8:15 AM gathering for an 8:30 start. I’ll be in McDonalds a block away at 7:30 for coffee if you want to join me.
This is a flat intermediate paced ride visiting the coastal towns of Mattapoisett and Marion MA. There are some spectacular sights on this ride. Bring your camera. Bring along a lunch if you wish but there are plenty of places to grab a quick bite along the route. We will be stopping at Plumb Corner for a break and regrouping at the 23 mile mark
Bike Fall River holding a bike to a Yoga class Saturday – August 1, 2015
Meetup is at 7:15am at the parking lot across from Meditech on Martine Street (Route 6) Fall River
Ride starts at 7:30am sharp!
The Yoga class begins at 8:30am at Partners Village in Westport and the class is given by Jeff Costa – Jeff is one of the top Yoga instructors in the area. Make sure to bring your yoga mat. Cost of the instruction is by donation.
The ride is approximately 10 miles from Fall River to Partners Village. (For those who want to continue to ride there will be a ride to Westport Point and back)
As always helmets highly recommended – make sure to bring water and a snack.
After the instruction riders can take a break at the bakery shop for some coffee and delicious treats.
As with all rides, this is weather permitting.
Sunday – August 2, 2015 – John Sullivan’s Mattapoisett / Marion 30 mile loop
Meetup is at 8:15am at the Stop & Shop parking lot on Route 6 in Fairhaven. Take 195 East – Take Exit 18 in Fairhaven to Route 240.
Follow Route 240 and cross Route 6. Stop and Shop driveway is on the left. Make sure to park away from the store toward Route 6.
The ride starts at 8:30am – This ride is for the experienced road cyclist since most of the ride will be on the road. We will utilize the Fairhaven Bike Path just a bit.
Here is a link to the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/9572164 For the most part the route is relatively flat. The mileage is like riding the East Bay Bike Path with a side trip into Colt State Park. Our average speed will be 10-14 MPH. We will set catch up stops for the slower riders. No one will be dropped.
This ride will take us to the Camp Massasoit grounds where we will dodge golf drives as we make our way to rt 6. A couple of hundred yards on rt 6 will bring us to Mattapoisett center and a short ride to Ned’s Point light house. Our next stop after a few miles will be Tabor Academy and a short ride around the center of Marion. We will return on the back roads of Rochester and stop at Plumb Corner for snacks before the final push back to Fairhaven.
As always helmets are highly recommended – Make sure to bring water and a snack.
Rode to the Friday night concert on Pier 3 in New Bedford, Ma. The funk band was killing it and ended their first set with a great rendition of Bruno Mars Uptown Funk. After the mayor introduced New Bedford’s own Samantha Johnson who had the crowd and judges standing and screaming at her audition. She took the stage and thanked the city for all the support, reminded us to vote and let loose with a great Stevie Wonder song.
If your bike is stolen and you don’t know the serial number, it could be difficult to claim your bike if found. It’s not uncommon for you to have to bid on it at the police auction if you don’t have proof of ownership. There are two really good resources to help recover a stolen bike. The catch is that we have to get people to join the community because is no one knows there is a stolen bike in town, no one can report it. So pass on the two following resources to your bike community. There is only one feeling worse than having your bike stolen and that is when none of those who can help recover it, know it’s stolen.
Project 529
Website and app that lets you build a (hidden) profile for your bike(s) and record serial numbers, photos and identifying characteristics. If it is ever stolen you can alert other users immediately, and you can browse local stolen bikes in case you hapen to spot one. Project 529.com
Bike Index
A national registry with more than 45.000 serial numbers recorded that helps users, bike shops and law enforcemtne find owners of recovered bikes. It’s open API can be integrated with the inventory software used by ike shops to automatically register bikes as they’re sold. bikeindex.org
Spent mid week in Atlanta with both boys at #2 sons home. We gathered for the Gold Cup semi finals and watched the US get beat by Jamaica in front of 72,000 screaming fans in a sold out Georgia Dome. My first US Men’s National Team game was in some small college field in Indiana back in the mid 80’s with less than a thousand fans packed in sitting on portable stands.
Leaving the house in our US outfits.We changed into our Panama shirts for the second match.
The second game was how I remembered playing football back in the 20th century, with all the controversy, bad fan behavior and the general craziness of the atmosphere. This is how it’s done in the Southern Americas and it’s very entertaining.
On the music side of things.
The Friday night concert series on Pier 3 in New Bedford will feature a send off celebration forSamantha Johnson. She has been performing all over the county and abroad for a long time and she is now being recognized as a trained, well polished, professional vocalist.
The concert proceeds with Brass Force Funk band. I’ll be packing my bike with a couple of cold ones and riding from Fairhaven at around 5:30 ish.
Biking this weekend
Bike Fall River will hold 2 rides this weekend
Saturday – July 25, 2015 – Portsmouth – Tiverton – Little Compton Ride
The riders will meet on Park Avenue in Portsmouth, park on the road near 501 Park Avenue (Grazianos Restaurant)
*** See Attached Map for the Ride***
Ride will start at 8:30am – this ride is for experienced cyclists– all on-road – 27 miles with some hills.
This is a beautiful ride that will go over the new Sakonnet River Bridge bike path into Tiverton along the water front.
Once in Little Compton the group will ride inland toward Route 177 and then back to Park Avenue in Portsmouth.
Helmets highly recommended, make sure to bring along water and a snack.
– NBW Cafe Ride (weather permitting)
East Bay Bike Path
– from Fort Hill to Bristol Bagel and back (27 miles)
Leaves Fort Hill Parking Lot at 9:00 AM
Contact John Nery for more details.
