Fog and Fixes

 

Harbourton-Woodsville Road

12/10/23

"Patchy fog, my ass!" I said to Racer Pete as I rolled into Twin Pines at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.

I'd listed the ride late. Most of my regulars had better things to do. Heddy, Our Jeff, Racer Pete, Glenn F, and Andrew A were willing to follow me. The route was sort of Our Jeff's idea. He'd suggested Titusville so we could roll along the river for a while. I liked the idea because it would take me off of my usual roads.

Although I'd seen fog in the forecast, I wasn't thinking about it when I created the route. I feared for our lives when we got to the flashing light at the intersection of Route 31 and Ingleside. The fog hadn't let up. Fortunately, there's a clear line of sight at that crossing. We all made it. I said, "Good thing Jim isn't here. He'd be cursing me out," and made a mental note to go a different way next time.

As we waited at the light at Washington Crossing and Scotch, I said to Andrew, "This is almost rain." We made the left, and as we climbed toward Nursery Road, I saw that my jacket was wet. I seriously considered turning the group around.

The closer to the river we got, the drier it got. There was still enough fog at Washington Crossing to make for decent pictures. There was a fellow with a tripod and a real camera down by the water.

While we were there, we decided to make the stop a bathroom break. That's when Our Jeff noticed that his saddle was loose. He'd had the bike pretty well worked over and halfway renovated. This was his first ride since getting it back. 

How many Freewheelers does it take to find an Allen wrench that will fit under a saddle? Four, and that included taking the seat post out to better get at the bolt. Heddy's nifty ratchet tool got the seat post bolt loosened. My Allen wrench, the one L-shaped of its kind that I carry (the rest being the straight kind in a folding tool), turned out to be the right fit for the job. 

We left the valley via Church Road, which is a long, shallow grind with varying degrees of incline. "My Garmin doesn't count this as a hill!" Heddy said. We all know her Garmin is a liar.

To add to the climbing, I took us up Harbourton-Woodsville Road. The fog had lifted enough to expose some blue sky. I took a handful of pictures of the farm field at the intersection with Marshalls Corner-Woodsville Road.  

From there it was mostly downhill to Hopewell, where we were met by two other groups of cyclists. EZ was there with Gina and Stacey, doing Marty's route (he had to cancel). Linda M had come up to lead a Philadelphia Bike Club ride out of Yardley; she had a few people in tow.

Boro Bean is the old Seargeantsville General Store of Mercer County.

I was wearing my jacket with the ginormous rear pocket. Two muffins went in with room to spare. 

From Boro Bean to Pennington directly is less than ten miles. To make our round trip 40 miles, I'd come up with a creatively roundabout way to get back to Twin Pines. I could have made it worse, although I did put in Province Line southbound from Route 518. 

Every so often, I stop at the southern end to get a picture of the road with the Sourland Mountain in the background. 

We zigged and zagged some more, crossing paths with Linda's group at one point. 

As we climbed on Carter from ETS to Rosedale, Heddy said, "Garmin calls this a hill! It's barely 3 percent!" Best we could figure, a hill is only a hill if the grade stays constant over some mysterious distance.

When we reached Lawrenceville-Pennington Road at Blackwell Road, I deputized Our Jeff to lead the group the mile or so back to the start. I went the other way, towards Hart's.

I was there to pick up Kermit; poor, neglected Kermit, now with a new stem to make my back happy.

Janice, with nearly 2400 miles on her, could use a once-over and whatever firmware upgrades are out there. The tires are worn, too. The rear one is already flat at the contact patch. I had previously told Ross that Janice's new stem worked well enough, but that my back still hurt when I went to hammer in the big ring. With Kermit, he took that into consideration. 

Ross showed me what he'd done for Kermit and wrote down the new measurements. My task was to hammer home on Kermit, now that my back was already a little sore, and let him know if the new configuration worked. If it did, he'd change Janice's stem again.

He handed me Janice's light battery, which I dropped into my rear pocket between the muffins. Then Heddy walked in with a holiday present for me*. I slid that into my pocket too. 

The three of us stood around for a while, mostly talking about cats.

Then it was time to ride home in the big ring. Kermit and I have almost 47000 miles together, but the last time I had him out was September, and before that, the July ride that got me 14 miles in before my back started screaming. 

This time, I was expecting to feel at least a little sore, because that's how I felt rolling into the bike shop on Janice. But no. Over the 7 mile trip home, which is mostly big-ring territory, I didn't feel the slightest twinge. The only thing I felt was how much harsher the ride is on aluminum wheels, even though Kermit is steel. 

When Janice is ready, it's Beaker's turn, then Miss Piggy's. I might even do Fozzie eventually. Rowlf, stuck on the trainer, will have to wait until spring. For now, I'm good for 40 minutes out of 45 of hard indoor climbing. 

This winter, I plan to take Kermit and Beaker out on Plain Jim's flatter Sunday rides. I have a lot of saddle time to make up to those two. 

(*Muppet socks! Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem on one pair, Bunsen and Beaker on the other! I'm wearing Bunsen and Beaker now. Comfy!)