Next to the Clouds

Belted Galloway Calf, Stamets Road, Milford, Hunterdon County, NJ

1 July 2017

I'm not one to bail on a morning ride when the forecast calls for a 40% chance of showers in the afternoon.  Seven Hill Slugs followed me from Lambertville to Upper Black Eddy: Jack H, Ricky, Andrew, Bob N, Jeff B, Blake, and Gordon. 

Neither Blake nor Gordon had been in the hills much this year. Coulda fooled me. Andrew already had something like 20 miles under him, and had waded through some mud around a closed bridge (atta boy!) to get to the parking lot on time. Jeff rides with the hilly fastboys during the week. 

Needless to say, whenever there was a hill, I led from behind.

The route was an old one, from 2013. Without a GPS, and without Jim's GPS as a backup (Jim being afraid of the possibility of maybe a spot of rain, apparently), I relied on memory and my trusty, hand-written, 3 x 5 card cue sheet folded in thirds. It was refreshing not to have to tussle with an attention deficit disordered gadget and to engage my little brain instead.

Picture-taking took me a little longer today because I was fussing with exposure settings. I'll get faster at it eventually. 

There was a good tailwind pushing us up Route 29 and Lower Creek.

We went through the covered bridge.

That was the end of our warm-up. After that we were climbing up the ridge for the better part of ten miles.

I often wonder aloud about the intersection of Whiskey Lane and Boarshead Road. I insist that there must have been a tavern there. I finally looked it up, thanks to a tip from a friend whose mother is an expert in Hunterdon County genealogy and history. Turns out there did used to be an inn called the Boarshead at the corner of Boarshead and 539. It's not there anymore, but this is:

Our tailwind pushed us north into Quakertown and gave us a little help on Everittstown too.  Between Lower Creek Road and Milford I think we crossed paths with several dozen other bikers and even overtook part of a group.

Through sheer luck we were nearly always under blue skies, although we were never far from a gray mass threatening off to one side or another.

The descent on Gallmeier is always fun.

On Stamets Road I stopped to chat with a pair of Belted Galloway cows.

The Homestead General Store was crowded when we got there. The bike rack was full. It emptied soon after we arrived and I was able to get a good look at a charming cruiser crying out for some TLC.

 

We had a leisurely break under the leafy trellis out back. For all of three minutes there was a light rain shower that wasn't even strong enough to show up on Gordon's weather app radar. I chatted with the owners, who were also sitting outside. I told them how happy I was to have seen Homestead's coffee down at the Sandy Seagull in Manasquan last week. They were happy that I was happy about it.

While we talked I think I found almost the right shutter speed for the moment:

Had I tried this in auto mode, the path would have been washed out in the cloudy glare:

Horseshoe Bend has been freshly graveled, making the 3.5-mile climb all that more enjoyable. Count that as almost dirt, throw in the closed bridge on Locktown-Sergeantsville (a little chain-limbo was all we needed to get past it), and you've got yourself a genuine Hill Slugs ride.

On the other end of the road is a long, swooping descent.

We stayed up on the ridge east of Sergeantsville by going onto Rittenhouse, where I completely failed to capture the drama of the clouds over a farm, because I have not yet learned how to avoid overexposure. If my point-and-shoot could wear the same polarized sunglasses I wear, we'd be on to something.

We all dig the descent on Seabrook because it comes two miles from the end of the ride and the descent lasts a mile.

You can't see it in the picture, because of my stupendous photography skills, but the sky was really threatening something over there. Nevertheless, we got back to the lot and even hung out for a while without ever having to take cover. The sky was a drama queen today.