As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger
CLICK HERE to see the Flickr album of this ride.
The Fall River gang called for a bike ride on the East Bay Bike Path. The route took us through Colt State Park and our guide Brian gave us a tour of the newly upgraded and connecting MUP through the expansive park grounds. The MUP is a 17 mile path from East Providence to Bristol, RI but on this day we cut the ride in half and made it a sightseeing easy spin while trying to avoid the overweight spandex wearing senior men living their fantasy of riding the Tour de France at 17 MPH.
Bristol Bagel Works was our turn around point. A light breakfast and coffee gave us the energy to complete this 15 mile, 6.7 MPH average speed hammerfest.
Fort Rodman is located on the Southern tip of the New Bedford, MA peninsular. It’s a near perfect sight for re-enactments. In June there was the WWII event with lots of German, English and US Army actors. There have been battles WWI and the Spanish American war, as well as the Revolutionary War reenactments. This weekend, the Pirates were in town and the event’s highlight was the naval battle in Buzzards Bay.
As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger
Preparing for the battle at seaEnglish sloopPirates of Buzzard’s Bay
Bike Fall River Announces 2 rides for the weekend.
Saturday – Ride Around the Taunton River
Saturday, July 11, 2015 – Meet at 7:45am at the Park N Ride in Somerset off of County Street near the Rockland Trust Bank.
Ride will start at 8:00am This ride is for experienced road cyclists. The distance is approximately 23 to 25 miles and riders will encounter several hilly roads. Know your limitations.
The group will ride north along the scenic Somerset shoreline onto Dighton and then cross over the Taunton River into Berkley. From Berkley the group will head south into Freetown, Fall River and then over the Veterans Memorial Bridge back into Somerset.
Helmets are highly recommended, make sure to bring water and a snack.
Sunday – East Bay Bike Path and Colt State Park (Great Ride For Beginners!!!)
Sunday, July 12, 2015 – Meet at 7:45am at the parking lot along the East Bay Bike Path in Warren. Take 103 from Somerset to Warren, take first left after Dels Lemonade stand and park along the left. Ride starts at 8:00am. The East Bay Bike path and the paths in Colt State Park are level with very small inclines. This ride will be at a leisurely pace and will take in the beautiful scenery at Colt State Park. The ride is approximately 10 to 12 miles. When the ride is over riders can opt for a longer ride by heading north on the East Bay Bike path. Helmets are highly recommended and make sure to bring water and a snack.
As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger
Number one son got married in Panama this past March. His wife’s 97 year old grandmother could not make the trip so there was a reception celebrating the wedding in Santa Fe. Of course, there are lots of other things to do and we did our best to squeeze in a much as we could. Fine southwest dining was a big part of the stay in New Mexico.
We hung around Santa Fe an extra day so we could watch the US women’s football match. We walked into the house three minutes into the match and thought people were pulling my leg when they said the US was up two-nil. The game was the polar opposite of Pearl Harbor,
Wish me luck on the raffleSanta Fe Art MuseumBest seat in the house
As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger
All of us who visit touring sites either do, or want to do long distance touring. Since 2005 when I signed onto bikeforums and crazyguyonabike, I have envisioned myself doing some kind of cross country tour, be it east to west, or south to north. Last year I was within a week of riding the Southern Tier solo until things happened to force a postponement. I ended up riding the GAP/Martha’s Vineyard tour a few weeks ago as my annual bike tour.
I rode the GAP, Montour and Panhandle trails last year with a large group, and had a wonderful time. Being a social person who also enjoys time riding solo made the Rails to Trails sponsored sojourn, a good experience. I did some riding alone, some with new found friends and at the end of the day participated in the social events that were made available by the locals when we passed through or stayed overnight in their towns. This year two of us did the same ride on our own and the experience
Great Allegheny PassageBarroom in the basement.
was the polar opposite. Converted rail trails are often long stretches of nothing between major rail yards with a few small towns scattered between. Without an event with 300 bike riders coming to town, there is no reason for any business to remain open past 6 or 8 PM.
Riding 60+ miles a day on dirt with a slight incline can certainly test the patience and endurance of older guys like me. The reason for those miles was to get to a town, relax over a nice dinner and have a few cold ones while rehashing the day. There was also a time factor involved when riders have to get back to work. In reality, we ended up walking to a Walmart one evening and settling into a bar room in a house basement the next night eating frozen pizza and potato chips.
On the flip side, towpaths like the Erie Canal have towns every couple of miles, catering to bike and boat tourist during the summer. Again to finish the end to end bike ride, it’s 8 days on crushed limestone averaging 50 miles a day. The Erie Canal has the option of NY Bike Route 5 (Rt 31 for cars), which allows riders to make up time by riding on pavement. If your ride, you know how
Bike route 5 paralleling the Erie Canal towpath
refreshing it is to ride on pavement compared to crushed limestone, especially if it’s wet. The Erie Canal offers a plethora of choices to stay or if one prefers, free camping at any lock station. The Erie Canal is a fun bike ride as opposed to the Great Allegheny Passage, which is more of an adventure.
Our Brockport home. Camping on the canal.
There are lots of local day rides available on these converted trails, and I’ll continue to ride them, but the long, boring, dusty week long rides on rail trails have been eliminated from my touring list.
Bike touring for many is a life changing adventure. For many it’s a fun vacation or it can be anywhere between the two.
Next years tour is narrowed down to three choices. The Erie Canal, an 8 day tour. Cape Cod and Martha’s Vinyard in 6 days. Inn to Inn in Bar Harbor Maine in 6 days using Adventure Cycling’s Itinerary without the off days.
A Midnight Rider 