It's Always an Adventure

 

For a lot of the rides I lead I always try to do something unexpected along the way. The weather has turned colder so most of the rest of my rides this year will be shorter and flatter. There were no good rides listed this week so I decided to lead a ride out of MCP to Bordentown using this route. I scheduled it for 10am to let it warm up a little.

It was upper 40s and sunny when we started and I took a slightly unusual route across 130 just to add a few miles and of course to put an unexpected ride on a sidewalk just to keep them guessing. (Ricky accidentally went down someones driveway instead of the sidewalk)

It was a relatively easy ride to Bordentown. I somehow hurt my left leg a week ago so couldn't even push it up the small hills. I was probably at 80% of normal speed. 

Once we got to Bordentown I took another detour through the hilltop park and then we paid a visit to Thomas Paine

It just seem like the right thing to do on Veterans Day.

After our normal stop in Bordentown we worked our way back. Laura was not with us as she was attending one of her last glassblowing classes of this semester and maybe forever. I tried to find the best place to send her the normal picture and found a spider still out from Halloween and thought it would make a good group photo for her.

 

The wind picked up a little as we made our way back. I was doing okay until we got to Windsor Road and got stuck straight into the head wind. My leg started to burn and I had to really slow down. At the next turn I took a few minutes to stretch it out and we continued on.

I added another surprise at the end not heading straight back Windsor Road but instead crossing 130 on Voelbel Rd. The route has us turning down Main Street but I decided to take a quick look at the BAPS Hindu temple which is the largest Hindu temple in the United States. It was really crowded as I forgot it was Diwali. We did make our way around the parking lot and got some glimpses of the temple. The grounds are large and beautiful. Glen got a picture as we rode by which is at the top of this post. Friends of mine in the community actually went inside for a tour and said the inside was amazing.

I think I will try to get more information on a tour and do a non bike trip there with the insane posse. It is probably as interesting and beautiful as any other church or temple in the world and worth the time to go see it.