Four Bridges

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Second week in a row the desintation climb had "Bridge" in the road name. Yesterday was Four Bridges, coming off a rest/sick week. No rides at all last week, was home sick 2 of those days, should have probably been home at least 3 of not 4. So, didn't really know what to expect getting back on the bike. I was a little nervious that I was biting off more than I could chew having been sick.

Loop here:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3098783

This course is a bit of a "surgical strike" if I'm allowed to use that expression. The road out from the house isn't direct but it gets me about 35 minutes without much climbing, then it's basically no-nonsense, get there, get back, directly over the hill and back home. That first gargantuan looking hill is Gladstone-Chester road and it looks much worse on the map than it is. That's plenty of vertical but it's a long, long road, probably 5 miles in all. So you can actually keep a decent tempo on that, all middle ring stuff.

The drop after that is going into a small valley which makes the Four Bridges climb. Before I crossed 206 I couldn't see any hills anywhere, and I knew it was supposed to be very shortly after that. So you go down into this little valey and it's obvious which hill is now going to be Four Bridges. It's like when you go biking/hiking somewhere new and the terrain suddenly starts getting vertical around you, but this was just one wall looking hill ahead. If there were no trees I would imagine it would look like one of those buttes out in the west.

I took it decently easy getting there. I had no idea what I had in the tank after this week plus it was brutally windy out. I hit the base of the climb at about 15.6 for the ride. It starts a little gradual, then gets steep fast. I could see on the GPS a switchback was coming up and in that area it got really steep. I had dropped to the granny just into the hill after brief thoughts of climbing in a harder gear. After that really tough bit it gives you a little less of a grade to catch your breath then hits you again. I think you turn and more awaits, which was pretty steep again in parts.

Objective details: My lowest speed was 4.5. I did stand but for a very short time. At the top my average was down to 15.2. Subjective: I'm definitely not over my sickness so it's hard to totally say. On the steep parts I wanted to stop because breathing was difficult but of course I wasn't going to. It's a good climb, a solid hill. Without question worth the trip and I'll make a little better loop out of this eventually. Jake asked if this was in the Iron Bridge category and the answer is no. But that's not entirely fair as this hill is like getting kicked in the nuts where Iron Bridge is like putting them in a blender.

Four Bridges is a hard climb for sure. In my Great 2007 Hill Climb Project it stands up there in the second tier with Union Hill, Califon-Cokesbury, Stanton Mountain, Bailey Hollow, Cherryville-Stanton. Of those I would call it the hardest of them, though I need to do Union Hill again.

After that I turned it up a bit in an effort to try and make a 2:40 overall ride time, even though it was almost 1:30 by the time I was done coming down the other side, a harrowing proposition as a really fast descent is followed by a hairy hairy hair-pin turn. This route includes a route 24 descent which is fine if you're going down. I would never recommend riding up that road. Then I went up and over the Bernardsville Hills. Ended up at 16.6 and 2:39 ride time. Without the wind and putting more into the start I think you could easily drop 10-15 minutes off this loop. I had a brief pause at the very end when I hit some major bumpy road and my blinker light popped out and exploded all over the road. I never did find all of the parts which is one main reason I bought a cheapier $5 target brand. I always keep it on so I don't find myself in dawn/dusk with no light. IMO the rear flashes is the more important of the lights to make sure you have.

Ok so there you go Jake, more than you could ask for. As usual, I aim to please the customer.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'll let you know when I'm going to do the Lebanon 52, hopefully in the next few weeks.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
thanks for the perspective norm. i pretty much feel like getting kicked in the balls when i ride that as well.
 
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