Looking for the Sun

Marshalls Corner-Woodsville Road at Mine Road

30 December 2018

Cold air is easier to ride in when you know the sun is going to come out.  Even if the temperature doesn't change all that much, a few degrees warmth from the sun makes riding near freezing temperatures more tolerable.

Mine was the only ride listed today. Still, the group was small. There were six of us: me, Ricky, Ken, Ed, Racer Pete, and newcomer Sophie. I sized up the talent and knew I'd be leading from the back.

When I lead from Pennington in the winter I usually go one of two places: Lambertville or Sergeantsville. The destination is predictable but the route is not. I hadn't decided where we were going, but when Sophie said she'd never been to Sergeantsville it was settled.

There was a little blue between the clouds when we left, but we were riding in a calm, slightly clammy Sunday morning.

I got very close to being dropped on the top half of Stony Brook Road As payback I didn't warn everyone to shift down when we turned from Snydertown to Linvale. I can be a vindictive bitch when I want to. At least the group stayed more or less together after that.

On Mountain Road near Rocktown the sky looked dramatic enough that I stopped for pictures. It wasn't getting any closer to sunny.

"Wait at the cows," I instructed as we started down Harbourton-Mount Airy Road.

This wasn't a typical Hill Slug group. There was a triathlete and a racer in the mix, and everyone else, with the exception of myself, was a natural climber. While nobody was deliberately pushing the pace, there was a certain amount of jockeying for first up the hill. I figured there might a chance they'd wear themselves out trying to be King of the Mountain. Halfway to the cows I could see that it was starting to happen; I actually passed a couple of people before I stopped in front of the pasture.

One cow stood away from the herd. I pointed my camera at her. 

She saw me and, hay dangling from her mouth, sauntered over to the fence to pose for Bovine Vogue.

When we got to Sergeantsville were the only cyclists at the general store.

Halfway through our break two women wearing Ironman jackets rode in. Geez. All the fast people are out today.

The sun still wasn't out when we left. Ken grumbled that I hadn't kept my promise. We were on Lambert Road. I looked past him, to the north, and gestured. The sun was shining in Flemington.

We took Dutch Lane to Wertsville and climbed up Losey to Rocktown, and then turned on Linvale. At the top the sun came out from behind a thick cloud.

"Look, Ken!" I called out.

Ken yelped in elation.

"Be quiet!" Ed admonished. "You don't want to scare it away!"

We went down the other side of Linvale, across Route 31 to Woodsville Road, and across 518 to Marshalls Corner-Woodsville Road, which, hallelujah, has been paved from 518 to the Pennington border.

At the top, near Mine Road, the view was worthy of a few pictures.

Ken saw the ray of light at the same time I did.

The blue sky, though, was still behind us.

We never did see our shadows again.