Gettysburg in the Summer

 

I have been to Gettysburg 5 times since 2012. This is not because I'm a civil war history buff but because there is a lot of good bike riding in the area. Most of my trips here have been in October with the Philadelphia Bike Club. They run a ride out here every year where they fill up 2 hotels in, Hanover PA, with bicyclist who ride all the roads in and around Gettysburg. It's always a good trip and it is fun being part of a weekend which is all about biking and nothing else. 

I have always wanted to come out in the late spring or summer instead of the fall so we could ride in warmer weather. I have been trying to do this for a couple of years but weather or other commitments kept me from doing it. I tried this past June to get a trip going but the weather didn't work out so when I saw an opening of good weather at the end of August I sent out an email out to see if I could get enough people on short notice to do the trip.

Luckily 5 of us were able to do. Since I had been planning this trip for over a year I had all the logistics of the trip already work out, mostly. For this trip we always stay in the Hampton Inn in Hanover but the price was kind of expensive this time of year. I looked for discounts and while looking at other alternatives I found a house on Vrbo that would work so ended up booking that instead. 

So this past Friday off we went to Gettysburg. After driving to Gettysburg and meeting everyone at the starting point we start the ride off around noon.  Our first ride was around the battlefield. I had mapped out a 23 mile loop that hit all the different areas. Most of the ride was inside the park. There wasn't a lot of people at the park or in Gettysburg itself so we didn't have to deal with a lot of people or cars getting in our way. There are a lot of interesting monuments and statues here as well a a number of scenic overlooks so we took our time. I have rode around the battlefield a number of times but I always find some I haven't notice before so didn't mind doing it again. 

After the ride it was back to our house.

I have stayed in a number of Vrbo houses and am usually able to find a good place to stay. The only concern I had about this house was there was no reviews but it had 5 bedrooms (one for each of us), was on the route of our Saturday ride and was half the price of the hotel rooms. The house was on a 100 acre farm at the end of the long driveway. It was few hundred feet from the other houses on the farm and in the back corner so it was very private. 

 

We had great views of Lake Marburg and the rolling farmland. The house was larger than I expected with two large living rooms in the front (one of them became the bike room). A large eat in kitchen and dinning room as well as 1 bedroom on the first floor. Then the second floor had 4 bedrooms. The furniture was old but comfortable and the house was clean. However the best thing about it was the porch with its rocking chairs where you could sit out and watch the lake and farm. It was a good place to relax after the ride. 

Dinner was at a local dinner then back home to watch Jeff passionately root for the Eagles. 

On Saturday we did a ride to Loganville to visit a farmers market. This ride was through an area called Seven Valleys. Do you know what surrounds valleys?? That right HILLS! and depending on who's GPS you believed there were between 8 and 15 climbs on this ride. The first part of the ride was through the valley although this is Pennsylvania so it was more rolling than flat with a couple of annoying short bumps. On the way we ended up passing Hanover Junction train station

 

This is the train stations that Lincoln passed through on his way to Gettysburg to give his famous speech. Today its one of the trail heads for the Heritage Rail Trail which goes from York PA all the way down to the Mason Dixon line in Maryland. We stopped at the train station for a bathroom break and also got a history lesson from some of the union soldiers who were there as part of a family event. 

Then it was onward and mostly upward as we climbed out of the valley and to the farmers market. Brown's Farm Market is like a country version of Delicious Orchards. It has all the usual produce and baked goods as any normal farmers market would as well as a nice set of tables outside to sit at. It also had a good view of the valley we had rode through.

 

From there is was back down through what is call a town around here and then on to a dam on Lake William. Last time I did this route in 2018 they had drained the lake and were working on the dam. At that time there was a bridge out sign across the road but the we were still able to ride across the dam. I was curious to see what the new dam looked like. 

The new dam is very nice. They just forgot to add the bridge. DAM!! 

That was unexpected. If we were really adventurous we would have tried to walk down the hill and across the spillway but that would be a bad idea. Instead we had to go back up the hill from the dam and find another way back. I did plan for this contingency as when I mapped out the ride the road to the dam was marked as dirt so I made sure I had a way around. 

