Autumn Miscellany

 

Herman Black Rd

26 November 2023

We've finally had some decent weekend weather recently. Here's a handful of snapshots from a few bike rides.

This is Canal Road, somewhere north of the Griggstown firehouse, I think. It's that wet spot on the northbound side. I was riding up to meet Plain Jim's group. It was the morning of the Princeton Half-Marathon, and the roads through town had been closed. I deliberately left home late enough to avoid the runners. I gave myself extra time in case I had to detour; I didn't have to. I got farther along on Canal Road than I'd thought I would, so I stopped for some pictures.

This Thanksgiving weekend, I got out three days in a row. On Friday, a small group of us rode one of Tom's Allentown to New Egypt routes. This photo was taken on Herman Black Road near the Sykesville Road intersection.

Leaving New Egypt, Tom's route avoids nearly all of Hawkin Road by winding through several miles of hilly real estate. I'd only gone this way once or twice before. I had no idea where we were or which way we were pointing until we came out on the northern side.

What made that ride extra fun was that, somehow, I'd disconnected my GPS from my Di2 shifting system. It's not a big deal. I don't need them to be talking to each other; it's merely convenient. I was befuddled until I got home and found that the sensor had somehow been renamed "Llllllllleeeeeemmmiiii." I'd seen that on my screen, figured I was picking up someone else's system, and disconnected it.  I blame the kitten, who was on my lap when I was downloading the weekend's routes. When I deleted the nonsense and entered "Janice," the GPS found my bike.

Yesterday was cold. We'd been planning a ride on the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail. Late Friday afternoon, I decided to list the ride. Both new takers ended up canceling, so I wound up with the same folks I'd have been with had I not made the event official. 

The only time I stopped for photos was on the Province Line Road bridge over the Stony Brook.

Ridewithgps says the climb out of the valley is an 8% grade. I think that's an underestimate. 

Today I went on Plain Jim's ride. There was rain in the forecast for early afternoon. While it wasn't as cold as yesterday, the clouds made things gloomy. I was out late the night before, so I drove to the ride instead of meeting the group somewhere on Canal Road. I'm glad I did, because the rain started half a mile from the end of the ride. In the summer, I don't mind getting wet on my way home. When it's this cold, though, I'd spend the rest of the day shivering. Since I had the car, I took the long way home, stopping at Boro Bean for a big ol' box of muffins.