Bang, scrape, exhale.

I did a couple of rides with my neighbor Joey and he enjoyed them enough to talk about them with his family. His brother, Brandon asked, "Why don't we go sometime?".


Sunday evening Brandon and I set out on a 20+ mile ride through Mattapoisett, Ma.




Brandon was a very good skateboarder in his younger days, and he could be seen on his BMX bike on any given day, doing tricks and stuff. Most often though, he was picking his bike of the ground and dusting himself off. While we were standing in front of my house deciding on a time to ride, a couple of younger neighbors stopped by to say hello. The talk somehow turned to music and a couple of tv shows that the younger ones didn't know of. Brandon said, "You never heard that/them?" One of the kids responded sarcastically, "What was that, like 1988, or something?" I'm sure it was the first time Brandon was called old.
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I let Brandon ride my commuter bike, the Marin. This is the one with the brand new cassette and chain. Also a full maintanence was done in preparation for NYC this comming weekend. My goodness.....I have never heard so much banging, clanking and chain slips, like I did on this ride.

Most of the time he was lagging behind me. I say that with toung in cheek. He was behind but usually in the middle or on the opposite side of the road, one hand on the bar, and using the other for his cigarette.

Tonight I may ride with the Applichian Mountain Club group. Then again, I may stay home and see if the commuter needs any repairs.

Politics

***From the "someone finally looked under the rock", files

According to those early 21st century poets--Three-Six Mafia--it's supposedly "Hard Out Here For A Pimp".

I beg to differ with these latter-day Bards. Nowadays you see, it's actually much, much harder out here for a Wingnut. But just like in the movie "Hustle & Flow", the root cause of the trouble...

Is those pesky "Hos", of course

The Lower Manhattanite has quickly become my favorite blogger.

And this from Digby:

On September 11, 2001, Ashleigh Banfield was reporting from the streets of Manhattan, where she was nearly suffocated from the debris cloud from the collapsing World Trade Center. Banfield continued reporting, even as she rescued a NYPD officer, and with him, fled to safety into a streetside shop. After the initial reporting of the tragedy had ended, Banfield received a promotion, as MSNBC sent her around the world as the producer of a new program, A Region in Conflict.

more

Training for NYC

ESteve, who is riding the Five Borought next week and I did a training ride on the East Bay Bike Path. I ride it often and every ride exposes something new.

After three years of trying to meet up with the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen for the weekly "Cafe Ride", it finally happened. One rider broke the stem while putting air in her tire. A couple were worried it may be an omen. If you believe that stuff, I guess it could be. It wasn't. I wanted to give this groups shovels for something to lean on .

Off we went on the EBBP for a thirteen mile ride to the Bagle Shop in Bristol R.I.
The group began to pull away and I stayed with Steve. He took the winter off and I could see he was struggling. Not unusual at the beginning of any activity.








We decided to let the group go and we would have breakfast in Warren. "The Restaurant", is the preferred breakfast stop when I ride with my 20 something year old neighbor, Joey. The staff make breakfast a pleasure. (College age waitresses, if you know what I mean). Anyhow, back to the ride. Steve mentioned that he suffers from ashma, and when he said that I completely understood his slow start. Then he mentioned that he had two, "TWO" donuts on the drive to the parking area. Now I'm thinking, {{{{if I take a poll on what caused Steve's lethargy, would the votes lean towards asthma as the cause, or DONUTS!!!!!?}}}. (Bike Riding Donut Guy, you have an opinion on this?)

No matter. We had a nice ride that began on the cool side, with fog and a low cloud cover. An hour or so into the ride, it began to clear, and we got some sunny, rather warm conditions for the latter part of the ride.

After breakfast, we decided on a couple of side trips. We stopped briefly at the Veterans Memorial in Bristol and also took a side trip through and around Colt State Park.

Here is the slideshow of our 32 mile ride, with some blues music.

Time to Ponder

Heavy rain will prevent bike rides and such. It's a time where we can stop and ponder.

Fitness Ride

Slept in again this morning. I'm planning to do the route that introduced me to riding years ago. It's a loop that can range from 15-26 miles. My first ride on the old Huffy 12 speed was the 15 mile loop. Back in the days when watts, mph, and cadence were important, this was the place to ride at speed because there is a good mix of hills and flats.

Our neighbor called yesterday and asked if we could spare three beers for her son who was returning from a commercial scallop trip. Not a problem. I have some Sam Adams Winter Brew that I can take or leave. Glenn got three of those and in exchange we got a bag of fresh scallops. BTW, New Bedford Ma. has been the #1 scallop port in the world for many years.



A note about fresh scallops. The scallops could have been taken yesterday, or over a week ago on the first day of the trip. Glenn is the boat's first mate and always brings his mum the latest catch. Ours were caught and shucked around 25 hours before we cooked them. A very good trade if I say so myself. My beer of choice with fresh baked scallops? Peroni

The miles are adding up

pNow that the weather is better, at 6AM it's light out, and the bikes are all tuned up, it's much easier to get up that hour early to bike to work. Yesterday however, I decided to sleep in and ride the MUP in Fairhaven with wifey after work. We did an easy 7 miles.

