gotta rethink these hilly rides

 

I think that guy in the red jersey needs to get his butt kicked; what do you think?

That was at the start of today's ride; Luis's chain had dropped below the chain keeper (how? There certainly wasn't enough room to get it out; how on earth did it fall in?), so with makeshift tools and imagination, we got him rolling again. 

You may not want me doing stuff on your gazilion-dollar carbon-fiber Liveratti, but I'm a pretty good meatball mechanic, to get you goin' again. And many thanks to the excellent Martin Griff for the pic (below, enjoying a Perrier at the stop):

At the start:

Tom's route had 45-ish miles with just about 3000' of climb, starting at the Yardley, PA, Park-and-Ride. It was tough, and, like many of Tom's rides, a bit disorganized... for example, we couldn't agree on a route through Newtown, and wound up doing a bit of a tour (it's pretty, though, and another one of those places I can't afford to retire). 

And when we got to Eagle Road, Jack and I argued that we'd gone up Jericho Mountain. Tom's point was that since we hadn't turned onto the little road with no exit that goes to the actual top, we hadn't done the mountain. Balderdash. We'd done enough to take credit for it.

We went through Tyler Park, which I remember from some snowy wide-tire-bike rides. I don't remember the demanding hill in the middle of it, either because we didn't do that at the time, or because I was too busy freezing then... but I sure remember it today.

Early on in the ride, I remarked that I had to rethink these hilly rides. Tom's rejoinder was that he thinks I've gotten better on hills... in fact, he thought that I'd stolen some of his hill-climbing ability, ad waht was I gonna do about getting it back to him? Hmm?

And I'm surprised, as I write this, that I'm in as good shape as I am. Perhaps Tom is right. (About the getting better on hills part. As far as the giving him back some of his hill-climbing prowess, he can whistle for it.)

On the way back, we crossed into Jersey at New Hope/Lambertville, and rolled around on some roads that were familiar, and many that were not. We crossed back into Pennsylvania at Washington Crossing, and the riverside trip back to the start was refreshing.

Ride page. Not quick. But a good day. I'm glad I went.