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.