Nescopeck

I did 31.5 miles this morning, riding to Mifflinville, Nescopeck, and Berwick. My longest ride of the year so far, but still 14 miles short of my longest ever. One of the nice parts of the ride was that the first nine miles were all pretty much flat or downhill. The temperature was in the low 50s, almost too cold for comfortable riding, when I started, but I warmed up after about a mile. The first leg of my ride took me on a few roads where I don't usually bike. I followed Central Road to Tower Road and then rode past the Lionsgate development to Neufer Hill Road, the first serious downhill. After an initial brief climb, Neufer Hill Road plunged 200 feet to US Route 11. The shoulders were narrow, but the road wasn't very busy.

 Neufer Hill Road

 River Hill (and someone's driveway)

River Hill again

After crossing US Route 11, I rode into Espy. Soon afterwards, I turned east onto Old Berwick Road, where I spent the next several miles. It was mostly flat, with only a few small and gentle uphills and downhills, so I averaged 15+ miles per hour. After Espy, I passed through Almedia and Lime Ridge (which lacks any sort of ridge, as far as I can tell). There wasn't much worth photographing in this stretch; most of it was just houses or hedges. I did see the Susquehanna River through a clearing at one spot and also passed the ruins of the ironically-named Safety Light Corporation factory, where they manufactured radium paint in the days before people realized it was a bit risky to keep radium on your person. In Lime Ridge, I passed the Central Columbia High School (which appeared to be undergoing extensive renovation) and rode under the Interstate 80 bridges (which have had road work signs for at least three or four years, though I don't recall ever seeing any work being done there). A few minutes after that, I came to the Mifflinville bridge over the Susquehanna River.

Susquehanna River

I probably shouldn't be riding on the walkway, but it's safer than being on the road.

On the other hand, at least I'm not on the I-80 bridges a mile downriver

 

From the other side of the bridge, I rode straight through Mifflinville on Market Street. From the parts that I could see from Market Street, it seemed strangely empty for a village of 1200 people. I did see a huge cemetery though; maybe the census takers don't just limit themselves to counting living people....By the time I got to the southern end of Mifflinville, the road had begun rising on its first serious climb.

Looking back on Mifflinville

Two roads diverged in the woods...and I took the hillier one.

 

The climb up Snyder School Road (that's the road rising on the left in the photo above) was bad, but perhaps not as bad as I expected. There were some moderately nice views and a steep ravine to the right. Eventually the hill began to ease off and went into the woods before coming out into fields and flattening out completely. That was by far the largest hill on the ride, with about 350 feet of climbing in less than a mile.

Near the top of the Snyder School Road climb.

 

After that, there was a small descent and the road wound its way through rolling hills for a while. The road took me on a course parallel to I-80 and Nescopeck Mountain. Later in the year, it might be fun to ride over the mountain, though I'd be looking at 500 to 800 foot ascents whichever road I take up there. Probably doable, but not without a few stops along the climb.

Nescopeck Mountain

 

After that, Snyder School Road plunged into a not-so-pretty patch of trees and hedges alongside I-80 before dead-ending into Hetlerville Road, which took me through--guess where--the unincorporated village of Hetlerville. The scenery here was mostly typical northeast Pennsylvania: hilly fields, forests, rolling country roads. I had to check the map a couple of times to make sure that I really was heading towards Nescopeck and not accidentally wandering off towards Zenith or circling back to Mifflinville. After a while, I entered the woods and began an fast and interesting descent towards Nescopeck.

Luzerne County line

 Whee!

 

After crossing the Luzerne County line, I descended through a steep and narrow valley with a steep drop off to the right. Near the top of the hill, I glimpsed a garbage-strewn stream at the bottom of the ravine, but the eventually made an abrupt turn and began descending towards Nescopeck Creek. I crossed the creek and north into Nescopeck. I rode along the outskirts of Nescopeck to a spot on Pennsylvania Route 93 near the Berwick-Nescopeck bridge, where I stopped for a few minutes to refuel.

 Refueling. Be back in five.

Some kind of marsh at the mouth of Nescopeck Creek

 

After refueling, I crossed the bridge into Berwick, returning to Columbia County in the process. After navigating through some annoying traffic at the US Route 11 intersection, I headed off down Market Street. From the end of Market Street, I headed northeast on Martzville Road, riding through the outskirts of Berwick. The Run For the Diamonds is partly on this road too, but goes in the opposite direction. I rode up and down some rolling hills, passing the Berwick Golf Club and crossing Glen Brook and Kashinka Hollow. At one point, I passed an entrance to Briar Creek Lake Park and contemplated riding through the grass trails there to get to Lake Road. In the end, I decided to take the shorter and smoother course and stay on the road. I still passed by the Briar Creek Reservoir on the west though.

Briar Creek Reservoir

 

After the reservoir, I continued on Lake Road across Route 93 and Briar Creek to Huntington Road. Huntington Road would've been much easier earlier in the ride, but I think it's still a more moderate climb than Brick Church Road, the other route leading out of the valley.

Some fields, a stand of evergreens, and a nice sky. My point-and-shoot didn't do a very good job of capturing the scene, but a DLSR would be too heavy to lug around on a bike ride.

 

Huntington Road eventually leveled out and curved past the stand of trees before dumping me out onto Golf Course Road. That road was smooth and slightly downhill, so I made good time. Before long though, I arrived at Ridge Road, where I crossed West Branch Briar Creek and started a hard climb. It was only 150 feet or so, but it did come after about 23 miles of riding. I stopped at the top of the hill for a while.

View from the top of the Ridge Road hill

 

What goes up does indeed come down; I continued following Ridge Road down a quick descent. There were a few more little bumps in the road, but none were as large as the first hill and I powered up them without much difficulty. At the intersection with Hidlay Church Road, I continued on Ridge Road, following the 12.2-mile course that was one of my favorite courses before I started riding seriously. Except for two small hills, the next two miles were downhill all the way to Lightstreet.

Summer Hill from Ridge Road

From Lightstreet, I slowly made my way up the hill on Papermill Road and picked up the pace on the gravel part. After a few minutes, I rode out of the woods and down a small hill. Soon afterwards, the road became paved again and approached Dennys Hill. Having already ridden 30 miles, I took it slowly on the way up. It paid off, since I was able to go at a decent speed on Shawnee Road towards home.

 Papermill Road. I come here a fairly often, both for running and biking.

Dennys Hill. It continues around the bend.

 

My time was 2:16:22 and my pace was 4:20/mile or 13.84 miles per hour. On the border between good and stellar as far as I'm concerned. My pace was under 4:00/mile until mile 9, when I ascended Snyder School Road. I managed to hit 31 miles per hour at one point, probably on the descent towards Nescopeck.

Elevation graph. The vertical rise was 1753 feet and the total elevation chance was 3516 feet. The highest elevation was 905 feet and the lowest was 469 feet.

Route map. (source)(license)