Perfect Bike Weather

 

There are two important things I want to know when I go on a bike ride. First what is the weather going to be so I know how to dress and prepare for the ride. Second I want to know where will we be stopping for a break so I know if I should bring food with me or buy a tasty treat at the stop. Although we can control where we stop for a break we can't control the weather and have to deal with what comes along. I will ride in a wide variety of weather conditions from 20 degrees to 95 degrees and don't care if it is sunny or overcast or even how windy it is. However I try not to go out if there is better than 50% chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms. Weather predictions are not perfect and in fact they can be down right wrong at times so there will be time you will be riding in weather you were not expecting. 

That's what happen at last weeks Belmar ride. Laura had listed a century from her house with an option to do shorter distances if you met her a certain points. I chose the 68 mile option. The weather was suppose to be in the mid to upper 70s with overcast skies clearing later in the day. There was a 10% chance of light rain at 11am. It was a good day for a long ride as it wasn't going to be really hot. 

Laura picked us up in Etra and we headed through Jackson, where we stopped for our first break, and then through Farmingdale towards the shore. As we approached the coast it got a little darker and there was a spritz of rain as we were waiting for a few people behind us to change a flat tire. 

When we got to the beach it was overcast and foggy but there were still plenty of people on the beach. We made our usual stop at the tables in front of the Dunkin Donuts before heading back. As we rode past Allaire State Park the clouds got darker and it started to rain. It was a heavy rain that was not in the forecast. Luckily it was just heavy rain and not a thunderstorm so we just had to ride through it. It was warm enough that getting wet didn't make us cold. The rain lasted about 10 mins. We then almost dry off before we rode through another downpour. 

It was definitely not fun to get wet but it did cool us off so in some ways it made the ride a little easier. Despite the rain and the miles I felt pretty good after 68 miles although I know I didn't really want to do too much more.

This past Saturday the weather forecast had a 50% chance of rain and not wanting to get wet again I moved my ride to Sunday. This was the second club ride I lead this year. The weather was perfect low 70s , low humility and abundant sunshine. I lead a hilly ride out of Lambertville to Frenchtown on the NJ side. I took the easy way up the hill and we got some good scenic views once we got to the ridge. 

We headed down the hill into Frenchtown for our break. It was congested and crowded but it was still nice to sit buy the river and enjoy the scenery. Eventually we headed out of Frenchtown and down Rt 29 for 5 miles before heading back uphill on Warsaw. It was the toughest climb of the day and we have a few more easier climbs before we got back to Lambertville but all in all it was one of the more enjoyable rides I did this year. 

Monday I did my own ride with a few of the members of the insane bike posse. The weather was about 10 degrees warmer and a lot more humid. My legs were tired which is why this ride was flatter. We headed from my house to Chesterfield and back on a 44 mile route. We cruised along at a decent clip. 

After the stop in Chesterfield we had tailwind most of the way back. It wasn't enough however to keep me from cramping up as I did a few miles before the end of the ride. I guess the heat and riding two days in a row caught up with me but after a little stretching I was able to make it home without cramping up again. 

We are now entering the dog days of summer so hot and unstable weather will be the norm. Although I will check the forecast before I ride I know the predictions will not always be reliable so will be ready to ride in whatever conditions come along.

Gettysburg

 

Bike trips are a great way to see other areas of the country. I like exploring by bike as it is a more leisurely way to see the sights. There are a lot of great places to take a bike trip in the US but if you want my recommendation on one of the best place to go in the tri-state area I would suggest heading to Gettysburg. Gettysburg and the surrounding area is one of the most interesting and beautiful places to ride in Pennsylvania. There is also a lot of variety to the roads by Gettysburg so no matter the type of riding you want to do you are sure to find something to like. 

Of course Gettysburg is the site of the civil war's most pivotal battle and now one of the more popular national parks in the US. The park does an amazing job of capturing the history and emotions of an important moment of America history. The park has over 40 miles of bikeable roads so it is easy to explore the many battlefields and monuments in the park.

Beyond the battlefield especially east of Gettysburg there are a lot of good roads to ride on and some interesting and historic things to see. I have been taking bike trips to Gettysburg for over 10 years, mostly with the Philadelphia bike club. I always enjoy riding in and around Gettysburg and haven't come close to explore all the areas and roads I want to. Which is why when Falcon press asked me to write a guide for ride in and around Gettysburg I said yes. 

This book is meant for casual riders who want to do rides in the 5 to 10 mile range. The main focus of rides in this book is exploring the different areas of the battlefield. Its a small book of only 16 rides but it does cover all areas of the battlefield as well as the best place to ride outside of Gettysburg. 

I had fun writing the book and learning more about Gettysburg so I could add some interesting facts throughout the book. I had planned to do a couple of trips out to Gettysburg over the year I worked on the book to get the best pictures and information I could but because of the pandemic I only got out there once in late 2019. Luckily I had enough pictures and knowledge from all my previous trips to put the book together and am genially happy with how it came out. We'll see how well it sells.

