cold-to-warm ride

Laura OLPH emailed that, for this Sunday ride, she didn't want to leave out of Pennington again and do those roads; instead, she wanted to leave from Lambertville and visit the Homestead Coffee Roasters for the break. Well, cool! Except for the long drive to the start, I'm usually up for a new route and some new roads, and it was going to be cool enough today that coffee at Homestead was an attraction. So, even though it was a comparatively late night for me (caught the Winter's Tale at the McCarter; see one of yesterday's posts for the link - we loved it; Jack, another rider who was along today, didn't, but I'm not sure he's a Shakespeare fan anyway), I got out of bed early enough to be coffee-ed, bagel-ed, and bathroom-ed on time for the 8:30 start in Lambertville.

It was a beautiful ride. The day was clear, we went over some nifty hills (and saw some beautiful vistas; Laura got some pictures I hope she'll post), saw neat new roads. All the evidences of early spring are out: magnolias, forsythias, and all the other early flowers I have no idea how to name. It was, however, colder and windier than I would have expected; several of the six-or-seven of us (depending on when you counted) complained about that.

We did this route. That early trip up Pine Hill was more than I bargained for early on, but that was the worst hill of the day, and we got it out of the way early. At one point, we stopped at the corner of Senator Stout Road and Hog Hollow Road, and I liked the sound of that, I must have said it at least four times.

Seven of us started: Jack, Ron S, Glen, Little Joe, and The Other Ron (who has that Mercian I was lusting after in January; I had to stay away because the drooling was getting distracting). Glen is recovering from shoulder surgery, and had to break off before the break, but I'm impressed that he came along at all (and the Slugs do have a tradition of fewer people ending the ride than starting it).

One of us was tired on the way back, and was thinking of breaking off and going straight down 29 back to Lambertville, until Laura dangled a bait he couldn't resist going for: How 'bout Federal Twist all the way down, from one end at the top (where I'd never been, but where there are a few rolling hills) to the bottom (with those straight, steep downhills)? He went for it, and over we went - even I, one of the worst descenders I know, got up over 40mph on that stretch, only the third time in my life I've done that.

Don't tell my wife; she thinks I'm a safer rider than that.