Vetting a new route

4.30.19
Today I rode to test a route that I created based on another rider's route which I'd recorded on my then-new Garmin Edge 820 when I'd ridden with him a couple months back. My tweaks snipped and revised in order to make for what I think is a safer route, and it came in at just over 39 miles, a nice distance for a decent workout. The route worked out well; most of the roads are light on car traffic, and go thru some nice rural parts of Gloucester and Salem counties. There are enough rollers to practice hill climbing and enough uninterrupted stretches on which to push the pace if desired, say, with interval work. At about a half-hour drive from home with free municipal parking at the start/finish in Pitman, it is a route I can see myself returning to ride time and again.

At one point, I saw a farmer on a tractor turning over the ground, and was reminded of a Stan Rogers song, with lyrics including:
Watch the field behind the plow
Turn to straight, dark rows.
Another season's promise in the ground.

I drove away from the house this morning without my water bottle, but turned back within the first mile to fetch it. Good thing I did. At one point in the ride, on Heilig Road, a dog came chasing after me in a most unfriendly way. I pulled the water bottle out of its downtube cage, held it at the ready, and when the loud pugnacious 50-pounder came close enough, I squirted it in the face, which stopped it cold. I'd heard that might work, and was happy to learn it did (this time). Hopefully Butch will think twice about chasing a cyclist again.

Early in the ride, I realized I'd dropped my favorite orange handkerchief somewhere. Damn those shallow windbreaker pockets. Fortunately, I covered the same last few miles of road on my return, and found the bright-colored rag along the shoulder. That's three times now I've lost and found that hankie while cycling!