Rowlf Likes Rollers

Island Road, Columbus, NJ

23 July 2017

Rowlf needed some road time. I drove him to Allentown this morning for the 8:00 a.m. start from Bruno's. While it was cooler than yesterday, the air was far more humid. Chris led me, Joe, Mike, and Chad south in an almost drizzle.

I set Son Of the $500 Piece of Shit to record, which is the one thing I can trust Garmin to be good at. Chris had only a vague idea of where he wanted to go; I had no idea where we were once we got out of Allentown. We crossed 206 and 130 a bajillion times. I had the vague sense that we were near the Delaware River.

I knew this because we were hitting a lot of rollers in the shade. I didn't build Rowlf to be a climber, but, despite his weight, he's not bad at going up the little stuff. 

What Rowlf really wants to do is descend. Rowlf and I have fewer than 500 miles together, yet on a downhill I feel more secure on this 1986 Colnago steel frame than I do on any of my other bikes, including Kermit, who has something like 38,000 miles with me. If I were to have the legs to carry Rowlf to the top of Acadia's Cadillac Mountain, I bet I could ride back down that scary part without getting the heebie-jeebies. If he didn't weigh a metric ton (and if I didn't), I'd put a triple and MTB gearing on him and see what he could do up in Warren County.  For now, though, Rowlf is my recovery ride bike.

We took our rest stop early, at a 7-11 only 18 miles in. I'm never hungry that early, and I dislike 45 to 50-mile rides that make their one and only stop at fewer than 25 miles (Winter Larry, I'm looking at you and Battleview Orchards). I drank some orange juice but I got hungry on schedule at 25 miles anyway.

While there wasn't much of a chance of rain in the forecast, the sky hung heavy over us nearly the entire time.

I stopped for my first pictures on Oxmead Road, about 23 miles in.

I stopped again about 3 miles later, on Gilbert Road, because the sky was doing a drama thing:

I seem to be snapping a lot of sky like this in 2017.

On Island Road we came upon a flower farm. Mike stayed back with me as we watched the water spray.

The corn in Burlington County is ahead of the corn in Warren County. 

Here, the silk is already browning.

The smell of corn flowers was powerful again today, inching closer to nauseating.

A few miles from the end of the ride, Joe and Mike peeled off to go look at another flower grower. I almost followed them but I had second thoughts and doubled back to catch up to Chris and Chad. I was wet, sticky, hungry, and a little tired. Chris then peeled off too, needing to get some food into himself before he rode home. I guided Chad back into Allentown.

As is becoming custom, here is Moxie, posing by dozing while I unload my wallet, phone, and camera from my soaking wet jersey: