The 2019 cycling season has officially begun. Find your cycling buddy!

I had a practice solo ride about two weeks ago on a lovely 70 degree Friday after work. It was the first nice day in months after months of cold weather. When you see an opportunity, I say take it. I ended up riding a longer-than-expected 22 mile ride after making a few wrong turns. Turned into a long tiring ride, but I made it back in one piece no worse for wear.

Last Saturday, I reached out to a bunch of guys in town and organized a group ride. My son Joshua was camping last weekend, so we turned a joke about riding out to see the Boy Scouts into reality. I mapped out a 24 miles roundtrip route for us, dropped off the bike for a tune-up, clean up, and brand new tires. I also ordered a new Camelback insulated water bottle and new Rokform rugged case for my Galaxy S9+, and the Rokform PRO-LITE bike mount.

Let me explain the last two items – my CatEye cyclocomputer stopped working earlier, and I decided to toss it. No more computer, no more wires and sensors on my front wheel. I decided to mount my phone on the handlebar and use the Polar Beat app to monitor my performance, and the app can use my phone’s GPS to track speed and distance and route. When I picked up my bike from my local bike shop, I asked them to install my new mount.

The only real monkey wrench I experienced was the weather forecast. It wouldn’t reach 70 degrees until the afternoon, and would only be 50 degrees in the early morning. I ended up making a pit stop at REI in Lawrenceville to pick out a cycling jacket to help me keep my upper body warm. I think it looks snazzy.

We met up in Hightstown, and rode out. Josh was surprised to see us walk our bikes across the lawn, and only slightly embarrassed. He said “very” embarrassed, but he’s lying.

After chatting with the other Scout leaders, we took on the 2nd half of the route with no muss or fuss. 25 miles in the can, saw some new interesting housing developments along the way, and caught up on what everyone has been doing these past few months.

This was my first time organizing a bike route, and it wasn’t bad. I can do it again.

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