 |
Here's the GPS track of a ride I did on September 5, 2004. It's overlaid on a topo map using GPS Visualizer. The ride starts at my home in Lawrence Township, goes through Pennington, then over to Woosamonsa Road and crosses Pennington Mountain on Poor Farm Road. There's a steep hill to get over Pennington Mountain and an even steeper hill just past Pennington Mountain, rising about 140 feet in a quarter of a mile. Then the ride went to Harbourton, Mount Airy, and the covered bridge in Sergeantsville. On through Rosemont and out onto Route 29 at Ravens Rock. I believe I rode up to Frenchtown on Route 29 (but I might have ridden on the Delaware and Raritan Canal path). Across the river to Uhlerstown and pick up the Delaware Canal towpath on the Pennsylvania side and ride the tow path down to Lumberville. Cross back to the Jersey side at Bulls Island, ride down the towpath to Lambertville where I stopped for lunch. Then continue on the tow path to Washington's crossing, leave the towpath and return home.
|
 |
Here are the elevation and total climb profiles for the ride on September 5. The steep rise at about mile 11 is the really steep part of Poor Farm Road!
|
 |
On Saturday, September 11, Jane and I were in Clifton Park, NY to visit our son Jeff. He and I road the 50 mile route in the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club's Century Weekend.
The GPS track is shown overlaid on a topo map with GPS Visualizer. The ride started in the park at the lower left and went clockwise around Saratoga Springs.
|
 |
Here are the elevation and climb profiles for the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club's half century on September 11, 2004.
|
 |
Here are Jeff (on the right) and I in the parking lot at the start of the ride.
|
 |
Here's the pavilion in the park at the end of the ride. (For some reason, I didn't take very many pictures on this ride - probably I was working too hard to keep up with Jeff!)
|
 |
Here are our friends Karen and Anna whom we first met on the FANY Ride. Karen is the organizer of the FANY Ride.
|
 |
On September 19, 2004, I rode over to the Delaware River to check out the flood. On the way I came across an Antique Gasoline Engine Show at Washington Crossing Park. I had a look around the show. Here are some of the old trucks lined up at the show.
|
 |
Here's a gasoline powered wood splitter.
|
 |
One of the smaller gasoline engines.
|
 |
I suppose you can keep adding machines for your engine to run until it stalls!
|
 |
A display of small engines.
|
 |
Yet more small engines.
|
 |
Antique tractors? While wandering around, I heard an announcement on the PA system with instructions for participants in the tractor parade.
|
 |
An antique fire truck.
|
 |
An antique Plymouth. When I was a kid, my Grandfather had a car very similar to this one. (I think his was blue!)
|
 |
This car was before my time!
|
 |
This car was before my time, too. But maybe not before the time of the two people in front!
|
 |
I rode along the tow path of the Delaware and Raritan Feeder Canal along the Delaware River on September 19, 2004 to check out the flood. I arrived at the river at Titusville, on the upstream side of Washington's Crossing Park. Here's the view of the very full river from River Road in Titusville.
|
 |
Here's a house in Titusville with the flood waters above the foundation. The flood was caused by all the rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan. In fact, we got almost no rain from Ivan in New Jersey, but much rain was dumped in Eastern Pennsylvania into streams that feed the Delaware and in New York into the headwaters of the Delaware.
|
 |
The canal was also very full. Here's a shot of the canal. Route 29 parallels the canal in the background. I tried to get a shot when a car was going by but the camera wouldn't cooperate. In any case, I believe the level of the water in the canal is several feet above the level of the surface of the road. Fortunately, the canal banks held and the road was not flooded.
|
 |
About three miles downstream from Lambertville. You can just make out the river (flooded out of its banks) to the left. The canal has about 6 inches on the river and is overflowing into the river through the spillway. (I think there's a more proper name for this device, but I can't seem to recall it!)
|
 |
About two miles downstream from Lambertville, at this spillway the river is flowing into the canal. Also, as I got closer to Lambertville, I began to see more people walking the tow path. Many of them had been told to leave their homes and were walking along the path to see what was going on.
|
 |
About a mile downstream from Lambertville, the view across the river to the flooded Odette's Restaurant.
Compare with this photo when the river is at a typical height.
Note that about 20 feet or so below the surface of the water is a wing dam which one can walk out on during normal times!
|
 |
A little downstream from Odette's are these condos which have been flooded at the lower levels.
|
 |
In Lambertville, the bridge to New Hope. The river is within a few feet of the deck. Normally, one can see 20-25 feet of support piers under the bridge.
|
 |
The bridge to New Hope was closed! There was a rumor that a house was floating down the river. (So far as I know, that was false.)
|
 |
People in Lambertville wondering how far the river will rise. I had lunch at the Lambertville Station Pub (out of the picture to the left). The Pub is on the lower level and below the level of the river. Fortunately, no water leaked in. After lunch, I rode out of town away from the river rather than return on the tow path. Since the tow path was less than a foot above water level on the way in and since the water level had continued to rise, I didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck!
|
 |
Newspapers carried reports that the flooding did considerable damage, especially to the Delaware Canal and tow path on the Pennsylvania side of the river. Since I was organizing a ride along the river, I decided to check out the condition of the tow path. I rode up to Frenchtown, crossed the river and ignored the "Path Closed due to Flood Damage" sign at Uhlerstown and started heading downstream on the path. The first 4-1/2 miles or so were fine except for the occasional fallen tree.
|
 |
A different fallen tree. By the way, on the New Jersey side, there was no discernible damage to the canal or tow path. However, the campground at Bulls Island State Park was flooded and the ranger told me it wouldn't re-open until Spring, 2005.
|
 |
After about 4-1/2 miles, the path became unrideable. Here you can see the river to the left, the canal to the right and the eroded path directly in front. Damage that I observed varied from turning the paving (packed fine gravel) into sand, to completely washing away the paving, to eroding the path and the bank of the canal as in this photo. I walked my bike another mile and a half until I found a bridge over the canal to the road. At that point I rode three miles down to Lumberville where I crossed back to the New Jersey side.
|
 |
From the Bulls Island, Lumberville Bridge: the view upstream on the Pennsylvania side. Apparently, when the path was upgraded a few years ago, the method was to dig out a 3 or 4 inch deep channel, fill it with fine gravel and then pack it down. Here, the gravel has been washed away, leaving the channel on the bank more or less intact. I understand that there was also damage to the lock in the photo.
|
 |
The view downstream from the Bulls Island, Lumberville Bridge. The washed out tow path continues. The bed of the path is filled with fairly good sized rocks. Mountain bikers might like it, but I think it's pretty much impassable!
|
|
|