Hilly Non Highpoint

I did not have a highpoint ride schedule for this weekend so I decided to do some climbing. This was to get in shape for the hillier highpoint rides and for Bike Virginia. I chose a hilly ride that Blake actually create a couple of years ago an then added a few more hills to get a total of 4000 feet of climbing.

We started from Bulls Island with the usual posse. Jim, Laura, Ron, Marco, and Barry. The first 25 miles are so were on the NJ side of the Delaware. The first few miles were flat as we headed up Lower Creek road to THE NJ Covered Bridge. Then we started climbing. Although the climb up Upper Creek was not the longest or hardest climb it still felt tough. We rode along the ridge for a while with some rolling hills then did another long and tough climb.

At this point we were just above 900 feet which is higher than any highpoint ride we did so far. The payoff though was a 3 mile ride down hill on Hickory Corner Rd. Then down 519 into Milford and over to PA to our rest stop in Black Eddy.

When I told Jim we were stopping in Black Eddy he seemed happy because he likes that rest stop. He then ask does that mean we are going up that really steep hill after the stop. Dumb question. Of course we are going up Bridgeton hill why else would I come this way.

Bridgeton hill is 10-15% grade that goes up about 400 feet. It is a hard climb. I usually do it once a year to see how strong and crazy I am. Its not a fun hill to climb but I made it with out my heart blowing up so it means I am in decent shape but still need some more training to make climbs like this less painful.

The next real climb we had was up Dark Hollow. This is a long 2.5 mile climb with a more or less constant grade of 4%. I actually enjoy this hill because its hard enough to feel like you accomplished something when you get to the top but easy enough to not worry about.

We went through Stover Park again. This time I managed to not loose Jim and Laura. I had planned to go down Fleecy Dale Rd but it was still closed so I had to detour to Green Hill. I had not expected Fleecy Dale to be closed since they have been working on it for 2 years but manage to remember the alternate way down.

By the time we got back to the start we had 52 miles. It was a tough ride but I'm happy with my progress this year and with a little more training should be ready for some of the extreme hilly rides I planning for the future.