Sunday, June 22, 2025

The Hills of Somerset and Morris County

When Laura set an invitation to a hilly ride out of Somerset county I reluctantly accepted. She and a few others had plan to do the Morris Area Freewheelers Revolutionary Ramble a couple of weeks ago but decided not to do it because of rainy weather. Now that we actually had a non rainy Saturday she wanted to do the route. 

After a few edits from the original Revolutionary Ramble route we ended up with a 46 mile 3000 ft ride. Most of the hills on the route I had done before except for a couple south of Gladstone. I have been riding pretty well this spring so was confident that I could do the hills my only concern was has fast I could be and if the amount of climbing would cause cramps. 

We started out of Raritan Valley College. It was in the upper 70s when we started and sunny going up close to 90 by mid afternoon. The first hill was Rockaway Rd which was 5 miles into the ride. This is a long but gradual hill. This was followed by Sawmill which is a little steeper. The pay off for this climbing was bombing down Fox Hill Rd. I have done this downhill enough to be able to go down at full speed. 

Then it was our first rest stop at the Oldwick General store. Laura had planned two stops because of the amount of climbing. Then it was more hills. The short but annoying Vliettown Rd then longer grind up Potterville Rd that brought us downhill into Gladstone. We then took a loop around Gladstone up Mendham Rd which was a gentle climb and down Mosle and Branch back into town. Of course no road around here is a straight up or down there are always little bumps and dips that strain the legs. 

After the loop around Gladstone we ended up in Coco-luxe for our second break. It was getting hot so was glad to have to break to re hydrate before our final climbs. 

The final 15 miles of the ride were on more main roads that would have a little more traffic so it was less about scenery and more about getting back to the starting point. There were still a couple of climbs on the way back. The first one was just after we crossed 206. It was another long but gradual climb up Liberty Corner. Not sure where we were but the road we climbed had a large drop off to the right into a forest. 

The last real climb of the day was on Somerville Rd to get over Rt 78. This is one of those climbs that gets steeper towards the top. It was the hardest climb of the day and I almost switch to the granny gear as my heart rate hit 170. We gathered at the top and then headed down a windy and steep downhill. About three quarter of the way down the hill I heard some one yell something but kept going. 

At the bottom of the hill I gathered up with Laura who said she heard someone yell "FLAT". I eventually got a text that somebody had fallen. They had some road rash but where okay. The person had hit some water and fell. They tried to fix the flat tires and bike but couldn't get it back to a rideable state. 

Someone stayed with the downed rider while the rest of us went back. We were about 7 miles from the starting point and it was mostly flat on the way back. The only hill left was the small one to get back into the college. I cramped about half way up the hill but just pushed through it. 

We then went and retrieved the fallen rider and headed home. I'm sure the bike and fallen rider will be back riding in a few days. 

This was the hilliest ride I have done in a few years. My legs were sore and I had a few cramps after the ride but I climbed better than I thought so will probably do some hillier rides going forward since I know I can handle them.  

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Birds in Flight

Today is yet another Saturday where rain or threat of rain has kept me off my bike. This has been a rainy spring as 11 out of the last 15 weekends have had some kind of rain. Hopefully I will be able to get a ride in tomorrow. 

While I sit inside today I have had time to process some photos of some birds in flight I took down at the Edwin B. Forsythe bird sanctuary.  It's a quick hour drive from where I live and usually worth the trip as there are always a lot of birds there feeding in the marsh. This time there weren't as many herons or egrets as usual but there were a lot of terns flying by the road and managed to get a good shot of one in flight as shown in the top of the post. 

There was also an osprey hovering over the road. There are 3 or 4 osprey nest in the sanctuary but this is the first time I saw one flying around. Click on the picture if you want to see it up close. Since it is a slow flying bird I was able to get it in perfect focus and the lighting was good. 

For some reason there were a lot of turtles walking around so I had to be careful not to run over them. 

There are always seagulls and I manage to capture one with a crab in its mouth. 

 

I just wish the lighting was better as the colors are washed out. With my camera on rapid fire mode I took a lot of pictures most of them not worth showing but shooting a lot of photos is the only way to get a good photo of rapid moving wildlife. I am improving my technique so am getting a better ratio of keepers but there is still a good amount of luck and timing involved. 


This picture of a red winged black bird was mostly luck as I was just taking a picture of it sitting on a guard rail when it took off. Luckily my camera kept it in focus and because of was shooting at a high shutter speed it came out pretty sharp. These birds fly really fast so these are not birds that are easy to track in flight. 

I still have room for improvement but enjoy the challenge of this type of photography so will keep trying until I get it right. 

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Bridge NOT Out

I led a ride from Yardley this past weekend that went over the Lamberville/New Hope bridge. The bridge was close to pedestrian and car traffic earlier in the year. Last year during some other work being done on the bridge they found that a 4 inch diameter pin was failing which could have caused the bridge to collapse. We go over the bridge on a regular basis so I'm glad the fixed it before it fell into the river. As part of the repair they refurbished the walkway. It's now wider so you don't have to duck into beams to let some on pass you. 

I had a full ride with a few riders that I haven't ridden before. Most of the new riders seemed to like the route and the ride and said they may join me again on my next ride. I don't really believe them because I have a lot of new people come on my rides but very few of them come back. Not sure why. Sure we are a little sarcastic but are a friendly bunch. 

