More not-great luck with the cycle club this morning. The scheduled ride was for 52 miles, which would have fulfilled my New Year’s resolution to ride my before spring was out. The ride was scheduled for two different paces — a B+ pace (which I’m nowhere near) and a C pace. However with threatening weather in the forecast and cloudy skies already, only five people showed up. But we all decided to give it a go, and off we went.
I’d been on many rides out of that starting point, and it’s not my absolute favorite. The first few miles are dead dull, and that goes for the last few miles as well, since it tracks them backwards. Nevertheless, there were some outstanding downhills and three killer climbs.
While chatting up my fellow riders, I learned that one of the guys, Chip, was in the printing business. (He used the term “hang it and bang it,” which always made me laugh.) Talking through his resume, he mentioned a printer he used to work for in Utica, NY. That made an alarm go off in my head, because there’s only one printing plant of note there, and I used to use them all the time. After about twenty seconds it became clear that we knew each other from back in the day — he was my sales rep, the kind of guy whose phone number I had memorized. Something about wandering around in biking clothes makes you unrecognizable, I guess. Small world!
One nice vignette: We were going past a pasture on Hill & Dale Road (yes, it’s really called that), and this one horse saw us coming. It trotted over to the near corner of the fence as we approached and started snorting and whinnying. As we went past it trotted along next to us, and as we passed the end of the fence it (and I don’t know if it was frustrated, angry or just a little disappointed) started snorting and whinnying even louder. If I’d been by myself I’d have stopped for a visit with it, it seemed like it enjoyed having people around.
Shortly after that we had lunch at the famous Oldwick General Store. No trip through is complete without it. Oldwick is a colonial-era village surrounded by farmland and orchards, and the back picnic area has nice views of distant mountains. It’s always full of locals (locals who almost by definition are unspeakably wealthy, but never mind that) and they’re very biker-friendly. Great sandwiches and baked goods, too.
At that point, we decided to chop off the end of the ride because there were tornado warnings. We kicked it into high gear and did a mad 20+ mph scramble back to our cars over the last few miles. The lightning kept getting closer, and the rain was turn-your-wipers-on-high torrential. I couldn’t see, so much water was getting into my eyes even with glasses on. But we all survived.
I earned the nickname “Tom The Descender” because after getting my fat ass kicked going up the mountains I used my weight advantage to rocket back ahead of the group on the way down. Hey, I have to earn it back somehow. If I stick with the group downhill and get dropped uphill before you know it I’m a mile behind.
Here’s the map, roughly. I mistakenly added the loop up to Califon, we actually went straight from Cokesbury to Mountainville. The ride was 40 miles, not 45+ as indicated.
Every time I get out with people, something good happens. So why am I sitting here on a Saturday night writing a blog post?
Hello down there.
I notice that you start off at about 90 ft. above sea level and peak at 925.
My range is from 581 to 925.
That’s an interesting part of the geology here. I-287 runs along the edge of the Newark Basin, an ancient rift that formed a basin. Its big brother to the east became the Atlantic Ocean. Just to the east of 287 is a high lava outcropping, and as you come west on 78, right before you drop down into it, the views are spectacular.