cHilly Sunday Outing

Winter drawers on ... Well, it wasn't that cold, but a taste of things to come, and I really am not a cold weather rider.

It's been several weeks since I have ridden regularly, but it was time to give my creaking knees a test, so I headed out on a fairly short, but rather hilly ride to Lambertville, 20 or so miles and 1000ft of climbing.

Bike route 760738 - powered by Bikemap 

I planned this via BikeMap.net and loaded the route into the Garmin and set off. For the first couple of miles my legs groaned and creaked. This wasn't helped by the first climb up Mine Road which was really a bit too soon into the ride - nb: this should really be on the return route for me. However, the legs did survive and it really warmed me up nicely.

The route to Lambertville turned out to be pretty hilly, but not impossible even after some time off the bike. However, the descent down Goat Hill into the town was very steep with plenty of potholes, driveways and residential streets leading off it, plus an absolute stop at the T at the bottom of the hill strewn with fallen leaves ... ride with care.

After a coffee and coconut macaroon I embarked on the ascent out of Lambertville up the Rocktown Road. This is a long climb, but not that steep. It just requires that you plod away at it until you reach the plateau. For some reason I missed my cue from the Garmin and ended up heading east on 518 when I had intended to head for Mountain Road and Lindale for the descent to Marshall's Corner.  So instead I cut back down Stony Brook to return to a nice warm home.

The knees and legs survived.

Like I said, not that far, but hard enough work.