Ride to Rova Farms

Fall is at its peak around here so I wanted to do a ride to see the colors before the leaves fall off the trees. The colors seem bright this year but I think because of the dry fall we are having a lot of the leaves are already falling off. I planned a long but easy ride down towards Rova Farms. Back in the 1930s this was a cooperative farm and resort for Russians escaping from the Russian civil war. Not much is left of the farm or resort. The main reminder of the Russian past is St Vladimir's church which is of typical Russian design with some beautiful mosaics on the outside.

I sent an email out to the posse and posted a note on my blog. We all met at Mercer Park. Laura and Jim road in as did Marc and myself. Barry also showed up. I thought I might get a few others but I think the cold may have kept some people at home. It was low to mid 40s at the start and didn't get above the mid 50s by the end of the ride.

Although it was a little cold at the start it didn't take long to warm up. It was a good ride on some of our well known and favorite roads. I made our way up and over Rue road before heading south to Rova. It was definitely a good day to see the fall colors as there were a lot of bright yellows and deep reds along the way. Before the ride Laura had suggested we take the bike path back over the river as there was a good view of a tree that was highlighted by the sun. That is the picture you see at the top of this post. I saw Laura posted this picture on her blog post but it looks over exposed. I think my camera (the new Coolpix S33) did a better job getting the lighting as it actually was.

For the break we stopped at an antique/shit shop/grill. The have a lot of interesting but useless knick-nacks.  The food selection isn't great but the deli across the way isn't much better. I may try the other deli or doughnut shop up the road next time.

We had a slight tail wind on our way back from Rova. There were more fall colors and we kept a good pace. I finished the ride at a 16 mph average for 62 miles. Not bad for this time of year.

This was a much better ride than the last stressful ride I lead up north. I think this will keep the posse following me for some of my future rides. I'm hoping the fall colors stay around another week or so as we will be down by Cape May next weekend and some color may make the ride a little more interesting.