Tag: Daily Post Challenge

Casual Recovery Ride? Yeah Right.

The plan was a 21 mile easy spin to recover from Tuesday night’s hammerfest. I made arrangements with the owner of Hungry Heroes Sub Shop for some riders to park and we would be back for the after ride dinner.   I led us out of the parking lot, looked back and was the only one riding . One of our riders got a flat a few dozen yards from the start.                                       .

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Geoff fixing his flat

As we rode on the MUP I began to quicken the pace from our 8 MPH.  Everyone was keeping up OK.  On this ride was the new kid.  Nick got his first road bike for Christmas and during the ride over the weekend that I was video taping, I noticed how he stayed with the fast riders. After telling my co-leader, Flat Tire Geoff, where we would meet up, I told the kid to go to after burners.  We quickly got our speed up, way up.  As we were riding I gave him instructions on pace line riding, how I would signal him to take over the lead.

We were clipping along at a pace of 18-21 MPH, I pulled left to let Nick take the lead and that’s when I noticed there were 4 of us in the paceline, and there was a second one chasing us.  Once Nick got the lead, the bastards dropped me.

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Fortunately,  I was the only one who knew the route we were riding and we had to regroup at strategic spots when there were choices of turns to make.

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After this stop we had a Strava segment coming up. Sixteen year old Nick who has been riding for less than two months, pulled the whole group of us up Vaughn Hill road at 22 MPH.  Near the top, I blew up and had to drop out of the contest and also noticed that the rest of the pace line had also blown up and dropped back.. It was just me and Nick.  I yelled had him to go for it, he didn’t understand what I was saying and also dropped his speed.  It’s too bad, because he was on pace to break into the top ten for this segment.

At the 1/2 way point Lloyds Market, we again regrouped and rode as a pack for quite a way stopping to visit the Clydesdale Ranch and another horse ranch.  The Clydesdales were put away for the night, but Baby, a few miles down the road was more than happy to spend time with anyone who stopped by.

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Wed Night Ramble, Fairhaven 008
One of the reasons we had to stop and regroup was Nick’s dad riding sweep.  Not by choice BTW. 

The last highlight of this route was riding past the World Headquarters of Titelist Golf, the Acushnet Company. We arrived at Hungry Heroes with calories to spare just in time to see the closed sign.

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Recovery Ride

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Fort Taber in New Bedford MA.  Built to protect the city from an invasion by sea after the War of 1812.  It was designed by Robert E Lee before he became an insurgent. 

Yesterday I called the hills on our Wednesday Night Ramble Goldilocks hills.  Not too steep, not too flat.  My legs told me a different story overnight and this morning. An easy spin or recovery ride is a standard remedy for those aching muscles.  I planned on one of those easy, short recovery rides.  I ended up doing 25 miles, but it took over 3 hours with all the stops for photos, taking to friends, stopping for coffee, stopping for no reason.  It was a good day to ride a bike.

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The elevated walking and biking path in New Bedford, MA

The

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The swing bridge turns on a massive cog that sits inside the yellow railing at the bottom of the bridge. 

Tour de Creme Trailer

Another beautiful day for a bike ride.  Today I set out to ride the Tour de Creme 25 mile option route. It’s a fundraising ride for the Mattapoisett Land Trust on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts. I offered to video the ride and today was to familiarize  myself with the route. Not long into the ride I decided to take some videos and produce a trailer.

TOUR DE CREME TAILER from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

Early Morning Is The Best Time To Ride

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Tia Maria’s European Cafe.  Water St. New Bedford

Early morning ride to get my hair done. I left the shop at 8;30 and it was just too nice not to ride. 45 and cloudy. It is the first day without rain this month.  Met with a couple of bike friends and fellow photographers, Peter Perreira and Josh Sousa at Tia Maria’s European Cafe in New Bedford. Naturally we talked bikes. A ride around the peninsula in the city before returning home to power wash the decks and clean two bikes of all the crap they collect from riding in the rain.  Probably do a second ride tonight

So Close

Seeking Shelter

I have signed up for the National Bike Challenge, (in partnership with Cottonelle). When I pledged to do 30 days of biking, it rained, snowed, was cold, windy and raw for the first week.  It hasn’t snowed during the first week of this challenge, but it has rained every day. Being part of a challenge does get me out to ride when normally, days like today, would be go to a movie or watch TV.  Smart phones make it possible to keep and eye on the approaching rains in real time so I can either take shelter for a while, or beat feet it home. That system works pretty pretty good, but there are times when things don’t.  For instance…

Continue reading “So Close” →

Weekend InWoodstock, VT.

