over the ridge to califon

Laura OLPH was up in New England last week, and was taken with the autumn colors, so my hints about another Rojo's-to-Rojo's ride fell on deaf ears; she was going north to look at autumnal wonderfulness. Well, that was good enough for me... although by Friday morning, her description of the ride gave the start in Hillsborough, distance, and brief description, but she admitted she didn't have a route in mind.

She did when she rolled into the starting parking lot this morning; we had a choice of either going a reasonably hilly out-and-back the same way... or we could go over the ridge via Deer Hill Road, which she remembered from her earliest days riding as a challenging hill. Of course, that was before she was in the shape she is in now, and before she got Miss Piggy, her hill bike.

Well, how could a Hill Slug make any other choice? We opted for Deer Hill, and even at the last possible turn-off before we'd have to go that way, she offered us the flatter way, but we declined; it would be Deer Hill, or no way at all.

"We", at that point, consisted of Barry, Ron S, Ed C, and me. So the five of us did this route. It was a beautiful ride on a beautiful day: cold in the morning (I scraped frost off the car... it was thick), but the cold meant the air was clear, and the day warmed up as we went. By the end of the ride I had my heavy hat off, and open jackets were flapping as we pedaled.

Laura was right about Deer Hill; it was demanding (but doable). What she did not remember was that at the end of Deer Hill, we were still only about 70% the way up to the top of the ridge. I had expected to be at the top, and at each turn of the road after that, or each false crest, I had a little disappointment at the next bit of uphill, until we finally did top the ridge, and we rolled down into Califon.

The stop in Califon won the Freewheeler award for favorite rest stop a few years ago, and I can see why: good food, clean and pretty... and they seemed genuinely happy to see us (and why does that seem such a rarity?). We spent a bit of time there - just long enough for the stiffness to set in on my legs... and then back to Hillsborough, this time via Rockaway Road. Rockaway was just a delight: not too demanding, well-surfaced, and gorgeous at this time of year (and maybe at other times, but I haven't had the experience to know). We had a bit of a false-start and separation at the beginning of the return trip, but we fixed it quickly, thanks to patience and cell phones (my sad navigational skills had nothing to do with it, I'm sure!).

The last bit of the ride had us over the bridge at Neshanic (I had a brief flurry of an idea of going up Zion, but it passed), and then back on Amwell from Neshanic. Amwell was busy; I might have chosen to go a different way, but no matter; we are home and well now. It was a great day, and a beautiful ride, as I hope you'll see in some of the pictures below.

I think Ron looks like I caught him with his hand in the cookie jar in that picture above.

When Ed was first rolling away from the stop, he was pulling several feet of that web with him. Hilarity ensued.

That house in the right background is popularly known among riders as the Gingerbread House or the Hobbit House, but I'm reminded of the house made of cookies in the Hansel & Gretel story.

I have become enamored with the idea of getting pictures of other people getting pictures.