January Snow Biking

January in New Jersey. Guess what? It's been cold!

Does that mean we are going to stay inside and moan about the weather. Maybe venture to the gym. Not when Mercer County Park is just down the road, and Clayton is a short drive away.

There is nothing like racing through the snow and jumping over logs to make you feel like a kid again. What a great feeling...

They say that if you don't occasionally fall when you are mountain biking that you are not pushing yourself hard enough. The black and blue marks all over my legs would say that I'm pushing just hard enough.

I've included a random selection of photos from the last 3-4 trips out in the woods. Hope to see you there soon.

MTN Biking on New Year's Day

New Years Day (2009) Mountain Biking in Mercer County Park

Like many people around the globe, I was happy to see the back side of 2008 and wanted to start the year off right - on the bike.

It was a cold day (23*F at the start), so the "sensible" option was to stay in the woods. We met at Mercer County Park at noon. Chris brought some CMCs (Chris Made Cookies). It was Mary's first time out with us, but she didn't hesitate to take Chris up on his offer of a CMC.

We had a great group. Mike B., Laura, Chris, Mary and myself. It was also Mike's first time out and he was on a borrowed bike. It took a little time to get him set-up, but then he was off without ever looking back.

We stayed on the West side of the park. (Chris and I had been out a couple of day's earlier and had stayed on the East side of the park. Many of the trails were submerged under 5-8 inches of water. It was impossible to keep your feet dry.) Chris led us through the "Hall of Mirrors." This trail is through a ridiculously tight stand of young oaks. This trail really tests/develops your bike handling skills. There are many spots where the trail is book-ended by a pair of oaks spaced closer together than the width of your handlebars.

Mary has had a great year on the road -- over 10,000 miles before she found out that her frame was cracked at the beginning of December. She was struggling to keep warm, even though we were in the woods. Fortunately, Mike had some hand-warmers that she was able to add to her gloves.

Laura, after being up late hosting a wonderful New Year's eve party, was doing great in the woods. I wish I had done a better job of capturing her jump over the log pile, but she was just moving too fast!

Eventually we found the "playground". Someone has been busy building a number of obstacles that are beyond me. Mike, even though it was his first time in the woods, didn't hesitate to try to make it over the see-saw. No, Chris didn't push him over. Chris was just trying, without success, to keep Mike from tumbling over.

The only downside of the entire day was that Laura's shoe failed her.

In spite of the "wardrobe failure", it turned out to be great way to start the year!

MTK MBK (Montauk Mountain Biking)

As summer waned, Lizzy and I dropped Julie, our daughter, at college. Like any normal 19 year-old, she was much more interested in re-connecting with friends then with spending additional time with her parents. Sunday morning we headed to Montauk via three ferry trips: New London to Orient Point followed by quick trips on and off Shelter Island. Driving off the ferry at Orient Point, we found ourselves in the middle of hundreds of riders halfway through the North Fork Century. Even though it was a pleasant day for a drive through beautiful countryside, I would have much rather been out on the bike. As soon as we arrived in Montauk, we met up with Lizzy's brother Ger and his wife Tina. Ger and Tina were out in Montauk for the better part of the week, along with assorted members of Tina's extended family. Ger and I immediately headed out for a ride, letting everyone know that they didn't need to wait for us to start dinner.

Ger and I found some beautiful trails along along a sandy ridge in Shadmoor State Park. We meandered up to the lighthouse at Montauk point using a combination of the road, legal and questionable trails. It was a great warm-up ride.

Monday morning we started at the bike shop to pick up an extra tube and to ask about the best trails. The surly teenager (I'm used to those) behind the counter pointed us towards Hither Woods state park and convinced us to buy a trail map (good idea.) Not having time to ride all 40 miles of the park, I pressed the angry adolescent to recommend his favourite trail. He pointed out "Serpent's Back" and described it as "the Sweetest Trail."

Riding North out of Montauk, we quickly found our way into the park. The trails range from packed gravel roads to nearly hidden single-track; from firm and flat to short, steep climbs. Riding through Laurel Canyon affords a terrific vista across the island out to Block Island Sound. We rode for almost two hours before we came upon the Serpent's back trail.

Not really sure what the malcontent mechanic meant by "the sweetest trail", I was expecting a serpentine trail with many twists and turns. What we found is a nearly straight run from South to North, following a series of steep uphills and fast downhills. I quickly learned that if you wanted to get up the following hill, you first needed to build momentum on the downhill. At one particularly steep downhill, I noticed too late that the bottom was deep sand and down I went. As falls go, fortunately it was more spectacular looking than it felt. Head over the handlebars, I landed flat on my back on relatively soft sand. Since he was behind me, Ger witnessed the fall and knew to take it a little more carefully. With adrenalin flowing, I got back on the bike and enjoyed the remainder of the sweetest trail.

For years I've been trying to convince Ger that he needs to wear his helmet. After the Serpent's Trail, he knows why. I'm confident that he will be with a brain bucket the next time we ride.

Leaving the Serpent's Trail we found a lovely single track along the shore. It was a great way to recover. But since the day was still young, we turned back to the center of the island to find some more hills to climb. My chain decided it had had enough. Fortunately were only a couple of miles from the road, and were able to call Lizzy to come and rescue us. Just another example of how lucky I am!

