weekend off-road rides

 Above: the author, looking better than I ought. Thanks to Martin G for the photo.

 I have not posted often about rides this fall, mostly because I haven't gone on group rides, and my solo rides don't generally include anything interesting (even to me). 

When it gets this cold, we generally stay off the roads, and ride paths and trails to avoid the wind. (Sometimes, the wind-avoidance is successful.) I got invited on two such rides this Thanksgiving weekend. The first was a ride around the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, led by Tom H. 

 That's not all of the folks who came; we were ten or eleven. The LHT is one of our regular winter rides, although we tend to do it only once per season (or maybe that's just the frequency that I go along). Our path wends through paved trail, clay-surface trail, along local streets, through parking lots and parks, and even through a private school. 

This crew had riders at a range of abilities. Some went off at their own pace; others slowed to ensure that nobody rode alone (partly because the LHT is not ideally marked, and it's easy to get lost). We swapped off on the riding-in-the-back duties.

We left from the Maidenhead Meadows lot (which was PACKED! Evidently, a number of folks had the idea of hiking or running part of the trail on this Thanksgiving Friday). Early in our route, we came upon a boardwalk, of considerable length (and apparently, newly-finished), over some wetlands along the route:

 The surface makes for a pleasant ride, and it protects the fragile surface below. There are other wooden bridges at other points along the route, but nothing as long as this.

 You can see our route on the ride page.

 

---

While we were on that ride (apparently), Laura OLPH apparently got the idea to do a D&R canal towpath ride from Washington's Crossing up to Lumberville and back. She sent out feelers later in the day to gauge interest, and there was enough to run the ride (we had five).

At the start:

 This is a simpler out-and-back route (although we did vary a couple of short sections on the way back, as you can see from the ride page). It felt much colder to me than the previous day (but I also find that, after about six or seven miles, I begin to acclimate to the temperatures). 

Some of our number stopped at the Prallsville Mills.

 I'd misread the planned length of the trip, and was grateful when we got to the store at Lumberton.

On the way back, crossing the bridge, we saw a huge flag. Martin G thought to stop for pictures, and I decided he had a good idea.

 Also on the way back, we found this abandoned railroad car, apparently a favorite stop for the local taggers.

 Martin G got this one, with my back in the foreground:

 And to end, one more from Martin G. I don't post pictures of myself in this blog, but when Martin gets these shots, I make a point of including them.

 Thanks, Martin.

another option ride

 It's been a while since I posted about a ride. It's been a while since I did a group ride.

 As I've posted, I haven't either the strength nor the stamina I once did, and while I might be able to get back to that, I'm not sure I'm willing to put in the single-minded focus to get back to that level - I feel like I might have to give up other things that have become important to me. So while my usual crew were planning forty-plus miles with 2300' of climb* at a pace where I was sure I'd be dragging back the group (if I could keep up at all), I found there was another ride with the club that was going a little less distance, with less climb. And folks I like were going along. 

*I used to be a good climber. I still am, sometimes. But I don't love the hills the way I once did. (And I'm not good at descents.) 

So at stupid:30 this morning, I registered, and showed up at the start. It's close enough that I could have ridden from home, but I over-exerted on a project in the garage yesterday, and decided to allow myself a break. I drove in, stopping for a couple of bagels (carbs for the ride, doncha know).

And I had a great time with these folks. You can see the route and my performance on the ride page. It happens that much of this ride went on roads through the neighborhood we moved to a couple of years ago, so these roads are now on my regular solo training routes (this is a new experience for me; I've been riding in the Sourlands for years, and I'm still lost up there most of the time). 

We had riders at a range of experience. For much of the way, I chose to stay in the back with the slower folks, and helped to make sure the group didn't split up too badly. Except for two who chose to go off the front, we kept together at turns, and when there were the occasional requested stops, we went only when everybody was ready. 

Jeff P showed off his new wooden bike:

 It's laminated cherry, with a ZIPP wheelset, a one-by drivetrain, and the Wheeltop electronic shifters. He put on cable caliper brakes, making the sensible argument that he's been riding bikes with caliper brakes for decades and there's no reason to change now. (Of course, I would find this sensible; my road bike, the Yellow Maserati, sports caliper brakes, and bar-end friction shifters.)

At about 25 miles, we turned west on Federal Road, and started about six miles of straight-into-the-wind, which had picked up out of nowhere; it had not been windy previously. We traded pulls, and at one of the stops, a rider pointed out that the tops of the trees didn't seem to be moving... it was as if the headwind were ginned up only on the road surface itself, solely for our consternation. 

It goes that way sometimes.