Pennypack 2022

It was another Saturday that was too cold to hit the road so I decided to take a trip to Pennypack park. It's a bit of a drive but I wanted to do something different and I hadn't been to Pennypack since 2017. At least this time there was no snow to deal with so it made riding easier. 

This year I got Laura and Ricky to join me. We started at Pine Hill Rd which is the northern end and headed down to the Delaware. The first few miles are some short but steep little hills. The trail follows Pennypack creek and so it is scenic although it is a little barren this time of year. It's much prettier with a little snow. 

When we got down to the river we found the SS Minnow in a cove next to a fixed up pier which is now covered with grass. 

We were also able to get further down the path and saw where Pennypack empties into the Delaware. There is actually a new bridge that goes over to an island but the bridge is only open in the summer. 

We did have a couple of mechanicals.  A screw came out of Ricky's cleat and made it almost impossible to get his cleat off his petal so he took the cleat off and rode without it. I also dropped my chain a couple of times on a one by which shouldn't happen. I kept it in the bigger gears and that fixed the problem but there is probably an alignment issue that needs to be addressed.

One the way back we stopped for some pictures. There is a waterfall that I always try to get a picture of. It never comes out good but I keep trying anyway. The first shot below I got photo bombed by Pennypack Devil

Here is the second one with a close up of the falls. 

One of these days I get a good picture of it. 

It was a good ride and a nice change of pace. The weather looks like it is getting warmer so hopefully I will be on the road for a real ride next week.

Henry Hudson Trail

It seems like all my post this year are about riding in the cold and snowy weather because that is how it has been this winter. I did get out in last weekends and did a nice flat 40 mile ride. It was a good break from the cold although I was pretty beat by the end of the ride since I don't have a lot of miles in this year. 

This Saturday although the weather was close to 40 I decided not to go out on the road because of the 20+ mph winds with even stronger gusts. Instead I decided to ride the lower end of the Henry Hudson trail. The trail is through mostly wooded areas so has some cover from the wind. The trail starts on the east side of Freehold and goes all the way to Sandy Hook but I only went as far as Keyport. The trail is paved so I didn't have to worry about it being muddy from the rain we had during the week. It also meant I could use my road bike. There are a few spots where tree roots make the trail a little bumpy but overall the trail was easy to ride on my road bike. 

The trail is not real scenic but I did detour off the trail in Keyport to get a view of Raritan Bay. You could actually see the Verrazzano Narrows bridge and the NY skyline. I only brought my phone with me so I didn't get any zoomed in shots of the skyline. Maybe I will come back with a real camera in the summer when the weather is better. I didn't spend much time by the water as the wind was wiping so hard you had to lean into it.

From Keyport I just followed the trail back to Freehold. It seem to get colder and windier so I was glad as I was on the trail as it blocked a good part of the wind. By the time I got back to Freehold there were some snow flurries. It wasn't as bad as the snow squall we got later but was a reminder that it is still winter. 

Still it was good to get out for a ride even though it was a cold one. It did give me a chance to test my new pedals and cleats. 

They no longer make the version of the Speedplay pedals and cleats I currently have on my bikes and although the pedals had some more mile in them my cleats did not. Wahoo bought Speedplay and revamped the pedals. I got the new Speedplay Comp pedals which are similar to the ones I had. They do have better bearings and more adjustments an are better version of the pedal in general. The cleats also have a built in cover that makes walking much better. Even better than the cleat and cover I use to have. They feel a little different than my old pedals and took about half the ride to get use to the feel of them. I'm glad they didn't discontinue these pedals. I know this is not one of more popular pedals and they don't do well if they get dirty but I really like the amount of float the pedals have and the way they feel so will be using them as long as they are available. 

Another Cold Ride

Snow storms and cold weather has made it almost impossible to get out for a ride. We had a few days of warm weather and rain, this week, which got rid of most of the snow. Of course then it got cold for the weekend. It was just warm enough for me on Saturday to attempt a ride. My go to place for a cold ride from my new home is Allaire state park. There is a pave path to Manasquan as well as some dirt paths and single track. 

Even though we got a small dusting of snow Friday night the path to Manasquan was mostly clear. The couple of spots with snow were crunchy and not icy. When I got to Manasquan I rode along the beach the before riding the roads along the Manasquan river to get back to the path

 

It was cold but I had every piece of warm weather gear I own on so I was warm enough. It was the strong west wind that made the ride painful. Still I don't like indoor trainers so I would rather deal with the cold and wind than spin on a trainer. Hopefully the weather will warm up a little so I can get longer ride in.