It rained last week.
This was on top of rain that had caused flooding (and the closure of the causeways at Griggstown and Blackwells Mills) the week before. The causeways had reopened, but the ground was still so wet, that last week's rain flooded them (and a number of other low-lying roads and bridges in the area) again. The rain that came was not intense, but for a couple of days, it was unrelenting.
Not only were the causeways closed, but the water levels kept rising more than a day after the rain stopped.
Now, when I post rides out of the Claremont School, I ALWAYS cross one of the causeways I mentioned, and sometimes both. So when it looked like the causeways might still be closed for today's ride, I considered not posting anything...
... and then I thought, "Maybe I can start a ride at that Veterans Park in Montgomery". The park is called Montgomery Veterans Park. So I adjusted a route that goes to that Italian Bakery in Raritan, and came up with a route of 37 miles. That's pretty good!
When I tried to post the ride, though, Google decided that Montgomery Veterans Park is in Belle Mead, rather than Montgomery, and you can't get the address of the entrance, so I had to post the address as, "across from 196 Harlingen Road, Belle Mead".
Whatever. All seven of my registrants found the start, although some were at the UPPER lot, while I (and some others) were at the LOWER lot. The lower lot is the one with the porta-potty (and the restrooms open, in season). I rode back-and-forth between the lots, assuring people they were in more-or-less the right place, and we'd be sure to collect everybody before we got onto the route.
The route. Here's another case of RideWithGPS routing software hugely underestimating the climb: the route plan was 34.7 miles with about 1100' of climb. Laura OLPH said she thought it might be a flat route...
... but there's that climb on East Mountain (not as bad as the annoying hill in the other direction, but you do have to get over the same elevation), and the hill at River Road onto South Branch Road, and that other hill on South Branch Road, and the one just before Old York, and a few bumps on Roycefield, and you gotta get up Amwell to Amsterdam...
... and the next thing you know, you're ending the ride with 1600' of climb in the 35-miles-or-so. (But the link shows we brought it in right in the middle of the C+ range, despite having some fast horses along.)
And speaking of the fast horses, my thanks to them for letting an old guy make believe he can keep up with 'em.
I love that Italian Bakery. The bake-y stuff is good, and I don't get complaints about the quality of the coffee. And they treat us decently.
So that's the last ride for the year. According to my RideWithGPS page, I logged a little over 4500 miles this year on 231 rides. That's a pretty good number of days on the bike, but not as many miles as I'd hoped; I hope to do more in 2024. And I led 36 rides for the club; not as many as the 40 I had hoped for, but weather and life's demands got in the way.
And I wish I had a fancy, pithy button-up for the end of this last post for the year, but I don't. Here's wishing youse health and success, and good company.
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