Yard Work

Each season in our new home brings some new discoveries. This spring we discovered we have some flowering trees in our back yard. We have a couple of red dogwood trees and a really nice Kwanzan cherry tree

That has a rose like flower.

It brought some color to our backyard which is mostly pine trees. The spring season means things are growing again so we had to spend a couple of hours outside cleaning up the outside bushes which had been neglected. 

We do want do some more major changes to the landscaping but that will have to wait until later in the season once every thing has grown in and we know what we want to keep and what we want to remove. 

I did get a ride in this weekend. I lead a ride from Griggstown to Whitehouse Station. I didn't get a good turn out as most of the regulars had stuff to do. When I got to the parking lot no one was there. Then Pete showed up in the wrong parking lot but he eventually found his way over. Ricky showed up at 9am because he thought the ride was at 9:30am. The only person that showed up the the correct place was Ming. I doubled checked the listing and it did have the correct time (9am) and directions to the start so not sure what else I could do to make sure everybody shows up on time.

It was overcast for most of the ride. We did this route which takes us near but not around Round Valley. We stopped at the Brooklyn Deli in Whitehouse Station which is really one of the better places we stopped at. It has outside tables. Good food and a bathroom we can use. If it was closer to our normal starting points I'm sure we would go there more often. 

This was the first really hilly ride of the season for me. I plan to do some more hilly ride in the coming weeks so hopefully I can get my hill legs back.

Happy Easter

It's Easter Sunday and I have no plans today. Before the pandemic we use to host Easter dinner each year. It was the one holiday we hosted. We didn't host the last two years because of the pandemic but this year we could of hosted it if any body would have come. It the past two years all the nieces and nephews are now on their own and are starting their own Easter traditions. The older members of the family have either decided to do something else or don't want to travel on Easter Sunday. 

I'm not really sad about not hosting the holiday any more as it was a lot of work that wasn't really appreciated. Although we could of have a great dinner because I found this turkey on my ride yesterday.

As we get older a lot of these holiday traditions are changing as the younger members of the family start their own traditions with their combine family. This eliminated some of the gatherings and made others smaller and simpler. I was never a big one for the holidays so this is fine with me. 

This did allow me to get in a ride this weekend. I caught a mild head cold (not Covid) early in the week but was mostly over it by the weekend. I ended up doing a ride on my own of around 50 miles. Now that the weather is getting warmer I'm starting to get some real miles as last week I lead a 50+ mile ride to Vincentown. 

This wasn't a good winter for riding for me and I have fewer miles in this year especially in the hills. I definitely feel a little slower so will be trying to ramp up the miles and hills as the weather gets warmer.

In Bloom

It is now springtime but the weather doesn't feel like it. Last Saturday I lead a cold and blustery ride to New Egypt from MCP. It was mostly cloudy with the threat of rain. Luckily the rain held off until the we were almost back. It was a light rain so we really didn't get that wet. 

This Saturday I did a ride on my own since I had to be home by 1pm. I have a good loop through Freehold from where I live. Although it was sunny it was just above 40 degrees and windy so I had to ride with my heavier jersey and jacket. This ride did give me a chance to break in my new shoes. I bought the same shoes I currently have the Specialized Touch 3.0. They have a metatarsal bump that seems to prevent my hot foot problem. They are also very comfortable. The last pair I got took a couple hundred mile to break in but the new ones felt already broken in. I just had to adjust the straps a few times during the ride to get them to the correct tightness then they felt as good as the old ones. 

The trees are starting to bloom and I got a picture of a couple of the white hawthorn trees just outside of Freehold. The blooming trees and flowers added some color to the ride I am just hoping for some warmer an less windy weather soon.

Springtime

The weather is finally getting warmer and I've been able to get on the road for some longer rides. I actually took last Friday off since the weather looked good. I tried to get the retired guys of the pose join me but only Jack was available. The weather was as warm as predicted but it was a little foggy at the start. We did this route which goes towards Fort Dix then back home through Columbus.

Most of the fog burned off after about an hour or so but it was still mostly cloudy. It did warm up and was 60 degrees by the end of the ride. It was nice to ride just in tights and a long sleeve jersey. We ended up with a little over 43 miles and I felt pretty good at the end. I did want some sugar after the ride and since St Patrick's day was only a few days ago I remembered that McDonald's would probably still have a shamrock shake. I know it is just a vanilla shake with some spearmint and some whipped cream but it is really good. It's too bad you can only get it for a limited time. 

Saturday's weather was suppose to have some rain. It was one of the reasons I took Friday off. Saturday's weather ended up being a lot better than expected. I thought about riding but had some chores to do. Instead on Sunday I took a one way ride to the shore. We have not been at our condo in a couple of months so wanted to check it out to make sure it made it through all the storms we had. I have been exploring some different ways to get the the beach and decided to cut through Manasquan on a few new roads. I managed to find and interesting tree house. 

