| Date | August 7, 2010 |
| Hosts | Brenda and Larry Isherwood |
| Where | Kittatinny State Park, Andover, NJ |
| Who (else) | Caren and Mike Bianco, Pat and Ed Gifford, Susan Nicolich and Dave Snope, Cheryl Prudhomme and Mark Cook, Linda and George Wells |
Thanks to Team Isherwood for hosting another fabulous DOGS ride. The weather was perfect, the choice of routes -- excellent, and the camaraderie of the DOGS outstanding (as usual).
Participating in the ride were Teams Isherwood (Larry & Brenda -- our hosts), Wells (George & Linda), Gifford (Ed & Pat -- with apologies to Pat for leaving out her name from last week's ride report), Bianco (Mike & Caren), Cook/Prudhomme (Mark & Cheryl), and Nicolich/Snope (Susan & Dave ).
While one would expect any ride in Sussex County to have a lot of stiff climbs, the ride on 7 August was a succession of rolling hills, and every effort of climbing was rewarded with a glorious downhill; even as we stair-stepped up to various plateau levels which rewarded us with long downhill runs later on.
Team Wells can only report on the 28 mile loop, which omitted the ten-mile out-and-back trip on Shades of Death Road (SOD). The pace was fast but not overwhelming as Team Wells, much to our surprise, managed to stay with the pack all the way to the turnoff at Gibbs Road before the Fearsome-Five launched their attack on SOD Road. We heard, during the post-ride festivities, that the pace got pretty fast, even on the ascents of SOD Road (which are pretty stiff). Of course, the minute that Team Wells turned left, we lost the draft of the pack and our speed dropped considerably. That was a bit hard to take, as there were times we had been coasting at 25 mph! It was a blast!
We passed through true farm country with all the sights (and smells) of rural NJ, including a whole bunch of kids (that would be actual goats -- not children) cavorting as we turned a corner on Gibbs Road. The route continued the pattern of climbs to downhill runs that rolled along and eventually led us back to the Kittatinny Valley State Park and the end of the ride.
Unfortunately, a lot of you were busy with other things today -- that is a shame, as you missed a great DOGS ride. The good news is that there are more DOGS rides coming, and the next one will happen on 22 August and is being hosted by one of our newest DOGS members, Team Drescher (David and his son Seth) with an early Sunday AM start in Colts Neck. See the DOGS web page for additional details.
Linda & George Wells
Leaders -- Doubles Of the Garden State