Tom H had asked me the week before the ride if I wanted to join him for a ride to the Pinelands. When he said 60 miles it gave me hives! I haven't done more that 45 miles in any one ride this year. However, when I return to Florida I will ride with Bob W on his annual birthday ride. I think this year it will be 74 or 75 miles so I thought it would be a good idea to get some longer saddle time and hang out with NJ friends before I head back.
Joe M graciously offered to drive me to the start. Interestingly enough, in all the years I have ridden with PFW I have never left from this location. Thank goodness Joe offered to drive or I would have driven to Plumstead Recreation Park instead of Mansfield and would have missed the ride.
There were seven of us. Tom H, Joe M, Chris C, Ricky, Andrew, Sergy and yours truly. As is customary (and because I asked) Tom blessed us with the holy kickstand before we left.
This route was perfect with shady roads and not too much traffic. The day started cool but heated up as we rode so the shaded roads were very welcome. Our first stop was at Brendan Byrne/ Lebanon State Forest for a water break. The ranger station had indoor plumbing too. Yah!
Here is a link with more information about the park.
https://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/byrne.html
Here is a photo of the group.
We filled up our water bottles and off we went. We crossed Rt 72....after waiting a while....and headed to Tabernacle, NJ. Along the way Sergy had the first flat. We were lucky enough to find a shaded driveway (although the owner of the house happened to come home and turn in the driveway and wondered what we were doing there) and the flat was fixed fairly quickly.
The roads were in pretty decent shape considering the cold winter that had just passed. Of course there was the occasional road that was full of potholes. It had been so long ago that I called out a pothole road hazard that I had to think of the right word to call out. Florida has decent roads and the most we encounter is a dead animal or debris from car tires. (wires, tire tread, etc)
I didn't recall ever stopping at Nixon's in Tabernacle but Tom was pretty sure I had. When we stopped there for the second rest stop I was sure that I had never been there. Funny.....in all the years of living in NJ and riding with PFW I had never stopped at this location.
Truthfully I wasn't that impressed. It had Gatorade and things that cyclist like but no iced coffee! It was in the right location and I was able to find something cold to cool off so I was happy. I did talk to another cyclist not in our group that had ridden up from the Cherry Hill area so it is a popular rest stop. It was just before the rest stop that Chris had the second flat of the ride. He changed it quickly and we were on our way again.
It was getting warmer as the ride went on and I was trailing behind and wondered if I had made the right choice. My neck hurt and my legs had lactic acid but all those symptoms went away as the ride continued. There was mention of a WAWA stop if needed but I missed it but could have used it to stretch. Oh well.
I counted the miles to the finish. I was ready to be done. We ended up with 59.8 miles and I was very happy to see the car and get off the bike. On the way back, Joe stopped at the Columbus store for something cold to drink which I really appreciated.
Thanks, Tom, for a great ride!! I am glad that you convinced me to go. I can now say that I stopped at Nixon's.
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