A Mellow Ride in PA

8 March

Chris didn't want to drive that far, but Mike B. was willing to be persuaded to go with me up to Bulls Island to ride with the Vertical Brothers (Bob P. and Michael H.). We spent half the ride in Pennsylvania, climbing mostly mellow hills, going under covered bridges, and riding next to streams. We stopped in Frenchtown and finished the ride in New Jersey.

For every picture I did take there were dozens more I ought to have taken. This dozen will have to do.

We came upon a bridge that was very closed. Even pedestrians were forbidden. But we were cyclists, so we climbed over the barrier, went around the boulder, and walked across what's left of the wooden beams.

Here's a hole in the deck. That's the river bank visible underneath.



Here are the barrier and the boulder (behind the shrub). That's moss on the slats.



Farther along was this peculiar sign:



You can close a bridge. You can close a road. But how do you close a hill?

Michael explained that the road up there is so narrow that one car can barely squeeze through, let alone a biker passing said car in the opposite direction on the steep incline. He tried it once, he said, but never again.

Here's the Delaware River from the Frenchtown bridge. I was facing north.



Facing south:



We took Federal Twist from the top. The ridge you see in the distance is Pennsylvania. That's Mike B. on the road.



While I was lining up the shot I heard a hum behind me. It was loud enough to be a car. It wasn't. It was Michael and Bob flying past me at great speed. That's Michael in the blue and white jersey.



The first time I went down Federal Twist I hit 50 mph. Today I grabbed the brakes. There was a lot of gravel on the road left over from all the snow we've had. I only did 41 mph this time.

Here are some pictures of the Delaware and Raritan Canal at Bulls Island. Mike and I climbed down some stairs on the bridge. Here I was looking through whatever cement structure we were on (maybe it used to be a lock -- behind me were some big screws and some geary-looking things).



Here's the water rushing directly under us:



This is the upstream view from under the bridge and between the cement pilings. To the rear on the left side you can see the towpath.



The rushing water is in the front of this picture. If you look closely you can see a guy fishing on the left bank past the wall.



This is more of the canal downstream.



Today was almost as unseasonably warm as yesterday, but that's it for short sleeves for a while. We now return you to your regularly scheduled winter.