avoiding aunt molly road

My blog post announcing this ride said:

• Route 518 is going to be closed forever, I think, and I want to go to Hopewell anyway. I've tried the crossing at the closure, and a few weeks ago, it was doable... but there was so much mud, I had to walk my bike a long distance, and it appeared that there was another section on which construction had yet to start. So I'm not going to risk that.
  
  But I feel like doing a Franklin-to-Princeton-to-Hopewell loop, and I want to stop at the Boro Bean...

...and at the time I posted it, the weather report did not appear threatening, But as the day approached, there were predictions of thunderstorms beginning anywhere from 10am to 2pm. If early, they would wash out the latter half of the ride; if late, they would pose no problem.

And that construction posed a bit of a problem; there's been construction on 518 at Aunt Molly Road. I checked it out, and it was conceivably crossable, but there was a long area of mud across which we would have to walk, and it looked like there was another section that might be opened up soon. So I plotted a circuitous route around the construction.

I regularly checked several weather sources in the days leading up to today's ride, and decided to go with it anyway. I only had two registrants, so if I had to cancel last-minute, it would be easy to contact them.

But two advanced registrants turned into seven at the start: Mini B and Judy F, who have become regulars on my All-Paces rides, Steve S (one of the pre-registrants), Dave S (who assured me that the storms were stationary over Pennsylvania, so we'd have nothing to worry about),  Prem R, Rick W... and Laura OLPH, who rode in from home at not-quite-the-last-minute.

I was gratified at the turnout, but a bit concerned about the weather. Off we went.

As we started to climb into Princeton, Mini and Judy decided they'd had enough and went back. But as we continued along Rosedale Road, we came upon Dave H, who didn't get his act together to start with us, but decided to roll along to the stop at Boro Bean.

At the suggestion of (I think) Dave S, we went up Crusher instead of Carter. I think that misses some of the worst of the hill, and it saved some out-and-back on the same road. So we got to hang out at the Boro Bean for a bit.

Of course there are bike pics:

Someday I'll have to get you a picture of Steve S's big ring, with the shark bite taken out of it. (That's his Specialized pointing off to the left in the picture above.)

At the stop, Dave H told me that the construction might be done in another week or two. So maybe we'll do this ride again, with a bit more direct navigation.

Dave H left at the stop, and Laura a few miles later. So it was Dave S, Rick W, Prem, and me on the way back. The pace crept up a bit...

(...as it did last ride when it was just a few of the guys. I wonder...)

So the Event is next weekend. Will I see you there?