Princeton Event Weekend

Wow. Saturday was a perfect day for a ride.

We’ve done the Princeton Event for four consecutive years. The first year was HOT. HUMID. AWFUL. We signed up on the day of the ride, did 50K, went back to our hotel room, and pretty much collapsed. (To be fair, neither of us was in the shape we’re in now; we're somewhat better than that now, even on hot days.)

The next year, the weather was a bit better, though still humid. I rode with a friend, hubby having dashed ahead of us on his powerful male legs. Storms were threatened, so he busted his ass to get it over with, doing a 15 pace. He was waiting for us at the finish.

Last year, hubby and I did the metric century (which turned out to be 70 miles, not 65 or so). That was the day that my right knee began giving me serious grief. It started hurting around mile 45. I finished that ride in serious pain, and was left with a lingering on-again, off-again knee pain that I’m still dealing with. (Two months of physical therapy has improved it considerably.)

This year, though, everything was perfect.

We had a good-sized breakfast at the Princetonian Diner. I had challah bread French toast and bacon; hubby had a Belgian waffle. We got started on the ride around 8:30 or so. Temps were in the low 70s; humidity was detectible but not significant. I started off fairly slowly, given that I’d had a large breakfast. We kept passing, and woud then be passed by, a group of Christian Witness cyclists. I think their jerseys said “Cycling Ministries,” or something of the sort. After a while, we got tired of the passing thing, so we stopped for a water break, and watched them ride off into the distance.

There were two rest stops for the 50-mile distance. The first was at a church, 17 miles in. I had half a bagel with peanut butter and grape jelly, and a banana. I was feeling a little tired by then, and welcomed the chance to get off the bike. Since my back surgery, I occasionally have some lower back discomfort when I ride longer distances . . . Not really pain, but a blend of mild pain and what I can only describe as squirminess or restlessness. My left foot also sometimes gets a burning sensation on the bottom, which I try to relieve by moving my foot around inside my bike shoe. We lingered at the rest stop for a bit, until we both felt ready to move on once more.

Shortly after we left the rest stop, the PBJ kicked in, and I started picking up the pace. The second rest stop came at mile 36, and it seemed as if it took only 15 minutes to get there. This rest stop was at a small state park, on a dirt and gravel road. Nice shady stop; bad road. I nearly fell twice, and finally gave up and walked my bike in and out. (So as not to mess up the nice speed average I had going, I removed my cycle computer from its holder until I could get back on asphalt.)

After another half-bagel PBJ and a couple of swallows of Gatorade, we got going again, this time with only 15 miles or so to the end of the 50-mile ride. We both felt really good, and wished that we had chosen to do the metric century, after all. I was really revved up during the last 10 miles . . . passing one cyclist after another. Hubby latched onto the back of two guys riding at a nice pace, so we drafted for a while behind them, going 18 mph the whole way. (When hubby and I ride together, he rides behind me most of the time, so as not to get ahead of me. When he gets in front, I can‘t keep up . . . what is wrong with this picture?).

I ended the ride at exactly 50.0 miles (with a little parking lot “adjustment”), and a 14.4 pace. This was my best pace for this ride, by far -- last year my pace was 13.8, and the year before, 13.2. This was especially good, as this year’s 50-miler included some rolling hills. Previous years, our routes were flat, flat, flat, with a couple of overpasses.

We eschewed the post-ride lunch (sandwiches and chips) in favor of sushi. We went to a brand-spanking-new Wegmans -- yes, Wegmans. It has a sushi chef or three on duty, and freshly-made sushi in any combo you’d like. Good AND cheap. Can’t beat that. We got avocado and tuna maki rolls, some nigiri (including seared tuna with pepper -- YUM), and an avocado dragon roll. Oh, and a couple of cookies. We ate in the Wegman’s café, overlooking the sushi bar.

After sushi, we went to Best Buy to scout for a new computer for me. Found one: a $700 lightweight Gateway laptop, to replace my aging IBM Thinkpad. I have never paid so little for so much functionality. Shoot, it was only twice as much as an iPod.

We never end a bike event day without a spectacular dinner, and this was no exception. We went to the Frog and the Peach, in New Brunswick. The FATP was having the “Frog à la pêche First Annual Festival of Peaches.” This included a special 5-course tasting menu, paired with appropriate wines. Every course included New Jersey peaches, in some form.

I’m a peach fanatic. Of course I got the peach festival dinner.

And here’s what I got:

Peach and jalapeño sorbet

Peach carpaccio & duck confit salad (Peach Bellini)

Seared sea scallops with grilled peaches, foie gras butter sauce, gaufrette potatoes (Talbot Chardonnay, ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ Monterey, CA, 2001)

Cheese course - Comptè , St. Antoine, with peach compote (Hautes Côte de Nuits, Domaine Michel Gros, Burgundy, France, 2002)

Peach Trifle (Auslese Cuvée, Kracher, Austria, 2003)

I slept like a baby after that dinner . . . I'm also going to get on the web and try to get some of that wonderful Chardonnay. I don't ordinarily care for chardonnay, but the Talbot '01 was outstanding. (Can't have it shipped to Maryland, though; that's still a felony, can you believe it?)

The PE was on Saturday, so on Sunday we decided to go to the Jersey shore to bike around a little. We went to Red Bank, parking just across the Navesink River, on a side street off Navesink River Road. This road was reputed to be a good ride.

Oh, it’s a nice road, all right. Only problem, though, it had 3 VERY steep hills. Ugh. After 50 miles the day before, I really wasn’t into pulling a long climb. But, pull I did, with cars whizzing by constantly. Hubby is way stronger than I am on hills, so he found himself waiting for me at every summit.

Finally, we came to the turn that took us to the bridge over the Navesink River. We biked into Red Bank by way of several little towns with forgettable names (not the towns‘ fault; I just have a lousy memory). We arrived slightly too early for lunch at Osteria Dante (it opened at 11:30 am), so we sat on a park bench for a bit. After a quick pasta (me) and chicken (hubby) lunch, we were off again, this time to bike down Rumson Road to the beach at the town of Rumson. We were interested in finding ice cream . . . but when we arrived, the only ice cream place in sight was closed. Off we went again, back to Red Bank. We stopped at a little ice cream and deli place on the way there.

We finally ended our ride back at the car, having done about 25 miles. (Today was a rest day for me . . . 75 miles in two days is quite enough.) We drove through several shore towns on our way back to Maryland, stopping in Point Pleasant for dinner at another Italian place, Spano's Ristorante Italiano. This time, I had a truly superb seafood risotto, of which I could not eat even half (I did eat all of the seafood, though).

As you might expect, today’s rations were somewhat leaner . . .

But hey . . . this is why I ride. Or at least it’s one reason among many good ones.