Mayhem in Middle Valley

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I try lead well planned and organized ride but sometimes events conspire to cause the ride to become a bit chaotic. Ken and I had a ride in the book, this past Sunday in Califon. We got lost up that way a little over a month ago and found some new roads that I wanted to explore further while I was still in good enough shape for some tough hills. I have posted the route here if you want to see the planned route

Sunday turned out to be a slightly cool but very clear day. Although the leaves aren't at peak yet they are starting to turn so I was looking forward to some nice views. We had a good group of the usual people including Ken, Laura, Chris, Lynne and Michael. Bruce and John also decided to join us. I was a little cold as we started out from Raritan Valley College but I knew I would warm up as soon as we started climbing.

Unfortunately we didn't get to far before we had our first incident. Just before the turn on to Rock Rd Lynne hit a rut in the road and went down. She got up pretty quick and didn't appear to be too hurt. She had hit her elbow and had some scraps there and on her leg. Her bike also got a little banged up. We moved to the side of the road. After a few minutes she said she didn't feel in too much pain but to be safe it would probably be better if she didn't continue on with us.

We were only a few miles from the college so Ken rode back to the starting point and got his car so he could bring Lynne and her bike back to the college. All this took about a half hour during which Chris realized that he had both his tires had slow leaks so he had to change them. After Ken drove Lynne back to the college he road back and we started the ride again.

It took a few miles to warm up again but eventually we were starting climbing. We took Rockaway Rd to Bissell. I hadn't climbed Bissell before but Ken said it wasn't too bad even though on the map its a 550 ft climb. It's not a continuous climb but is a step climb with 3 main bumps up. None of it was tough but is was long and the group got spread out.

It is always harder to ride as a group in hilly terrain because everybody climbs at a different pace. This usually means to keep the group together we stop at the top of the tough hills. I also try to let people know where the next turn is so if they loose contact with the group they know where we will be waiting.

We wound our way up some more hills. My goal was to get to Hoffman Corner Rd which is just above Califon. There is a really nice scenic view of the valley from the road and since it was such a clear day I wanted to get some pictures. The view was great and there is also a nice down hill that brings us into Califon along the Raritan river. The ride along the river into Califon was nice and the only flat part of the ride.

From Califon we started climbing again up Sliker. Its about a mile and a half of mostly up hill that get a little steeper just before the turn on to Pleasant Grove. We are close the top of Schooley's Mountain on the western side. At the turn I wave the others on and waited for Bruce and John. I didn't want them to miss the turn. After 10 min I realized that they must be lost. They were right behind us when we turned on the Sliker so I don't understand why they are not here now. I pull out the cell phone and get Laura to call John. Some phone tag ensues. I hear from Laura that John missed a turn but that doesn't make sense since there was no turn. I try to call John but don't get through.

Eventually I go back down the hill looking for them then climb back up and meet up with Laura and the rest of the group. I know John knows the roads and will be able to find his way back. Just as we are about to give up on finding them I get a call from John. They are now on Pleasant Grove about a half mile away. It turns out they saw some bikers turning off Sliker and assumed it was us and followed them. If wasn't us of course but another group of bikers.

We are finally all back together but we wasted another 40 minutes waiting around. Between John and Bruce getting lost and Lynne's fall at the beginning, the ride is running really long. At this point everybody wants to shorten the ride so we don't get back too late. I take a quick look at the map and find the quickest way off Schooley's. We go down Zeller which is turned out to be a nice road. This leads us to Middle Valley road which has a really steep downhill hair pin turn. There is very little traffic on the road so although its a tough turn it's relatively safe if you are careful and can actually be fun. Although as Bruce mentioned your hands do hurt a little from have to keep on the brakes most of the way down.

At the bottom of the hill Michael (who's idea of fun is climbing steep hills) turns to me and said "That would probably be a fun hill to climb". Which is what I expected him to say. Of course the climb would be a 20 degree up hill grade for a least a half mile with some short parts even steeper. It doesn't sound like fun but if I get really strong next year I may do it just to prove that I can. I realize that even thinking of climbing a hill that steep means that I have been hanging around Michael too long.

After coming down from Schooley's Mountain we had one more tough climb over Beacon Hill. I had originally planned a more scenic route back but everybody was tired and just wanted to get home. So we took the quickest way back which meant riding down Rt 517 Old Turnpike Rd. This is a busy road but it does have a small shoulder most of the way so if you stay to the right it's rideable especially on a Sunday. It also has a killer downhill right before Tweaksbury.

We stopped at the general store in the middle of Tweaksbury. It was a quick stop since everybody wanted to get home. We got back to the college just before 2pm with just over 40 miles. We didn't end up doing the ride I had planned or see some of the scenery that I wanted to but that just means I will have to come back again some other day.

I got some email from Lynne. It turns out that the fall was worst it appeared. She got home ok but her arm starting swelling up so she ended up going to the emergency room and found out that she actually has a broken bone. I hope it's not too bad and she will recover quickly.

Its been a bad week for some of my friends. I heard Henry got hit by a car. Mary fell and broke her collar bone and hip and now Lynne broke her arm. Luckly all are on the mend will be riding again soon.