Early Sunday morning I drive to Baltimore to pick up Brandon. We begin our tour on Monday in Pittsburgh and should arrive back in DC on the following Sunday or Monday. The weather looks dicey but we will make do.
It’s Touring Time
Tag: bike
The Whole Enchilada
Since 2008, I have been talking about riding the C&O/GAP bike tour. We came close a couple of times but the logistics scared us off. Last year, I did the GAP with the Rails to Trails group but did not get to see the C&O. This year, everything came together and seven years after I set my sights on doing this ride, it’s finally going to happen. Back in the early days of bicycle touring, the nerves would usually kick in a week before the ride began. All the “what ifs”. With a few tours experience, it’s become a summer routine. I still get excited, but instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, I installed new handlebar tape on my touring bike.
Most of the stuff is laid out on the bed aligned with the pannier it will occupy. It’s under guard so I’m not worried about anything going missing. ( I have a small dog that likes to take things to different parts of the house).
On tour, or reading about touring, there are always stories about people going out of their way to do something for the traveler. This tour however, things began before our first pedal stroke. A new friend from bikeforums.net got us a visitors resident parking pass in DC. When we get to Pittsburgh, we are staying at an airbnb host.
June 1st is our travel day and we begin the ride on June 2nd.
Sunday Ride
As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger.
The weather has been hokey lately. Lots of windy days and lots of cool days. Two months ago if the temperature hit 55, we would all run out of the house in our underwear celebrating and dancing praise to the fire gods. Now when it’s only 55, we run into the house and turn on the heat. Today was in the 60’s so I went for a bike ride.
I chose a local bike club’s route that is pretty close to my house. A thirty mile loop that was arrowed by the Narragansett Bay Wheelmen titled, the Mattapoisett Ride. One of the highlights was when I came across the small town of Rochester MA, memorial day parade. It felt like I was in one of those movies that use small town extras. Cannonball Run with Burt Reynolds came to mind. It was really fun to be there and see how proud everyone was of their small town.
Sisyphus
Sisyphus was a king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He was punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, repeating this action forever.
I laid out a lot of gear for our tour next week. The table was full with camping and cooking gear. While organizing how I’m going to carry this stuff it was only natural to be thinking about tours past. Two years ago, I cooked oatmeal one morning. After the second day of riding, I sent all that stuff home. I did cook pasta one night after riding till 10PM trying to find a place to camp on our 2008 tour. We ended up setting up our tents at the edge of a parking lot along the Erie Canal. In short, since 2007, I have cooked two breakfasts and a dinner. I may have made coffee three or four times. I rode the GAP last year with a large group and know there are plenty of places to stop and eat or purchase good food. There is really no need to carry any cooking gear.
I am not going to be Sysyphus again this year, carrying all that cooking gear and having is clanging, making me look and 
sound like a bearded, crazy haired prospector walking a jackass in a 1968 spaghetti western. Tomorrow morning, I’m putting all that cooking gear back into storage.
Camping is another story. The gear is a little bulky but it fits on my rear rack nicely. There are campgrounds within walking distance of town centers. When there are others camping, hanging out and talking to each other over a beer and some snacks is so much better than sitting in a motel room watching some stupid sitcom or nutty political discussion on the boob tube. A soft bed and hot shower is a major advantage, but it’s not always the best choice. But there are certainly nights when it is the best choice. We will be mixing it up on this tour.
Crazy Guy On A Bike
I began following this blog in 2005 when he was keeping a journal of his cross country bike ride on a really good resource for bikers, crazyguyonabike. People from all over the world write about their bike adventures on the site, and it’s what got me into bike touring. Mike moved his journal to his own blog after having a fallout with the crazy guy host. Because it’s so easy to update, I continue to use crazyguyonabike for my bike tours.
In nine days, two of us will ride our bikes from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. Accommodations will be a mix of camping, motels and B&B’s for our 8 day vacation on a bike. It’s all begins HERE
Sunday Bike Ride With No Destination
If you ride a bike a lot, you know that you see so much more going on around you that passes by unnoticed if your in a car. Today was one of those days that a ride was in order, but a club ride, even one of the most popular local rides, just didn’t fit the bill.
There was no plan to go anywhere in particular. It was simply a beautiful day to ride a bike. The Phoenix Bike Path in Fairhaven, MA, takes us close to the New Bedford bridge that crosses the Acushnet river into the city. When I got to the span, the bridge was opened to boat traffic. I usually try to photograph the boat going through the opening. On this day I looked back to see a wonderful perspective of Fairhaven. Taking multiple shots playing with the zoom, aperture or shutter speed, gives a photographer a much better chance of getting that really good shot.
