Sunday, March 17, 2024

I Feel Good


Spring is only a couple of days away which means an increase in my rides and miles. I do try to ride as much as I can in winter but it was a cold and rainy winter and I had some health issues that prevented me from doing long rides. I never know how my fitness fared over the winter until I get out and do some longer rides with my posse. 

This Saturday I decided to lead a ride. I only wanted to do around 35 miles but some in the group wanted a few more. Over the winter there were a couple of rides that had cutoffs so those who were not up for the full ride could bail early but still do most of the ride with the group. I liked this option so I created two routes for Saturday one that left from Allentown and another that left from Bordentown. The people that wanted more miles left from Allentown and met me and a few others in Bordentown.  I then lead a ride to Robling and back. Since I did not have a lot of miles this year I was concerned about the pace but I felt good and didn't feel like I had to push myself to keep up. 

We stopped at the Jacksonville Deli which strangely enough is not in or remotely close to Jacksonville (it's actually in Fieldsboro). It's a really crappy rest stop as Eric pointed out as he ate his "staler than shit" donuts but there aren't many other places to stop on this route. 

It was a good sunny day with temperatures close to 60 degrees and a gentle tail wind part of the way. At the end of the ride I had 36 miles and felt as I could have done a few more. I was concerned that my lack of miles this winter would make it harder to get back to my normal miles and speed but after the way I felt today I think I should be able to get back to my normal 40-50 miles rides quicker than I thought.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Winter is Ending

Some where in the middle to end of February I really become sick of winter. I do explore some different areas and do some different activities in the winter so it can be a nice change of pace. The landscape can have a certain desolation to it that is beautiful and interesting in its own way. Take this picture of a pond in Allaire with the leafless trees against the winter sky for example.

 

However winter is cold. I have to wear so many layers that it is hard move. Although I can stay warm while riding there are always parts that are sweating and other parts that are cold so rides have to be shorter. It's just not as fun to ride in the winter.

This winter has been a little colder and rainier than normal which has made it even harder to get out for a ride. Today however was a beautiful day. It was mid 50s when I started a ride out of Allentown with Jack, Bob, and Ricky. We did a relatively flat 30 miles as I try build my mileage for the year. The pace was faster than I have done for few months and I still felt good at the end of the ride. I hope I can continue rides like this to improve my fitness. We just need the winter to end so we will have more warm and sunny days like today.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

The Ride of the Broken, Unhealthy and Morally Bankrupt

 

I'm still working my way back from some health issues. The good news is the treatment that I'm on is working and I am riding better than I did a few weeks ago. I still don't know when I will be back to 100% but at least things are going in the right direction. 

This week I had planned on just doing a local ride by myself but got an invite to an off the books ride from Pete. He had planned the first 20 or so miles to be relatively flat before heading into the hills so that I might join the group for part of the ride which I appreciated. I was a little nervous about being able keep up with them but figured I could always bail if I wasn't up to it. 

At the start of the ride almost all of the insane posse showed up. We even had an appearance from Bob who had his own health issues and like me is working his way back to being 100%. Unfortunately as we started the ride Bob found that his bike would not shift so he had to bail on the ride. So although Bob may not be broken any more his bike which had been ignored for 4 months was. 

He wrote later that is was a problem with dead batteries in his shifters. I know some people might take a problem like this to point out that there is no reason to use electronic shifting as the old system using cables work just fine. However everybody that I know that has electronic shifting says how much better it is. The real problem is that people just have to get use to adding a few extra checks to their pre ride routine to make sure the electronic shifters are charged and working. It's not like cable shifters are immune from problems. I can think of a number of times when cable shifters or derailleurs have broken at the beginning or during a ride. 

Back to the actual ride. I felt good for the first 15 miles of the ride and didn't really struggle to keep up although to be honest it was a relatively slow pace. I think it was just because we were all just catching up with each other and so we took our time. I will say Pete put a interesting route together through with a lot of neighborhood roads and we even had to go on some dirt to get between streets that weren't connected. The only thing the route was missing was the normal bridge out otherwise it was a perfect ride for me. At mile 15 I still felt okay but needed to slow down a little so I let the group go and did another 7 miles on my own. I ended up with 22 miles, 800 ft of climbing at a 13.3 mph pace. Not my longest, fastest or hilliest ride but it was more then I was able to do a couple of months ago so it felt good and makes me believe that I should be able to get back to my normal rides in another month or so. 

