hopewell valley stampede... partly

I should have guessed that after a quick ride Friday (yeah, I was off, but it was alone, and I don't blog about all of my solo rides), then a quick Ride for McBride yesterday, then staying out late last night with The Excellent Wife (TEW) to see Antony and Cleopatra at the McCarter Theater last night... I should have known that I'd be shot for a ride today. But I got up and out anyway to do Laura OLPH's Hopewell Valley Stampede ride today.

The Hopewell Valley Arts Council got a number of fiberglas oxen, and arranged for local artists to decorate them. Laura set up a ride to visit as many as practical, with plans to stop and take pictures. I went (including some extra miles), but I was tired and hurtin'. When Bagel Hill Barry had a fairly substantial mechanical problem about 25 miles in, I took the opportunity to shepherd him back to his car, then ride back to my car; I've been nursing my sore legs for the rest of the day.

Even if I had been in good shape, I can unequivocally say you probably would have hated this ride. It was ALL stops for pictures; some stops were within a few hundred feet of the last. I got a number of pictures of the six riders who came along (John K, Jack, and Celeste completed the sextet), and of the oxen. Some are below; the rest are in my album on Photobucket.

Below, John thought the picture on the leg of the ox above was of his 8-speed cassette:

Above: Cointreau was bottled in Hopewell for decades; this ox had a decoupage of prints of posters and labels. Below, crocheted recycled plastic bags, we think:

I had fun identifying the originals of the artworks on the one below:

Over two dozen more pics in the Album on Photobucket.