12.3 km Morning Workout : Hilltown Pike - Limekiln Pike - New Galena Loop

After taking yesterday off as a rest day (as suggested by Eric Harr in his book "Ride Fast" availble from Rodale press) I was back on the Schwinn Sprint today. I upped my morning workout by increasing not only the distance in which I would ride, but the amount of climbing involved. Up until recently the largest altitude change in terms of climb was a total of 24 metres and that was solely Hilltown Pike near Bethlehem Pike to where Hilltown splits with Township Line Road. Today was different as will be explained after the image detailing the loop/circuit.

This route follows Hilltown Pike and starts with the hardest and steepest uphill portion of the loop. Over the first 2.83 km there is a 71 metre climb (233 feet). This was actually quite exhilarating and there is a reward for effort put forth as the road levels off for a short distance before hitting Limekiln Pike (Route 152 South).

The second leg of this loop is almost entirely downhill dropping 69 metres over a shorter 1.6 km distance. Pedal all the way as the road surface is very smooth and curves are at a minimum. I do have to say that my poor Schwinn Sprint at one point was under-geared for all out pedaling during the deepest part of the descent as I had trouble keeping pedal speed up in my highest gear, but I found this was only for a few rotations of the crank at a time. As the end of this leg of the loop nears, the road bottoms and starts a few metre climb passing the entrance to Peace Valley Park on the left (Creek Road). Immediately thereafter on the right is New Galena Road.

Galena Road is a fairly flat section of road for the next 1.9 km, only starting to descend for the last .5 km before continuing to the right after the intersection with Barry Road. A few turns and the remaining 2.1 km proves to be fairly flat with a few inclines of only a couple of metres with a slight climb where New Galena dead ends into Hilltown Pike.

A final left onto Hilltown Pike concludes with a 12 metre downhill. Total time for todays ride was 33 minutes. I now have a time frame against which I can now measure improvements.

If anyone wants to join me on this ride, please feel free to contact me, my email address is eric at the same domain as this site.