Saturdays ride idea was courtesy of Laura who looked at a map and said we should go to Turkey Top Rd. That was over a year or so ago and although we worked out a couple of routes we never did the ride. This week I did a ride out of Gladstone. I was going to do one of my previous routes but then I remembered that one of the routes to Turkey Top Rd was a slightly modified version of one of my Gladstone rides. I had both routes in my GPS, my usual route and Turkey Top but it was a beautiful day so why not do another 800 feet of climbing.
Laura, Jim, Pete, Ricky and Ken joined me on the ride. We did this route The climbing starts in the first mile of the ride and continues for the 20 miles. Some of the climbs are like the one on Rockaway Rd and Guinea Hollow are easy gentle climbs and there are some downhills and flat spots along the way but it was more climbing than I have done this year so I took it slow to conserve my energy.
After climbing up to the top of Guinea Hollow we dove downhill into the town of Califon wiping away most of the climbing we had done. From there it was onto Silker Rd which was the steepest and longest climb of the day. Its one of those hills that starts out steep then gets flatter and you think you are near the top then it gets steeper again. We have done this hill before to get to Schooley's Mountain but this time we went beyond where we usually turn off. Before getting to Turkey Top we explored a few other road we haven't been on like Mt Lebanon. These were nice quiet tree covered roads. When we got to Turkey Top we stopped for the usual picture of the road sign before heading down the road.
Turkey Top is a 400+ decent over about a mile. Its a fun ride although it was hard to see the road surface in spots because of tree cover. The pay off for going down Turkey Top is a 500 ft climb to get back up to the top of Schooley's Mountain. Luckily it was a long shallow climb so it wasn't steep just a long slow burn. Once we got to the top we road along the ridge for a few miles until we got to our rest stop which was a combination of post office/deli/bakery. Its got a nice picnic table to set out so it is a good place to hang out except for the fact that it doesn't have a bathroom. From there we continue along the ridge on Flock Rd. I noticed the totem pole on the corner of Flock Rd and Schooley's Mountain Rd has been removed. It one of the objects that Dustin lists in NJBikeMap but I guess it must have been removed for some reason.
The only way off Schooley's Mountain is a steep descent. We went down Four Bridges Rd which only has two bridges although it was hard to count at 35 mph down a winding hill. I'm glad I upgraded the brakes on my bike a few years ago but doing hills like this make me think disc brakes on a road bike can be useful in these situations.
We made a quick bathroom stop at a Quick Check before beginning the last 12 miles of the ride. Although most of the tough climbs were behind us there was still a few annoying hills on the way back. I was definitely feeling tired and downed a gel to give me a boost to get me back with out cramping.
There was one more killer downhill before we got back. On Ironia there is a 1.5 mile stretch of road with just enough curves to make it fun with out been too dangerous. When Ken saw the sign that said "Slow, steep hill ahead" he actually accelerated down the hill with Pete behind. I followed them both and was one of the few parts of the ride that I could keep up with them.
The last few miles of the ride still had a few small hills and I cramped up about a mile from the end but was able to stand up on the pedals and stretch it out. By the time I got back to the parking lot my legs were done. We had done over 4000 ft of climbing but I'm glad we did the Turkey Top ride. I'm still not sure what a Turkey Top is but at least I can now say I been on the road.
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