Yard Work

Each season in our new home brings some new discoveries. This spring we discovered we have some flowering trees in our back yard. We have a couple of red dogwood trees and a really nice Kwanzan cherry tree

That has a rose like flower.

It brought some color to our backyard which is mostly pine trees. The spring season means things are growing again so we had to spend a couple of hours outside cleaning up the outside bushes which had been neglected. 

We do want do some more major changes to the landscaping but that will have to wait until later in the season once every thing has grown in and we know what we want to keep and what we want to remove. 

I did get a ride in this weekend. I lead a ride from Griggstown to Whitehouse Station. I didn't get a good turn out as most of the regulars had stuff to do. When I got to the parking lot no one was there. Then Pete showed up in the wrong parking lot but he eventually found his way over. Ricky showed up at 9am because he thought the ride was at 9:30am. The only person that showed up the the correct place was Ming. I doubled checked the listing and it did have the correct time (9am) and directions to the start so not sure what else I could do to make sure everybody shows up on time.

It was overcast for most of the ride. We did this route which takes us near but not around Round Valley. We stopped at the Brooklyn Deli in Whitehouse Station which is really one of the better places we stopped at. It has outside tables. Good food and a bathroom we can use. If it was closer to our normal starting points I'm sure we would go there more often. 

This was the first really hilly ride of the season for me. I plan to do some more hilly ride in the coming weeks so hopefully I can get my hill legs back.

Happy Easter

It's Easter Sunday and I have no plans today. Before the pandemic we use to host Easter dinner each year. It was the one holiday we hosted. We didn't host the last two years because of the pandemic but this year we could of hosted it if any body would have come. It the past two years all the nieces and nephews are now on their own and are starting their own Easter traditions. The older members of the family have either decided to do something else or don't want to travel on Easter Sunday. 

I'm not really sad about not hosting the holiday any more as it was a lot of work that wasn't really appreciated. Although we could of have a great dinner because I found this turkey on my ride yesterday.

As we get older a lot of these holiday traditions are changing as the younger members of the family start their own traditions with their combine family. This eliminated some of the gatherings and made others smaller and simpler. I was never a big one for the holidays so this is fine with me. 

This did allow me to get in a ride this weekend. I caught a mild head cold (not Covid) early in the week but was mostly over it by the weekend. I ended up doing a ride on my own of around 50 miles. Now that the weather is getting warmer I'm starting to get some real miles as last week I lead a 50+ mile ride to Vincentown. 

This wasn't a good winter for riding for me and I have fewer miles in this year especially in the hills. I definitely feel a little slower so will be trying to ramp up the miles and hills as the weather gets warmer.

In Bloom

It is now springtime but the weather doesn't feel like it. Last Saturday I lead a cold and blustery ride to New Egypt from MCP. It was mostly cloudy with the threat of rain. Luckily the rain held off until the we were almost back. It was a light rain so we really didn't get that wet. 

This Saturday I did a ride on my own since I had to be home by 1pm. I have a good loop through Freehold from where I live. Although it was sunny it was just above 40 degrees and windy so I had to ride with my heavier jersey and jacket. This ride did give me a chance to break in my new shoes. I bought the same shoes I currently have the Specialized Touch 3.0. They have a metatarsal bump that seems to prevent my hot foot problem. They are also very comfortable. The last pair I got took a couple hundred mile to break in but the new ones felt already broken in. I just had to adjust the straps a few times during the ride to get them to the correct tightness then they felt as good as the old ones. 

The trees are starting to bloom and I got a picture of a couple of the white hawthorn trees just outside of Freehold. The blooming trees and flowers added some color to the ride I am just hoping for some warmer an less windy weather soon.