The Princeton Event

August 5, 2006


The Princeton Freewheelers bicycle club sponsors a set of rides in early August, called the Princeton Event. I've done this ride a number of times. In fact, the ride in 1997 was my first organized ride, ever!

This year I did the 65 mile "almost hilly" ride. Even though there weren't any long hills, I found it a rather tiring ride. I think it had to do with the constant changing gears and speeding up and slowing down.

The rest of the story is in the pictures below.

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Princeton Event 2006 The registration area at Mercer County Community College before the ride. About 7:30 am. Princeton Event 2006 A family on the road ahead of me.
Princeton Event 2006 Some cyclists at the first rest stop. Princeton Event 2006 More people at the rest stop. This was about 20 miles into the metric century.
Princeton Event 2006 Yet more people at the first rest stop. Princeton Event 2006 Our hosts at the first rest stop.
Princeton Event 2006 There were lots of horse (and other) farms along our route. This horse farm actually had what appeared to be a race track. Princeton Event 2006 Of course, there are the ubiquitous McMansions. The one on the right is for sale (perhaps still under construction).
Princeton Event 2006 This is a much more interesting house based on a geodesic dome design. Princeton Event 2006 I wondered why we couldn't have a sign like this (one of quite a few I saw) for bicycles!
Princeton Event 2006 Most of the farms that were raising crops were either corn or soybeans. This was an unusual field of sunflowers. Princeton Event 2006 Under the pavilion at the second rest stop about 45 miles into the ride.
Princeton Event 2006 More cyclists at the second rest stop. Princeton Event 2006 Back at Mercer County Community College for the post ride activities (food, mainly!).
Princeton Event 2006 Several local bike shops brought merchandise to sell. Princeton Event 2006 Cyclists having a post ride sandwich and hanging out.
Princeton Event 2006 The track as recorded by my GPS receiver and overlain on a topo map by GPSVisualizer.com. Princeton Event 2006 The altitude and climb profiles calculated from data recorded by my GPS receiver. Even though our altitude stayed within about a 250 foot range, we had over 2300 feet of climbing from all the rolls. It turned out to be a fairly tough ride - it seems as though I was always changing gears to find the right one. Also, some of the rolls, while short, were fairly steep.