Winter is Coming

It's Thanksgiving and it is getting colder. I have already had to break out the cold weather gear for riding. We were lucky so far this fall with warmer than usual weather. A couple of Saturdays ago I actually was able to ride in short sleeves to the beach but last weekend I had to put most of my winter gear on to lead a ride out of Allentown where it barely touched 40 degrees by the end of the ride. Soon I'm sure there will be a few weekends ahead when I will have to take my mountain bike and ride on the paths instead of the road. Still as long as I can get some kind of ride in each weekend I will be happy.

 In the winter I do shorter rides but still try to keep them interesting. This Saturday I did my Trolley Line ride which is a stupid sort of ride as it uses a few trails and short cuts along the way that breaks up the ride and makes it a little different. One of the trails we use on the ride is the Trolley Line Trail. This trail is on bed of an electric trolley that use to connect Trenton with New Brunswick. Its a nice paved trail that is easy to ride and this time I actually didn't get lost in West Windsor Community Park. 

We struggled into the wind to the canal and looped around to Thomas Sweets for our break before making our way back. It was a good ride but we have entered the winter riding season where the weather will dictate when and how long a ride we can do. As always I will ride as much as I can during the winter as I would rather be a little cold outside than sit inside and be mad that I didn't get out for a ride.

I will use the cold weather of this winter to explore some new places. I have yet to try out all the roads and trails by where I live now. Last year I road the trail out of Allaire state park to Manasquan since it is a close ride along a path that I can get a good 20 miles in on my mountain bike. There are a few more like the Barnegat Branch Trail and Double Trouble that are close to me now and worth checking out. So even if the winter curtails my riding a bit I will still find ways to get out and have some fun.

The Sun and Moon

For those of you who normally read my blog you know that besides writing about my bike rides I also share some of my attempts at seeing some astronomical events. This past Tuesday morning was a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse started around 4am and would be visible until moonset at 6:41am. To try and get the best view of the eclipse I went to Manasquan by the canal which is on the bay side and had an unobstructed view of the western horizon which would give me a good chance of seeing the eclipse all the way until it set. 

I arrived at the canal at 3:30am (as eclipses seem happen in the middle of the night). When I got there I saw there were already a couple of SUVs there so I guess I wasn't the only one to think this was good spot to see the eclipse. As I set up my telescope I thought the people in the SUVs would come out but I noticed that I couldn't actually see anybody in either SUV even though one was running with its parking lights on which was strange but more on that later. 

After I had everything set up I took a few pictures of the full moon before the eclipse started. 

It was 50 degrees and windy so I hung out in my car between shots. I got out every 10 minutes to take pictures as the eclipse progressed. A few other people eventually showed up. Some just stopped to take a quick picture of the eclipse with their phone but there was one man who came by with a DLSR and telephoto lens. The two of us keep taking picture until the moon was fully eclipsed.

About 15mins before the full eclipse a man and woman got out of the back of the SUV that had been running since I got there. The woman was leaning into the back of the SUV tossing around some pillows and a blanket. The man said a few words to her then got in his SUV and left. Then a few minutes later the women left. Neither took a look at the eclipse. I'm not going to make any moral judgements on what they were doing in the back of the SUV but they probably should have picked a more remote spot.

Each lunar eclipse is different in color and intensity. This eclipse was the dimmest one I have seen. Even with a 15 second exposure it was hard to get a good picture of the red moon. I also had to resort to manual focus in order to get the camera to not blur the moon. The wind made the air very turbulent so these weren't the best condition for pictures.

The full eclipse started around 5:15am and was going to last to just about 6am. The moon got dimmer and was hard to see as twilight approached. By about 6:10am it was almost impossible to see even through the wide aperture of my telescope. 

With the eclipse over I packed up the telescope but kept the camera and tripod out. Sunrise was at 6:30am so while I was at the beach this early I might as well try to get some sunrise pictures. 

The sky was clear with just enough clouds to be under lite by the sun.

 

There was a trawler steaming towards the canal which produced a good silhouette.

And managed to be right next to the sun when it rose. It's almost like the trawler tried to catch the sun

When the sun came up it looked like a nuclear explosion 

This is because the water was warmer than the air and this causes a mirage like reflection off the water. 

So I did have to get up early and spend a few hours in the cold but I got some good sun and moon pictures to add to my collection. Also the next lunar eclipse won't be until March 2025 so I'm glad I got to see this one. 

This is the second time I got to the beach to take a picture of a sunrise and think I may do this more often as its different every time and although I got some good pictures I know I can do better.