The way around ended up adding about 5 miles and 500 ft of climbing so what was going to be a hard 3200 ft 43 mile ride just turned into the hardest ride I have done if a few years. 

The weather was warm but not humid and we kept the pace easy but the way back had some long slow climbs.  We did manage to find a small farm stand along the way back for a second break. Since we added 5 mile to the ride we decided to try to cut off a few miles if we could. However because of lack of road signs and because I don't have a lot of experience in this area I missed the road that I was trying to use to shorted the ride. We ended up doing most of the planned ride. I cramped at 44 miles climbing a small hill so had to take a couple of breaks to stretch out my legs. 

I used my cell phone to find the best way back and made a few wrong turns but we did all make it back. I ended up with just over 47 miles and just under 3700 ft of climbing. I had definitely pushed myself to the limit which caused cramping for the next few hours but was none the worst for wear my legs were just really stiff. 

Saturday evening we headed out to explore Lake Marburg

then headed to the Utz pretzel outlet. Hanover PA is the pretzel capital of the world. There are manufacturing plants for all the major brands of pretzels include Utz, Hanover and Synders. 

Then it was on to dinner at Atland House. This is a restaurant and brew pub and the place the Philadelphia Bike Club usual has their Saturday night dinner during the fall weekend so the food is good. Dessert was at Brusters Real Ice Cream in Hanover. I had discovered this place in 2018 and always stop here when I'm in the area.

The forecast for Sunday before the trip had been for isolated morning showers that would be gone before sunrise but they ended up staying around a little longer. We got ready to leave the house on Sunday and waited around an extra hour for the rain to mostly stop. I decided to start the ride at the planned rest stop in New Oxford. The drive there would give more time for the rain to pass through and the roads to dry. When we got to New Oxford the rain had stopped and a check of the radar said we have a few hours before it would rain again so off we went on a slightly shorter version of the original ride I had planned. This ride was rolling with only one real hill. The roads we did on Sunday is more representative of the better roads in the area. Lots of farmland, low traffic and enough scenery and strange sight along the way to keep it interesting. For some reason there is an elephant status in the middle of the field next to a lake just south of New Oxford. I also saw the copy of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine along the road.

There is just a certain about of weirdness around here. My legs where still sore from the previous days ride but the tightness got better once I got a few miles in. It was cloudy but the rain stayed away. The best part of starting the ride in New Oxford is we got to end at one of the best rest stops on any bike ride Deja Brew. It's a coffee shop in the middle of town on a circle with good coffee and great baked goods. I always end up taking some stuff home from here because it is so good. I think if we did this ride again then we will always start from New Oxford because hanging out at Deja Brew is a good way to end a ride. 

And with that the quick three day weekend of riding was over. I don't know when I will be back to Gettysburg again but I know I will be back as it is just a great place to spend a few days riding around.  

 

Lying Bastard 2025

Believe or not I have been doing some form of the Lying Bastard ride for almost 13 years. This ride started out as a ride around Lake Nockamixon based on a route I got from the Philadelphia Bike Club. The original intention was to explore some new roads around the lake but this ride has come to define me in a strange sort of way. You can see the origin of the ride in this post. The short version of the story is that when I lead a ride around Lake Nockamixion, in 2012, I mention that the ride would be a little hilly but nothing too long or hard. Then in the first 7 miles we went up a 1 mile hill that had a 10% grade and an short but really steep 20% grade of 400 feet. At the top of the second hill one of the people on the ride asked if I'm often called a lying bastard. After that even though the hills and riding were a lot easier the other people joined in and at the moment my reputation was cemented. 

Some people may have been embarrassed by this moniker but I leaned into it and in subsequent rides put in a occasional unexpected steep hill or other surprise in the ride. This has led to a healthy sarcastic banter between me and my so called friends. In fact this is why the people I ride with on a regular basis are called the Insane Bike Posse because even though they jokingly say they hate my rides they keep coming back for more so they must be insane.

Over the years I have an annual ride I lead along some of the same roads of the original Lake Nockamixon ride that I title the "Lying Bastard" ride just to reinforce my identity. It has changed over the years to become a little shorter and easier but still is one of the hardest rides I do. As I will maintain until I die there is no one hill that is a real killer but I think the fact that there are no flat or easy spots in this ride is why it always feels tougher than it looks. 

