Happy Easter

Normally I don't ride on Easter weekend because I am busy preparing my house for the holiday and the 20 or more family members coming over. This year we had to cancel the gathering because of family issues. This meant with a good forecast for Saturday I could get a ride in.

I sent out an email to a couple of regulars to see if they were interested and where they wanted to go. I was leaning towards a flatter ride toward the shore but Laura convince me to head into the Sourlands and over to Flemington. She had been to a new coffee shop there, Factory Fuel, last week but because non of us went with her it didn't count so she wanted to go again.

I have not done any hill training this year yet so was reluctant to head to the Sourlands but worked out a route with just over 2000 feet of climbing and only a couple of real hills. I usually do this type of ride on my Feather but decided to bring my Synapse so I would have an extra low gear if I needed it.

We started off from Rocky Hill with a good group of us, 9 total. Laura, Jim, and Ed road in and Chris, Larry and few others were in the parking lot. This was an unofficial ride which meant no ride sheet and a reminder that there were no legal guarantees that I would keep them safe or care about them on this ride. We picked up a straggler in another parking lot on the way out.

I took the easy way up the Sourlands, Hollow Rd which felt OK and meant I wasn't totally out of shape. I trailed a little on Long Hill its not steep or hard but just long so I spun a low gear. The pay off was going down Zion which is a long winding downhill. At the bottom I stopped for a battery change and then heading through Neshanic and over and along the Raritan river. We rode across it and next to it for most of the ride as we heading towards Flemington. Since the trees were not filled in and it was still in the low 40s this wasn't as scenic as it normally is.

We hit some moderate traffic as we went through the outskirts of Flemington to get to Factory Fuel which is in an out door shopping mall. It wasn't a bad place to stop. It had decent if overpriced baked goods and I'm told the coffee is good. The only disappointment is they don't have many choices for non coffee drinks. At Rojo's it is a similar hipster wana be setup but they have apple cider which is as good as my uncle produced fresh from his orchard.

If it was a few degrees warmer or in the middle of the summer I'm sure this place would have been crowed so I think I would come back here only in the off season. On the way out of Flemington I had to go the wrong way up a street to get back out of town but this is normal for my rides. I think next time I would come in the way I went out and out the way I went in.

It only takes a mile from the stop to get back to open roads and soon we were on the rolling hills of Barley Sheaf and Manners. Laura and I stopped for a couple of pictures of the Alpacas. Then it was up and over Lindbergh to get back to Rocky Hill. On the way back half the group peeled off to head back home then Laura, Jim. Larry, Chris and I headed the back along 518 where Jim had a flat.

Although we did not have the family over for Easter my wife did make some bunny looking bread as she usually does some kind of decoration for Easter. It is sort of a tradition that we will do whether we have Easter or not. Unlike the tradition of the Chocolate Bunny Ride which is officially dead and will never rise again.

Spring has Arrived

Spring officially arrived early this morning but it doesn't feel like spring time yet. Last weekend it was just over 60. I had my first official PFW ride and did a loop to Jackson and back. This weekend it didn't get much above the low 40s and there was a small chance of snow. On Saturday it was just warm enough to do a road ride. I wanted to do something close because I had someplace to be in the afternoon so I headed to Cranbury. Both Marco and Tru were there. I had planned to go with Tru but I hadn't seen Marco this year so I went with him, Chris and a few other regular B riders.

Marco did a speed run with a simple route with only a few turns to the same Wawa in Jackson I went to last week. The pace was on the fast side for me since I don't have many miles in yet but I managed to hang on.

Unlike last weeks ride were it got warm quickly this week I think it actually got a little colder by the end of the ride.

It was good to get another 50 ish mile ride in to start building the miles and aerobic base but I will be happier when it warms up a little more and I don't have to worry about which set of gloves to wear.

LHT Trail

Ended up doing another ride by myself this weekend. I was thinking of going on Laura's ride but it was too cold for me to do a road ride and I also didn't feel like doing hills. I decided to to the Lawrence Hopewell Trail (LHT) since I haven't been on it this year yet. I got to the parking lot around 9:30 and I was the only one there. The snow we had on Friday had all but melted and it was just above freezing. This meant the trail was wet and a little mushy. For the most part the parts of the trail that weren't asphalt were in good shape but there were a few spots where it was like pedaling through sand so I got a good work out.

The last two times I rode this trail I got a little lost by the Education Center since this part of the LHT is not finished and you have to detour through a few local roads to connect back to the trail. This time I had no problem connecting back to the trail. I even found a few sheep on Bayberry.

Although I found a few people walking the trail I didn't see any other bikers. I ended up doing a little over 20 miles in just under 2 hours. It looks like the weather is turning warmer next week so I should be back on the road for my ride next Saturday.