Rides We Like: Old Ferry Road
(2020) Beholding the Pieter Bruegel 1560 painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is a curious study in minimalism. Perhaps what is immediately apparent is the ploughman plowing his field, or maybe the blinding sunlight pulls the eye toward the top of the painting. Curious a painting with Icarus in the title and he is not an obvious feature. Then the eye locates a strange pair of legs in the water, the upper body submerged. That can’t be Bruegel’s Icarus is it? And why is the fisherman not reacting?
The opening ramp of Old Ferry Road is both menacing and beautiful.
Sometimes good stories need a little detective work. As the road bike was pointed to the river town of Point Pleasant, it was Icarus’ flailing legs that came to mind as a sharp climb was considered for a sunset ride. Much like the Icarus in Bruegel’s painting, the ascent of Old Ferry Road in Point Pleasant is easy to miss. Much like Icarus, taking this slender ribbon of roadway to the sun can cause all sorts of trouble for the rider. Unofficially the climb is a quarter of a mile and averages 16%, but the experience is worth it.
The beautiful mid-section of Old Ferry Road creates a tunnel-like atmosphere of suffering.
To arrive in Point Pleasant, PA, is a climber’s dream. Should one arrive via River Road, a cyclist can choose to depart via River Road (fairly flat) or pick diverse climbs out of the town. Point Pleasant is along the Delaware River but the bluffs to the west are hardly kind. One could head north up Tohickon Road climb which features deteriorating road conditions and a steep, relentless climb. Point Pleasant Pike is a favorite of local riders because the road has been repaired and repaved. It is also shallow and kind. Swagger Road parallels Point Pleasant Pike but features an abrupt start. Ferry Road is a steep affair with a remarkable head wall that challenges any rider. Then there is the Old Ferry Road, and it is a hoot.
The road gets straight to the point. It goes up immediately and never gives in. A rider passes through a small hamlet, mostly out of sight of River Road commuters who are busy gawking at the roadside housing. At a distance - to sight as a goal - is a sign falsely advertising a switchback. At any point of the climb this road is hardly more than fifteen feet wide, and inside the left turn a large tree was recently chopped down. How they got the equipment into this area is beyond me.
The left leads past a driveway or two and is hardly easier. This portion is the most picturesque. In the summer it is a hallway of green. In the fall it is ablaze with the low level sun highlighting the yellow leaves. Going up in late fall, the leaves made their presence known on the ground, the road barely dry from two days of rainfall. Up the middle is gravel, up either side was a growing presence of wet yellow leaves.
The final bend on Old Ferry Road features fences, hedgerows, bushes, and eventually an intersection. Upon last inspection this road is still considered a two-way street.
As the road bends to the right, fences and bushes hug the hill climber. Slowly but slowly the end is in sight. A stop sign hangs where Old Ferry Road joins Ferry Road to continue its climb out of the bluff. Here is where a leaf or two got under the rear tire. Here is where the tire would slip before regaining purchase. Unlike some of the other climbs nearby the stop sign comes quickly.
Riding during these darker days sometimes requires riding into the sunlight. We are to heed the advice Daedalus gave to Icarus to avoid getting too close to the sun. Or, for safety reasons, cyclists should avoid riding toward a setting sun for fear of a blinded motorist. But today, as in Bruegel’s painting, a road nobody realizes they pass was out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Maybe Bruegel’s point was Icarus’ fall was not that big of a deal, and like Old Ferry, climbing it is about as carry-on as the other subjects in his painting. Either way, the bluff created an early sunset and there was no way wax would melt at the top of the climb.
