The Princeton Event

August 6, 2005

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 100 mile ride. Altogether, it was 103.5 miles of riding in just over 9 hours (including rest stops).

The rest of the story is in the pictures below.

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture.

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Early in the morning, the registration area at Mercer County Community College. The 100 mile riders could start as early as 7am. I started about 5 minutes before that! We had to cross the NJ turnpike on our way south to the Pine Barrens.

A group of riders passed me. Another group passed.

Yet another big group passed and disappeared up the road. I was so intrigued by these animals that I got off to take a picture. They seem to be some kind of cross between a zebra and a donkey. The one in the middle is the largest. All the rest were about the size of the smaller one.

More of the strange animals. Looks like they live on a farm that raises soybeans. The first rest stop, at mile 26, was at a farm, down at the end of this long driveway. The rest stop was used again at mile 77 and was also used by the 65 mile riders.

The snack tables on the left and the line for the porta-potties on the right. No, I didn't take this by mistake. It's to show the wooden deck of a bridge. There were a lot of bridges like this along our route.

A farm alongside the route. A horse farm along the route.

The second rest stop at at a school in Indian Wells, near the southernmost point of the route at about mile 51. Near the end of the ride (and also the beginning) I noticed that we must have been riding on part of the same route as a wheelchair ride or race. Marks like these (and in several colors) were at many of the intersections.

Markings like these were also on the roads. Every fall, the Staten Island Bicycling Association sponsors a day of rides called the Pumpkin Patch Pedal. I don't really know, but it looks like this would be an appropriate marking for those rides! These are the Princeton Event road markings. The white is for the 100 mile route and the yellow is for the 65 mile route. As we got close to the end, arrows in about 5 colors started to appear.

The track recorded by my GPS receiver overlaid on a topographic map by GPS Visualizer. Altogether, it was 103.5 miles. Although it was a flat ride, there were enough ups and downs to make just under 2000 feet of climbing. In addition to the three rest stops, I stopped for a snack at a convenience store at about mile 90. I finished the ride just after 4 pm and had a sandwich back at MCCC before heading home.

	Early in the morning, the registration area at Mercer County Community College. The 100 mile riders could start as early as 7am. I started about 5 minutes before that!		We had to cross the NJ turnpike on our way south to the Pine Barrens.
	A group of riders passed me.		Another group passed.
	Yet another big group passed and disappeared up the road.		I was so intrigued by these animals that I got off to take a picture. They seem to be some kind of cross between a zebra and a donkey. The one in the middle is the largest. All the rest were about the size of the smaller one.
	More of the strange animals. Looks like they live on a farm that raises soybeans.		The first rest stop, at mile 26, was at a farm, down at the end of this long driveway. The rest stop was used again at mile 77 and was also used by the 65 mile riders.
	The snack tables on the left and the line for the porta-potties on the right.		No, I didn't take this by mistake. It's to show the wooden deck of a bridge. There were a lot of bridges like this along our route.
	A farm alongside the route.		A horse farm along the route.
	The second rest stop at at a school in Indian Wells, near the southernmost point of the route at about mile 51.		Near the end of the ride (and also the beginning) I noticed that we must have been riding on part of the same route as a wheelchair ride or race. Marks like these (and in several colors) were at many of the intersections.
	Markings like these were also on the roads. Every fall, the Staten Island Bicycling Association sponsors a day of rides called the Pumpkin Patch Pedal. I don't really know, but it looks like this would be an appropriate marking for those rides!		These are the Princeton Event road markings. The white is for the 100 mile route and the yellow is for the 65 mile route. As we got close to the end, arrows in about 5 colors started to appear.
	The track recorded by my GPS receiver overlaid on a topographic map by GPS Visualizer. Altogether, it was 103.5 miles. Although it was a flat ride, there were enough ups and downs to make just under 2000 feet of climbing. In addition to the three rest stops, I stopped for a snack at a convenience store at about mile 90. I finished the ride just after 4 pm and had a sandwich back at MCCC before heading home.