in was to finish without too much undue suffering. Coffee was excellent.
The course went through the last covered bridge in NJ. Pretty nice I guess. Then it was up a fairly steep climb up past the fishermen out of the valley and into the granny gear I went for the first time today. I stopped a while under a overhanging roof at a school to flip my cuesheet, eat a bar, wring out my gloves, and be on my feet for a couple minutes because my toes were starting to get a bit chilly. It was raining harder yet. Ocassional headwinds. Being wet and slightly chilled for a couple hours was starting to steal energy from my legs. At about 35 miles in I had to force myself to gear down and keep spinning fast. But the first control at the American Legion in Frenchtown came fast and I got outta my shoes, signed in and got my card signed proving I was there. Someone said 'wow your hands look warm' I looked down and they were beat red. I turned em over and my palms were white & pruney. I devoured lotsa food and some great hot soup the organizers had waiting for us. The hall was filled with maybe 15 or so riders and a few volunteers. More than a couple people were shivering and not looking too happy. One young gal came through the door and boy she was red all over, shorts and a short sleeve shirt (race kit), she mentioned she also had a thin wind vest. She immediately started shivering hard. She walked over to the soup but obviously could'nt safely ladel hot soup, so the organizers sat her down and wrapped her in some towels and served her whatever she wanted. So helpful! I suddenly felt much warmer!   The gal left before me saying something like 'its much warmer riding the bike'  I looked in my rainbag and pulled out my remaining clothes - armwarmers, and a thin pair of poly socks. Slipped em on and headed out.
The next section I rode mostly alone with headwinds. Nice rolling hills but this weather is bleak. I expected it to look brighter but it looks darker. I ride through the little village of Milford on the Delaware, and the route takes me onto a nice river road. It would've been beautiful in the sun, views of the river, some railroad tracks and a nice rocky cliff on the other side. This is the section Warren & I took a wrong turn last year. Welp I took the same wrong turn again this year, up and over the big ridge and again I'm wondering where the heck, don’t tell me I'm getting lost again! I waved down a passing cop and he told me a shortcut to get to where I needed to be. I told him I cant take a shortcut I gotta backtrack and find the route! He said ok, back up and over the hill you just came down and continue on the river rd. Damn that was dumb! You think I would've checked with a map earlier, instead I wasted 20 minutes and a bunch of energy. So I huffed it back to the river and continued on. More rolling hills, more headwinds and my feet were froze. Landscape was bleak. Finally made it to the correct turn and headed back up the hill, the steepest climb is waiting.
It was steep! I did put my foot down to rest a minute part way up. And when I got to the top I was a bit miserable and took one look at the old school windmill, wrote on my control card what the sign said to prove I was there, 'mill open' it said. I did'nt care to visit the mill so I pressed on. Some more hills and the next control was very very welcoming. It was at a general store. This control we had to buy our own grub. I downed some hot coffee, some v8, a banana and a potato egg & cheese sandwich. I was completetly soaked through and I got cold sitting around, let out some big shivers. The guy sitting across from me was shaking too. I put up my hood and bundeled up with my coffee a while longer. Went outside and man, the rain was still coming down even harder! And I never really warmed up in the store. And the first mile outta town is a fairly big hill. I'm was in my granny going real slow. Ugggh, now I've got this depressing song by Nels Cline in my head, he wrote it for a friend who died before his time, called 'slow ascent' , man that got me all sad. When folks are'nt ready to die their spirit hangs around a long time before the slow ascent? So I got a little teary eyed and threw up V8 in my mouth. Ughhhh.
But following the cue sheet, the route turns a corner!  And starts heading back to Princeton.  At the corner theres a man waving real friendly like at me.  A secret control!  I give the guy my card and we chatted a little bit, he dug my bike, said something like its all downhill from here and its clearing up!  I looked up and damn right it was clearing up!  Just a little.  I got on my way and the road flattened out.  AND!  TAILWINDS!  Freakin tailwinds rule!  The wind noise disappears from your ears when the wind blows at your back.  Amazing, it feels so effortless and fluid.  I ate a banana and some peanuts on the way back to the Frenchtown American Legion.  I was starting to feel in much better spirits.  Gave Ann a call.  Stopped at another information control, wrote down the info from a roadside sign and a few riders caught up.   I got going again heading back to the Frenchtown American Legion control, back on the river road I took the wrong turn from, one of the only roads we backtrack on.  Soon the 3 riders passed me drafting each other, Fast!  It was the guy shivering from the last control leading them, I tried to hop on the back wheel but could not hang!  Feeling much better though, and by the time we left the legion after lots more food the sun was out, birds chirping, potholes disappeared, and everyones bikes were so squeaky from having the oil washed from their moving parts.   
Anyhow, I finally finished the ride super smooth, like this:

while the sun was still out. 

Princeton brevet is saturday! I'm psyched.  Hope it doe'snt rain all day.   Everything is all packed and ready to go.
I'm gonna try taking the train from work here with my bike stuff to stay at a hotel that is near the 7am start. 
 

I rode here
then rode on to Anns way too fast.  40 miles or so alone.  Nice bakery stop.
Eye Swan is playing this coming Saturday!
The Princeton 200k Brevet is the Saturday after.
Whoop

check out eye swan! I think we're nearly done with the recording!   http://www.myspace.com/eyeswan
Rode this route last Sunday:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/263187
some pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27640664@N08/sets/72157615777746173/
 

watch me now hey  http://...com/bdctdk
 
gotta new bike: 
build it up from the raleigh.
been riding through crap weather pretty big miles, big hills.
snowstorm ride:
Did about 45 miles here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2595438
Going to octo tomorrow to finish eye swan songs.  This is music my mom will like. 

Went on a nice ride on Saturday.  Ryan Rd. is a freakin killer hill.  Rode frozen Ghost Lake, camera died early on.
Fun!
Heres the route:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2546107
and pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27640664@N08/sets/72157613489820717/