It was a little cold at the start but ended being a beautiful day with no rain for once. We didn't even have any of my normal bridge out crossings or dirt so one of my better rides. This was one of the hillier rides I did this year but felt good so now that it is getting warmer I may venture a little further up the Delaware and explore some of the hills on both sides of the river. 

In other news. I did a ride around the Manasquan Reservoir today and can report that the reservoir is now full as you can see from these pictures of the visitor center

 

and from Georgia Road.

 

So I guess all the annoying rain we have been getting filled all the rivers and reservoirs. 

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

It's Always Crappy When We Go to Round Valley

I haven't been to Round Valley since July 2023. This is a ride we do every year or two because we like the view of the reservoir at Round Valley. However 90% of the time the weather is cloudy and crappy so the picture of the reservoir looks like the one above. At least it didn't rain like it did during my Vincentown ride. There were a few drops along the way but nothing that could be consider as rain. The one good thing about the cloudy weather is that it kept is cool. In fact I had my arm warmers on for the entire ride. 

This was Laura's ride so we used her route from Hillsborough. It's 47 miles and hilly. The worst hills are the three getting into the reservoir which someone named years ago as Papa, Baby, and Mama bear. Not sure why. These are not very steep but are a couple miles long in total so it is just a grind. Everybody knows these hills are coming but there are 5 miles of rollers before you get to them and so it hard to know when they will start. I have ridden to Round Valley enough to know that the climb starts when you see the big wall of grass on the right which is one of the dams that forms Round Valley. 

I felt good on the rollers at the beginning of the ride and made it up the three bears with out feeling stressed I was a the back of the pack but not too far off the front. We made our usual stop at the parking lot of the reservoir to take a picture of the crappy weather. The reservoir was a lot fuller than last time. 

 


As the picture above shows the water was so low that the boat ramp didn't even reach the water and there was grass between the rock wall and the late. Today the water was just a foot or two below normal as the line on the rock wall on the left shows. 

After going around the reservoir we made our normal stop in Whitehouse Station at he Brooklyn Grill. It's probably a good place for breakfast or lunch but just an okay rest stop. 

We had a strong tail wind on the way back which made the ride home easier especially since it's more rolling than hilly on the way back. We did make a quick stop at Solberg  airport on the way back as we saw two marine helicopters land their. Not sure why they were there. 

I felt strong at the end and in general feel good this year riding so may do some more hilly rides in the future.  

 

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Wet and Messy

 

Although I don't ride when it rains I sometimes will ride when there is a slight chance of rain as long as it doesn't look like there is a major rain storm coming. The weather this spring has been more rainy than normal and even when it doesn't rain we have had a lot of strong winds during the rides. I did manage to make it out the past few Saturdays but rain this past week prevented me from getting out for my normal Wednesday ride or even an after work ride. 

At the beginning of the week the forecast for Saturday looked like rain but the forecast improved during the week. By Friday night the rain looked like it would be gone by early Saturday morning and it was. I got a good portion of the posse to join me for a ride in the pinelands. It was cloudy during the start and getting a little darker. To be honest I expected a few miles of light rain based on the radar forecast but I didn't expect it to last for more then 10-15 minutes. 

Somewhere 6 or 7 miles into the ride there was a little light rain but it was a minor nuisance. Then somewhere towards Brownsmill the rain pick up a little. The rain itself was very light and not too bad as my glasses and garmin only had a few drops on them. The problem was the roads were really wet so the spray from the road and Pete's read tire was getting me wet and messy especially from the shorts down. As well as the line up the back. 

By the time we got around Mirror Lake the rain had stopped and after another 20 minutes there was sun and blue skies. So the rain was annoying but I'm glad I got out for the ride. 

Once the rain stopped the roads quickly dried and by the time we got to the rest stop in Vincentown there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We had a tail wind on the way home so even though it was a 55 mile ride I felt pretty good.

There was one more result of the rain morning rain. There was a large puddle on Warner Rd. I have ridden this road quite a few times and don't remember it ever being flooded and not sure why it did this time since it didn't really rain that much. I guess since we didn't hit a bridge out on this ride we had to ride through some water instead. It was probably close to a foot deep as it was almost up to my peddles. The only way through was forward so we all got a little wet again.

This is a picture Pete took as I rode through the puddle. 

This wasn't the wettest or dirtiest that I have been on a ride and I'm sure this won't be the last time I get rained on. I just wish we have a few picture perfect days ahead so I don't have to take as much time cleaning up after a ride.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

May Flowers

Last week was mostly sunny and warm so I decided to take a day off work to go to Longwood Gardens to see some spring flowers. The last time I was here was about 10 years ago during the Christmas season so didn't really get to see all the different flowers and fountains. 

There were a lot of tulips in the main garden as they are in season now.

As well as a lot of poppies  


the center of the poppy is interesting and complex

 


There are also a lot of fountains 


and waterfalls

 


Which are spread out through the gardens. But of course the mail reason to be visit Longwood gardens is for the variety of different flowers. I spent a hour or so wandering through the different conservatories. I focused on some close up macro photography.

 



There are a lot of different ways to get close up pictures of flowers. Getting the right composition, lighting and focus takes a lot of practice and there are more than one way to do it right. I'm getting better but still have a lot to learn. Still it was fun to walk around the gardens for a few hours on a warm spring day

 




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.