This year I had to start the ride from Tinicum State Park as we couldn't start from Frenchtown because the walk way on the bridge is closed. This meant we started the climbing a mile sooner. I had some of the usual insane posse join the ride and a few new comers. 

The ride starts with a long slow climb up Headquarters Rd. It's only 2-3% so its not hard. The road has also been closed for at least 5 years as the bridge at the top of the road is closed and from the way it look (see picture at top of the post) the bridge is not going to be fixed anytime soon. In fact there is more junk across it every time we come this way. This makes for a nice no traffic road but the added tree this year did make it a little harder to get across. Dave bumped his chain against his leg going over the bridge so he needed a bandage for his leg and an adjustment to his chain before we could move on. 

Then is was a little uphill before we road along the ridge toward the southern part of the lake. On the way down the hill Dave got a pinch flat. I helped him change it as the rest of the people headed to a boat ramp for a quick break.

 

We join them a few minutes later and then headed up around the northern part of the lake and into the neighborhood above it. As I had mentioned in other posts about this ride this area is a little weird as there are some alternative medicine rest homes, a Greek temple among other strange things.  There is also a covered bridge hidden here. It was then down to the marina by the lake. My routes for this ride in recent years didn't go by the lake because it would have added too many miles but I found a new road that is paved that got us there.

It was a nice downhill going down to the lake. Once there we rode out to the point to see the view and watch a few sailboats on the lake. The day started out cloudy and humid but was in the mid 80s so it didn't feel too bad. It did clear a little but was still mostly cloudy. It was still good to see the lake although it meant a little climb to get back to the road. Then is was on to our rest stop. Its a Turkey Hill which is a slight step down from a Wawa but there are not a lot of options out this way. 

The rest stop is on a 611 which is a busy road and my old route stayed on 611 for a mile or so I tried to find a different way back for this years route. Of course the new way back had an extra hill that was a steep 200+ foot climb. So we traded traffic for climbing. It was a tough rude hill to add to the ride but it felt like the right thing to do for this years ride. Then it was mostly downhill and back to the start. 

This is tough ride but it is always interesting and something I will continue to do keep up my reputation.  

Belmar and Back

This past Tuesday I looked at the weather forecast and saw a perfect weather for Saturday. It was going to be in the mid 70s with sunshine and not much wind. This summer's weather has been mostly raining or hot and humid so there have only been a few rides where I didn't have to worry about getting wet or melting from the heat. The question was where should be ride? Flat or hills?

I wanted a long ride to take advantage of the weather so I decided in a flat ride. I thought let's go out of Etra Lake Park and head towards Farmingdale or Belmar. I usually don't like to ride to the beach in the summer months because it can be crowed but I wanted miles so put out the word I was doing a ride to Belmar on Saturday. This I knew would have Laura contemplating adding miles to the beginning and end of my ride to my ride to do a century. She wavered a little but eventually decided to do it and got Martin to join her. 

Those of use not doing the century option met at Etra Park. When I say met we actually all pulled in to the park with military precision with in seconds of each other even though we all came from different directions. I guess we all know the location of the starting points and the time it take to get there well enough to always get there about the same time.

Laura and Martin rode into the park a little while later as the rest of us were all set to start the ride and off we went. I have done this ride many times over the year so the route was familiar and I didn''t really have to think about the turns. I knew this was going to be a long ride so I kept a relaxed pace. Still with made good progress towards Belmar as the weather was as good as predicted and the riding was easy.

Because of the crowded roads expected by the beach we took the Edgar Felix bike path to get into Sea Girt. We were then on some busy roads on the way through the town. There was lots of traffic and some kind of festival and walk going on be we made it through unscathed. 

Then it was a few miles up Ocean ave to our normal rest stop in Belmar. We spent some time there fueling up and watching the beach goers. 

 

It was not as hectic as I expected. The only annoying thing is that the Trump train road by while we were sitting there. 

