NJ, PA & MD - Days 1 & 2

I am on a 9 day trip to Asheville NC and back with Jesse and Ruth. We are spending 3 days driving down, stopping each day for a ride. We will then spend 4 nights with our friend Brian from the 2023 cross country trip. This will give us 3 days riding in the Asheville area. Finally, we will take another 3 days driving back up to New England, again stopping for daily rides along the way.

Yesterday, our first day, we drove to Bloomsbury NJ where we did one of Jesse and Ruth’s favorite rides. Our route looped through farmland and along the Delaware River. Here is the Delaware River as we headed north along the NJ side.

The loop was 43 miles with 3000’ of climbing. The ride started out with 700’ of that climbing in just the first 4 miles. That got my heart rate elevated right away. Besides riding along the river, we also wandered along shaded roads and into farmland.

Whenever I am riding with Ruth, we are always on the lookout for haunted houses.

When we are riding through farmland, I always want to get a red barn photo.

The day was generally cloudy which was good since it was hot. When the sun did peek out, I definitely felt it.

Here is one final photo from our first ride. While the ride was not long, I was happy when it was over. I did not have good legs on day 1, and I was feeling both the heat and the climbs. After the ride, we drove over 2 hours to Hagerstown MD for the night.

Day 2 started out with lovely weather, clear skies with temperatures in the low to mid 60s. We started by cycling along Conococheague Creek after exiting the town of Williamsport. The creek feeds into the nearby Potomac River which around here separates Maryland from West Virginia. Farther south, as the river makes its way to the Chesapeake Bay, it is the border between Maryland and Virginia.

After a couple of miles cycling upstream, we crossed over the creek, and rode into a huge field of sunflowers.

The ride itself was filled with gentle rollers through lovely farmland. The ride had no serious climbs which I appreciated given how my legs had felt yesterday.

Our route had us ride north into Pennsylvania. There were hills to our left in the west, but we kept to the farmland in the valley.

The ride was lovely. At 55 miles and 3300’ of climbing, it was longer and with more climbing than yesterday, but overall I felt much better.

Towards the end of the ride, we stopped to get ice cream then wandered over to this country store. The man painting told us that the store was built in the 1850s when people would stop here on their way to Saint Louis and the west. He told us about a nearby single room schoolhouse that had operated for 105 years including while he was a student there as a child.

Overall, today was a fabulous day riding. After completing our ride, we drove just over 2 hours to Lexington VA. Tomorrow we will do a 50+ mile ride from here before about a 4.5 hour drive to Asheville.