It's probably nicer than some apartments. I also stopped by the inlet to take a look. The wind was really blowing from the west which I didn't really mind as I was getting driven home. 

Usually after I get to the beach we go out for ice cream but our favorite place is closed for renovation. Hopefully it will be open the next time I go back. I ended up with 80 miles this weekend and should be able to start riding after work so now that spring is here. Hopefully I should start to make up for the miles I lost because of the cold and storms this winter.

Pennypack 2022

It was another Saturday that was too cold to hit the road so I decided to take a trip to Pennypack park. It's a bit of a drive but I wanted to do something different and I hadn't been to Pennypack since 2017. At least this time there was no snow to deal with so it made riding easier. 

This year I got Laura and Ricky to join me. We started at Pine Hill Rd which is the northern end and headed down to the Delaware. The first few miles are some short but steep little hills. The trail follows Pennypack creek and so it is scenic although it is a little barren this time of year. It's much prettier with a little snow. 

When we got down to the river we found the SS Minnow in a cove next to a fixed up pier which is now covered with grass. 

We were also able to get further down the path and saw where Pennypack empties into the Delaware. There is actually a new bridge that goes over to an island but the bridge is only open in the summer. 

We did have a couple of mechanicals.  A screw came out of Ricky's cleat and made it almost impossible to get his cleat off his petal so he took the cleat off and rode without it. I also dropped my chain a couple of times on a one by which shouldn't happen. I kept it in the bigger gears and that fixed the problem but there is probably an alignment issue that needs to be addressed.

One the way back we stopped for some pictures. There is a waterfall that I always try to get a picture of. It never comes out good but I keep trying anyway. The first shot below I got photo bombed by Pennypack Devil

Here is the second one with a close up of the falls. 

One of these days I get a good picture of it. 

It was a good ride and a nice change of pace. The weather looks like it is getting warmer so hopefully I will be on the road for a real ride next week.

Henry Hudson Trail

It seems like all my post this year are about riding in the cold and snowy weather because that is how it has been this winter. I did get out in last weekends and did a nice flat 40 mile ride. It was a good break from the cold although I was pretty beat by the end of the ride since I don't have a lot of miles in this year. 

This Saturday although the weather was close to 40 I decided not to go out on the road because of the 20+ mph winds with even stronger gusts. Instead I decided to ride the lower end of the Henry Hudson trail. The trail is through mostly wooded areas so has some cover from the wind. The trail starts on the east side of Freehold and goes all the way to Sandy Hook but I only went as far as Keyport. The trail is paved so I didn't have to worry about it being muddy from the rain we had during the week. It also meant I could use my road bike. There are a few spots where tree roots make the trail a little bumpy but overall the trail was easy to ride on my road bike. 

The trail is not real scenic but I did detour off the trail in Keyport to get a view of Raritan Bay. You could actually see the Verrazzano Narrows bridge and the NY skyline. I only brought my phone with me so I didn't get any zoomed in shots of the skyline. Maybe I will come back with a real camera in the summer when the weather is better. I didn't spend much time by the water as the wind was wiping so hard you had to lean into it.

From Keyport I just followed the trail back to Freehold. It seem to get colder and windier so I was glad as I was on the trail as it blocked a good part of the wind. By the time I got back to Freehold there were some snow flurries. It wasn't as bad as the snow squall we got later but was a reminder that it is still winter. 

Still it was good to get out for a ride even though it was a cold one. It did give me a chance to test my new pedals and cleats. 

They no longer make the version of the Speedplay pedals and cleats I currently have on my bikes and although the pedals had some more mile in them my cleats did not. Wahoo bought Speedplay and revamped the pedals. I got the new Speedplay Comp pedals which are similar to the ones I had. They do have better bearings and more adjustments an are better version of the pedal in general. The cleats also have a built in cover that makes walking much better. Even better than the cleat and cover I use to have. They feel a little different than my old pedals and took about half the ride to get use to the feel of them. I'm glad they didn't discontinue these pedals. I know this is not one of more popular pedals and they don't do well if they get dirty but I really like the amount of float the pedals have and the way they feel so will be using them as long as they are available. 

Another Cold Ride

Snow storms and cold weather has made it almost impossible to get out for a ride. We had a few days of warm weather and rain, this week, which got rid of most of the snow. Of course then it got cold for the weekend. It was just warm enough for me on Saturday to attempt a ride. My go to place for a cold ride from my new home is Allaire state park. There is a pave path to Manasquan as well as some dirt paths and single track. 

Even though we got a small dusting of snow Friday night the path to Manasquan was mostly clear. The couple of spots with snow were crunchy and not icy. When I got to Manasquan I rode along the beach the before riding the roads along the Manasquan river to get back to the path

 

It was cold but I had every piece of warm weather gear I own on so I was warm enough. It was the strong west wind that made the ride painful. Still I don't like indoor trainers so I would rather deal with the cold and wind than spin on a trainer. Hopefully the weather will warm up a little so I can get longer ride in.