Place ridden: Belleplain State Forest, Woodbine, NJ
Date ridden: March 2014
This weekend again required traveling to find somewhere snow free and warm to ride. New Jersey bike shops were contacted about what could be ridden, and we were told about Belleplain State Forest. Just a little south of where we were last week, we decided it was worth checking out for a day trip.
What started as just a few people ended up being a pretty decent size group, which was great, the more the merrier. Many people who attended were riding friends we haven't ridden with since before it started snowing, so it was nice to catch up with friends.
Most trails were single or double track that were criss-crossed by dirt roads. Some twists and turns, bridges, some roots, and A LOT of puddles. Deep, icy puddles that at times required traversing through the surrounding forest to get around. Some puddles we came to were more like ponds or lakes and required us turning around and going back. Thus, needless to say we didn't get to ride all of the trails in the park and spent quite a bit of time retracing a route we had already ridden.
Overall, it was worth the drive. It was a nice day, time spent with friends, explored a new place, got in some good base training, and no matter what it was better than riding the hometrainer in the basement. Would we go back, probably not.
And as always a short video recap.