The Best One Day Bike Ride I Have Ever Done.

And I did it eight times.

There is no better way to see NYC than biking 12 MPH on car free roads, streets and highways of the five boroughs of NYC.  The riders begin in staggered groups to avoid all the congestion of the past caused by 32,000 riders.

Because team “amidnightrider.com” is a regular at the event, we get an early start time.   That’s important because is allows us to avoid the family and novice riders who tend to walk over bridges and up hills.  By joining “amidnightrider.com” you can finish the ride around noon-ish if you so desire.  There is no obligation to ride with the team, it’s just a way to get a good start time.  Last year there were twelve of us and I only met and rode with one other team member.

Registration opens on January 10th and it fills up fast.  When the time comes, just register and when prompted, join “amidnightrider.com” team.  It will be the best $95 dollars you have spent on a bike ride.  Trust me. It’s a very cool ride.

The Voice

The voice was incredible last night. I thought Billy Gilman had things wrapped up with his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”. Then Sundance Head killed it with his original performance of “Darlin Don’t Go”. That and when he and Blake did their duet of Sundance’s father’s hit song “Treat Her Right” brought down the house and probable won Sundance the Voice.
I’m going Sundance #1, Billy Gilman #2, Josh #3 and We #4.
Go over to the Voice on Facebook and check it out.  You’ll be happy you did.

Commuting, Weight Challenge and Bathroom Scales.

After reading a post at bikejournal, where I’m participating in a weight loss/ bike challenge, about the quirks of digital scales, I decide to buy an analog one. On the digital, my weight would fluctuate a couple of pounds when I did multiple consecutive tries. Sometimes it would take 8 or 10 timeouts of the thing to even show my weight. I put the analog scale on the floor next to the digital, stepped on the digital then the analog. The analog showed a 6 pound difference. Not a good six pounds. I decided to suck up the quirks of the digital scale and hid the analog in a dresser.

I took some video of parts of my commute and also took a couple of side tracks on the way home. There was a stand off between a hawk and a crow, an abandoned green house, and an ending shot looking across the salt marsh toward the wind turbines. I’m really enjoying this challenge and the rides even though my goal weight is at least a decade away at this rate.

2016 Bike Journal Challenge Day 15 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

Mannequin Challenge

Had a little fun at the Salvation Army Headquarters this morning. I gave up telling people not to look at the camera. They just can’t help themselves.

Salvation Army Mannequin Challenge from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

SMILE

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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.

Commute’n Time Again. “YKAMF”

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Bell Ringer waiting for their ride.

Every year about this time I get to return to bike commuting to work.  It’s a volunteer job, but it’s commuting none the less.  I get to meet the Salvation Army bell ringers at the office, drive them to their stores and help them set up the kettles.  It’s a fun job for me and a decent income for the bell ringers.  It’s a five week gig and I have included a bike riding challenge into the commute with my friends a bike journal dot com.

Winter riding.  “YKAMF”