Sunday, April 27, 2025

New Wheels


Rainy days are still making it hard to ride when I want to. I did get out last Saturday for a hilly ride in the Sourlands and a decent midweek ride on Wednesday. This Saturday was suppose to be the Spring Fling but it was another rainy Saturday. Because of that I listed a ride for Sunday out of MCP. There were few problems with this ride. First there was a problem with the website again so that a few people were not able to register since the register button went away for some reason. It eventually came back but I just told the people who emailed me to show up to the ride whether they could register or not. I ended up with 11 people who said they were coming to the ride although one of them thought the ride was suppose to be a 9:30am so I ended up with 10. 

The MCP picnic area was actually closed for some police training. Luckily they let us park on the grass by the entrance as it would have been hard to call everybody and tell them to park some where else. 

I had planned a 46 mile ride to Columbus and back. It's mostly a north-south route. I chose this route because the winds were going to be blowing 20mph+ with 40 mph gust from the north west so I wanted most of the route to be in the cross wind as opposed to having to head directly into it. 

It was cloudy and windy at the start and we had a tail wind pushing us out. Even though I was riding with a few people I didn't know or haven't ridden with much the group stayed together and was well behaved. We made our stop at the general store in Columbus and then headed back. This is where the wind became a problem. It was mostly a crosswind but the route purposely zig zagged  so we had a few short stretches heading in the the wind. Unfortunately the last 4 miles was directly into the wind and it sucked. However it was better getting out in the wind than not getting out at all. 

The ride did give me a chance to test out my new wheels on my Feather. The front wheel had a divot in it and with a little more wear it probably would have worn through the divot. The rear tire might have had a couple of hundred miles left in it but I decided to change them both as part of my spring maintenance. After years using black tires I decided to go with ones with a red stripe. I like the way it looks and I think it makes the bike more visible so will probably stick with colored tires in the future. 

Speaking of new wheels I actually went to the NY auto show on Tuesday. I had to go up to Armonk for work and decided to stop by, the show, on my way home. My trusty Baja is still going strong but it is 23 years old and so I just wanted to see what is out there in case I need a new car anytime soon.

There was an interesting variety of cars. You have a choice now of the type on engine, electric, hybrid or gas. My favorite electric cars where the Nissan Airya and Chevy Equinox EV.

 



There was also the Hyundai Ionic 5 which is more sporty and car like.   


Then there was the new ID Buzz from VW which is an electric version of the old microbus. 


It was actually really nice and had the most head room of any car I have even been in.  It is over 70k so not an option for me. However if I was going to spend a lot on an electric SUV it would be the Lucid Gravity

 

It's got 450 miles of range is well design and is beautiful inside an out. I like that the frunk turns into a love seat. 

I also looked at the hybrids from all the main car companies. The CR-V, Rav-4 and Rogue are nice but I think the Hyundai Tucson is the best of the hybrid SUVs. Then there was this from Fiat.



It was made out of plastic and probably weight just a few hundred pounds. I'm sure the wind we had today would have blown it over. 

It was fun seeing all the cars and at least now I have a better idea what's out there if I ever need to replace the Baja. 


Sunday, April 13, 2025

April Showers Bring Road Closures

Last weekend was a rainout and so was this Saturday. So even though Sunday was cloudy and cool I decided to list a ride late in the week from Cranbury. The reason I decided to do it out of Cranbury is I wanted to get a few hills since I haven't done much of that this year AND also to see Jim who also had a ride out of Cranbury.

I had some problems listing the ride as one of the normal buttons on the website didn't work so wanted to talk to Jim and see if it was me or the website (it was the website). I only had a few takers for the ride but I'm glad I listed it. We did this route which is a variation of my normal Princeton loop from MCP or Cranbury. It has enough hills to help me to start building my hill legs. 

As we climbed up Bunker Hill I saw a flashing sign saying that the Griggstown crossing was closed. I didn't think it rained enough to cause flooding. Luckily when we got there the fence was across the causeway but there was no water on the road so we climbed over and under the fences and made our way across the canal. 

I made it up the hills and felt okay but it doesn't really feel like spring yet. So although I'm glad I pushed myself today I hope the weather gets warmer soon so theses rides feel a little better.