As I progressed into the city, I came across a food festival at Pier 3 and a dog festival at Buttonwood Park. From the park my ride took me on an easy spin to the south end where I stopped and chatted with some friends for a few minutes. At the end of the peninsula the long line at Clark’s Point Creamery was a big help in my resisting stopping for a dairy treat. Fort Rodman, Fort Taber, and East Beach were spectacular this day.
On the return crossing into Fairhaven on the bridge, the crew of Captain Leroy’s deep sea fishing trip, were filleting the days catch for the patrons who were loading up their bus for the long return ride to New Jersey. Once back in Fairhaven at Cushman Park, the local track club was in the middle of the Jr. events.
On the club ride, I may have gotten into a pace line, put my head down, and hammered for a couple of hours. Today was a mellow, fun ride that really hit the spot. The club rides are OK. The rides with no destination can be the best ride. Either way a bike is so much better than climbing into a car, blasting the radio and trying to beat yellow lights, and the other cars to the next light.
The few photos of today’s ride are set to music using Cyberlink Power Director 13.
For better quality, click the Vimeo link at the bottom right of the video
Sunday Ride in Fairhaven and New Bedford, May 2015 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
Bike Tour
After tossing around all kinds of places and timelines for our annual bike tour, we finally settled on the C&O/GAP. On June 1st we are driving from Providence R.I. to Pittsburgh for an over night stay. From there we are taking a shuttle to Washington, D.C. to begin our 335 mile bike ride back to Pittsburgh.
After many long distance tours over the years, we have learned not to do much advanced planning. Winging it is the best way to go, eliminating the stress that can happen when we make reservations weeks in advance. Planning our mileages in the mornings during breakfasts gives us at least a basic idea of how much riding we will do that day. We may or may not stick to that plan but at least it gives us something to talk about over our tofu and rice cakes.
There will be lots of riding between now and then. Not for training or anything. Just because is nice to ride a bike every day.
***** Here we sit, six hours after I wrote the stuff up above and everything has changed. The shuttle from Pittsburgh to DC was $500. The bike rental was $200. We would have lost two days of our tour if we stuck to that plan. Now we finally have a final plan. For the third time.
We are going to begin in DC, taking a train with our bikes to Pittsburgh and spend the night. Now we can begin the ride back to DC early morning on June 2nd from Pittsburgh. The train is $65 with our bike and that’s a whole lot better than paying $500 for a shuttle. “More beer money” is our new mantra.
Ride With History
A small group rode a historical tour of the area. New Bedford and Fairhaven have a Revolutionary, Civil and WWII history that is unique to coastal areas . Today’s 17 mile ride brought the group to Fort Rodman, East and West Beaches, Palmers Island, the Harbor Walk and Fort Phoenix, that included a historical narrative of each location. Everyone’s favorite was the ride around the southern peninsular of New Bedford. The stories of quahogs, hamburgers, military, amusement parks, houses of ill repute and lighthouses are all part of the history of the point.
Fort To Fort Bike Ride from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
Fort to Fort Ride
Meet at 99 Restaurant for a 9 AM start.
The city of New Bedford was free city during the time of the slavery. They were welcome and protected from the slave hunters by local residents and it’s mayor Rodney French.
French was a Free-Soiler – a pre-Civil War political party that opposed slavery and the admission of slave states into the Union. His actual political affiliation is dubious. I have come across documents that state he was a Democrat and others that state he was a Republican. We do know that he was a delegate to Republican National
Convention from Massachusetts in 1856 and that he was considered a “Black” Republican because of his anti-slavery or abolitionist platform.
His anti-slavery stance did not make him very popular among his peers and the aristocrats of society. In fact, this put his career and life in harm’s way often. He lost many a business relationship and opportunity, surely including revenue, and especially in pro-slavery North Carolina.
We will be riding around the point of New Bedford on Rodney French Boulevard. Clarks Cove will be on our right at the beginning of the Blvd. At the end of the point we will enter Fort Rodman, whereon September 5th and 6th, 1778, the British
landed 4000 troops marching through and destroying much of New Bedford. The troops marched inland along the west shore of the Acushnet River to Acushnet, then came south through Fairhaven to Sconticut Neck.
At this time the British drove a group of 34 local militiamen under the command of Timothy Ingraham from Fort Phoenix, burned the barracks, broke up the gun platforms and smashed all but one of the cannons.
When the fort was rebuilt following the 1778 attack, it was named Fort Phoenix after the mythical bird which rose from its own ashes.
The original fort was built by Capt. Benjamin Dillingham and Eleazer Hathaway between 1775 and 1777. It was outfitted with eleven cannon, several of which had been captured in the Bahamas by John Paul Jones.
A Weekend In New York City
The Five Boroughs Bike Tour happens the first Sunday in May annually. This year saw temperatures in the low 70’s, no wind and 32,000 bikers, riding car free streets of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Click the Vimeo at the bottom right of the video for better quality
A Weekend In NYC from John Sullivan on Vimeo.
A Midnight Rider 