We headed out of Belmar on 16th street which is a one way street and we went the wrong way on it on purpose. I could have went up one of the other streets that is one way in the correct direction but that would have meant that we would have to have ridden on Main street to get back to 16th street once it was a two way street again and Main street has a lot of traffic with no real shoulder to ride in so it's not a good option either given the traffic at the shore today. 

In any case there wasn't any problem going the wrong way on the one way street and soon we were out of Belmar and heading back. We made our way through Farmingdale and then on to Freehold. The wind was mostly from the north east so we didn't have the normal headwind we usually do on the way back from the shore.  We had a second stop at a Duncan Donuts. I grab a glazed donut to get some sugar for the last 12 miles back to the start. 

The weather was still pleasant. It only warmed up a few degrees from the start the the humidity was low so although I was tired at the end of the ride I didn't feel wiped out as I did other times. After we got back to Etra Laura and Martin left to finish their century. They looked good so I doubt they had any problems finishing. 

This was a perfect ride for this perfect weather day. Hopefully we can have a few more like this as the summer continues.  

 

 

I Lead for Ice Cream

This Saturday I decided to ride with my other club (JSTS). I usually ride with them once a month, in the summer, as their starting points are a little closer to where I live and rides are shorter. So when there are things I need to do later on a Saturday I usually ride with them. They also do an ice cream ride once or twice a year so I always try to do those rides as who doesn't like free ice cream.

I signed up for the B ride which didn't have a leader. Towards the end of the week an email went out from the club that said if there was no leader for a ride there would be no free ice cream. So I signed up to lead. Usually the JSTS Saturday rides go out of Michael Tighe Park in Freehold but this Saturday's ride went out of Thompson Park so we could stop at the Four Boys ice cream place that was just outside the park after the ride. I had expected a large number of people on the ride but only had four others besides myself. I guess the threat of rain and different starting point made some people stay away. 

It was a cloudy and calm morning and I like the way the sky reflected off the lake.

 

As we sent off out of the park we were on familiar roads as this is PFW territory so I didn't really have to worry about getting lost. The JSTS clubs ride are run a little differently. All club rides are routes that are in the club library and the B, C+ and C routes are always the same. This lets people start with the B and end up in the C+ group. Although there are individual rides during the week most of the weekend rides are more like PFW all pace rides where everybody meets at one point and goes with the pace ride they want. Although they are not as chaotic. The JSTS website is better than the PFW website for leaders. From the ride page one click gets you a list of riders on a ride and see their emergency contact information. In fact there is no need to print out a Ride Sheet like I do for PFW rides as I can just use my phone to connect to the website and see who is on the ride and get their information if needed. 

Leading a JSTS ride is very similar to a PFW ride. I only knew one of the people on my ride but  the other rides were well behaved. I was also lucky that the pace I set worked for everybody on the ride. There are some differences in JSTS rides. They have a few different commands they yell out during a ride. For example "GAP" means someone if falling off the back. 

Even though I was following the route that JSTS specified for the ride I actually made a slight detour during the ride. The JSTS club is not as familiar with the roads in the area so to stay off the lower part of Applegarth Rd. I went across and down the back way. I told the people riding with me that this was the part of the ride where you have to "trust" the leader. Although I pointed out that most of the people I ride with on the PFW ride still don't trust me even after leading them for over 30 years. 

Five miles after my detour we were back on the original route and were really cruising at a good clip. We ended up stopping at the Wawa on 33 for our rest stop where I met Dave and his ride. It seem like even when I'm with the JSTS group I run into some PFW riders somewhere along the way. 

After the rest stop we headed back still going along at a fast pace. I guess the ice cream promised at the end was giving us reason to push it. During the last 8 miles we had a few moments of rain which I knew was a possibility. It was intermittent and light so it wasn't really a problem. 

Once we got back we put the bikes in the car and walked over to get the promised ice cream. It was a good way to end the ride. 

 

 

A Happy July 4th Weekend

 

I always look forward to long weekends as I can usually get an extra ride in. The weather for this weekend was actually close to perfect with no chance of rain. I attribute this to the use of the holy kickstand last week.

