Going to the Beach

 

Riding to the beach is something I do at least a few times a year. It's actually a little easier to head to the beach as I live a little closer now. So when the I saw that someone in the PFW had listed a ride to Belmar starting at the Manasquan reservoir I had to go as I could ride in to the ride from my house. The ride listed was the half Sprague ride which was doing 50 miles of the annual Sprague century. 

It was a C+ ride with a lot of people I haven't ridden with before but it was a good group and we maintained a good pace to the usual rest stop in Belmar. The ride was timed to be in Belmar about the same time the century ride was suppose to get there. About 15 mins after we got there the century riders came in and we took a group picture on the board walk.

 

After the break I headed back on my own as I needed to get back early. I ended up trying some new roads on the way back so now have a way to see more of the shore area next time I'm down there. I ended up with 65 miles and felt pretty good after the long ride. The weather has sunny and cool without much wind so it was a good day for a long ride.

Last Saturday I listed my annual ride to Sandy Hook. I like to do this ride after Labor Day to avoid crowds at the beach. Instead of starting from Monmouth Battlefield park I started on the other side of Freehold as going through Freehold at the beginning and end of the ride has gotten more painful. The last few years the traffic has gotten a little worst and the roads are a little beat up. Starting on the other side of Freehold also makes the ride about 6 mile shorter. This lets us ride further into Sandy Hook if we want to. We did this route which is my northern route the Sandy Hook. For the first time I actually forgot to upload the route to my GPS so I had to rely on my memory and other people who had loaded the route into their GPS to guide us along. 

It was a sunny but cold day so I had a jacket on for the first time since the spring. We hit a little traffic as we headed past the old Bell Labs area. I also forgot how hilly part of this route are especially the part going through the Atlantic Highlands. 

After our usual stop at the Wawa on Rt 36 when headed downhill along the bay to Sandy Hook. We took the part of the Henry Hudson trail goes along the bay to get a good look at Sandy Hook before we crossed the bridge to get there. 

It was a sunny and the wind wasn't too bad so we decided to ride all the way up Sandy Hook. There were a few people on the ride who hadn't done the ride before so I wanted to show them all there was to see. 

After leaving Sandy Hook we took the normal way back with a quick stop at the pizzeria in Little Silver. We ended up just short of a metric but nobody went out to get the extra mile. I have no plans for any more beach rides in the near future but I'm sure I will have another ride or two to the beach before the end of the year.