Fun & Fitness over 50

How could I have forgotten about this?! They paved the rest of Game Farm Road! Halleluiah!

I am a connoisseur of pavement!

Last year, the town paved a lot of rural roads around here. One of them, Game Farm Road, which is on my regular "Dunkin' Donut" route was partially paved. The part that they didn't pave was just terrible. One of the roughest in the county. Not potholes but it was that old style macadam that was a good percentage stones. Every year more and more of the asphalt was leached out of the surface leaving more and more stones until it was like a cobblestone road. Bad for bikes, rollerbladers and skateboarders.

After this winter it was really bad. Then, one time when I was going back down the road, it's a pretty quick downhill, there is a bridge over a pond that is surfaced with concrete. The transition from the asphalt to the concrete is abrupt and I had found a spot on the lefthand side that was worn down enough to ride over at speed without much of a jolt.

This time over, when I hit that spot I nearly broke my wrists! I was sure my front wheel was going to be destroyed too. The asphalt had been gouged out right alongside the lip of the concrete so you almost had to stop to go over it. !#$!#$!# WHO DID THAT!!! WHY DON'T THEY FIX THAT PAVEMENT!!!

Everytime I hit that section afterwards I grumbled about it. Then I noticed a small dashed white line newly painted in the middle of the road. And then I noticed that the asphalt next to the railroad crossing was deliberately gouged out too. Hmmmm. Maybe they're going to pave the road? Almost too much to hope for!

On Tuesday's training ride, they patched the bumps on the bridge and the tracks. Better but ....

Then on yesterday's ride, hooray! That has made my year! I will now be happy for a long time. Weeks. Maybe months!

Now, if I find they've paved Hurst road, I will go into a euphoric trance forever. That must be the absolute bone-shakingest , bike breakingest worst road in the county. It's a fast downhill and so rough and inconsistent it's impossible to find a reasonable track through it. The last time I went on it I thought boy if there's anything loose on this bike this will be when it shakes loose and sure enough my computer transmitter came loose and slid down my fork.

There's this other road, Tygert, out in Voorheesville that is a rougher surface but at least it's consistent. I think it was just poured that way with a lot of stones of a particular size.

Anyhow, I love that stretch of Game farm road. Either way there is this "S" curve on a hill that is so much fun to do fast and now it'll be even funner!