 

Last week I almost had to cancel my Saturday ride because of a possible rain storm. Luckily the rain stopped before the ride started. To make sure we won't get wet on the ride I used the kickstand and held an umbrella over the it and asked for relief from the rain as well as a safe ride. The holy kickstand does have magical powers but the rider using it must be pure of heart and only used it for the good of the peloton.

The 4th was on a Friday and I ended up doing a ride on my own down to the beach to meet my wife. It was a cool morning with light winds so it was a pleasant ride to the beach. Being the July 4th weekend it was a little crowded as I rode through Mansquan and up Ocean Ave into Belmar. After the ride I relaxed for a little while in our condo in Avon before heading out to the beach to join my wife and her friends. Normally my wife doesn't go to the beach on weekends because of the crowds but she was there on Thursday and decided to stay because some of her friends were going to be there on the 4th. 

When I got to the beach I had a hard time finding my wife because of the crowd. The beach was packed wall to wall with people.

 

However my wife and her friends were right by the water and had space for me. So once I found them I spent a couple of hours hanging out and talking to her friends. This is the third time I have been on the beach this year which is a lot. Although it was fine hanging out for a little while I probably won't be back on weekends anytime soon. 

Saturday I led a ride out of Bull's Island. I hadn't been up that way in a while and wanted to do a hilly route in that area as it is usually quiet on holiday weekends. I had planned to do a route that Blake design years ago and was one of the first hilly rides I did on my Synapse where I felt how well it climbed. The route just flows well. It does start out with a long climb on Upper Creek just past the covered bridge but then just has some rolling hills. There are a lot of quiet roads and good scenery on this route as well as some long gradual downhills. 

Our rest stop was in Frenchtown at the Bridge Street cafe. After the stop the plan was to cross to the Pennsylvania side and head up to Stover State Park. However the bridge to PA was closed to westbound traffic and pedestrians. 

Even though I'm a master at getting over closed bridges, short of hiring a motor boat there was no way we were getting across the river. Instead we stayed on the NJ side. I knew the roads good enough to make something up on the fly. We headed down 29 then up Warsaw and stayed up above the Delaware. I set my GPS to find the shortest distance to the starting point of the ride then ignored most of it's suggestions. It did tell me about how many mile we had left to get back to the starting point so I used it to tell me when we should head downhill to 29 and back to the starting point. I had a general idea in my head where I wanted to go. I knew we would probably go down Federal Twist but when we pass the road I thought we could go a little further before circling back however it looked like we were going in the wrong direction so we turned around and just took Federal Twist down(I looked at the map after the ride and realized we could have kept going straight). Federal Twist is a steep downhill and if you're brave you can let it rip, which I did. I got up to 47.8 mph which is faster than I should go but it felt good. Jack made it down the hill a little slower but made it down safely. We ended up with 41 miles and a little over 2000 ft of climbing which was 3 miles shorter and 500ft less of climbing of the planned route. I do want to do some riding our in PA around Frenchtown so will have to find a different place to start and cross over to PA from NJ. 

After getting home from Saturday's ride I relaxed for a few hours before heading down to Avon again. This time to see the fireworks at Belmar and Bradley beach. Avon is between to two so we just sat on the beach and watch the Bradley fireworks to the north before turning around and watching the Belmar fireworks to the south. We were luckily to find a parking spot close to the beach. It was strange seeing this many people on the beach after sunset but it wasn't as bad as it was on the 4th. Each firework show was about 20 minutes and they coordinated them so that Bradley firework show ran first before the Belmar show started. There was also a show in Asbury but we were not able to see that. 

I did manage to get a few good good pictures of the fireworks. 

 

If you want to see all the firework pictures click this link.  

It was a long busy weekend but I had a lot of fun so it was a good 4th of July for me.  

The Hills of Somerset and Morris County

When Laura set an invitation to a hilly ride out of Somerset county I reluctantly accepted. She and a few others had plan to do the Morris Area Freewheelers Revolutionary Ramble a couple of weeks ago but decided not to do it because of rainy weather. Now that we actually had a non rainy Saturday she wanted to do the route. 

