NJ 600K 06/02-06/03

I rode the NJ 600k earlier this month which was my last qualifying ride for PBP. The ride started at 04:00 on Saturday and I finished around 14:30 on Sunday. It was a fun fast ride. The highlights for me were a fast first 75 miles where we rode a double pace line in dark at about 20 mph and as the Sun came out we increased the speed to nearly 22 mph and strung out into a long single line. I am not a fast rider and knew I was in over my head but it felt good and I even took three pulls at the front.

After the fast start I settled back into a more sustainable pace. The rest of the day was spent in the hot sun beating against a building headwind. This part of New Jersey is agricultural and there were large fields of potatoes and blueberries and very little shade. The area had a very different feel and look to it then New England and at first this was a nice change of pace but after about 10 hours of the same scenery and a head wind it was enough.

Around 7:00 I pulled into the control at the halfway point where I thought we would turn and pick up a tailwind. No luck, the volunteer manning the control said we had another 25 miles of headwind before we would turn and finally have a tail wind for the last 25 miles to our sleep stop. There were quite a few riders at the control when I got there and more continued to arrive while I rested and ate. Since it was late each group would don their reflective vests, ankle bands and helmet lights before heading out.

As we rode into the evening the scenery was changing, we were approaching the shore. You could smell the salt air and feel a difference in the wind. We would pass by marinas and catch glimpses of the water through trees. As it became dark we hit the biggest hills of the day, a series of bridges that were crossing various inlets. We finally started to swing back north, the wind worked it's way behind us and you could see a glow in the distance fromthe lights of Stone Harbor.

We were warned about the traffic in Stone Harbor which is a popular beach town. It was dark by the time we arrived but the sound of waves could be heard on the other side of the hotels and the wind was now giving us a nice push. We moved through a town that was full of people out for an evening on the town. Everyone seemed to be dressed up, singles, couples, families, young and old. People watching made for a nice distraction.

After coming through the center of town we could now count down the miles to the sleep stop in Somers Point. We rode close enough to the shore to hear the waves breaking. We climbed a few more narrow bridges in light traffic and were soon headed down the last one and into the rest stop just before midnight.

After a dinner, 2.5 hours of sleep and breakfast all in about 4 hours I was on the road again with one other rider. The temp was in the Mid 60's and it felt good to be out riding. About a mile from the hotel we got lost. We retraced our steps a few times and then stopped people delivering new papers or walking their dogs to ask directions. We finally figured out that the queue sheet had us going left when we should have said right. After about 20 minutes of riding in circles we were finally on our way.

Sunday’s ride had different scenery and some long grades but with the tail wind it was not too bad. We started riding through the Pine Barrens and slowly the scenery became more developed. I knew that I would finish and it was a matter of counting down the miles and slogging through to the end. I finished around 2:30 in the afternoon just as it started to rain. I took my time packing up, slept for an hour in the car and was then on my way home.

While flat this proved to be a physically tough ride because of the head wind the first day. Being from New England the scenery seems to always be changing . On this ride the scenery stayed the same for long periods which was mentally tiring. But I was done and had qualified for PBP.