Route 926

Shoo Mama's

Yesterday the day was blue and crisp and it looked like a real good time to take a long ride.  Over exposure to the cold temps of last winter have, however, damaged my sense of what good temps are.  At 11:00, when I left the house, the temp was at 53 degrees but the blue and clear really messed with my perception.  Generally, I consider 55 degrees the low edge of comfortable riding and that is only doable with the right amount of gear, i.e. thermal layers, glove liners, leather.  I my over optimistic state of mind I left the house with a mesh jacket, the Bohn underpants, a cotton zip up sweat shirt, and leather gloves with no liners.  Big mistake.

My plan was to run out Goshen to Garrett Mill, cross the West Chester Pike to 926 and run that all the way from beginning to end at Route 10.  There I was to take the left to hook up with Route one and follow that to the other side of the Mason-Dixon line for a brief visit to Dixie.  The cold and wind only let me accomplished a portion of that.

By the time I had reached Pocopson I realized that I was going to have to change the flight plan.  I was still in good shape but I began to have doubts about being able to make it all the way.  Despite that, I was determined to go further.  I noticed several packs riding in the opposite direction, most of them on cruisers and wearing more appropriate gear than I was.  When I got to the intersection of Gap Newport Pike (Rt 41) I had a stall out which I blame on poor hand coordination.  So I decided to cross the road and find a suitable turn around because I was not having fun anymore and this is supposed to be about having fun.  I did not have to go far, just past Jennersville Rd I found a subdivision on the right and used that as a turnaround.

The run back was a little better maybe because it felt like the wind was on my back and the cold didn't feel as bad.  My hands were still resenting it despite all that.  When I reached 202, I decided to pull into the little shopping center there and stop at Shoo Mama's for something to eat and to warm up a little before returning to the road.  I had a cup of turkey chili and half a roast "beast" sandwich.  The chili was great, nice and spicy and warm enough.  The roast "beast" was nothing to write home about.  I should have just had a bowl of chili and call it quits.  The ride back from there was uneventful, more of the same on the temp side but since by then there wasn't much left of it it wasn't that bad.

Route 926 is a great road.  Pass Rt 81, the limit of where I have ridden it before, it has some very nice twists and hills running to wooded areas and farmland.  Crossing Gap  Newport Pike is a little hairy, it's a wide four lanes with quite a bit of traffic and no light but on Sunday the traffic was light enough that there were several gaps in a short succession of time despite my troubles with the stall out.

When it gets a little warmer I will try this run again to its end in Maryland.

On leaving the house at 11:07 the odo read 3032.3 and the temp was 53 degrees.  On return at 13:25 the odo read 3097.0 and them was 55 degrees.  The total mileage for this run was almost 65 miles.  I think that is the longest the bullet has gone in one run.

Outbound

On return