Spring Break Part I

I never participated in spring break when I was younger because I didn't have the time, money or inclination to take a vacation during the late winter/early spring. However a couple of years ago we did a quick two week trip to Florida and enjoyed the break from the cold. So we decided to do it again this year. Our first stop on the way to Florida was Pigeon Forge Tennessee. It is at the foot of the Smokey Mountains and is the main vacation spot for this area. It is a weird place though. On one hand you have the Smokey Mountains and all the hiking, fishing, river rafting and all the outdoor activities that you would expect in this type of environment. Then you have to main towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinsburg whose main streets contain an array of tacky gift shops, mini golf, amusement parks, dinner shows and any kind of restaurant you want. It's kind of like Wildwood's main street and boardwalk only without the beach part. Then there are the hotels and cabins that dot the hills around the town. About 17 year ago we stopped off here on our way back from Nashville and found it good place to relax for a couple of days. The cabins are very reasonable and have a lot of cool amenities.  

We rented a cabin a few miles from town and spent a couple of days relaxing and in the cabin and see a couple of sights. One the first day we spent a few hours driving around the Smokey mountains. These mountains are known for a blue mist that hangs over them however today was a clear day with no haze. However they had a small snow storm a day before which left a coating of snow on the  pine trees at the top which really highlighted the contours of the mountains. 

After our scenic drive we had dinner at a restaurant of a famous chief serving southern food, family style. The food was really good. I  have never had better mash potatoes. They were creamy and smooth and melted in your mouth. The pot roast was equally as good. And because it was family style they keep bringing it until you say stop. I definitely over indulged but is was just too good to not gorge yourself. This chief's favorite ingredient is butter so I won't be checking my cholesterol anytime soon. 

The next day we headed to Parrot Mountain which can best be described as a open air zoo for birds. There are literally over 50 birds in a garden that you can feed and play with. 

The garden has a bunch of perches with various parrots, macaws and a few other small birds. You buy some sunflower seeds and go up to a bird and they walk on your arm or shoulder and eat the seeds out of you hands. 

I have been in aviaries and other bird exhibits but never one that let you interact with them like we did here. Beside the parrot garden there was a lorikeet section where you could feed them. There were also a house where they had baby birds you could interact with. It was noisy with all the birds chirping but it was fun to have them walking on my arms and hands. 

We spend a couple of hours playing with the birds. It was a lot of fun and hopefully I hope I can find more places like this. After playing with the birds we headed back to the cabin to relax a while 

 

As I said at the beginning of the post the cabins in Pigeon Forge have some cool amenities. Ours had an indoor pool as well as a hot tub so it was a good place to hang out for a couple of days. Our next stop is the panhandle of Florida for a few days on the beach.

Still Winter

February has been a horrible month to try to ride. February is usually a hard time to get out but this year the weather has been colder, windier and snowier. It has been almost impossible to get out. I got out the first Saturday this month but the cold and snow has kept me off the bike until yesterday. The weather was still not great 35 degrees with snow showers coming after 12pm but I was tired of not riding. 

I sent a message to the posse about a ride I wanted to do near me and was somewhat surprised that some of them wanted to join me. We road the Henry Hudson trail from Freehold to Keyport and back. It's a paved trail so we didn't have to worry about riding over mud and it is somewhat protected from the wind. I decided to use my road bike instead of my mountain bike as I didn't think I would need the shocks or the wider tires. The last time I did this ride the trail was a little bumpy in spots as some tree roots had popped up along the trail. However it looks like they have done a lot of repairs since it was smoother than I remember it. being. 

We moved along at a decent pace. This trail in not continuous as there are a couple of spots where you have to ride on the road to connect it's different pieces. At about 6 miles we exited Big Brook Park and road a couple of mile on Rt 79 before getting back on the trail. My original plan had to be to go to Matawan where there is another gap in the trail and turn around. I was a little worried by the snow storm so wanted to get back before it started. 

We checked the radar when we got to Matawan and it didn't look like the snow was threatening yet so I added a few extra miles to Keyport. This involves another few miles on the roads but I had done this little detour a couple times so was able to connect back to the trail. 

Keyport is a town on the Raritan Bay so you have to jump off the trail and head towards the water. I had done this detour on my own thought the view from Keyport was interesting so was glad to show the people that joined me something scenic. 

It's cloudy when we got to the Raritan Bay in Keyport but you could still see Sandy Hook, the Verrranzano Bridge and the New York skyline. It was worth the stop since there was not much other scenery along the way.  

We then worked our way back to the start. I felt my lack of miles as we got toward the end of the ride and slowed down a little. My original 24 mile ride ended up being close to 30 but I'm glad we were able to get the extra miles in as the weather for the rest of February doesn't look great so I'm not sure when I will be getting out again.

Road or Mountain Bike

During this time of year when the temperature is around the freezing mark you have to make a decision about what type of riding to do. Usually if it is near 40 degrees I will go out on the road and once it gets below 35 I will stick to the trails. Of course then you have to take in account of the wind and snow. Last Sunday I decided to do a road ride because there was still too much snow on the ground for the trails to be clear enough the ride. It was just below 40 degrees and the roads were mostly clear of the snow but I used my mountain bike on the road just in case I ran into any slushy spot and kept the ride short. The road ended up being mostly clear with a few spots where people had thrown snow out onto the road as they shovel their walkways and driveways but there were no slick spots. 

