Staying Local

 

A cropped view of our mountain from Cider Mill

25 August 2012  

I needed a break from the epic rides I've been doing lately.  I stayed local today by following Cheryl, Blake, Plain Jim, and a handful of women I didn't know up into the Sourlands.  

When you put a Spinning instructor in charge of leading rides, you might find yourself facing the toughest climbs at the end of the ride.  She warned us, though.  A lot of us were taking it easy in the first half.

Today's weather was relatively cool for August -- somewhere in the low 80s -- but the humidity was high.  This made for a sticky ride but for an interesting, hazy view of the Sourland Mountain from Cider Mill Road.

The telephoto shot is almost in focus.

The return trip involved climbing Zion to Long Hill, then Lindbergh/Province Line across 518 to the hard rollers.  This is where my meager talent as an endurance rider gives me a slight advantage.  I spent the ride in the middle of the pack, but I wasn't spent when the hills were behind us.

Three of us peeled off onto Old Mill.  The road has been closed for ages, but, as things go around here, there'd never been any work on the bridge slated for repair.  Until recently, apparently. 

Still, this barely counts.  We only had to walk because there was too much gravel strewn into the hard-packed mud.

We passed one side of the Pole Farm (Mercer County Park Northwest).  Click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see the one remaining pole to the left of the barn.  (Follow this link for an explanation of the name, or this link for a less detailed web version.)

Although I've never met one of the two I rode home with, and only recognized the other when she reminded me that we're often in Spinning class together, we all live within less than a mile of each other.  The one I've never met has even been commuting by bike every day recently to the same building I work in.  We were pretty close to her street when she told me this.  I told her that I don't haul my commuter bike to campus every day because I want to save something for the weekends.  I only had time to look at her bike and not recognize it as one of the handful of high-enders chained up in the breezeway.  When she told me she takes her bike up to her lab, I said, "Cheater!"  I never did get the chance to find out when she leaves for work.  I'll have to find her in the campus directory.  Safety in numbers and all that, provided that my speed on a fully-loaded Gonzo is anything she'd be willing to put up with.

One more thing:  Jim, I cropped one of last week's canoe pictures.  Better?