2006 NJ Ride:
High Point to Cape May  

Google Earth File -- Posted by martinator on Monday, July 31 2006

If you want to see the uploaded pictures in the context of where they were taken, then download the Google Earth File I created of the ride.

• The 2006 Ride (link fixed 5/17/2007) as a Google Earth .KMZ file.
  

  

We Did It!!! -- Posted by martinator on Thursday, July 6 2006

3 Days, 250 Miles, countless bottles of Gatorade Endurance Formula and packets of Gu, ZERO Mechanicals, ZERO flat tires, 1 wreck (me w/ 10 miles to go).

We got real lucky with the weather. A thunderstorm rolled through within an hour or our ride start on day 1. We didn't see rain for the entire 3 day ride. It was hot though. We all took turns taking the lead at the front of the paceline. Though there were times when the group stretched apart. Particularly on Day 1 where we hace 4563' ft of climbing to contend with. Some of which was at a 5% or more grade. The hills at the end of that ride were grueling.

Day 2 was relatively flat in comparison with only 1346' ft. over 102.64 miles.

I believe that is the case. At least that is what my Topo Software is telling me.

Below are my numbers. I imagine everybody's numbers will be different but I think I fell right in the middle.

Marty's Numbers
Date	Distance	Time	Avg Mph	MAX Mph
June 29, 2006	86.29	5:49:33	14.8	46.0
June 30, 2006	102.64	6:21:30	16.1	29.4
July 1, 2006	60.28	3:42:05	16.3	No Data
TOTAL	249.21	15:53:08	15.7	-

My wounds are healing nicely but my knee is still sore. It started to get sore around mile 40-50 on Day 1. So I did the wise thing and rode on another 200 miles... ;-)

Itinerary -- Posted by martinator on Tuesday, June 27 2006

Here is my [Mike Dannemiller's] best guess at our itinerary:

Day 1

• 5:30 AM; depart West Orange for High Point
• 7:00 AM; Milepost 0.0 - photo op at High Point, begin ride
• 8:15 AM; Milepost 19 - Branchville - first refuel option
• 9:00 AM; Milepost 26 - Newton refuel options
• 10:00 AM; Milepost 42 - Leigh Ann is making "brunch"/ Gatorade, bananas?
• 11:00 AM; Milepost 52 - Chester refuel stop
• 12:00 PM; Milepost 61 - RBA photo op. at Jockey Hollow
• 12:30 PM; Milepost 66 - lunch, if needed
• 2:00 PM; Milepost 81 - Bound Brook - truck back to West Orange
• 3:00 PM - bathe, hot tub, feast, and fall asleep

Day 2

• 5:30 AM - depart West Orange for Bound Brook
• 6:30 AM; Milepost 81 - photo op at D&R Canal Tow Path
• 10:30 AM; Milepost 134 - New Egypt - Elise is planning to meet us and ride. This is the half way point on Friday
• 2:00 PM; Milepost 180 - Tuscany House - bathe, hot tub, feast, and fall asleep

Day 3

• 7:30 AM - breakfast at Tuscany
• 8:30 AM - pack, ship, checkout
• 9:00 AM - depart Egg Harbor
• 2:00 PM; Milepost 240 - Cape May Light House - splash in ocean
• 3:00 PM - rendezvous around Cape May

This Time Next Week... -- Posted by martinator on Friday, June 23 2006

This time next week we will be starting the Century portion of our Adventure.

Everybody has been training for this, but probably not as much as we all would have liked to.

I dropped my backpack off at the UPS store yesterday and it should arrive in plenty of time for our stay at the  Tuscany House. I am really looking forward to having dinner at the restaurant there.

I know I for one am mentally charged up and ready to go.

It will be a nice way of celebrating my 38th birthday :-)

10 Weeks To Go... -- Posted by martinator on Monday, April 24 2006

10 weeks to go, time to start training. Though it looks like it will be mostly indoors this week, in New England anyway.

Here is a site linked off of bicycling.com that seems to be pretty informative regarding Centuries:

• Century Ride.

Confirmed -- Posted by tranquada on Wednesday, March 29 2006

We are confirmed for two rooms at the Tuscany House. We will each have our own bed. Bikes in the rooms are OK.

Tuscany House -- Posted by mdannemiller on Wednesday, March 29 2006

I did not get a discount at the Tuscany House, but I did find a coupon for the wine tasting across the street
This looks like our best option for night #2.

