back to flemington, and remembering a difficult day

 I couldn't complete last year's version of this ride, because my derailleur exploded.

Once a year, Laura OLPH plans a ride to Factory Fuel in Flemington. Getting into Flemington from Pennington takes us across some roads that we don't often see: some of the routes are confusing and traffic-y, and if there have been changes in the intersections and landmarks from one year to the next, we don't usually know about them. But I enjoy the annual pilgrimage to Factory Fuel.

Peter, Jack, and I were early enough to the start that we decided to go try to meet Laura... but then it felt like it was getting late, so we headed back to the parking lot at Twin Pines.

At the lot:

We went up Hopewell/Wertsville and down Rileyville.

I had this eerie sense of foreboding on Wertsville Road. Last year, this is where the Uber didn't pick me up, and where The Excellent Wife (TEW) finally did. The woman on the tractor in the third picture was especially friendly, although I doubt she'd remember.

I got over it.

I don't remember where these were.

We got a little separated before the stop, and I remembered a speech Laura gave to a former member, Ed "Snakehead" C: "The head of the snake has to make sure that the tail of the snake makes the turn..." But we all wound up together, and no harm was done.

At Factory Fuel:

That's the Yellow Maserati. Some days, I really like it. Today is one of those days.

On the way back, we came across one of those intersections that's changed since we were last there; we missed a turn and had to adjust, so the ride was perhaps a smidge longer than planned.

And the derailleur is still intact.