Major Detour

I finally got some good weather on my Wednesday off. It was warm and sunny to the point that I didn't need long sleeves or tights. I was not going to let this day go to waste so I decided to head to Yardley and do a hilly ride on the PA and NJ side. The plan was to do this route  to see how well my legs worked in the hills. I have been feeling good riding lately so wanted to push myself a little. There were no super steep or long climbs on the route but enough up and downs to see how well I can climb. I got a few other people to join me.

The temperature was perfect when we started out of the Yardley park and ride and straight up the first hill. I felt okay as we continue up he hills to 413 where we hit some of the nicer roads in the area and went through the Van Sant covered bridge. A couple of hills later we dove down into New Hope for our rest stop. 

The big climb of the ride was after the rest stop on the NJ side as we climbed up Rocktown. I made it up without a problem and felt good. I might be climbing a little slower at the moment but hope to get back to normal after a little more training. After getting to the top we turned on Mount Airy where Martin stopped to get a picture of the Dinosaur Rock. Then we ran into a road closed sign. Normally I would have just pushed through and try to make it around it however there was a couple of construction worker guys in a truck that were headed back down the road so we asked them if we could get around the closure and they said it was impassable. Instead of following the detour sign that said to make a left Rock Road East Jack said it might be better to go on right on Rock Road West. I didn't have my maps with me and figured Jack knew the roads well enough to get it back so why not trust him. 

WELL the small detour I thought Jack was going to make turned out to be almost a completely different way back to our starting point. It actually wasn't a bad way back. In fact I liked some of the roads better than what I had planned. Here is the route we actually did

We actually went down Goat Hill which I don't know if I have ever done. The only drawback to the way we went is that it added another 400 feet of climbing, not that there were any major climbs just a few more gradual up hills than planned. Because we knew the detour added some miles we took the straighter way back. It was another heavy pollen day as I saw what I thought was some light fog but realized as I went through it that it was just a lot of pollen blowing around

The ride ended up being only 3 miles longer than planned. But even with the extra climbing and mile I still felt good and the pace of the ride was normal, for a hilly ride, so I am happy with the way I rode. It was a little hot when we got back but I'll take that over the cold and rain we had over the last few weeks.