This weeks ride also gave me a chance to try out the new bike rack. I actually haven't had to use my bike rack since the end of November as I have only been doing rides from my house. 21 year ago when I got the Baja I made a custom bike rack to fit into the bed.

The rack is just a piece of cherry wood with some a couple of fork mounts and wheel carriers bolted to it. It has served me well over 21 years and taken me and others on my rides and bike trips. About 7 years ago I had to add a 15mm thru axle mount for my mountain bike. Bike technology is constantly evolving not only do most new bikes have electronic shifting but most now have thru axles. And unlike the old standard skewers there is difference sizes of thru axles. This isn't a problem for me at the moment as both my road bikes still have skewers. However some other people that I ride with have thru axle bikes that I might need to carry in the Baja. For this reason I decided to upgrade my rack. 

I took the same piece of cherry wood and made a few changes. The first one to create a dado and add a T-Track to the rack. This would allow me to adjust the positions of the fork and wheel mounts on the rack.

The next changes was the addition of a new fork mount from 


MUQZI. This fork mount comes with different adapters so it can handle the old skewer mount bikes as well as most thru axle bikes. After that all I did was just put a new finish on the rack and put the old wheel and fork mounts back on.

The rack may not look that much different but it is now a lot more functional as I can easily change and move the position of the fork and wheel mounts and should be able to fit any bike in there no matter what type of fork they have. I'm not sure what changes they will make to bikes in the future but I should be able to better adapt to them with the new rack.

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Winter Hike

For the first time in 2 years we had some measurable snow. We had two storm, one on Tuesday and another one on Friday. By Saturday morning we had a total of around 3 inches of snow and a temperature of 15 degrees. For the weekend it wasn't going to get above freezing so there was no possibility of a bike ride. Instead I sent a message to the posse for a hike in Tyler State Park. It is our go to place in cold weather. The good thing about Tyler State Park is that they plow the paved paths so even if it snows you don't need snow shoes to walk around the park.

Most of the posse met me at 11am at the boathouse of the park. It was around 25 degrees but sunny. The parking lot was crowded because of some runners doing a race. It seems they meet there every Sunday morning but by the time we started our walk most of them were already leaving. 

I had a 4 mile route planned that would take us to the Scholfield Ford bridge and back. The park is scenic especially with snow. We took our time getting up the hill and down to the bridge as I caught up with everybody since I hadn't seen them in a while. I had brought my good camera with me as I wanted to get some good landscape shots of the bridge.On Wednesday morning I had gone out in the morning to get a picture of a sun over one of the ponds in our community and experimented with my camera to produce some sunbursts as you can see from the picture at the top of this post. 

When we got to the covered bridge I took out my camera and took a few panoramic pictures of the covered bridge.

 

I also got a good shot of the Neshaminy river. 

Then is was back up hill and back to the boathouse. At that point we had done around 4 miles but I was feeling good so decided to head down the river for another mile. There were a lot of geese on the river by the boat house. I took a few pictures of them but the light wasn't great. However we found a falcon in the tree that I managed to get a good shot of.

It is always harder to exercise in the winter because of the snow and cold weather but with warm clothing and a little determination you can still get out there and have some fun.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

The Theraputic Value of Cycling

When I was working on my Road Biking NJ book I did a ride on Long Beach Island to map out a ride there. About 5 miles into the ride I met a man who was recovering from a heart attack and was doing his first ride since he had open heart surgery. We spent about a hour or so riding together on a warm summer day. He was just so happy to be back on the bike that he exuded the joy that all of us feel when we ride. I really enjoyed swapping bike stories and experiences with him. He also showed me some of the better roads to use on LBI. It was one of my favorite experiences in writing the book and reminded me how much biking really means to me. 

