With only 2.5 hrs sleep before this early morning ride, was too tired to know any better! Since we were out riding before the sun was out it was like doing my night ride, The temps were pleasant with gentle winds. A perfect start to a great ride. We made two stops during this ride to make sure we had plenty of fluids and we carried an extra bottle that didn't get used, I drank 4 bottles and would have started the 5th one but I didn't want to stop with 5 miles to go. I set the pace a little on the slow side at the start because I wasn't sure how hot it would get during the ride and wanted to have reserves since this was my longest ride of the season and the same for Albert. I thought the 17-18 mph pace was good for us but after 25 miles Albert picked it up to our normal ride pace for 50 miles 20-21 mph.
I stayed close on his wheel to reduce my work load... after going thru Chatsworth and passing Hot Diggity Dog and getting on Rte 532, I warned Albert about the hills and rollers we would be hitting and he laughed because up to this point we only hit a few hills and most was flat or 1-2% grade. I was prepared for what was to come. we finally got to the first hill, he did his thing and started up it and was holding really good great speed, me being smart stuck on his wheel like white on rice. He wasn't prepared for the steep pitch towards the last 100 yards where he was doing all the work and me being pulled, I was able to take advantage of it and as he tried to maintain the pace he slowed and I slung shot passed him, I attempted to slow but I knew if I did, I would suffer so I just took my momentum right up to the top and over and carried the speed until I recovered down the road before I slowed for Albert to catch. He still laughed about the hill as we approached the roller section. He handle these well. Now we were on Rte 72 he were quickly moving along again Albert pulling nicely and smoothly at 21-22 mph, we had little over 20 miles to the next water stop and didn't think I could make, I hated to break the rhythm we had, I mentioned that I would need to stop some place for a quick pit stop. He said, "Okay, stop at the break in the tree line". What a relief it was, we were quickly back at our moving pace. I warned Albert about the hills on Rte 539 heading towards Whiting out next water stop, and that I was told by, "The Bike Beast" that they had repaved the road since our last time riding on it. It was nicely paved too. I need to comment on two spots one about a mile long and another about 1/4 mile long it was repaved but with a light brown color road which was like loose super hard packed sand. If you are not holding a smooth straight line it could be dangerous and the amount of cars and trucks flying by us didn't make it any easier. Albert wanted me to pull him thru this part of the road mainly because I knew where we were, the hills and traffic. I pushed this road as hard as we could handle and we handled the hills quite well and took advantage of all the down hills to get back whatever speed we lost going uphill which wasn't much, it was hard work and eventually we made it to our last water stop with 30 miles left to our destinations. The next 7 miles we took it much easier on roads that were ideal to set up to our next challenging section which was back onto Rte 539 heading towards Plumsted/New Egypt. This bit of road has several hills nothing big, but enough to wear you out, the worse part is the shoulder is narrow or none existing and traffic was extreme with cars and trucks, the big dump trucks for once gave us room but it was the cars that were buzzing us not giving an inch. I took the pull thru here miscalculated the distance to our next turn by a few miles, the turn off road is a very calm, greatly paved country back road! Once we turned off it was so nice and easy sailing, we slowed the pace to recover and prepared ourselves for the final push the solo 10-11 miles we had to do. We gave our parting remarks touched gloves and of we went our separate ways. Speaking for myself it was the hardest part of the ride, not having someone to lean on, plus parts of my solo trip was on some poorly paved roads with no shoulders. This the road that cuts thru Ft. Dix, you can tell the Military drivers or Contractors vs. Civilian's by who gives you ample room when passing. The temps did start to rise from a low of 68 at the start to a high of 85 with moderate Humidity for the last 20 miles or so. My inner thighs started to cramp every time I hit one of the 6 final hills especially if I didn't use higher cadence. The ride was a success and very happy to have finished, Thanks to Albert for without him this ride would not have been done! For any of you local riders if you ever get a chance to Ride with Albert he is a great riding partner, be aware he is an early morning rider so if you are too check him out.