This past Wednesday I took my road bike for a slightly longer ride. It was in the mid 40s but there the wind was suppose to get stronger as the day went on so I went out early and got ahead of it and made it back before the 30mph gusts started. 

Today I had a chance to do a group ride out of Pennington but decided to pass as the Baja is in the shop getting a new water pump(It lasted 144,000 miles so I can't complain). I originally thought that it might be a good day for a trail ride since most of the snow has melted now but with the rain we had yesterday there would probably be some muddy spots. However it is another extremely windy day with temperatures starting in the high 30s and going down during the day. I thought about going to Pennington to ride on the road with the group but it was going to be warmer by my house and I was also able to get out a little earlier to try and beat the wind. 

Of course there are some days where the snow, wind or the cold makes it impossible to get a ride in and on those days I will do a hike. Manasquan reservoir and Allarie state park are close to where I live. There are also a couple of lakes with walking paths around them. A couple of weeks ago during on of the cold snaps I checked out the lake where there is always a lot of ducks, geese and seagulls.

The lake was frozen but for some reason the seagulls were sleeping on the ice anyway. I also took the chance while the Manasquan reservoir is low to walk among the trees that are usually partially covered with water. 

 

The ride I did ride I did today with the wind and cold was not fun. But I would rather suffer a cold ride than be pissed I didn't get out. Hopefully Punxsutawney Phil will not see his shadow tomorrow and we can have some better riding weather in the near future. 

Winter Scenes

It has been usually cold over the past couple of weeks. I did get out for a short mountain bike ride with some of the braver members of the posse on the first weekend of the year. It was just below freezing with 20mph+ winds. We decided to ride from Princeton to Griggstown along the Raritain trail. It has been a while since I did this part of the trail. Not much has changed and it was really too cold and windy to stop for any pictures. I turned around at Griggstown and headed back while the rest of the group when on to get a few more miles. On the way back by the top of Carnegie lake the wind actually blew a tree across the path. It was too big to move by myself so I broke a few branches off it and pushed my way over it. It was a cold ride for the first ride of the year but at least I started to get some miles in. 

It was too cold on the Wednesday after to do a ride either mountain or road so I took a hike through Allarie state park which is close to where I live. There was still some snow on the ground for a storm earlier in the week that dropped about an inch of snow on the ground. I did a 4 mile hike around the Allarie village and along the river and ponds and stopped for a few scenic shots along the way.

There are actually more paths in Allarie than I thought there were so when it is too cold to ride I will probably come back here. I have started to do a little more hiking to supplement my biking as I do enjoy getting out in the woods.

Walking among the snow covered landscape is a good distraction from normal life and I hope to someday get that perfect snowy landscape picture but I need to find the right location and conditions. I also tried to get a picture of a snowflake when we got some snow. It's not easy to get a picture of an individual snowflake but I had a couple of ideas of how to get one.  My setup didn't work that great but I did get one okay shot. I still need some improvements to my setup and I don't know if I have the ability to get a good snowflake shot with the equipment I have but it is fun to try.

This past weekend it was warm enough to get out on the road for some more miles. I might be able to get out again this weekend but then it looks like an arctic blast is going to come down and make it unbearable to go outside for a while. It's always tough to ride in the winter but will get out for a ride with I can and when I can't just enjoy the scenery until it gets warmer.

Welcome to 2025

2024 is now in the history books. For me this past year ended better than it started and was a good year overall. I don't really have a measure of what makes one year better than another but this year I was able to make my mileage goal for the year which is always a good sign. When I look at my year end stats I notice that I did more group rides than solo rides. This is probably because I am doing more rides with my retired friends on my Wednesday's off which I hope to continue. Although I enjoy my solo rides it is always more entertaining to ride in a group. 

This past year I also got away for a bike vacation to the grand canyon of Pennsylvania as well as a couple of person vacations to see the total solar eclipse and up to Maine to see some puffins and whales. 

The last two days of the year were pretty good for riding with the temps in the mid 50s. This past Monday we did a 30+ mile loop from Allentown. Despite having to ride through 50 feet of some wet shit (actual horse shit), problems finding a bathroom and some really strong winds at the end it was a good ride. It just felt good to be out on the road after a couple weeks of cold rides mostly on trails. 

I also road on Tuesday as it was another warm day. I don't normally ride two days in a row but with cold weather in the future I wanted to take advantage of the warm weather. Laura had proposed a ride from MCP but I convince the group to go to the beach. We started from Manasquan reservoir and did this route. This would take us to Manasquan and up the beach to Belmar and back. 

On this ride there were plenty of bathrooms along the way and we had a very gentle east wind that help us get home. I had planned a break at Belmar but the usual Duncan Donuts was closed. We did hang out at the beach for a little while which is where I wrote Happy New Year in the sand. There were a few other photos taken before Pete fell trying to avoid a dog (the only thing hurt was his pride) on his way off the boardwalk. 

On the way back we did a circle around the Manasquan reservoir to see how low the water still is. It probably won't look normal until the spring assuming we get a good amount of rain and snow. 

I don't know what is in store for 2025 but I already have some ideas for some bike trips and rides for the new year and hope to continue the fun of the last few days.