Revs Win, Revs Win

Twellman's cracker of a goal.

Taylor Twellman's 38th minute "goal of the year" overhead volley put the Revolution in the finals for the third consecutive year. This midnight rider will be making the trip to DC for the MLS Cup next weekend. No doubt about it.


Another month, another championship in New England.

There was also the chance to get in a bike ride along the waterfront. A freighter was in port unloading hundreds of truck trailors. Years ago these would have been loaded onto trains to make their way across the country. Trains could solve a lot of our transportation, safety and ecological problems. But they don't have a very good lobby.



The thirty mile ride really felt good. It had been a few weeks of short market runs and was past the time to do a longer ride.


The beaches are all deserted for the winter.

After the ride it was off to the Y. There was enough time to get in a really hard racquetball game before kickboxing class. It was very tempting to not complete the boxing session because of fatigue, but a few well timed rest breaks got me through the class. There should have been a feeling of accomplishment but the excitement and anticipation of the Revs game made all that and the rest of the world kind of irrelevant.

This and all the other Midnight Riders will be in DC for the culmination of this great sports run. "Go You Revs"


Sung to Hi Ho Maderio

New England 'til I die
New England 'til I die
I know I am, I'm sure I am
New England 'til I die

Thursday Night EBBP

The Thursday night East Bay Bike Path rides are back. Now the dilema. The Revs also play this Thursday in the Easter Conference Final, after sending the hated New York Red Bulls packing. There is also the kick boxing class to consider. It's difficult when any of the three is the best decision. The weather is definitely going to dictate this one.

200 Peanut Butter Cups

That's what it took to protect the house from the ghosts and gobblins roaming the streets on Halloween evening. The street scene looked very much like the one in the movie, "It's a Wonderfull Life". Every house had kids at the front door. There was a constant flow of princess', spidermen, draculas' and witches criss crossing the street, warding off the evil spirits with screams of glee.

Things calmed down around 8PM, the lights went off and the candy count was 204 bribes.

For those who are into team sports, it's a good time to be in New England. The Revolution are in a playoff run. Parkhurst won the leagues fair play award, and his sixty yard strike is in a tight race for the MLS goal of the year award.

The Red Sox won the league title, the Celtics, look to be back in form, and the Bruins begin league play.




Saturday evening all of the Midnight Riders will be representing at Gillette Stadium for the home leg with Red Bull NY. (The hated New York.) Third time is a charm and maybe, just maybe the curse of Stapo will be broken.

Ohhhhh New England,
New England!! New England!!!
repeat till blue in the face.
Then go vote.

Sunset on the Dinner Train

A weekend spent working again. On the bright side, the Revs are playing and the stadium is only three exits up the road. The match is at 7:30PM and I get out of work at four. Those facts made today a logical ride to work day, allowing a 21 mile ride, with time to shower, change and still get to the tailgate. It is going to be hot though, around 90ish.





Sue and I got an invitation to experience the Dinner Train in Newport R.I.







Four of Sue's friends and co-workers were our companions for the evening.









The train rolls slowly north for an hour, stops and rolls south to the starting point. It's always on a slight tilt making sitting quite uncomfortable. (trying to keep yourself in the chair).


We all piled into the cocktail car for the first part of the journey. A couple of speeches by our host, (our financial company) before stopping for a group picture.


We all gathered for a group photo with the train at our backs.



Actually what was behind the camera was pretty impressive too. The USS Saratoga, a retired air craft carrier. But as we passed the bohemoth what was more impressive was....




...there are two carriers. Next to the Saratoga sits the USS Forrestal. Impressive no?

We reboarded the train into the dinning car this time. In the cocktail car we were "entertained" by a guy who looked a lot like Frazier Crain. All the staff were from Serbia and very friendly and professional. The food was ok, but as mentioned earlier, the company was great.




"This way for the dinner train"




Sue and the life of the party, Marian.



Some of the staff.


The dinner car.



Sunset Kayaker

Steve Gilliard

Commuting to work. Same bike, same road, same people, same weather. Same O, Same O. No sense saying any more about that.

The grass is growning like a teenager reading playboy. Three days of forecast rain forced the skipping of the Revs/Real Salt Lake match. Most of the RevGuess, predictions were for a two or three goal win for the Revs.



The weather forcast was for 30% chance of light rain today. A half hour later work start on Sundays, made biking very tempting. None of the stations bothered to mention the early morning forcast.

