Jump to content

Saturday's ride photos


TrentonMakes

Recommended Posts

I grew up riding little two-lane country roads in upstate New York.  Now I live in New Jersey but I'm really in a great area for riding.  The town just north of me has a whole lot of roads that look very similar to what I used to ride.  I feel silly for going so long without taking advantage of it.  People who think New Jersey looks like what you can see from the Turnpike are mistaken.

 

 

A friend commented that it must have been windy!  but those poles just lean that way.

20140719_112601_zps718776a3.jpg

 

 

 

Chip seal! (or what we always called "oil and stone") - I avoided these growing up, as my town loved it, but this actually wasn't so bad.  Still a shame as this is a great road.  (One of the clips on the seat pack is broken but it seems stable enough)  

20140719_111906_zps75459b4c.jpg

 

 

Looking back down "Goat Hill Road" which I'd just climbed

20140719_113639_zpseab34e34.jpg

 

 

I cut the ride a little short because I had someplace to be (and, well, my legs were feeling it) - ended up on this road that reminded me of "days gone by".  I noted on FB that a hill on this road surprised me - looks like it was about 3/10 mile at 6.6%.  I'm sure that's a walk in the park for most of you.

20140719_123909_zps95fe1948.jpg

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing.  I tend to ride a fair amount of chip seal.  My county is very good a keeping up the back roads.  That means lots of good routes.  It also means a fair amount of fresh chip seal each year.  Most of my routes are in good shape to ride after one year of vehicle traffic.  I take the good with the bad.  I have a couple of favorite roads that were chip sealed this year and surprisingly, they are still good to ride with the fresh stuff on them (fortunate).

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

RE the chip seal, this road was just done within the last month or two.  The car tracks are pretty smooth; a little washboarding here and there.  But there's a pile of looser stuff along each edge you have to stay out of.  There's very little traffic which is good because if a car's coming I'm not moving over into the soft stuff for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RE the chip seal, this road was just done within the last month or two.  The car tracks are pretty smooth; a little washboarding here and there.  But there's a pile of looser stuff along each edge you have to stay out of.  There's very little traffic which is good because if a car's coming I'm not moving over into the soft stuff for them.

 

I understand the loose stuff on the edge.  My county comes back a couple weeks after the chip seal is done and uses one of those tractor mounted brushes and brushes the stuff out into the road surface to get smashed down into the tar by the traffic.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter was looking at a house near Titusville.  It's a nice area around there.  

 

Yep, Titusville is the next zip code up the river from us.  Titusville "proper" is a strip of old, well-maintained homes along the river, and I've ridden through it on almost all of my rides so far this year.  The location of the chip seal photo probably has a Titusville address.

 

I've ridden a bit on the canal towpaths both NE and NW of Trenton but I can't say I'm familiar with Tumble Falls.... time to Google.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How come all the power poles lean up there?   This bothers me.  Can you please have them straightened and then retake the pictures?

 

 

The poles are straight.  It's the terrain that's crooked.  Duh.

 

In the Arctic, there are "drunken forests" where the trees are at all sorts of angles. This is because of the permafrost. I didn't know New Jersey had the same Arctic conditions.

 

DSCN3566.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like a nice ride. How are the drivers in your area?

 

There are a fair number of cyclists riding these back roads so I think drivers on those are used to it.  Cars usually pass with plenty of space, and twice I had a car just slow and follow me until they could see the other direction - both with friendly waves which was nice.

 

But on the busier roads, most drivers aren't going to let a cyclist slow them down.  They'll go past at speed, giving me a lot less room than I'd like.  I know this is the case most everywhere I've ridden (Portland, ME being a possble exception).

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now I live in New Jersey 

 

I am so sorry to hear that.   :(

 

You can always move, though!  

 

Anyway, nice pics, it is always fun seeing where people ride.   I was near you over the weekend, the wife had a triathlon near Princeton, and it looked pretty nice for riding.  Everything looks nice for riding to me, though, Prospect Park is kind of confining as far as rides go.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...