Which ever way the wind blows, Saturday 06/02/2007

Description

• Name: Which ever way the wind blows
• Pace: 17 - 18 mph avg (with pace lines)
• Terrain: Flat with rolling hills (3 - 4, on a scale of 1 (nasty hills) - 4 (flat as a pancake))
• # of Stops: 4 - 5
• Destinations: Griggstown & Chatworth, NJ
• Starting point: Village Park, Cranbury, NJ
• Starting time: 8 AM
• Club ride: Yes (both PFW and CJBC)
• Cue sheets provided: no
• Route: Griggstown/Pine Barrens Double Metric (120 miles)
• Rain does not cancel this ride.

Weather prediction:

• Sunny, with an afternoon thunderstorm
• 70F at 8 AM (at Cranbury)
• Winds from the SW at 5 - 11 mph, 20 mph gusts
• High for the day 90F at 3 PM (same for Cranbury and Chatsworth)

This is an unusual ride in that I normally don't do double metrics. A century is usually enough for most folks. We (my Longest Day team) need some extra mileage and since it's going to be hot I think we'll be luckily to keep a fast pace (better than 17 mph). Most of this ride is the same as last week (at least 3/4's of the ride) with the exception that I've added Griggstown, Kingston, Plainsboro. Most of this section is used by the Longest Day Route. It's good for pace lines and we'll experience the the heat that we might expect on the Longest Day. So we get in our mileage (seat time) and we'll begin turning down our training because we're ready. Currently the weather looks to be cooler (mid 70's) for the 16th. Of course it's too early to really predict, so we'll see.

Post-ride:

Today's ride went very well. I made one change, instead of using the above route I used this one: Cranbury-Griggstown-Chatsworth-deviation. It is a little shorter (118 vs 120) but the first half of the ride is the Griggstown to Chatsworth section of the Longest Day. This really worked well for us it was hot and humid (like the predicted weather for the Longest Day). We had 90 F and very high humidity. When we got down to Chatsworth the humidity disappeared but the wind picked up. It was out of the South and West so we felt it when we left Wharton State Forest and when we turned toward Tabernacle from Chatsworth we rode into a strong headwind for 10 miles. The wind was harder than the predicted 5 - 10 mph but the gusts were about 20 mph (as predicted). We averaged a comfortable 17.2 mph, a speed we hope to keep on the Longest Day.