This mornings commute was very different. I somehow managed to experience "highway hypnosis". I was about two thirds through the commute and couldn't remember getting there. I was distracted thinking about other things and was in auto mode. That's good? I guess??

I may get one more commute in this week before the rainy weather hits. Steve, a co-worker, who is riding the NYC five boroughs next week, and I, are planning a 30+ ride in Rhode Island on Saturday.

There are very few things I watch on TV. My favorite is Independent Lense. It usually broadcasts late, which can scrap the following day's commute. Luckily there are multiple broadcast.

Mattapoisett

The wind was unexpected, I was tired and it wouldn't have taken much for me to ditch this ride. As usual, it passed un-noticed and the ride becomes the natural thing to be doing.

I took note of the progress of the rebuilding of the East Fairhaven School. Both the kids went there and it's also where the Mariner Soccer League was born in 1977.

I was going to ride out to Marion, Ma. where the annual Boat race to Bermuda originates. The tired legs told me to make this an easier recovery ride. The back roads to Mattapoisett would suffice.

Those roads took me past old fish hatchery


and a cemetery dating to the early 19th century. Most of the houses also have plaques that tell of the original owners and the dates of the home. It's very common around here and most date to the early or mid 1800's.

Thinking about lunch at the Oxford Creamery had me drooling. It's a seasonal business and the place is packed on the warm summer evenings. The line was outside the door, the parking lot was full and there was no room at any of the outdoor tables. Water would have to do for now.

The ride then took me down to the waterfront. Crescent Beach and Point Connett were devastated by Hurricane Bob in the early 90's. Strawberry point had twenty two homes vanish when a thirty foot tidal surge hit. Those homes are now rebuilt, and all on stilts.

There was a woman rider I saw a few places. I caught up to her at the crossing that took us back to the country roads for the return leg, and tried to start a conversation. I asked her where she was heading, she was very vague and very slow in getting started. I took the hint and moved off. Not long after, I was taking a couple of final photos and heard "on your left". I caught the faintest smirk as she passed and let her put some distance between us. We ended up taking the same roads and I wonder if she thought me a predator?

Lots of families, people on bikes and lots of teens on bikes. That's nice to see.
The wind on the return leg made the ride difficult. I ended up doing a pretty good training ride along with a photo taking ride.

The weather will allow commuting to work for at least the first three days. If I can get out of bed at 5AM.

Here is what I saw with some music.

Ride or Yard Work?

I did both but only used my camera for the bike ride.

A thirty mile ride brought me into New Bedford where I met a trio picking up trash around the bridge stairway. I struck up a conversation with Donna. She decided to quit smoking today when she saw the amount of butts that were disgarded at every stop light. She said she was going to visit Quit Smoking Journals where I am a moderator.

There were lots of people out cleaning their yards and cars. The parks were filled with little ones being watched over by parents and grandparents, baseball tryouts and practices and lots of soccer games.

Lunch was a $2 cold cheeseburger, and a luke warm bottle of water at the Dartmouth Youth Soccer complex and was enough fuel for the return ride. I did notice that Village Bike was gone. It lasted one year in Padanaram Villiage.

There was a guy riding an old Trek 520 touring bike. He doesn't tour, but said the bike was very comfortable. He does pretty much the same 17 mile loop every bike ride, and loves it. I was about to ask to take a photo of him and bike just as he bit adeu and left the bike path for his route.

When I walked in the door, my two buddies were waiting patiently for their turn.





The remix covers it all.

A Break in the Weather

The Nor'Easter that has been hanging over Cape Cod is finally moving off. It was an opportune time to drop of the commuter bike for the needed repairs. A new chain and cassette.
Saturday and Sunday will be pretty good riding days and 70 or 80 miles over the weekend is a very high possibility.
With pictures of course.
In the meantime, a little something from last summer in Amsterdam.

Buddy Guy and Biking

Number 3 son and I got tickets to the Buddy Guy concert As advertized the show was amazing.

After an hour or so of some great blues, Buddy stopped the music and told a story about an 8 year old, Quinn Sullivan who came into his dressing room and wanted to play with him. When he heard the kid he asked him to join him onstage later in the show.




The kid brought down the house. His 20 minutes made the $45 ticket price seem cheap. Buddy played a riff, the kid matched him. Buddy got a little fancier, the 8 year old matched him. Buddy cut loose and was easily matched. The youngster ended up closing the show and continued to play for a few minutes with the band after Buddy left the stage.

Out of the blue, he approached a big star, played for him and there is no doubt you will be seeing him on tv and news shows, very very soon. Watch for him.

Before the show, Brandon and I dined at a really nice waterfront restaurant named Davy's Locker, before making the trek back downtown to the theater.





In the morning I managed to ride the East Bay Bike Path with some friends. The 26 mile ride included a hearty breakfast in Warren, R.I. Click the link to strike up the music and view the slidshow to see what we saw.

Root Canal and bike riding

The dentist called last night with an opening for an early morning opening. I accepted and rode to the 8AM root canal. Camera in hand, naturally. I pedaled through the village of Fairhaven,

to the bridge crossing into New Bedford, Ma.





Fairhaven Grange hall circa 1820


Town Hall


Overlook towards Fairhaven from Dentist office

Root canals have come a long way. After the proceedure, I rode to a local spot for breakfast.

The Best Plans

Wifey is in Atlanta visiting #2 Son. I had an extended weekend planned doing lots of biking, preparing for the five boroughs tour in New York City. The forcast calls for rain and snow today and tomorrow, with a sever nor'easter forcast for Sunday and Monday. Riding the East Bay Bike Path on Saturday is still in the works.
Saturday night is Buddy Guy concert at the Zeiterion Theater

All this while waiting to have a root canal on Tuesday. Fortunately the dentist was sympathetic and gave me a little something to get through the weekend. Everything has a silver lining.

The post with music just may be really good when I do that one. See you then. Happy weekend to my six readers.

Star Trek Convention

My office looks like a Star Trek Convention. People are wearing baseball costumes with names of their favorite characters. Most have Red Sox but here are a few NY outfits.

There is something just not right about adults in their 40's wearing clothing with thier favorite 25 year old's name on the back. Very strange.

There could be a double East Bay ride Friday and Saturday. Joey wants to ride it again on Saturday, and a friend from work wants to drive down on Friday to ride. I'm game for both. And naturally they will be posted with some good blues music.

Japanese Spa

I'll be commuting Monday morning and won't post till the evening. Here is a little tidbit to enjoy.

Opening Day

Here is where the cat is let out of the bag for some. I am not "THE" but "A" Midnight Rider and part of this lively group

This is the purpose of our existence

Finally, opening day. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??????

Ira Glass

The weather is not at all condusive for biking, which allows or forces me to do other things, like racquetball. Too bad no one else found themselves in the same conundrum. I had two courts to myself at prime time. Usually all the courts are booked from 5-8 PM and I have to hang around for a no-show (or injury) to get to play. I couldn't bring myself to do any physical stuff today so I just went home and flipped on the tv.

Except for Countdown with Keith Olbermann, I am strickly a PBS watcher. (If I watch anything at all). I happend to catch Charlie Rose, who by the way, I enjoy very much as an interviewer. His guest are ladies and gentlemen, and discuss any differences as such. The other end of the spectrum are things like Fox, UPN, and other networks, all of which are the reasons I don't watch tv.

One of my favorites is listening to PBS radio shows. In particular "This American Life", with Ira Glass. His radio show is so comfortable, entertaining and eye opening.

Ira was a guest on the second half of the Charlie Rose show today.

The glass interview begins just beyond the blue square at the bottom of the screen.

The You Tube below is a trailer of "This Amerian Life" radio show adapted for tv.

Five Boroughs Bike

NYC has a great event. The Five Bouroughs Bike Ride. Beginning at Battery Park in Manhattan, the rider cross five bridges that take them to five boroughs of the city. In addition to Manhattan is Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.

A few of us from work will make the trek. If I can get him in, Joey from my previous post and Crys from Quit Smoking Journals will also be there.

Time is getting close, registration is filling fast. Last year 32,000 riders showed, and that number is about the limit. It's very popular and growing.

We are gathering in Battery Park on Saturday, May 5th. We will be around all afternoon, with everyone doing their own thing. It's a great event, safe and not at all a difficult ride.

If you want to join us either for the ride or just the party in Battery Park, e-mail or leave a note. We would love to meet you.

Here is a little tast from last years ride. Enjoy.

Riding with Joey

My neighbor Joey said he used to love to ride bikes and wanted to get back into it. I offered a 30 mile ride with breakfast. He accepted.

We drove to Providence R.I. to the East Bay Bike Path. It's a 13.5 mile flat route that parallels the Providence River before winding through the New England historic towns of Barrington, Warren and Briston R.I.
Warren R.I. was the home of American Tourister luggage. They merged with Samsonite and thrived for many years. #2 son Todd spent a few year in marketing for them. Unfortunately, the US business dried up. They are very big in Europe, but here, pehhh.
We stopped for breakfast in Warren and rode around the town ohhhing and ahhhing the sites. On the way to Bristol, R.I. we side tracked into Colt State Park. Lots of history in the park, and lots of animals. Ram, sheep, lions.
We came across a pretty nasty looking car accident. Immediately one could tell there were no injuries, but the nice new sports car looked like the letter V when they removed it from the telephone pole. As we passed the traffic control, there was a young woman of around 20 on her cell phone. I overheard her telling dad, (I presume), "I was looking at the ducks, looked back to the road and there was a telephone pole there".
In Bristol, Joe and I took in the sights including a very old Puritan Church, dating to the mid 18th century. Also the Bristol Veterans Memorial.
The thirty five mile ride took us almost four hours to complete, with two and a half being saddle time. Much more than the eight minutes I needed to complete my fundraising commitment.
Here are the photos posted a little differently. Hope you like.