Yesterday I did a short local ride that sucked. It was warm for a winter day but the roads were wet with branches scatter across my path. It was extremely windy and I still have some health issues that make riding hard. However no matter what the conditions riding always makes me feel better. 

For me riding is more than just a way to exercise it is a way to relieve stress and improve my mental well being. When I ride, especially when I do a solo ride, I get time to get away from any problems I'm having and just focus on riding and the scenery around me. For me it is a form of meditation that helps me connect with what is really important and helps me get rid of negative emotions. I know the more I ride the better I feel. 

There have been many studies that show the benefits of exercise. It not only improves your health by reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, help you sleep better, and healthy weight but it has been shown to reduce depression and other mental diseases. 

There is also the social aspect of biking. I'm lucky that I found some like minded people who join me on some of my rides and have become my friends. I don't know who I would be without cycling as it is an integral part of my life. I'm just glad I found something that helps me navigate the ups and downs of life.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Bird Hunting

 

Although I have been doing some riding my rides have been solo, short and slow and nothing to really write about. I have been doing a little more hiking as the weather has gotten colder. I have been choosing places to try and get some picture of the winter birds in our area. These include mostly seagulls, ducks, and geese but I'm hoping to get some other birds as I hike around the area.

The photo at the top is at the Manasquan inlet on a sunny morning. I was lucky that I got that many seagulls lined up on the railing in the morning light. It took me a few shots to get it aligned and in focus properly. Seagulls are fun to photograph as they are easy to find but I haven't gotten a perfect picture of one yet. 

The Saturday before Christmas I went in search of geese and ended up at Mill Pond Park in Plainsboro where there were a few flocks of geese. It was an overcast day so the light wasn't good but I managed to get a couple of good shots of the geese. I like the one below because of clear reflections off the water.

I wanted to try to get a few of them in flight but wasn't able to catch them because of the trees over head. Mill Pond Park is actually bigger than I thought. I did most of the 2.4 mile path and when I got home and looked at the map realized I could make this a 4 or 5 mile hike if I wanted to. 

Closer to home there is a lake that is only a couple of miles away that has a 4+ mile path and always seem to have large flocks of seagulls, geese and ducks. I found a pair of ducks when I went there on a sunny afternoon and manage to get some of my best bird shots yet. 


With my telephoto lens I was able to get a couple of up close shots with water dripping off the duck beak.


If you click on the individual picture you will see more detail. I'm happy with the way these photos turned out. They are sharp and have good color. I can probably make them even better with some more post processing. 

While I was at the park I worked on tracking birds in flight and got a seagull with a nut in it's mouth.

The shot came out really good as the bird is in perfect focus with a blurred background which makes the bird stand out. It takes a lot of practice and some luck to get these shots. I have had learned a lot hiking around getting some bird shots. It is something fun to do in the colder weather when I can't bike as much. It's definitely something I will do continue in the new year.


Thursday, December 21, 2023

Christmas Cheer

I'm not a big fan of holidays and family gatherings in general. I get along fine with my family and don't mind seeing them from time to time but getting together for the holidays is a hassle because everybody has different requirements and schedules so its hard to decide when to meet and what to do. At this point our nieces and nephews are grown up with their own families and they usually don't join us anymore so our gatherings are very small to the point it is not really worth getting together. In fact this year we are going to skip both Christmas eve and Christmas day gatherings as my doctor has advised me to stay away from any groups of people until I finish my treatment. 

I don't mind missing these gatherings as I will just see my family some other time. So for this Christmas season the only thing we did to get into the spirit was to drive around and see some Christmas lights. There is a place near us on Brandon Blvd in Freehold township where almost the whole neighborhood puts up professional displays at there house. 

 

It obvious from the amount of lights and things on the lawn that this is not done by the home owner but some company that comes and puts the lights up for them. There is no way you could put the lights on some of these trees or houses without some type of cherry picker.

 

I would like to see the electric bill for this neighborhood for the month of December.


It was a spectacular drive around the neighborhood and was probably as good as some of the places that charge you to drive you through their display. 

This is something we will do every year and one of the few things that I enjoy about Christmas.