It has been a while since I have done any bike trips because like everybody else I was stuck at home. Now that the threat of the pandemic is waning I will be doing a couple of bike trips this year and one of them will definitely be to back to Gettysburg.

Best Sunrise Ever!

 

Over the years I tried my hand at getting a few good shots of sunrises and sunsets and a got a few good ones. The morning of June 10th however offered an opportunity to get a picture of a unique sunrise that my not happen again in my lifetime. In N.J. there was going to be a partial eclipse of the sun at sunrise. The weather forecast got better during the week but there was still only a 40% chance that the sky would be clear at sunrise. Still there was a chance. Since the eclipse was going to be in progress at sunrise I had to be in a place that had a clear view to the eastern horizon. I decided to sleep over at our condo in Avon so I could walk out in the morning and see the sunrise at the beach. 

When I woke up at 5am I looked out the skylight and it was still cloudy and hazy. But when I walked out to the beach the clouds were lifting and the sky was clearing. 

There was a marine layer so the horizon obscured by some clouds. The sun rose through the clouds and I could see it looked a little different.

 When the sun peaked above the low clouds the sun was a crescent instead of a circle.

 The sun eventually cleared the clouds and was fully visible. 

 

I got a few more pictures before the sun got too bright to take a picture without a solar filter. 

 

It turned out to be a reasonable clear morning so there were other people watching the eclipse.

The eclipses lasted an hour. For the first 15mins I was able to take a picture without any filters as the sun was dim as it is during a sunrise. This allowed for some cool pictures including the one at the top of post where I got lucky and got a jet trail across the sun at the same time a seagull flew by. 

As the sun rose higher I put the solar filter on the camera and caught the rest of the eclipse. 

It was a beautiful sunrise so I'm glad I made the effort to see it in person because the picture really don't convey how cool it was.

All Paces

 As another sign things are getting more towards normal there was an All Paces ride this Memorial Day. It was good to catch up with people I haven't seen in over a year and see that we all found a way to get through the pandemic. 

I spent about 20 mins talking to people I don't normally ride with  as we shared updates on what had happen to us over the last year or so. I didn't sign up for any of the rides so as the rides left I went out on my own with Ricky, Jack and Bob and we did a 44 mile loop to Roy's. The weather wasn't great as it was cloudy and mid 50s when we started and didn't warm up much during the ride. 

When we left the park the sun did make a brief appearance and I thought I would have to shed some layers but it quickly clouded up again so I'm glad I left the jacket on. This ride wasn't has as hilly and hard as last weeks Cocluxe ride but as the day went on it got winder and the ride got a little tougher. 

 When we stopped at Roy's Ira's group was there so I got more time to catch with a few other people. We didn't spend too long at the stop because the wind really whipped up and it got colder. My route took us through the Assumpink where they patched some of the road. It's still pretty rough in spots but the part by the big tree and the hill in Roosevelt has been paved so its a lot less of a hazard. 

Since the rest of the weekend was a washout I'm glad I got out today and go in a good long ride.

New York, New York

 

The first ride in my Road Biking NJ book is a ride across the George Washington Bridge into New York City. New York is a crowded and congested city and not the easiest place to try and ride a bike but there are a few cool places that you can ride that can be a fun change of pace. One of the cool places to ride is the GW Bridge. It is relatively easy to ride across the bridge into NY and ride along the Hudson and check out the skyline. 

I haven't ridden in New York city for at least 10 years so when Dave posted a ride up there I decided to give it a try. The main attraction for me was riding over the new Tappan Zee bridge. A pair of new bridges has replace the old bridge and there is now a bike path across the Hudson. We did this route which heads up route 9W on the NJ side of the river to the town of Piermont and the over the Tappan Zee bridge. 

9W is a busy road along the Hudson but is has a wide shoulder most of the way and there are so many biker riding the road that the cars are use to sharing the road. 9W is the main escape route for people biking out of the city. One of the most popular ride for people in the city to do is to head across the GW bridge up to Piermount for lunch and the head back to the city.

When we rode through Piermount all the street side restaurants where filled with bikers. It looked like bikers took over the town which is what they actually did.

In Piermount we got a look at the new Tappan Zee (which is really call the Mario Cuomo bridge now but nobody is every going to call it that). 

 

Its hard to tell from the picture but there are actually two side by side bridges. Until the past year I drove over the old and the the new Tappan Zee once every couple of months for work and enjoyed watching the progress. They did a really good job with the bike path.

Its a nice wide path with plexiglass on both sides to give some protection from the wind. There are 4 or 5 observation bump outs along the path where you can stop and look at the views or take pictures.

I stopped at a few of them to try and few pictures of the Hudson Valley but with the flat light of the overcast skies none of the pictures really came out that good.

We had a quick rest stop at pizza and bagel shop on the other side of the bridge before climbing up the side of a hill to get to a rail trail along the Saw Mill parkway. 

The trail was tree line and somewhat scenic. It was 15 miles long and got us most of the way back to the GW bridge. The main problem with the path was the surface. It was paved and had the usual cracks and bump caused by tree roots which wasn't too bad. However there were a bunch of spots where the pavement was a total washboard with large bumps that rattled my frame and teeth. I actually hit a few bumps so hard I thought I would crack my frame. 