After a few edits from the original Revolutionary Ramble route we ended up with a 46 mile 3000 ft ride. Most of the hills on the route I had done before except for a couple south of Gladstone. I have been riding pretty well this spring so was confident that I could do the hills my only concern was has fast I could be and if the amount of climbing would cause cramps. 

We started out of Raritan Valley College. It was in the upper 70s when we started and sunny going up close to 90 by mid afternoon. The first hill was Rockaway Rd which was 5 miles into the ride. This is a long but gradual hill. This was followed by Sawmill which is a little steeper. The pay off for this climbing was bombing down Fox Hill Rd. I have done this downhill enough to be able to go down at full speed. 

Then it was our first rest stop at the Oldwick General store. Laura had planned two stops because of the amount of climbing. Then it was more hills. The short but annoying Vliettown Rd then longer grind up Potterville Rd that brought us downhill into Gladstone. We then took a loop around Gladstone up Mendham Rd which was a gentle climb and down Mosle and Branch back into town. Of course no road around here is a straight up or down there are always little bumps and dips that strain the legs. 

After the loop around Gladstone we ended up in Coco-luxe for our second break. It was getting hot so was glad to have to break to re hydrate before our final climbs. 

The final 15 miles of the ride were on more main roads that would have a little more traffic so it was less about scenery and more about getting back to the starting point. There were still a couple of climbs on the way back. The first one was just after we crossed 206. It was another long but gradual climb up Liberty Corner. Not sure where we were but the road we climbed had a large drop off to the right into a forest. 

The last real climb of the day was on Somerville Rd to get over Rt 78. This is one of those climbs that gets steeper towards the top. It was the hardest climb of the day and I almost switch to the granny gear as my heart rate hit 170. We gathered at the top and then headed down a windy and steep downhill. About three quarter of the way down the hill I heard some one yell something but kept going. 

At the bottom of the hill I gathered up with Laura who said she heard someone yell "FLAT". I eventually got a text that somebody had fallen. They had some road rash but where okay. The person had hit some water and fell. They tried to fix the flat tires and bike but couldn't get it back to a rideable state. 

Someone stayed with the downed rider while the rest of us went back. We were about 7 miles from the starting point and it was mostly flat on the way back. The only hill left was the small one to get back into the college. I cramped about half way up the hill but just pushed through it. 

We then went and retrieved the fallen rider and headed home. I'm sure the bike and fallen rider will be back riding in a few days. 

This was the hilliest ride I have done in a few years. My legs were sore and I had a few cramps after the ride but I climbed better than I thought so will probably do some hillier rides going forward since I know I can handle them.  

Birds in Flight

Today is yet another Saturday where rain or threat of rain has kept me off my bike. This has been a rainy spring as 11 out of the last 15 weekends have had some kind of rain. Hopefully I will be able to get a ride in tomorrow. 

While I sit inside today I have had time to process some photos of some birds in flight I took down at the Edwin B. Forsythe bird sanctuary.  It's a quick hour drive from where I live and usually worth the trip as there are always a lot of birds there feeding in the marsh. This time there weren't as many herons or egrets as usual but there were a lot of terns flying by the road and managed to get a good shot of one in flight as shown in the top of the post. 

There was also an osprey hovering over the road. There are 3 or 4 osprey nest in the sanctuary but this is the first time I saw one flying around. Click on the picture if you want to see it up close. Since it is a slow flying bird I was able to get it in perfect focus and the lighting was good. 

For some reason there were a lot of turtles walking around so I had to be careful not to run over them. 

There are always seagulls and I manage to capture one with a crab in its mouth. 

 

I just wish the lighting was better as the colors are washed out. With my camera on rapid fire mode I took a lot of pictures most of them not worth showing but shooting a lot of photos is the only way to get a good photo of rapid moving wildlife. I am improving my technique so am getting a better ratio of keepers but there is still a good amount of luck and timing involved. 

This picture of a red winged black bird was mostly luck as I was just taking a picture of it sitting on a guard rail when it took off. Luckily my camera kept it in focus and because of was shooting at a high shutter speed it came out pretty sharp. These birds fly really fast so these are not birds that are easy to track in flight. 

I still have room for improvement but enjoy the challenge of this type of photography so will keep trying until I get it right.