Monthly Archives: May 2012

Memorial Day

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Standing in the driveway afterwards

This time I added panniers and dropped a few more things in the bob trailer. It’s getting ever closer to the real deal but the planning part has gotten more complicated but I wasn’t worrying about that at all as I got ready to ride this morning.  For a change of scenery, I rode the aqueduct north, weaving my way carefully among an unending stream of walkers and joggers.  The bell proved invaluable and I took it slowly and said ‘howdy’ and ‘good morning’ to all and sundry.  In Tarrytown, I climbed up and over to Marymount College campus (now part of Fordham), and cycled along the path by the reservoir before cutting over to the North County Trailway (map here).  I took this north to Pace on 117 before heading all the way back to Hastings.

Necessities:  I definitely need to replace the bash guard with a big ring.  Otherwise my knees hurt above about 16 mph — too little resistance!  I’ll keep the bash guard around for whenever I let the ‘dawg’ back out!

Joys:  Public radio out of Fordham playing old rock and roll concert cuts; chatting with a few people along the way about places to ride and bucket lists.

Photo:  My daughter Andrea took this one as I was putting stuff away after the ride this morning.  It’s a sandwich:  the base photo, with a vignette made in slate grey; the next layer is a vintage effect from Andrea Rascaglia (deviant art link here).  I made this layer partially transparent and erased part of the center to let the image bleed through.  I selected myself and copied this to a new layer above the vintage one (now on our third layer).  This let’s the figure of the cyclist ‘pop’ out from the background.  Finally, I laid a Polaroid C frame on top (also from Rascaglia).  Flatten, sharpen, resize, mini sharpen, and bam.  Time for bed.  Again.

another glorious ride

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sun, followed by mud.

I took a glorious mini-test ride yesterday, for kicks and giggles.  Tent, sleeping, bag, etc in the trailer, tools and whatnot on the front rack.  Still not the real deal — no front panniers with clothing, no food and the rest of the travel rubbish in back, but  closer to a true test.

South on the South County Trailway until I ran out of Westchester.  South on the trail until Van Cortland Park, all through a brilliant pounding sun, refulgent after days of rain.  The last part was through puddles deep enough to watch the rim disappear and I arrived at the park covered in runnels of mud.  I had a wonderful time exchanging hellos with kids and parents who thought my ride the coolest thing ever.  Wish I’d brought the camera, but it was also peaceful to simply watch folks from a park bench before heading back.

The clouds rolled in on my ride back and I remembered 1) my nook on the patio, 2) the open sun roof off my car,  3) the box of bike parts I’d been rummaging through and left out in the sun.  I redoubled my efforts as thunder rumbled all around.  There’s a steady grade out of NYC that turns downhill about halfway back.  I was flying on the downside as the air cooled and a fine mist seemed to materialize around me.  I was barely a quarter-mile from home when thundered roared around me and the rain broke.  I could barely see as I made the last few turns, raced back for the nook, in for the car keys and back out for the car, and then back for the bike stuff.  Glorious.

I stood for a moment, sunburned in the pouring rain, before heading back out to pick up my sweetie — this time in a car!

 

 

I missed a ride somehow

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Now, if I was training, I would not miss a ride.  I was ready to ride on Sunday, but events kept getting in the way.  I’m sure I remember being single, in my own little apartment, with a bike leaning up against the sofa.  I remember riding everywhere, even to work through the snow, yet damned if the intervening decades haven’t added a few hurdles.

I did make a fancy dinner, but the real issue was worrying about this and that.

Luckily, I got in a few hours in the gym yesterday.  I could have gone riding today, but I’m definitely not training, so I rode down to the local bike shop instead and chatted for a while.  Here’s a shout out to Bob Flint, the mechanic who humored me by while gradually cleaning and restoring a cruiser on the workstand.  Sooner or later, I’ll ask him if I can take a few photos.  Till then, you’ll just have to enjoy to stuffed steak pictures, above.