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The family gathered in Vermont  to celebrate an 80th birthday for one of ours. I brought my bike along naturally and did a short ride around the area. It’s not my estate but the owner is part of the family and it’s my first time here.  It’s set on top of a hill in beautiful Woodstock, Vt. Continue reading “Weekend InWoodstock, VT.” →

Just Me And The Dogs On The MUP.

Sudden Shifts Sudden shifts in weather can occur at the beach for sure.  But they can also happen riding a bike three days after a blizzard. Soft snow, icy footprints, crusty snow and pavement can make for some challenging bicycle riding.  But if you bike, you know it’s also fun.

Riding on snow
The footprints and bike tracks are all mine and my dogs.  The tire tracks are my neighbors quad.

MUP is an acronym for Multi Use Path.  The one I use is a Rail to Trail converted alternate route into town.  If the path is not clear, the only way to town is on US Rt. 6. A four lane highway with a posted speed of 40 MPH.  Most drivers exceed 50 and approach 60 MPH since the road was newly paved in the fall.

I decided to get studded tires for my bike this winter because the town doesn’t clear this path of snow, and no one on rt 6 clears their sidewalks. Those two things force bikes and pedestrians onto a state highway to get to the town center.

Today I rode the MUP to the gym and the coffee shop.  The terrain was a mix of ice, crusty snow, blacktop and 5″ deep soft snow.  I had to stop three times and walk when I hit the soft snow.  The one mile ride was a pretty good leg workout and warm up for my time in the gym.  After the workout I stopped in the Flower Girl Baking Company for a good cup of coffee and a really light and delicious slice of quiche.

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Flower Girls Baking Company in Fairhaven.  You gotta try the quiche.

On the return trip I avoided riding on the path and took my chances on RT 6.  It’s two lanes in each direction and I took 1/3 of the lane forcing cars to go around and not squeeze me into the embankment.  It worked out fine with every vehicle moving to the passing lane as they drove by me.  Today I got to ride a little ebony and a little ivory.

Below is the example of sudden shifts in the terrain while riding my bike. (Having fun).

Trombone Shorty Again

trombone shorty at the Z

The Stat Connection Maybe this will be my best stats post. It’s certainly good enough.
Last week I got three hard to get tickets to the local performing arts center for the Trombone Shorty Show.   I can say without any reservation that this was the wildest most entertaining performance I have ever, ever attended.  See if you agree.  Go full screen and go loud.

The Blizzard of 2016

Say Your Name My name is Lucy and I like snow.

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This one is a humdinger in the making.  The call is for 12-15 inches with high winds and heavy wet snow. I’m hoping the temperature drops into the 20’s to make the snow much lighter.  This storm is predicted to last 24 hours with more snow coming later in the week.   I am fond of saying that things like this are just a weather event until people are added into the equation.  Then it becomes a catastrophe. Continue reading “The Blizzard of 2016” →

Winter Has Settled In

Live to Eat
Lots of physical activity, especially bike riding, keep me from turning into a blown up tic from eating too much.

When I ride the MUP (Multi Use Path) there is one spot that always gives me a ever changing view of itself.  There is so much activity on the salt marsh if we pay attention. As I rode by on my newly studded tires the ducks called to me.  They were really warning each other that I was around, but I take it as a compliment. Ducks in Saltmarsh 002

The path was quite a mixed terrain ride today.  Icy tire tracks, deep-ish snow, blacktop and mush.  Today was my first day on studded tires, and frankly it kind of knocked the stuffing out of me a few times. I had to buy the tires separately which gives me 200+ studs on the front and 75 studs on the rear tire.  When I hit some of the deeper snow, (about three or four inches) the back tire would slip and slide making me tense up and struggle to keep upright. I was able to force myself to keep pedaling through the more natural thing of taking my foot off the pedal anticipating a fall. The sliding made it very difficult to hold any kind of a line in the tire tracks which seemed more like the side to side down hill skiing than bike riding.   Continue reading “Winter Has Settled In” →