a few hills, and one of my favorite roads

Laura OLPH put up a post for the ride today that read, in part:

...most of the hills in the first half. The last quarter of the ride is along the Delaware River, starting in Riegelsville, where the proposed PennEast pipeline promises to wreak havoc on one of our favorite places.

 I didn't know it until we got to the start in Frenchtown today, but "one of our favorite places" includes one of MY favorite roads. I always refer to Alexsauken Creek Road as "ten minutes of vacation" because I find it so pretty, but it can't hold a candle to the ten-or-so-mile stretch of River Road between Riegelsville and Milford, that follows the river and the railroad right-of-way. I just love it... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Five of us met at Frenchtown.

Above, Jack; below, Rick...

...above, Blake; below, Laura (and me behind the camera, of course).

Laura had sent me the route and I loaded it up into Alan, my Garmin Touring (the name is a terrible obscure computer joke, but I love that kind). Most of the hills WERE in the first half; of the 3700 feet of climb on the ride page, I'll bet almost 3000 happened before the break.

I got a new camera this week, and I'm trying it out. There will be too many pictures in this post, and you won't get even half of what I took.

At one point, Jack and Rick were riding ahead, and Jack said, "This would be a good place for a stop sign." Jack Rick found this one knocked down in the weeds, and kindly held it up for us coming behind. (Perhaps a local resident disagrees, and thinks it's NOT a great place for a stop sign. Or perhaps a driver in an altered state of consciousness took it out.)

When I got that picture of Rick, above, he decided I needed a picture taken and took the one below. It didn't come out well, but the subject is not all that attractive anyway.

(If you look close, you can see the Cat Ears that were delivered this week. My hearing is such that I have to worry about wind noise. The don't eliminate wind noise, but they're probably worth the sawbuck-and-a-half I paid for 'em.)

We stopped at this Asbury Coffee Mill.

They've only been open since either March or May (depending on who you talk to), and 1) I surely hope they stay open, and 2) I surely hope we go back. They didn't even complain about us hanging around, even though I'm sure I saw at least two neckties on the several customers inside.

Obligatory bikes pic:

And then, after a few more hills,we hit that stretch of River Road on the railroad right-of-way. In the next few pics, I'm falling further and further behind as I'm dawdling down the road.

I love this road. I'm sorry the pipeline is going to mess it up.

(One of my pictures is on the cover of the Princeton Freewheeler newsletter this month. I think I'm posting so many pictures so that I can get a few more in the newsletter. I'm getting slower as I age, but Fame flies away swiftly.)