Taste of Summer

After weeks of close to freezing weather and some scattered snow storms we finally had some great weather. Last week I needed to wear most of my winter riding gear to stay warm. This week I was in my summer shorts and jersey. In fact when loaded my car for the drive it felt like I forgot something because I didn't have my shore covers, heavy gloves, or jacket.

It was mid 70s at the start of the ride. It was easily the best day of the year to be outdoors. It was one of those days where if you had plans that would keep you stuck indoors you would find some way to change your plans. Because of this I thought I would have a big crowd, like I had last week, for the ride but only had Jack, Chris, Jim, Joe and Ricky showed up. I guess not everybody is ready for a 60 mile ride at this time of year.

It felt good to have the sun on my skin and I felt a lot lighter riding without all the winter cloths. To mark the first ride of the year with out tights I got a shot of all our legs. 

Although it was warm and sunny there was a strong wind from the south. The route I planned was a straight shot down to Tabernacle and back. The goal was to sit in front of Nixions one of the best rest stops in NJ. The ride south was a wasn't bad considering we had a constant headwind but it just felt good to be warm while riding in fact I think I was actually hot.

The roads have gotten pretty beat up this winter and we found a number of roads that were rough and had more potholes then road. I hope now that it is warm that the NJ dept of transport gets to work on fixing some of these roads.

When we got to Nixions there were a lot of other bikers there. The great thing about Nixions is that it is not a Wawa and has a is own distinct pinelands personality as the Piney Power sticker on the front down proclaims. They have a good selection of food and the brownies and crumb cake are top notch. They usually have porta-johns  outside the store but they were gone. We found out that they finally added indoor plumbing and a dinning room. I guess this place is going upscale now.

From the rest stop if was mostly tail wind all the way back. I purposely made a turn up Philos Bridge Rd which I know would have some dirt. On the way down we had to around a bridge out by Smithville although that didn't really count as there is a foot bridge that can be used as a detour. So we did have some dirt and a bridge out to make it an official ride.

I took Birmingham Rd which was closed last year because of a bridge out but that has been fixed now. This got us to the highest point in Burlington county and the only real climb of the day. From there it was the normal roads back. I was glad we had a tail wind because I could feel my self getting tired. It also didn't help that I had a large piece of crumb cake at Nixions. It was really good and a lot more crumb than cake but it felt like an undigested lead weight in my stomach.

I was pretty shot by the time we pulled in with 60 miles. We averaged 15.6 mph which isn't bad for this time of year. I'm glad I took advantage of the good weather and got a long ride in because with the weather we have been having it hard to tell when there will be another day this nice. 

Last Winter Ride?

Two weeks into spring and it still feels like winter. The Saturday snow storm did not materialize but it still was in the low 40s for a high. I put a ride on the calendar for Sunday which was slightly warm than Saturday. I decided to do the ride out of Cranbury because I have been doing a lot or rides to the south and wanted something different.

I road to Cranbury from my house and was joined by Laura and Jack. When we got to Village Park there was a larger crowd than expected. I ended up with a bakers dozens of riders including Winter Larry. This is the larges group I have lead in a while. I made up a slightly new route that I haven't done before. I did this because I wanted to try some new roads and also keep the group off balance so they won't ride too far ahead.

The temperature was still in the low 40s and didn't get warmer during the ride. This won't have been too bad expect for the fact that is was very windy and we were riding directly into it. Some of the roads we were riding on were busier than I normally do but being Sunday there were only a few spots that gave us any trouble.

The group stayed together pretty well considering there were a lot of different types of riders. Because of the way I went around Jamesburg it was a long way to the rest stop and we got there with 32 miles into the ride. We stopped at the Wawa on Rt 33 by Woodward Rd. It was packed with a bunch of kids from the indoor soccer field next store but there was enough staff to get us out of there fast.

The wind pick up after we left the rest stop and I was definitely slowing down a little. The last few miles into Cranbury were hard but the last 5 miles home were with a tale wind. By the time I got back to my house I had 57 miles. It was a tough cold ride but hopefully it will be the last winter ride of the season as it looks like the temperatures might be over 60 next week.