Ride to Carversville

Sunday 7/30/2017

Today four riders...three female and one male... went to Carversville, PA on one of the most beautiful days this summer.  It's Team Estrogen and a Male....as I call it.  Look at the photo below and you will understand.

We headed up the ridge via Aquetong Road and took the less hilly way to Carversville via Sugan Road.  Sunday's are busy on the PA roads even in this area so we were extra cautious to pay attention to the traffic.

Here are some photos from the rest stop at the Carversville Deli

 Team Estrogen and one Male

It seems that I have more than once found myself with a Team Estrogen and one Male.   There was a ride in Florida that had Joe B as the one male and there were four other females.  It's rare to find this mix of riders but it seems as though there are more females joining in on the adventure of road riding.

This puppy seems to have a permanent spot at the window when her owner visits the deli.  The owner puts her on the ledge while he visits with friends inside the store.  She constantly looks inside to make sure she sees her owner.  It's a win win for both....she gets to hang outside getting lots of attention and her owner gets to visit his friends!

The Carversville Inn across from the deli.  Fleecydale Road is one of my favorites!

We changed the route on the ride leader ( thank you Blake for being flexible) and headed down Fleecydale Road towards the river.

Enlarge the photo and look at the sign on this house.  It says Fleecydale Cottage.  I keep waiting for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to come out and say hello!

Fleecydale is under construction and it seems that we often find ourselves on a multisport ride.

That's me carrying my bike across a plank that is supporting a heavy piece of equipment.  This was actually one of the easier bike carry-over the construction sites that I have experienced with this group.  Tom H. should have been with us as he often seems to find these type of road conditions/construction.

We headed back towards the ride start location via River Road.  Sunday's are very busy on this road but we managed to stay safe.   Once in New Hope, PA ( also a very busy town on Sunday) we headed back up Mechanic Street and up the hill out of town and out of traffic.

There was a stone structure ( I think it might be a house or a garage) that was picture worthy at the top of this climb.  Thank you Perpetual Headwinds for providing these photos of that structure.

You had to be there to really appreciate this structure.  It looks like part of stone building that has fallen apart but it has a beauty to it.

We made to back to Yardley Park and Ride with 47.3 miles and 2,400 ft of climbing.  Great ride with a great group.

The Rainbow Hill Ride

Saturday 7/22/2017

Nevada and I would have loved to go on Tom H's ride ( see Jim B's blog) but it was too far a drive for us so we decided to do our own thing.

Jim B's blog

We rode out of our usual spot in Pennington which is the Administration Bldg.  We headed up the Sourland Mountain Ridge via Stony Brook Rd....as OLPH says is the most gentle way of climbing  up to the top of the ridge.   We turned left onto Syndertown Road and saw barriers that were previously blocking the road entrance but now allowed us to pass through the area.  What we didn't know was that the road was full of tree debris and downed power lines.  There were even downed power lines across driveways.  It looked as if a tornado had gone through the area.

 A transformer on the ground

 A downed tree that has been cut up

A split tree trunk with a downed wire through it. 

This is the worst condition of this road that I have ever seen in my years of riding!  It really did look like a tornado had gone through the area.

We were able to get through the debris and turned right onto Linvale Road.   That was also a mess.  There were three work people from Jersey Central Power and Light assessing the damage on properties with downed power lines.  

When we came to the intersection of  Mountain Road and Linvale we saw this.

 We were lucky that the road was not blocked from the other side and that we were able to get through at all.

We followed Linvale Road to the end and climbed the "S" curve climb of Rocktown Road where the view is stunning and there is a nice horse farm

We climbed up Losey Road to Amwell and made a left.   Dutch Lane was our next turn and we continued until Back Brook Road and made a left and had a nice ride on the floor of the mountain range.

I always try and find a new climb that Nevada and I have not done this summer.  Rainbow Hill was that climb.  Blake....you were with us there in spirit.  There is always a sense of peace riding these roads of  Hunterdon County and it really does make me miss living in NJ.

We climbed back over the ridge on Lindberg Road ( Nevada's favorite climb) and over the other side via Province Line Road with that beautiful view of the Skillman area.  If you have never seen this view....it would be worth a drive in the car to see it ! ( if you don't like climbing hills on a bike)

Our rest stop was the Brick Farm Market where many other cyclists stop for refreshment and a snack. Although a bit pricey they have a good selection of baked goods and cold brewed coffee as well as many other selections of food and drink for dehydrated cyclists.

