Early Autumn Oldwick

Jim, the trick is to stand at the edge of the road and zoom in.

29 September 2019

There's a little bit of fall color starting. Most of it right now is dead leaves. We haven't had much rain. Maybe my planned ride from Hillsborough to Oldwick would have been better a month from now, but the weather forecast looked good. We hadn't been there in a while either.

Tom, Jim, Ricky, Bob, and Blake joined me. I warned as we started that I'd be stopping for a lot of pictures.

Despite the power lines, I like the view facing west on River Road in Neshanic.

The morning began dry, but the humidity and haze were picking up. Here I think it helped filter the light and set some contrast.

While I was stopped at the top of the hill, Tom was at the bottom, taking pictures of decorated hay bales. He waited for me there to make sure I'd see them.

There was a pumpkin too but the light was wrong.

When we got to Thor Solberg Road we had to visit the airport.

Across the airfield the trees gave a hint of color.

The herd of cattle on Mill Road in Readington is always worth a picture stop.

We wound our way north to the intersection of Taylors Mill and Rockaway Roads. A Virginia creeper vine, one of the earliest plants around here to change color, was beginning to turn red on the side of the old mill.

Bob's rear tire was low on air, so we stopped on Rockaway Road at the gingerbread house. While he pumped his tire, a few of us took pictures. The house has been for sale several times. For a while it appeared to be in a state of disrepair. Now it's immaculate again The plants by the fence have been cleared out. Now we can see the entire front yard, and even into the back and sides. The house is old and sprawling. There are two outbuildings. Judging from the two cars half-hidden in the driveway, the new owners aren't short on cash.

From the mill to the top of the hill is 3.5 miles of a slow, shaded incline. As much fun as it is to coast down, I prefer going up. It gives me time to look around. I'm never bored or disappointed.

"Welcome to Mountainville. Thanks for visiting Mountainville." If you say this slowly on Main Street, you'll be in and out of town by the end of it.  Sawmill Road is on the other side. It's more of a climb than any of us remember it to be. I hadn't taken a picture of the old water wheel in a while, so I stopped this time.

We crossed Route 517 and turned right on Fox Hill Road. This is another place where I stop for pictures every single time. We all did. Jim later complained in his blog post that his pictures didn't do justice to the view. I like that his pictures show the road, but the trick is to stand on the edge of the road, zoom in, and take a dozen shots.

The haze helped a lot.

In a half-open barn there was a chair.

I could spend all day in that chair.

I knew it had been a while since I'd been inside the Oldwick General Store. I hadn't figured on it being well over a year. They've renovated. There's more space inside.

For 11:30 on a sunny Saturday morning, the place was empty. We were the only cyclists. I hope this is an aberration. If the general store folds, there will be nowhere else nearby to stop.

The coffee tasted like water. The pumpkin bread made up for it. Tom recommended the cookies, so I bought a couple to take home. Jim was eating a dense, square thing that he claimed contained his day's worth of calories.

Good news: Vliettown Road has been repaved. So have a handful of other roads between Oldwick and Readington. It made the rollers, always annoying, much easier to deal with as the humidity crept up.

As we crossed over Route 78, Bob's tire went flat again. This time I suggested he change it, which he grudgingly did, with admirable speed.

My last picture was on Pine Bank Road. This is, I think, a bittersweet vine.

When we got back to Hillsborough, we all agreed we should do this ride again. Maybe I'll do it in reverse. I've never climbed Fox Hill. Tom has. He says it only sucks a little.

*****

Jim outsourced his Sunday ride to a Cranbury Fastboy today. No, thanks. I passed up an invitation to an off-the-books ride that John K was leading. I needed sleep. I got a lot of it, and would have slept more had I not left the curtain open and been stabbed in the face by direct sunlight at 8:30 a.m.

After adjusting the setback on Rowlf (as I recently had on Beaker, to good effect, thanks to Ross' suggestion), I took him out for a short recovery ride. If I timed things right I could get to the Pig just before they closed for the day.

I didn't have a route in mind. The wind was out of the north at 11 mph, which is enough to let one know there's  a headwind but not enough to set one to cursing. I went into the wind for a while and found myself on Research Road on the ETS campus. This little loop is a gem.

I got to the Pig with six minutes to spare.

Here is proof that I do, indeed, ride the Colnago: