As the trails are covered in snow and the roads are still full of salt, I opted to take the Kona Rove on a road ride. In about a month, I will be headed up to Vermont for the Rasputitsa gravel ride. It’s been tough to get many miles in this winter, so I decided that quality miles would be better than quantity today.

I set out from Action Bikes and Outdoor in Milford, and headed over to Milford Hills to climb Skyline Drive. The grade travels skyward for 650 feet in just over 2 miles. Above the tree line, the views of the Delaware Valley are spectacular.

I navigated the 4 switchbacks as I descended back to town, and pedaled over to Greenwood Hills, another private community with very little traffic and alpine type hills. The road surface here is a mix of pavement and gravel. The grade is steep as you gain more than 400 feet of elevation in about 2 miles.

I dropped down again, and rode to Foster Hill (7th Street). The two and a half mile climb to the Malibu Dude Ranch takes every bit of energy I can muster this early in the year. At the top, I was greeted with gunshots from the nearby range, which sounded so close, that I took a quick photo by the lake and scrambled back down the hill.

I recovered well on the descent and attempted to climb up Rt. 6. Well, that didn’t last long, as the wind felt like I was pedaling up and into a wall. Getting nowhere, I decided to call it a day and cruise back to Milford.

Happy with a few thousand feet of elevation, I hope the 45 degree day is a sign of things to come. Lots of adventures planned for the spring and summer, I’ll detail a few gravel rides and bike packing trips in a future post.