We headed back to Pennington via Crusher Road. ( I call it my church because there is a calmness and peace that comes over me when I pedal on that road)   We ended the day with 39 miles and 2,270 ft of climbing.  It was enough on the hot and humid day.

A Short Ride Followed by Some Wine Tasting and British Cars

July 15, 2017

The weather was not cooperative overnight so when I woke up to ride with the diabetes training ride the roads were still wet at the 8 AM start time.  I decided it was not worth riding in the hills with tree lined roads and running the risk of a crash. and was lucky enough to find a local ride with Joe M.  We ended with 29 miles and almost 1,100 ft of climbing.

My neighbor from Florida was suppose to arrive today but her flight was canceled due to the airline not having enough crew.  Amazing that the airline can get away with that as an excuse. She was suppose to join a group of British car owners who were going wine tasting at Old York Cellars in West Amwell, NJ.

The group obviously went wine tasting and I was lucky enough to be invited.  Here are some photos of the winery and the cars.  Enjoy!

 A view of the Sourland Mountain range from the winery

 One of the attendees having fun

 Our tour guide describing the wine selections

Immature grapes on the vine. 

And now the cars.....from the rear.  There was suppose to be special place for the cars to be displayed...from the front....but it didn't happen.

 The red car is a 1997 Jaguar  XK8 and the blue car is an 1968 MGB Roadster

 A 1970 MGB roadster

 A 1974 MG BGT Sabrina model

A Jaguar S Type

It was an afternoon of fun with some British people and their cars sampling NJ wine.  It's a good life!

A Summer Ride to Summer Road

Saturday July 8th

The were three of us lucky souls that decided to climb in the mountains in the Sourland Mountain range.  We have ridden some of these roads before but we extended the route to include some tough climbs.

Along the way we were on some beautiful country roads.  One of my favorites is Cider Mill Road because it has a steel bridge that crosses the Raritan River and makes you feel like you are a million miles away from the civilization when in actuality you are only several miles from a number of retail concerns.

The Cider Mill Road Bridge

A silo from one of the farms on Cider Mill Road

As the photo taker I rarely am able to take photos with myself in the photo but I was able to catch up with my two riding buddies, Blake W and Laura C, and take a photo of them a bit further up the road.

Cider Mill Road with a view of the countryside and my riding buddies

We didn't do any major hills at this point (Stony Brook is not that hard just long) and continued on our way through the country roads until the next bridge which was on Higginsville Road just before a short but steep climb.  The climb comes after this bridge.

Farm on Higginsville Road

Our rest stop was at the WAWA on Summer Road.  It's always busy at this convenience store but it's a welcome rest stop for cyclists.

I did manage to make it into some of these photos!

Fully hydrated we headed back down Summer Road into Neshanic before one of the big climbs of the day....Zion Road.  This road has been feared by many cyclists because of the length and the never ending false tops.  I was too busy climbing to think about that or to take any photos!

We continued up the Sourland Ridge on Long Hill ....another long climb, although not so steep, to the top where it intersects with Lindberg Road.  We were now at the top of the ridge.   We made a left onto Lindberg until the split in the road and took the left onto Provinceline Road.   Anyone who has done this section of Lindberg before it forks at the top knows the steepness of the climb.  It gives you a false sense that it is not a hard climb but it certainly is a difficult one because there is no momentum to be had before the climb.  Most times my average speed climbing this section is 4-5 mph!  It just enough to stay clipped in without falling over and off the bike.  You may ask why we do this road??  Well the short answer is that there is the most beautiful scenery on the downhill after that climb.  I wish I could snap a photo but because of braking and a sharp turn in the road before continuing that decent all the way to Route 518 it would be unwise and almost impossible to stop for a photo.  Cars do use this road and it's unsafe to stop along this decent.

We headed into Hopewell Boro and decided we had enough water in our bottles and enough energy in our legs to forego a rest stop at the Brick Farm Market or Boro Bean.  We made a left after cycling through town onto Crusher Road and a right on Pennington-Hopewell Road to head back to Pennington and back to the ride start.  

We ended up with 44.4 miles and 2,949 feet of climbing.  Not bad for a day's ride.  The awesome scenery takes your mind off some of the tough climbs for sure.