2016 Bike Journal Challenge Day 12 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
Category: Bicycle
SMILE
I wasn’t going to bike commute today for a couple of reasons but those are moot because I ended up riding. Withing a few hundred feet of the ride, I knew this was going to be a video bonanza. I couldn’t help but think of how many times people who don’t walk or bike miss the things I saw today.
I got my 9 mile work commute after spending time at the fitness center and eating a healthy breakfast. It got easy to not weigh myself and how that happened is beyond me. I’m really hoping for a surprising (to the good) result on Monday when I step on the scale.
Today’s video is an early morning bike commute into the city while the fog was just starting to life. As I approached the bridge, a fishing boat was just entering the harbor and the freighter across the river was just beginning to emerge out of the fog. Also a couple of shots of my peeps, the Salvation Army Bell Ringers.
Over the next two days I’m going to try to get them to do a mannequin challenge. The big challenge is going to be trying to get all of them to be still for 30 seconds.
2016 Bike Jounal Weight Loss challenge day 4 and 5 with Steven Tyler (Smile) from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
Bike Journal Weight Loss Challenge.
It seems that when I try to lose weight I end up gaining. This time will be different. They call me el Blimpo now but just wait. I’ll be Senior Svelte.
During this time of year I deliver the Salvation Army bell ringers to their stores. I bike commute the four miles to the office before loading the van with my peeps. After work I usually run errands on the bike or just go for a ride. Today was running errands but all were on the route home so I didn’t get any additional miles. I did however get a video. But you all knew I would.
2016 Bike Journal Weight Loss Challenge Day 1 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
The Peninsula of New Bedford, MA
I am in a couple of bike riding challenges which gives me the motivation to ride every day. Lots of things are going on during the early part of the day to keep me busy and off the bike. However, late afternoon and early evening has become prime time for my riding. Combine that with working on my video editing skills gives me plenty of motivation to ride into the early darkness.
THE PENNINSULA from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
Way Back When
Way back in the day when I was working, I would dream about riding my bike to the office. The problem was that the office was 40 miles from home. I wished I worked closer so I could ride. I became jealous reading about bike commuters. One day I read about a guy who would drive to within a few miles of work and bike the rest of the way. Duhhh. How many times have we overlooked the obvious until we hear someone say it out loud. I spent a few days driving around, mapping different routes and places to leave my car.
When it was time for the first commute, I parked at a high school six miles from the office. I also spent a sleepless night worrying about my first bike commute. I did that for a couple of days and was thinking about parking ten miles away. Still I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Again, captain obvious slapped me across the back of the head when on the internet at work, a writer who was experiencing the same qualms said, “why was I worrying myself crazy? It’s just a bike ride”. Duhhhh From then on, my commute, no matter the distance or routes I chose, was just a bike ride.
When the gas prices got very high, I started taking the bus to the commuter lot, 11 miles from my office. One entry is HERE, when I was The Fairhaven Roadie online. That blog name only lasted a year when I realized I wasn’t a roadie, I was a commuter and needed a new name for my blog. I am a member of the New England Revolution supporters group, The Midnight Riders. I am not “the midnight rider.” I am “a midnight rider.” One of many.
I had to leave home by 5:10 am every morning to ride the four miles to the terminal and catch the 5:30 bus to Taunton, Ma. The bus to take me back home wouldn’t get to the mall till after 6 PM getting me home around 7 PM. Needless to say, it was a very long day away from home.
I have written extensively about the bike path I use every day but never that early in the morning. My fist time I was amazed at how loud nature can be when all the birds and animals begin their day. It’s crazy loud and the traffic in the sky and along the ground was nuts. It’s just another one of those wonderful things we miss when we spend our lives in our cars.
Last night on my ride home the birds reminded me of those days way back when.
Riding A Bike Makes It A Better Day
It was blustery, chilly and kind of dreary. Then I got on my bike and all that stuff faded away. I also changed the theme which is why this blog looks different. (Says Captain Obvious). I took a lot of photos but only kept a few. For instance:
West Island
“West Island is named for one of it’s early owners, a man named West. The island juts out into Buzzard’s Bay, and is connected to Sconticut Neck by a causeway. Most of the island is owned by the state and is kept as a wildlife preserve. The town owns acres of beach-land, the Fairhaven Town Beach. This is one of the nicest beaches on Buzzard’s Bay, with over a mile of beach, and waters warmed by the shallow Buzzard’s Bay. It is also an ideal location to watch the sailboats that revel in the famous Buzzard’s Bay breeze.” Dana Morris.
Rode for a couple of hours around the island hanging out and taking pictures.
Boats
When you live on the coast, in a fishing village, boats are everywhere and people like me tend to take lots of boat photos on our bike rides.
Friday Night Sunset/Full Moon Fiasco #1
Friday Night Sunset Ride
Meet at the Dell’s Lemonade stand in Warren, RI at 6PM for a 6:15 start. We will ride to Colt State Park to watch the sun set with the Fall River bike group. A night ride will follow and will pass the meeting spot for those who don’t want to continue. Others will ride to East Providence and up the Washington Bridge before returning to Warren.
Bring your lights and a smile.
Dell’s Lemonade. 65 Child St. Warren R.I.
Get directions from your home HERE
A Midnight Rider 