Events: The 2019 Rapha Festive 500 Day Four

Ride Distance: 54 Miles/ 167 Miles Remain 

(2019) American history books simply state that General Washington crossed the Delaware River in icy conditions then won Trenton. There is so much more compelling information regarding the event that it is a wonder people don’t look deeper. For day four of the Festive 500, it was decided to expedite the route due to fading light and potential rain. With nearly no time to spare, things got more anxious.

As the previous two routes, today I rode into Upper Moreland with plans to turn east and cross the Delaware River into New Jersey exactly where Washington floated. It was a back-and-forth decision to attempt the route with cloudy weather and daylight concerns. I hammered over the steep landmass of Jericho Mountain, where George Washington resided prior to the crossing of the Delaware. Zipping along old roads, I was regularly passed by luxury SUVs with prep school window stickers who gladly kicked up salt dust to make the ride gustational. The ride down Wrightstown Road was enjoyable with a slight decline and tailwind. 

German-American Emanuel Leutze painted this picture of Washinton crossing the Delaware seventy-five years after the event. He used his native Rhine River as the subject, making the ice incorrect compared to the Delaware River. He also used Durham boats as a potential crossing choice for the General of the Continental Army.

Two-hundred-and-forty-three years ago, General Washington may have taken the same route to the encampment north of Yardley, PA. Historians disagree on the type of boat the General took, but recent belief states he crossed the Delaware River on a flat ferry and not the dramatic Durham boat common for the time. (Ferries don’t have places to prop a foot.) General Washington’s men advanced to the New Jersey shore while an invasion group to the north crossed near New Hope, PA, and were to rendezvous south. Another invasion group departed near present-day Bristol, PA, but turned back due to the icy conditions.

What happened overnight was a collection of good tidings for the Continental general in need of a victory. Historians state Hessian Colonel Johann Rahl may have dismissed a warning letter from the infamous spy Moses Doan. History would look unfavorably on Rahl’s decision, but it is possible the invasion he was warned about was miscommunication. The Hessians had already repelled a Continental force earlier in the day. As it turns out, those American forces linked up with General Washington, and he moved on Trenton and won. As quickly as Washington crossed the Delaware, he returned to Pennsylvania. They would cross one more time back into New Jersey. This was the land I entered after crossing the bridge near Washington’s fateful gamble.

Here is where my tight itinerary got in trouble. I struggled to find my turn to send my north along the Delaware River. As it turns out I was one road too far south. I Googled “Where am I” twice to return to the Delaware River, but not without climbing through the New Jersey state park commemorating where the Continental Army scored a major win. The route bumbled along until a perplexing sign announcing the entrance to the Sourlands, a haunting area of hills, forests, and glacial rocks far off the intended route. Despite rocketing to nowhere in particular, the legs began their Festive protest to announce there was minimal resources. 

The remainder of the route departed from General Washington territory. Though the Holcombe House was passed, it would be saved for another ride. With daylight waning, the route simply headed north up New Jersey route 29 on account of flatness and tailwind. These were familiar miles, and they were uncharacteristically vacant. 

Mort Kuntsler created this historical print in 2011 suggesting Washington used a ferry to cross the Delaware. This would help to explain how cannon and horses were ferried across the river for the invation of Trenton. No Durham boats were painted and the Delaware ice is authentic during cold snaps.

I had a couple of inner thoughts that helped me through the longer-than-expected day of Festive riding: I recycled the joke about Washington choosing to do things the hard way when all he had to do is take the bridge. Truth of the matter is that the famous painting of Washington was completed by German artist Emanuel Leutze in 1851, seventy-five years after the event. Leutze also used his native Rhine River in Germany as the subject to his painting. Delaware ice is hardly jagged; it is sheetlike in shape and danger. The contemporary artist Mort Kunstler printed an historical piece showing Washington on a ferry but still prominent. I also chuckled that the Hessians should have blocked the road named Washington Crossing Road. 

Day four needed to be a big day. It could have been bigger, planned to have been smaller, but fatefully turned to just the right distance and hitting a major Washington location. It did the trick. The backstretch of the Rapha Festive 500 starts tomorrow. It was laborious to get out of bed today; tomorrow will be more difficult. That’s the thing about the Festive: There is much more compelling information when one looks deeper. Halfway to the finish.