Torrential downpoars that made driving very difficult. A bike would have been impossible to ride. After the initial hour, the heavy rain subsided, and the day has turned into the forcasted occasional light showers.

The commuter is giving some problems. It could be the tire, it could be the wheel needs truing. There is a bumping with each tire rotation. It feels like a bubble in the tube or something stuck on the tire. A check tonight after work will have an answer. (fingers crosses).

This, was a shock. Steve was a very well respected and popular liberal blogger from NYC. There are some wonderfull eulogys from his fellow bloggers. James Wolcott, Daily Kos, Orcinus, and Jane a friend of Jesus' General patriot boy.

Speaking of liberal, with the expected election of a Democratic Congress, Senate and President, a return of the right wing violence is expected. Here is a good discussion on the topic.

"...in recent months, especially as the prospect of the voting public giving movement conservatives the boot loomed larger, we've seen cases like Chad Castagana, in which formerly mainstream conservatives -- self-admittedly inspired by the hateful rhetoric of people like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin -- have crossed over into actual domestic terrorism, inspired not just by hatred of the government but hatred of liberals."

There are a couple of bike film sites worth a look....

Street Films who advertise themselves as "Filming the New York City Streets Renaissance" and...

The Bicyclist "A wind blown and rain soaked comedy series from the hipster streets of counter culture Portland, Oregon. Alternative transportation, alternative lifestyle, alternative tv."

Tomorrow, (Monday) is the first day of evening Spanish classes. Two months of online learning was a good start. The campus is downtown New Bedford, Ma. which is not a safe place to leave a bike. No one could answer weather a bike was allowed in the building. The security guard said some professors will allow bikes in the classroom, but definitely not in the hallway. "How about baby carriages?" drew a blank stare from the guard.

Memorial Weekend

Saturday
Ireland/Bolivia.....Revs/Wizards.
That was the double header at Gillette Stadium on Saturday. The crowd was down for the international because Ireland, (who is normally a huge draw in Boston), came with the squad of youngsters trying for a spot on the A team. Very few of the regular Revs fans made an effort to see much of that game. We were all content to spend a little extra time in the lot, prepping for the Revs.

Kansas City has a very good record in New England. Not losing since Sept. of 99. After the Revs struck early twice, KC came roaring back to keep the streak going. A 4-3 victory for the Wizards. The "Fort", which is where "The" Midnight Riders reside, was spot on and loud for this one. Probably from the extra time tailgating. The exception of course was a free kick taken by our deteriorating Bermuda striker, Khano Smith The shot was hard, but it was so far off target it drew reactions like this

"On the bright side, at least it stayed in the stadium, and no unsuspecting fan was injured."

"It was unbelievable. The crowd hardly re-acted for a few seconds because we didnt believe it was an actual free kick. I was thinking maybe there was an extra ball on the field and he was just getting rid of that one. Nope. He is just an awful player."

"After that horrendous kick, he and Ralston lined up for a free kick about the 18 yard line. No doubt Ralston was going to take it (eventually off the post) but I wanted some kind of warning if Smith was going to take it because I wanted time to move my car from the West lot in case it got hit by the ball."

Many of the fans take a loss by the team personal. It must be a younger persons thing. Going to the games and getting to know the hometown players and those around the league is fun and interesting. But getting too happy with a win or upset with a loss, just doesn't happen for me any more.

Sunday
Sue and I spent some time with the dogs at the pound. She is a volunteer there, which by default makes me a volunteer. When the kennels were finally cleaned, the dogs were properly played with and picked up after, and they were given their treats of peanut butter on a graham cracker, we decided on an afternoon bike ride to the city. It was her initiation into urban riding. Traffic was lighter than usual because it was Sunday, but heavier than Sundays because of the holiday.

Taking the lead involved talking her into taking control of the lanes when it was necessary. Also portaging the bikes at the bridge, crossing a busy highway at the "quick" traffic light. Backtrack on a couple of one way streets and a few other common and uncommon techniques. I heard lots of complaining behind me. Things like, "I'll never ride with you again.' 'This is crazy and not safe". After a little explaining and a gentle reminder that I do this every day, she came around. All that is needed is some experience riding in traffic to show how easy it really is. No more getting off the bike at every left turn for her. Signal and take the lane. That's our motto.
Both days are on the video. There is some uncommon music thanks to limewire and bit torrent.