cranks.cc : Cycling in Central New Jersey

When I moved to central New Jersey it was a relief to find it wasn't, as The Guardian once described it, the Essex of North America, although, admittedly, parts of it resemble a chemical works from BladeRunner.

Fortunately, large parts of the state are very amenable to riding, either on-road or off-.

On-line, mountainbiking is well catered for by mtnNJ.com, a forum for off-road riders with a lively contributing membership.

Central NJ roadies, meanwhile, do not have a forum for discussion and chat, so I've taken it upon myself to start cranks.cc to give road-riders the chance to have their own on-line discussion board, unaffiliated to any club or organisation.

Okay ... Another Year Older ...

... so I'll resolve to start posting again ... yes, really.

Well, time is relentlessly movin' on and today sees 57 years since I came into this world. What better way than with a bike ride which, now I've just finished it, I realise I should have made 57 miles, but is now cast at 45 plus miles.

Oh well. That's my resolution for next year; a 58 mile bike ride.

That's me, taking a rest in Lambertville, NJ. Do you like the jersey?

Anyway, the weather here has been appalling, but today was nice enough. So I planned a route on MapMyRide.com, loaded it into the Garmin and pedalled out into the New Jersey countryside, which whilst not quite Devon and Cornwall, is nice enough, believe me.



Hopefully the script above will enable you to see the route. Otherwise go here.

If you have Google Earth you can get a really good look at the countryside. There's a link somewhere on the MapMyRide page so you can do this.

Metric Century ... well, almost ...

Set out on the longest ride of the year so far.

The ride was based on Chris's loop but involved dropping down into Stockton and Lambertville.

As it happened it was the hottest day of the year so far which meant the hill-climbing was exhausting.

When I got home I noticed the odo was showing 62 miles. Had I realised I would have ridden around the block to get to 100km. Oh well ... what's 500m?

QR Cycle Shorts

One of the benefits of getting around a few bicycle shows is that you get to see the latest stuff.

More and more as bicycle hardware gets about as good as it can get, designers turn their efforts towards the bicycle rider/bicycle - man/machine - interface.



Pedals, computers, GPS, etc., have all seen huge strides, but rarely has the most basic connection between rider and bicycle been developed.

Step forward R-Sole Inc, a newcomer to cyclesport, having previously developed a popular line of hoseline connectors with their innovative seatpin/cycle short QR designed, they claim, to complete the bond between rider and bike.

Studies show that this arrangement enables riders to get 50% more power to the wheels as well as avoid the need for a colonoscopy.

You decide ...

First of the Year

Well, I managed to get out on Saturday ... about 45 miles from Etra Park Lake to New Egypt and back.

All in all, I didn't feel too bad. In fact, pretty good, although I was glad to see the car park at the end. I felt a bit of a fraud. Some riders have done over 1000 miles already this year and are completing 100 miles/day in preparation for a double century ride. I'll be happy with the upcoming 5 Boro Bike Tour ...

Anyway, the bike ran well, very quietly in fact. I like a quiet bike. Most tick and whirr ... mine's nice and quiet ... mmmmm ...

Back on the Chain Gang

Last weekend was very mild, so I actually got out on my bike!!!

I did about 30 miles, calling in at Halter's to make them jealous, and generally feeling rather better than I thought I might.

Last evening also saw me attending Princeton FreeWheelers' annual meeting. We heard a presentation from Trenton Boys' and Girls' Club who are starting a bike workshop project. I also bumped into a couple of riders from the Griggstown Grind. We're all looking forward to getting going again.

The coming weekend also seems promising, so I'm going to try a group ride and hope I'm not too embarrassed.

Daylight Saving Time

So, we've sprung forward and we're in summer time.

It means that for a couple of weeks the time difference between EST and GMT is just four hours rather than the usual five and sunset will now be around 7.00EST this evening ... a bit longer and I'll be able to cycle to and from work.

Indianapolis, IN

Here I am, currently in rather grey, but unseasonably mild Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

I flew in yesterday, into Indy's very new and rather nice airport. Nice, that is, in the way any airport could actually be nice ...

I am here for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. I'll be running the show's web presence. You can visit the show's website here, or the daily blog here.

Indianapolis calls itself the Crossroads of America. It may be, but when I initially considered taking the green option and getting a train here it turned out to be rather difficult. Oh well ...

Downtown is marked for me by its fairly original vernacular buildings and shops, rather than its late 19thC/early 20thC institutional buildings and modern corporate architecture.

More later ...

Today, I am, again, mostly listening to ...

I still think internet radio is the best thing since, oh, I dunno, sliced bread, colour tellie, synthetic inserts for cycle shorts ...

Anyway, here are one or two of my favourite internet radio stations:

• RemoteDJ.com - rare R&B, plus broken beat, bossa, etc ...
• SomaFM.com - over a dozen minority interest stations, including; Secret Agent, Beat Blender, Illinois Street Lounge and the very, very cool,Sonic Universe.
• bbc.co.uk - most stuff from the world of BBC radio, occasionally interrupted because of rights' restrictions, but BBC Radio Five Live International gets me through the day. The virtual compulsory use of iPlayer is becoming an encumbrance though.

All of these stations, plus about 14,000 more, are available through your computer or internet radio device. Then there are other radio facilities such as play it again and podcasts. I manage my podcasts using Nimiq. More of that another day ...

The Van Dike, Exmouth Road, Devonport

It's funny how things suddenly come to mind. There I was just trolling the depths of the interweb when I came across this word; quintessence.

Quintessence: the fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies; the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form ...

But to me that will never be quintessence. For me Quintessence will always be a bunch of London based Aussies who took on Indian names and kaftans and played a curious blend of Indian classical music and prog rock. Actually, they were rather good, as I recall.

Quintessence were one of the first groups I saw at Plymouth's legendary Van Dike Club in the late '60s. And I do mean legendary ... if not in a literal way ...

The Van Dike was run by the musically based Van Dike family from the old Exmouth Road Chuch Hall in Devonport, originally a separate town from Plymouth.

I used to go frequently with mates from work or Martin, the only other Trot in the village, and thinking back, not only was the roster of emergent groups remarkable, so was the price of entry; three and fourpence to see Mott the Hoople, Deep Purple, Medicine Head (?) ... and six and eightpence to see a posh gig at the Guildhall ... Yes!, The Nice, Jethro Tull ... unbelievable.

And then Martin and I used to walk home from Devonport to Plymstock ... 6-7miles @ 2.00 in the morning ... those were the days ...

Amazingly, I found this repository of old Van Dike programmes here. It's a bit of a trip ... down Memory Lane nowadays, of course ...

Sadly, I had heard that Greg Van Dike had passed away a year or so ago, although I understand he was still involved in music to the end. His children seem to have picked up the banner - in a Lily Allen sort of way ... maybe.