Bridges and Towpaths

Homestead Coffee Roasters' Assistant

12 February 2023

Saturday's route was another one of those created from a warm, sunny room for a cold, windy day. I have to stop doing that. 

In an attempt not to settle into route monotony, I planned a circuitous path to Carousel in Ringoes. This I did on Friday, after my 10-person registration limit had already overflowed to 12. By Saturday morning, two had canceled because of the cold, and one because of a cold. 

I set out from home on Miss Piggy and found myself fighting a headwind all the way to Pennington. Piggy had some work done recently: she got a new middle chain ring during a tune-up. After that, the shifting on the cassette went to shit. Michael blamed it on the 10-speed triple Ultegra shifter, which, he said, "is getting worse each time I work on it." He did the best he could. I tried to tweak it some more at home to no avail. With nothing to lose, I took her to JasonAtHalters. He looked upon the bike with such disdain that, had she been the real Miss Piggy, there would have been some karate. His mechanics did something, he couldn't tell me what, charged me $20, and sent me on my way contemplating the prospect that, at long last, I could no longer remain a mechanical-shifting, granny-geared Luddite sworn to Shimano Ultegra and up. More on this in another post, I think.

Whatever the mechanics did, it worked. Miss Piggy was shifting perfectly all day. 

The route put us mostly into the wind on our way up and over the mountain. We tood Province Line because I'm an asshole. 

The closed bridge on Cider Mill was a surprise. Ridewithgps had let me map through it. To the uninitiated in our group, I explained that this sort of thing is to be expected of me. We got across with no trouble. The construction appears to be overhead.

Things got discombobulated when we were within half a mile of the Carousel deli in Ringoes. One rider had darted ahead in search of an outhouse, even though I'd said that Carousel has one. I repeated that while the rest of us waited for the light to change at Route 202/31. 

When we got across, only two riders followed me to Carousel. The rest had disappeared. I checked my phone while one rider peered around the corner to see if we'd left anyone behind. Nobody had left me a message, and there was nobody coming up the road either. 

After I'd gone inside to get coffee, one rider emerged from up the road and turned the corner past us without even looking up. Soon, the rest of the group appeared. They'd all gone looking for a nonexistent porta-potty. "I told you guys there's a bathroom here," I said, confused. 

Anyway, they got themselves some coffee and snacks, and we headed back east together.

I don't go up Runyon Mill much, so we went that way. I snapped a few pictures of the sky at the top. I do this a lot in the winter, when the air is dry and the sun is out. We don't get this deep a blue much after April.

Despite my indoor training and leg work, the long, cold, windy ride kicked my butt. There's no replacement for being outside. 

My options for Sunday all involved driving to the start, which I'm loathe to do because it means I have to drive home as I cool down. I'm always freezing when I walk into the house. Jim's ride, listed as C+, was completely populated by B+ riders. I knew I wouldn't have the legs for that, and I didn't want to be the one he would have to wait for when he could go fast himself. Another option was far more appealing: a towpath ride starting from Bulls Island and going north to Frenchtown and Upper Black Eddy. I hadn't been on the towpath up that way since the summer of 2021. It's all under a canopy of tall trees on the NJ side. Plus, we'd be stopping at Homestead General Store, where I haven't been in ages. I signed up.

The sky was murky at the start:

My legs hurt all the way to Frenchtown. The thing about towpath riding is that, while it is flat, there's no coasting. I really needed a minute of downhill. Relief came as we walked across the Frenchtown bridge to Uhlerstown.

I rode through the covered bridge there because there's a covered bridge there. 

The towpath from Uhlerstown to Upper Black Eddy is in good shape, although I'm always convinced I'm going to knock myself out going under the low bridges across the canal.

At Homestead General Store, I was greeted by the Homestead Coffee Roasters' kitty, who was recently featured on their Facebook page as a roasting assistant. She was a friendly and talkative critter.

This is the view looking south from the store:

This is the roasting barn. I have a coffee subscription, two bags of beans delivered to my house at regular intervals.

Everyone else had gone inside and, with the exception of me and one other rider, ordered stacks of blueberry pancakes. This is a food I know better than to get anywhere near on a bike ride. I don't think it's coincidental that, on the ride home, we pancake-free folks were way out in front. 

After the ride, I walked towards the Bulls Island pedestrain bridge. The best place to see the entire span is from a distance.

The canal looked cold and lonely. It won't be long until the leaves come back.