Hell of The Hunterdon

No, this was not a brevet, but a really cool "Spring Classics" style ride on the N.J./PA border, which was held on March 26th from Lambertville. This was the 3rd "HoH", and like Gran Fondo's, these type of rides are exploding in popularity. The first year this event had 30 riders, last year when I rode for the first time, there were c. 125, and this year the ride easily reached it's 250 rider limit, and the event organizer, Brian Ignatin, allowed an additional 50 riders to enter at the last minute, and thus there were 300 riders. This was a challenging, very scenic 77 mile ride, with about 20% of the roads being off-road, dirt and gravel. Last year, we had nice low 70 degree temp's, but this year, not so lucky, as it was mostly in the low 40's, with a brisk wind, so the ride lived up to a true Belgian Style "Spring Classic"

FREE BEER

This ride was a lot of fun, for a lot of reasons. Great company, and met a lot of nice people. Brian Igantin and his colleagues deserve a lot of credit for putting on such a great event, and growing this as much as they have in such a short period of time. Also, for a modest entry fee to $25, there were plenty of cool prizes raffled off after the event (much better prizes than last year as sponsorship has grown) and plenty of pizza, and for me, the best part is the unlimited beer from local, Lambertville NJ "River Horse Brewing Company", which really make some fantastic beers. Although not a brevet, if you live in the NJ/PA area, I would certainly recommend thinking about this ride or some of it's sister events in the future.

http://www.hellofhunterdon.com/

Lastly, I think I need or want to stop being so lazy during my brevets and take a few more pictures along the way, but to be honest, it was too darn cold yesterday, and mostly we were going too fast.

    The setup for the all important post ride festivities

My son Sean (yes, finished ahead of me) and our good friend Al Clancy, from Brielle N.J. who rode the event with me last year as well. (That is not water in his cup)

Until next time, when i will be back to a brevet report, Keep on Truckin', and as always, thanks for reading!