weekend rides

 

First, let's get something straight: yes, the mornings are cold. Get over it. October days are the best days to ride all year. By mid-morning, the temperatures are comfortable, the air is clear (and not humid), the leaves are turning so there is beauty all around. 

Riders who stop at the end of September deserve to get weak* and lose their pedaling legs by spring. (I originally wrote "get fat", and it was pointed out to me how fat-shaming that was. I apologize.)

Yesterday, Tom H listed a ride up to Califon and Oldwick. Many of the club members were on a ride that went up the Hudson (and down through parts of the Bronx and Manhattan; did that last year, and that was enough for a lifetime, so no, thank you), but we had eight come out.

Of COURSE there was a road closed; this time, the police would not let us through, so we bobbled around until we got back on track. Laura OLPH, of course, had to get some cows (that's her left arm in the picture)...

... and I liked the way the cows and the fence silhouetted in this one, allowing the leaves' colors to come out.

 When chatting about this ride on the ride today, one rider remarked on the five-mile uphill between about miles 20 and 25 (see the ride page), but the elevation diagram is deceiving. That's Rockaway and Sawmill roads, and except for some brief bumps, the long, slow uphill is not demanding or difficult. It's the short, steep climbs that got to me (and there were some on this ride...).

We refer to the feature below as "Micky's toilet" (although Micky is not the name we use), because on a previous ride, one of our number ducked inside for some privacy in an episode of renal desperation. 

We stopped at the Oldwick General Store, which is really a coffee and brunch spot.

And back. On the way back, we got separated; the main group made a number of turns without looking for those of us in the back. I Had.Words. with Tom about this, but we've made peace.

I had to hustle out at the end to attend obsequies in Hudson County. The drive there was far more hazardous than anything that occurred on this ride.

For today, I'd planned a run of 38 miles with a stop at that Blawenburg Bistro that's a favorite of me and The Excellent Wife (TEW). The Central Bucks Covered Bridge ride was also today, but I still had seven.

It was a pleasant, uneventful ride on a pretty day.

At one point, Joe E pointed out that he thought he'd done this ride in the other direction on one of my few other rides on which he's come out. I think that's likely; I'm neither smart nor imaginative when it comes to navigation (and I told him so).

We went back up Butler Road, which is newly paved (and, thus, no longer to be avoided). At the top of Butler, a few riders rode ahead and missed a turn, so I cut 'em off. There was some good-natured abuse at the end of the ride about my decision.

Ride page. We did bring it in at the low B pace!