Perhaps one of us could make a reservation for two rooms on Friday night, June 30. (Warren?)
That happens to be Marty's birthday.
Then after the Cue sheet packages come out I can send them one and see if they will hook us up?
What do you think?

I'm thinking about mailing a bag with clothes, shoes and a bathing suit to the hotel so that it is waiting when we get there.

Marty - can you confirm (and correct on the banner at the top left of the web page) that we will be riding on Thursday Jun 29, Friday the 30th and getting to Cape May on July 1st. Now that we are making hotel reservations I want to be very sure that those dates work. I've already sent a deposit on the week long rental in Cape May from the 1st to the 7th (Saturday to Saturday).

Mike D...

See article below first -- Posted by tranquada on Sunday, March 26 2006

My wife just pointed out to me that we splitting the cost of the hotel 4 ways, rather than paying "as a couple" like I am used to.

So I have changed my vote. My thought is to get the suite for $250 or so (probably $300 after taxes etc) which still keeps things under $100 each.

This keeps us from riding extra distance and at least there will be a nice pool to etc for relaxing afterwards.

Again, thoughts are welcome before I book. If you want to check it out, see http://www.renaultwinery.com/Renault/new_tuscany/index.htm

Comments Needed -- Posted by tranquada on Sunday, March 26 2006

I started looking into our hotel options at the end of day 2, and they are not great.

At the desired stopping point for the day (100 miles - in Egg Harbor City) there is only one hotel. It is a luxury resort that is about $200/night/room.

There is also a camp ground in town, but we would need to have someone bring tents etc if we chose that route.

It does not appear there are any hotels earlier in the route that day. The other options are further, and potentially out of the way.

I found a cheap roadside motel 3 miles from our desired stop point, which would be pretty good, except that its phone is out of service so it probably no longer exists.

There are lots of options in Absecon, about 10 miles out of our way to the east (near Atlantic City), but that involves making our day 2 110 miles.

There may be some options in Egg Harbor Township, but that is 15 miles south, but at least on route.

Summary of options:
a) Suck it up and go with luxury accomodations
b) Camping
c) Ride 10 miles out of our way but get cheap accomodations and bus to the casinos

Option A has a few variations of course. We could one room, two rooms, or a suite. I believe the suite is around $250 and would have two beds and a pull out. That might be our best value if we don't want to ride extra far.

My vote would be to go the extra miles to Absecon, but I can be convinced to stay at the nice place. I don't really want to camp after riding 100 miles, unless it is in an RV.

Opinions??

Injuries -- Posted by tranquada on Monday, March 20 2006

Rider Warren Tranquada has a common bike injury, a broken collar-bone. Of course, training for the ride had nothing to do with it - it was caused in a car accident two weeks ago. Still hopeful to be able to ride in June. Will start training on the basement trainer again soon, and expect to be cleared to ride on the road in mid-May. Hoping for no set-backs...

Web 2.0, here we go... -- Posted by martinator on Tuesday, February 21 2006

When I set out to create this "page" I didn't want it to be a static site that would be worth one visit, but maybe not two. I wanted it to be dynamic and interactive. I wanted the content to always be "fresh", at least to a certain extent. I also wanted it to be useful and relatively easy (and intuitive) to navigate. So web 2.0, here we go…

Web 2.0 is a very vague term that is hard to pin down. Essentially it is all about a Richer Web Experience brought about by implementing any one or a number of web applications or services. Read  "What Is Web 2.0" for an in-depth artice.

"…as with many areas of Web 2.0, where the "2.0-ness" is not something new, but rather a fuller realization of the true potential of the web platform, this phrase gives us a key insight into how to design applications and services for the new platform."
- Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media, Inc., President and CEO

• Blogging - Coranto
• What Is RSS?
• Yahoo! Widgets (formerly Konfabulator) for the custom RSS Headline reader for this blog.
  •  2006 Ride RSS Widget
• www.flickr.com - For posting photos via email or a camera phone.
• Google Maps API - for the maps :
• Plus Google Adsense & Amazon Ads…

The HP2CM Tour Guide for Cyclists is being finalized -- Posted by mdannemiller on Thursday, February 9 2006

The High Point Cape May - A Tour Guide for Cyclists is almost complete. Minor revisions are being completed, then it will be out to press. 10,000 copies on water resistant paper will be available for public use. Updates will be posted to this site, so check back for availability.