Jack and Laura and Blake and Tom Went Up a Hill

This year the riding has been a little flatter but today we headed to the hills around Gladstone.  It wasn't the best day weather wise as there was a good chance of afternoon showers and the it was extremely humid.

I have ridden out of Gladstone a number of times over the past few years and decided to reverse my normal route to change things up a little. This meant putting a few hard climbs at the beginning of the ride. We ended up doing this route.

The climb up Calais was a little harder than I it looked like on the map. I had to stop 3/4 of the way up because I was about to go aerobic. There is something with this area that and the hills that seem to cause me problems. It probably didn't help that I gave blood earlier in the week.

After the brief stop I cranked up the rest of the hills to the ridge and along Pleasant Hill. It was so humid that the sweat was pouring down my face. I don't think I have ever sweated so much.

We cruised along the base of Schooley mountain before heading up the hill by Long Valley. The plan was to stop in Califon for the break. This included going down West Valley Brook which was a little too beat up to really enjoy.  I put a few extra miles and a climb in the route before the stop to get the route to 45 miles.

The stop was at the general store where Jack had made a quick adjustment to his rear derailleur to be able to get into his lowest gear. He would need that gear as I took the most direct route up the hill after the break because I forgot to put a waypoint in the route to take the easier way up.    

The payoff was that we had almost 6 miles of perfect downhill down Guinea Hollow and Rockaway Rd both freshly paved. These are now officially the best roads in NJ.

At the bottom of the hill we had only 9 miles left and headed over a few more annoying hills before heading up Black River then one last climb over 206 to get back to Gladstone. The humidity and intense sweating caught up with me as a cramped up on the last climb.

Despite the cramps and humidity it was still a good ride since we did a hilly ride with Jack and Blake and there were no crashes or major mechanical problems. We also got lucky with the rain as it held off until the drive home. This was a very scenic ride so I will be up this way again in the fall when it is cooler and less humid.