Laura OLPH decided it was going to be too windy for a road ride today, so she scheduled a ride on the Columbia. Fifteen miles out, fifteen back, on mountain bikes or hybrids; the trees would shelter us from the worst of the wind most of the way.
It sounded like a good idea to me, so I trimmed up the Krakow Monster, my hybrid/cross bike, and drove up to High Bridge for the 10:00 start. Being who I am, and not doing enough research on travel times, I was, of course, well over an hour early... but shortly thereafter up came Ricky and Andrew.
It was too cold to just hang around the lot, so we rolled down the hill for some coffee... and Andrew spotted Laura through the shop window, so we dolled back up the hill to start the ride, along with Peter G and Chris C.
Winnie the Pooh on Chris's bike, which he named Tigger because of the spring in the tail. I only know Winnie the Pooh from the book, so I had to have the reference explained to me.
(Laura's bike, of course.)
We rode out on the trail, which goes along the Ken Lockwood gorge. The pictures tell it better than I can.
Laura had plotted out a way to get down to Raritan River Road, at the bottom of the gorge, so we got closer to the water.
Laura warned us that part of the road was dirt. Part of it was also closed...
...as if that's ever stopped us.
You can't see it in these pictures, but much of the road was barely wide enough for a single car. It's a good deal it was closed.
It goes under the Columbia Trail bridge.
I didn't know it at the time, but Chris, at the bottom, was talking to Jerry F. Either he got there late, or we left early, but we did catch up with him a bit further along.
As we passed Middle Valley Road, Laura reminded us of the time Tom had some riders take mountain bikes up the too-close-to-vertical climb there. I said, "Not doin' that again. I'm 63, I don't have to do that stuff." Jerry enjoyed the sentiment.
We did make it to the other end...
... and headed back, stopping at The Coffee Potter, a pleasant stop, but it would likely be a hilly ride (other than this one) that made a stop there.
And then back...
... among more autumnal loveliness.
That bridge over the gorge that Jerry was calling down from has some great vistas.
... but you don't need to be on the bridge for that.
Near the site of that last picture, I met a guy who was letting himself down into the gorge. He was mounting cameras, protected inside aluminum soda cans, on trees in the area. It sounds like a great project.
The trail was wet, and there was enough muck on the bike that I thought it deserved a wipe. Below is the bucket afterwards; I'd say the wipe was a good idea.
I've eaten stews that were thinner than that filthy water.
Ride page. Don't believe the elevation numbers, nobody else even got half of that.
