avoiding the chipseal

Laura OLPH listed a ride at the last minute (I didn't see it until headin'-for-9pm last night) for 40 miles at a low B pace. I signed on, and showed up at The Pig at 8:30 this morning. (The Pig is open for window service, 8-12 Tuesday through Saturday. Hope is the thing with feathers.)

A few others came along, too. (You only get the good pictures; I chuck the worst of 'em, and there were a lot for the discard bin today.)

Laura had a distance in mind more than a route, although she wanted to wind up in Lambertville. We wound up taking a route that was largely about avoiding the new chipseal surface that seems to have taken over the Sourlands.

This next picture is in just because I like it.

Bless her heart (readers familiar with Southernisms will get the hidden meaning), Laura took us up Poor Farm. Here we are at the top, putting our lungs back in.

Yes, we'd gotten rained on a bit.

At Mt Airy-Harbourtown Road:

We turned onto Alexsauken Creek Road. You can do that road far faster than I ever do, but that entirely misses the point for me. Alexsauken Creek Road is fifteen minutes of vacation. (Well, maybe ten.)

We stopped at Rojo's, which is also open for window service. There's seating for them and Liberty Pizza in a lot across the way.

I don't know the details of the Liberty Pizza donation program, but that number is impressive.

On the way back, we wound up on much of the same route we'd taken on the way out (one of the roads was gravel, and I'm undecided about whether chipseal was worse than that). See the ride page here.

When I got back, the garage door needed seeing to; a cable had broken and needed replacing. Had to do that before I could put the bike away!