Down the Upside

 
 I have been exploring the area around Califon for over 5 years and have some really good routes that I use to lead rides a few times a year. There are so many good roads and ways to put a route together that you can ride here a 100 times an still not know it all. For this Saturdays ride around Califon I wanted to change things up a little and come up with route that felt a lot different than my normal ride. What I decided to so was to do a lot of the regular roads backward. Basically go up our normal downhills and down our normal uphills.

We ended up doing this route. When I first planned out the route it looked wrong and harder than the normal route yet as I looked at it there was no individual climb harder than are normal climbs. For example instead of climbing 440 feet up Valley Brook we climbed 450 feet up Black River Road. I did add a couple of new downhills and uphills but statistically the route did not look harder than normal. Of course actual physical effort may not match ride statistics. We have all be on 4000 ft vertical rides that were easy an other 4000 ft vertical rides that felt more like 6000 ft.

We started out from RVCC and I had a most of my normal riders. Laura, Jim. Blake, Barry, Cheryl and surprise guest Larry. We worked our way through Tewsbury and up Black River Road. I was concerned with Black River not only because I knew it would a long climb with a couple of steep spots but because last year when I came down this hill the road surface was really beat up to the point it was total gravel in some areas.

Luckily they had fixed or repaved most of the broken up areas the only problem was the actual climb. We have been down this road a number of times a when the road is in good shape it is a great down hill. It fact when you go down it and get to the bottom you say I'm glad we didn't have to climb that one. Well to be honest now that we were actually stupid enough to climb the hill I can say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was long and steep in a couple of spots and about halfway up I switched into the bottom ring of my triple but I was never concerned about running out of gears to get up the hill.

Once we got to the top of Long Valley I did a loop around some of the local roads before our rest stop. We found one cool totally unexpected downhill (Coleman Rd) which was smooth, straight and traffic free. This one will be on my list of must do roads the next time we are in this area.

Our rest stop was in a combination deli/liquor/coffee shop that has a everything and more a biker needs for a good rest stop.

After the rest stop was an immediate 240 ft climb to get back to the ridge. This was another hill we had been down a few times and I wasn't looking forward to going up but again it wasn't too bad. From here we headed down into Califon and down Valley Brook a 440 ft drop that we normally climb. That felt really good. I then made a hilly detour around the north side of Califon before going through town.

Then a flat ride along the Raritan before going up Hoffman Corner. Hoffman Corner is a steep downhill with a good view. I wasn't really looking forward to going up it. It was steep but the first part was doable. I think what most of us forgot was that there were two steep downhills on Hoffman Corner and most of us forgot about the first one which is almost as steep.

We took a break at the top of the hill since some of us were feeling the strain of all the climbs. Unfortunately we still had some more uphill to go. It wasn't real steep but since this was towards the end of the ride when even the smaller hills felt hard.

Once we got to Suttons Rd however we had almost continuous downhills for 6 miles. We started on Sutton then down Guinea Hollow and lastly down Rockaway. Although I don't think I want to go up Hoffman Corner again I am going to find a way to do the Suttons, Guinea Hollow, Rockaway downhill together again because it was a blast.

The last 6 miles of the ride was mostly flat until the last climb back up to RVCC which always sucks. Doing the normal roads backward turned out to be a decent route. I don't think I would do this exact route again but I now have a different perspective on some of our regular roads and how some of the combination work together so I have some more choices when planning rides around Califon.

Happy 4th of July

This past weekend was the July 4 holiday. As usually it was filled with a couple of rides and a family barbecue. This year was a little unusual as the holiday was on Friday instead of Monday. The plan was to ride Friday the 4th, go to the family barbecue on the 5th and ride again on the 6th. My plans changed when a passing hurricane came through on Friday. The hurricane when further out to sea than expected and we didn't get much rain but there was the imminent threat for most of the day.

I still wanted to get 2 rides. So on Saturday I decided to ride up to the family barbecue in Long Valley from my house. It would 58 miles and only hilly in the last 14 miles. I figured if I took my time I could do the ride and still feel good enough to lead a hilly ride on Sunday. The ride to Long Valley was nice except for the constant head wind which I had for the entire ride. It wasn't a very strong head wind but it was something I felt through the entire ride and definitely slowed me down.

After I crossed Rt 22 I started getting into some real hills. I was riding my Feather because most of the ride was flat and there were no real steep hills that I couldn't power my way over in the Feather. The weather had heated up since it was mid afternoon but as I approached the hills I felt the cool air rolling off the hills. I climbed up Rockaway the Guinea Hollow and I think the temperature actually dropped a few degrees.

Having the hills at the end of the ride was tough. I usually don't have a problem keeping hydrated but the wind and the length of the ride were getting to me. At the intersection of Frogtown and Valley Brook there as a short steep hill I had to stand up on. After standing for one pedal stroke both legs cramped up. I had to click out quickly to avoid falling. Both legs were cramped and I couldn't real bend them for a few minutes. Luckily I was only 5 miles from the finish but there were still a few hills a head. I managed to make it but I came close to cramping again at each little hill.

I spent the family barbecue trying to re hydrate so I could survive my Sunday ride.


On Sunday morning I felt sore but good enough to do the ride. I had 7 people on the ride besides me. It was the usually group with a couple of new people. This route was a route that Blake came up with a few years ago while I was breaking in my Synapse. Its also the ride I fell on with the Synapse on its 3rd ride. It is a good route so I wanted to do it again. This time with out the fall! (You can read about the ride and fall here)

This rides goes up the to the ridge on the NJ side and then down through Milford before crossing the Delaware and climbing some hills on the PA side. Its a really pretty ride if you don't mind the hills. I tweak the route this time to include Hickory Corner Rd. This is a great downhill the only problem is that you have to get to it which involves a long semi steep climb. It was worth it but I was glad I had the Synapse and the granny gear.

We had a nice stop in Black Eddy before going up Bridgeton Hill which is a 12-15% grade and a tough way to start after a stop. We had some more ups and downs before heading up the long shallow climb that is Dark Hollow on our way to Stover Park and the site of my previous fall.

Laura stopped to take a picture right before we took the road into the park. I thought she was close behind but when I took the road into the park (which has a "No Outlet" sign on it because only walkers and bikers can get through on the road) she and Jim went other way down a dirt road. I was concentrating on not falling and didn't notice them missing until we got to the other side of the park. I waited but they didn't show up and eventually they called me telling me they took a wrong turn. I gave then an alternate way back since it would have taken them a while to back track.

I do feel a little bad that they missed the turn as I try to make sure I don't loose any body on the rides. However the truth is I don't really like them much any way so I wasn't that concerned that I lost them. I mean look at the picture of Jim below striking a pose. He's got a face you just want to slap. And every time he is on the ride I have this constant ringing in my ears.

Besides they ended up having a cooler downhill than we did in the way back so I think loosing them made the ride better for all of us.

Of course I'm only kidding about being happy loosing Jim an Laura because I'm not the type of bastard that would post such derogatory things on a public blog. At least most people don't think so.