Back to Martha's Vineyard (July 2008)

We shared a wonderful week in Martha's Vineyard with our friends Mark (at left) and Laura and their terrific children. This was a first trip back to the vineyard in nearly 20 years. While I have fond memories of visits to the Vineyard in the '80's I was put off returning by all of the hype the Vineyards received during the Clinton years. I was sure the island was going to be over developed and commercialized. I was more than pleasantly surprised! Not only has the development been managed well, but more than a third of the island has been set aside as publicly available land. This has made the island even better, especially for hikers and bikers!

I managed to get out on the bike every day of the vacation. Some of the rides were hops to town to get coffee before the rest of the house woke up. Other's were longer treks around the island either on my own or with Mark or Lizzie (my wonderful wife). One memorable ride included a ride up island to Gay Head. We included a an excursion to view the famous cliffs (with the rest of tourists) and biked around to the small marina (at left) on Menemsha pond. The best biking is definitely off-road. There are dozens of named trails and paths through parks and land set aside by the MV Land Bank. In addition, there are quite a few publicly accessible "ancient ways" through private land.

Of course, there is more to MV than biking. Every day we visited a different beach - each with it's own character. On a couple of days we loaded up the Mark's car and took the short ferry over to Chappaquiddick. The trek across the infamous bridge and the four wheel drive through deep sand leads you to truly beautiful and deserted beaches.

Lucy is a very serious fisherman. She spent hours surf-casting. But unfortunately she wasn't able to pull in the big one! (Luckily, the local fisherman had much better luck and we were able to find wonderfully fresh fish in the market.)


We stayed in a cozy home on Lake Tashmoo. Each afternoon we went out in the canoes to get fresh clams for dinner. Each evening we sat out on the deck and enjoyed cocktails as the sun set. No wonder this was the most relaxing vacation I've had in years!

A Hill Slug Rides the Vienna Hills

After some quick scratching on the back of an envelope, I calculate that I've spent more than 1500 days traveling on business over the last 20 years. Yet, I can count on one hand the number of trips where I've been able to combine any leisure other than a nice dinner, maybe a quick walk around the city, and too much time spent in the bar. Not one trip where I've been able to combine any cycling – until my last one...

As soon as I found out that I had a pending business trip to Vienna, I emailed my friend Ernst to let him know that I could be in town on the Sunday morning, and asked if he would be up for a repeat of the mountain bike outing that we had done last September when I was there on vacation. Ernst is, for all intents, my big brother, having lived with my family for a year as an exchange student when we were both teenagers. When we rode in September, he seemed to get a lot of pleasure out of briskly riding up hills where I was forced to dismount and walk up the steepest sections. Fortunately, Laura's rides have continued to improve my conditioning.

After an overnight flight, I find myself at Ernst's on a temperate, overcast Sunday morning. A great day for a ride! We're joined by Bizzy, Heinz, and Heinrich. Ernst lives in the 19th district on the very edge of Vienna. It is only a short ride through residential neighborhoods until we're on a dirt road riding through vineyards. Beyond the vineyards is the Wienerwald (Vienna Forrest). The overcast skies and misty conditions resulted in photos that don't due justice the beauty of the rolling hills.

After about 30 minutes, it becomes clear that Ernst and I have some become separated from the rest of the group. Fortunately Ernst's ever-present mobile phone works in the hills and soon the group is re-united.

Soon we come to a fork in the road, I can't read the sign, but Ernst lets me know that now the climbing starts and that it will be uphill for the next 30 minutes or so (oh joy!) While not as steep as what Ernst brought me up in the Fall, it was pretty steady climbing (think 3 or 4 climbs up Long Hill Rd strung together.) At the top, the loggers conveniently left a makeshift chair for Heinz to rest upon and enjoy the view while he waited for me to slug it up the hill.

After a combination of ridge riding and climbing, we made it to Kahlenberg. Kahlenberg is at 484 meters is a popular destination for locals out for a hike or bike, as well as for tourists. There are broad terraces that offer wonderful views of Vienna. In clear weather you can see through Lower Austria to Slovakia. In spite of the limited visibility, we still took a moment to enjoy the broad vista. This picture below (from Wikipedia, courtesy of Clemens Pfeiffer) gives a much better sense of the vista.

Behind the terrace is the Baroque Church of St. Joseph, also referred to as the Polish Church. The church was built to honor King John Sobieski of Poland who stopped to pray here before leading his troops to the defense of Vienna against the Turks in the 1683 Battle of Vienna.

The ride back from Kahlenberg featured some spectacular downhills, a few reasonable climbs, and some great vistas as we rode along the ridge. All too soon, we were riding through the vineyards and back in Ernst's neighborhood.

On the way back, we stopped so that Ernst could give us a tour of the house that he recently bought. Ernst and his wife, Margit, are renovating this to be their dream house where they will spend the next 50 years together. I was pleased when Ernst pointed out that the renovation includes a nice guest room!

The new house is within walking distance from Ernst's current house. After a quick final ride, we put the bikes away, and cooled off with a dip in the pool and a nice Austrian beer.

In closing I'll provide my comparison of a typical Hill Slug ride with my Sunday excursion in the Vienna Woods.