The 20 of us got spread out on the path and ended up meeting up at the end of the path by the golf course. By the time I got to the end of the path we were missing 4 people including Laura and Jim. We got word that Laura broke a seat post and didn't know exactly what happen until she showed up 15 mins later and explain that the bolt that held her seat on sheered off. Luckily Jim had the brilliant idea to try a bolt that was holding his head tube cover plate on which fit well enough to keep Laura seat on. 

From the golf course we made our way along the streets in the Bronx's toward the GW bridge. Although there was a bike lane there were a lot of cars double park in it and so we rode as safe as we could in the Sunday traffic. I went into bike messenger mode and swerved around parked cars and people and even had to ride on a side walk or two to get to the bridge. This was the worst part of the ride but something you just have to deal with when riding in the city. 

We were got split up again getting to the GW bridge. The bike path on the GW is no where near as nice as the one on the Tappan Zee. Its more like a narrow sidewalk with a couple of 90 degree turns that go around the metal bridge towers. With bikes going in both directions there are many places for a head on crash if you are not careful.

I did manage to get a picture of the city from the bridge. 

After making it over the bridge it was only a couple of miles back to the start. I'm glad I did this ride as it was a fun adventure but it may be a few years before I do another urban ride like this.

House for Sale

 

I moved down to this area a little over 30 years ago for a job. It was a good move as it got me to a less crowed area than where I grew up in North Jersey. In 1991 my wife and I bough a house. The real estate market was in a recession when we bought our house so we ended up getting a slightly bigger house than we were looking for. Our house has 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths so there are a few rooms the two of us almost never use. The house has a good layout and is in a good neighborhood so we have really enjoyed living in our house. 

When we bought the house is was in good condition although the people who owned the house before us made some questionable decoration decisions. There was the PINK bathroom, the bright YELLOW kitchen with matching rug and of course the sparkles on the popcorn ceiling. The house sort of had a 60s feel but slowly over the years we made improvements to update the house. This included updating the kitchen to give it a brighter more modern look

 

 Updating the bathrooms to not look like a relic from the 60s

and adding a sun room to let us enjoy the beautiful yard my wife created.

We have really enjoying living in this house and making it our own but it does require a good amount of up keep. With my retirement looming in the next 3 to 5 years we have decided it was time to downsize and start to simplify our life a little. We could of course stayed in our house and paid people to do the all the maintenance. However if we don't move now it will be harder to do in 10 or 15 years so it makes sense to find a smaller place to move to now. 

For the last 3 months we have been preparing our place for sale. Mostly cleaning and getting rid of clutter. And after living in a house for 30 years we had a lot of clutter. We got rid of all the furniture we know we didn't and a lot of stuff we no longer use. It actually felt good to clean house. 

After a little paint and some minor repairs the house was ready for sale by the first week in April. We put the house up for sale on a Thursday and by Friday we already had a full price offer. The current market is starving for homes so any decent house on the market is gone in a few days. We had at least 15 people come through the house between Thursday night and Saturday. We had enough interest and other possible offers that we actually canceled the open house on Sunday. 

 On Monday we accepted the offer and are now in the process finalizing the sale of the house. The people buying the house want to delay the closing until July because of their current lease and that is okay with us because it will give a little more time to enjoy our current house and find our next one. 

I will miss the house when we leave especially the work shop I currently have...

but I'm looking forward living in smaller place with less maintenance so I can dedicate more time to other things like riding my bike.

Holy Kickstand Pandemic Edition

The Holy Kickstand has been in hiding for most of the pandemic but after a member in the insane bike posse had their second minor crash(they're fine but their front wheel needs a little work) I decided to bring it out again. For those of you not familiar with the Holy Kickstand its a is lucky charm that is meant help us stay safe and keep upright at all times during a ride just like a regular kickstand keeps a bike from falling down. Check this link for more details on the the original Holy Kickstand.

Since the pandemic the Holy Kickstand has been enhanced. It has been wrapped with the shroud of bubbles that helps cushion any fall a rider has. It also now contains the medical mask of droplet reduction to help riders ward off bad vapors and humors. 

Before this weeks ride to Neshanic, I performed the Holy Kickstand blessing. Instead of using the Britta water of purity I used Purell sanitizer of surfaces to clean the area we will be riding in. Hopefully this blessing will help keep the posse safe for this riding season. 

We did have a good ride to Neshanic with almost all of the posse in attendance. It was a cloudy day in the high 50s so not a bad day to be on the road.We did this route which put most of the hills in the beginning of the ride. Unlike last week there were no bridge out but we did end up going over bridge on the new 206 bypass across from Mountain View Rd. The bridge wasn't exactly finished but the posse will not pass up a chance to go over a bridge under construction. 

It was a trouble free ride so hopefully the Holy Kickstand will continue to work its magic. It may just be a plastic kickstand wrapped in string, bubble wrap and a medical mask but I'm happy to perform any stupid ritual if it helps keep the posse safe or a least gives them a laugh.