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.