Hill Slug Chronicles: Winter Larry's Hill

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Winter Larry's Hill

The adventure is around the corner.

21 July 2013

Winter Larry is a Flatlander. That's why, when he told me about the "big hill" on Route 579 coming into Bloomsbury, I figured it would be a run-of-the-mill ascent.

Nuh-uh.

It's not a good sign when the ride leader hears one of her pack screaming "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" from several hundred feet away. This is what happens when:

1. I volunteer to lead a ride from the Dvoor Farm in Flemington in conjunction with the Hunterdon Land Trust and their farmers market, coming up with several routes to point out as much preserved open space as possible within the county;

2. I find out at 8:15 a.m. that the market is only open until 1:00 p.m. and therefore choose the shortest of the four routes I've come up with; and

3. I decide to take Little York-Pattenburg to 539 instead of wading through the stream on Sweet Hollow.

As if the hill weren't bad enough, three of the five were too spooked by the descent into Bloomsbury to take in the panoramic view of the Musconetcong valley. By the time we sat down with our snacks, none of us wanted to climb any more hills.

The thing was, we were only 25 miles into the 49-mile trip and it was already 11:00 a.m. To avoid the hills as much as possible, we'd have to loop north into Warren County, wind our way towards the Delaware River, hammer to Frenchtown, and still have to get out of the valley. My planned route home, on the other hand, was fairly direct.

The roads out of town were ones I hadn't been on in a very long time, if at all. "I abdicate all responsibility for the roads between here and Flemington," I announced as we saddled up.

Boy howdy, was I in for a surprise. A 7% grade isn't much on its own, but when it goes on for three miles, it begins to do one in. We were on Route 173, and instead of turning onto Mine Road (terrain unknown) for a side loop along some more preserved open space, I decided to shave some miles by going straight.

The descent into Perryville was worth the trouble. Despite the fact that we were on a state highway, there were very few cars, a huge shoulder, a clear line of sight, and a knockout view of the Raritan Valley and hills beyond.

At this point, we were lucky to have a native with us. She suggested a route home that would be, after a long, low-grade climb ahead, downhill and flat (as much as one can get a flat road in the Hunterdon highlands, anyway). The roads I'd chosen apparently wouldn't be. We were all for handing her the reins. So, up Mechlin Corner we slogged, and from there we really only did have to climb a few times.

The shortest way home would have been to get to Route 12 as soon as possible, but I veered from that. We'd seen enough state highways for one day.

We got back at 1:10 p.m. Most of the vendors were packing up or gone, but a worthy farm stand out of Church Road in Milford was still open.

Plums taste best from sweaty hands.

[Thanks to Jack H, Dr. Lynne, Judy M, and Magda G (our native) for putting up with all of my tomfoolery. For you, here's the route. That was more difficult than it had any right to be.]

*****

And now, because I didn't post last weekend, here are pictures of Matt R and his legs, because I so seldom get to ride with him. Usually he's blowing past me at a high rate of speed on one century or another.

Ken G and Bruce are fixing a flat.

This is a fixie parked at Le Chateau de Ptomaine yesterday:

Also, I finally gave up on being able to tame the bad home perm that was the back yard after the hurricane. We have light where we didn't before. Violets were taking over. The mulch paths had migrated, in waves, towards the driveway. Every time it rained, which was all the time in June, we had several inland seas. I did something I never, ever, thought I'd do. I hired Greg's Landscaping.

So worth it. They did everything, including re-paving the caved-in brick patio, in two days.

After six days of daily watering, little grasslets are poking up from the hay.