Where is Everybody!!!

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This past Saturday I had a planned a beautiful fall foliage ride through Califon. Unfortunately the weather wasn't idea for the ride. It was overcast and really windy. I usually don't get a lot of people when I ride up in Califon but I knew I was in trouble when I pulled into the parking lot and nobody was there.

At 9am still nobody, oh well I guess I'm riding this one alone. I thought about bagging the ride because of the conditions but I am headed to Las Vegas next week for work and plan to do some rides in the canyons out there and wanted the hill work.

I knew the ride was going to suck as made a right out of Raritan college and had to pedal down the hill. The wind was ferocious but got a little better as I got into the more wooded areas. The wind was at least a constant 20mph with gusts close to double that. I almost got blown over a couple of times.

Going up Rockaway road was pretty as always and the leaves were at their peak. It was also cool the way the leaves were being blown around in the wind. There were mini tornados of leaves everywhere. Of course I was being constantly pummeled by acorns, tree branches and other flying debris but the worst thing was the sound of the wind. It was a constant hum like a freight train approaching.

Towards the top of the hill there is a wide angle mirror where Rockaway meets Still Hollow. I snapped a picture as I went by that made a cool self portrait.

I made my way through Califon and then climbed up Schooleys mountain and made a stop at the general store up there. One thing I realized is that although the hills block some of the wind when you get to the of the hill it only gets windier. I did see one other biker along the way and he looked about as happy as I was but a least I knew there was another person crazy enough to go out in this wind.

After the rest stop the wind got a lot worst. The wind went from ferocious to down right ridiculous. This did give me the chance to solve one of the worlds most important philosophical riddles.

"If Tom curses at the gale force winds and nobody is around to hear it does he make a sound"

The answer is NO! because the f#*king wind is so loud it drowns out any other sound.

I did get a couple of breaks from the wind on some of the down hills. I went down Middle Valley with and its hairpin turn with a 25 degree down slope. This hill is scary fun and as dangerous as it sounds but its was too cool to pass up. The other break I got was the last 5 miles when I finally had a tail wind. I actually hit 35 mph on the flat with almost no pedaling.

By the time I got back to the college between all the hills and the constant wind I was really beat. Even though it was a lonely tough ride it was still fun. Which goes to prove that even a crappy bike ride is still better than most other things.