The early mornings are for the older gentlemen walking on the bike path. Today while riding to the gym I ran into three who were walking on the left side of the photo above. It’s the horse path and also where everyone takes their dogs to shit. The women pick it up and the men usually don’t. Continue reading “Watch Out For Black Ice”→
It turned out to be a nice morning and there was a club bike ride scheduled to begin at 10 AM. That was too late for me and since this 25 mile East Bay Bike Path route in Rhode Island was a ride I had done dozens of times, I decide on an earlier start. (And finish). Continue reading “A Very Serene Bike Ride”→
It was getting late for a bike ride. After 1 PM and I wanted to do the 30 mile loop. But I really didn’t feel like it. Standing in my garage, dressed for a ride, staring at three bikes. I felt like one of those couples on the HGTV show House Hunters. I eliminated the touring bike by hanging it up for the winter. That left the road bike and the commuter. I finally grabbed the Felt road bike, put on the roadie shoes and off I went.
I met a regular young walker on the MUP stopped to say hello for a few seconds and began to ride away. He began to walk faster then jog to keep pace.
“Are you trying to keep up with me” I asked.
“As long as I can” was his response.
“Good luck with that” I quipped as I quickly accelerated to 19 MPH on this flat stretch of blacktop.
During the first part of the ride I couldn’t shake the desire to take one of the many bail out option on this route. Eventually I slipped into the riding zone and before I knew it passed the point of no return. Meaning there were no more side roads to shorten the route.
Because of the late start, I rode past one of the local high schools at dismissal time. I was also riding west into the low sun. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were lines of high school drivers texting while also being blinded by the low sun behind me. I found a place to get off the narrow country road to let the traffic settle down.
I sat in front of these two who were both born in the 1700’s as the high school traffic raced by.
The car traffic ended and the yellow buses began to make their way toward me from the school. I began riding thinking the school bus drivers would be a safe bet as they passed giving me plenty of room. Think again big guy. The buses were traveling faster than the kids in cars and the 50 something male drivers had fire in their eyes as they passed. A couple very close I might add. I again pulled off to the side to let the remaining buses go by.
From then on it was clear sailing to the country store. It’s a stop I always make if for no other reason, because it’s there. A woman inside asked if I was running when she saw my get up. “Riding a bike” I said. “Oh, that’s even colder”. It was chilly, which is different from cold. 45 degrees chilly. I mentioned I only had 8 or 9 miles to go and then she asked how many I had done. When I said around 20 her eyes bugged out. I used to think 30 miles was a massive amount to ride a bike in one day. Now, it’s a decent ride.
Near the end of the ride, I noticed a rider approaching. As the rider got close I realized it was one of our group riders, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. As we crossed paths I stopped and yelled “JUNE, howahyah”. I got a soft hi John back as she rode toward the setting sun. I think June hates me.
Just a couple of things to end this post. The road that had collapsed because of the water passing under through the pipe way that was built of brick and stone sometime in the 40’s, is almost complete. It looks like all that’s left is the blacktop.
Lastly. If your ankle strap that keeps your pants from getting caught in you chain come off on a country road some day and you turn back to retrieve it. Keep one thing in mind. When you unclip you right shoe, make sure you lean to the right when the bike stops rolling. Don’t lean left. OK. Now turn up the volume and put on your dancing shoes.
Winter is usually a medium inconvienience here on the south coast of Massachusetts. Usually a moderate snowfall is long gone within a few days and bicycle riders especially bike commuters have few complaints. This year however is very unfriendly to bicycling. Boston for example has accumulated over six feet of snow. The constant cold has prevented any snow-melt between storms and the city has run out of places to put the white stuff. Boston has resorted to trucking the snow to be dumped in the river.
The SouthCoast of Massachusetts has fared much better having only accumulated thirty inches, more or less. One of the consequences is that everything and everyone has slowed down and there is very little complaining. “It snowed a lot but it will melt in time” is the battle cry for now.
It’s not unusual to get a few feet of snow annually. What is unusual is to have it all at once with no melting between storms. It’s winter and the four seasons is why we live here. Snow is part of the lifestyle, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
A Midnight Rider 