laura's double-shot ride

Ever since Rojo's opened a satellite location in Princeton's Palmer Square, Laura OLPH had had this idea of riding to the Princeton Rojo's, coffeeing-up, then riding to the Lambertville Rojo's for another hit of caffeine-y wonderfulness, but she said she didn't expect the opportunity to arise quite this quickly. Nonetheless, Cheryl M has a birthday coming this week, and this ride, which I've come to call Laura's Double-Shot, seemed the perfect thing, so the ride announcement on Laura's blog included this:

It's Cheryl's birthday and we'll ride like she wants to:  mellow, yet caffeinated.

Rojo's Roastery, our regular Lambertville hangout, has a second location in Princeton.  Cheryl needs caffeine.  So, here's what we're going to do:

We'll start in Lawrenceville, near Cheryl's house, and ride the 7 or so miles it takes to get to Palmer Square, where we'll have the first cup of the day.  Then we'll get going for real and head to Lambertville, where we'll have our real rest stop and another cuppa.

How could I ignore such a wily come-on?

Six others had the same idea, along with Laura, Cheryl, and me, so nine of us (I think everybody except me is represented in the pictures below) did this route. It was cold to start, and we had some debate about what to wear and how many layers; I decided to keep a long-sleeve layer under my short-sleeve jersey, which turned out to be too much later in the day. That straight-shot to the northeast from the start is basically about seven miles of Princeton Pike/Mercer Road, which Laura does as her commute when she rides to work. She got into commute mode, a few of the faster folks fell in with her, and the next thing you know, a few of us were rippin' up Princeton Pike at 21+mph before Cheryl could wake her legs up; she spent much of the rest of the ride talking about definitions of the word, "mellow" (see super). We were mellow at the stops, though; they were both long stops with chat and silly puns. And I have photo proof below that we did both of them.

The route was many of our favorite roads, including one of my favorites, Alexsauken Creek, which, as far as I'm concerned, is fifteen minutes of vacation. We got to the OTHER Rojo's, where I had iced coffee (the day was warming up from the mid-50° early-morning), and where the ice cubes in the coffee are MADE from coffee (nice touch). Rojo's is much more upscale than the Dunkin' Donuts I usually go to, and I hope I didn't creep out the locals or bring down the tone of the establishment.

Then back up Quarry/Rocktown/Lambertville to the right at Harbourton to see the dinosaur. WE picked up some traffic that got caught among the bikes; we couldn't get out of each others' way, and I got caught up in the going up the hill... it's hard work going up that hill that slow! By the time we were heading back home, it was later in the day than I thought; Cheryl invited people in for coffee & muffins, but I wanted to head home to see The Excellent Wife (TEW), who was doing a short ride this morning. If the weather holds, both of us will be at the PFW September picnic tomorrow. Hope to see some of youse there!

Pics: First near the start:

At the Princeton Rojo's:

Lambertville Rojo's: