My IPO.

So, I have made a decision. I am going to put a link to this blog in the sig line of my BF profile. I have to admit that I am..... apprehensive. I like strangers little, and crowds even less. Now, I am going to invite crowds of strangers to read what I have said and how I have said it. I want to pull a hood up over my head and hide. Of course, I can't be all that apprehensive about it or I wouldn't do it. I suppose it's better to have hundreds of people see it than no one.

So, as I go forward, I hope that others can gain something from my experiences and ramblings. Perhaps there are other people who ride in one of these places between the places where riding is "cool". Perhaps I'll discover that there are more riders in my town that I ever thought. Perhaps it'll be a giant dog pile and I'll hide in some corner of the internet and cry. We will see. Dog pile on!

An Open Letter to Children and Hobos.

Dear Hobos and Children,

I admire you. Here I sit, in a position in life that I actually get to choose how I spend my money and how I spend my free time. I have been back "into" cycling after loosing a few months due to illness, apathy and other hobbies. I have long toyed with the idea of buying a "New Bike", either road or mountain as I enjoy both. However I realize that what I need more than a new bike is more TIME to ride the ones that I already have. With the concerns of work, family and other interests, I have precious little time to peddle my fat arse about. And make no mistake about it, my but is big!

Pushing all this meat around is hard work. It's work that I am not equipped to do for more than about 6 miles at a time and that's a shame. I LIKE riding my bike. I like the fresh air and exercise and the ability to see my town and countryside in a way that is not possible in a car or even on a motorcycle. Sadly, I can't DO it at will! Once a day, five days a week for as long as it takes me to go 6 miles is it. Sure, someday I'll do 12 miles and then maybe even more but I'll never have the all day energy, or the opportunity to develop that.

And I remember! I remember! I remember when the ride was the ends to a means, the way to get TO an event. It was never the event itself. I never had thoughts like "maybe that's all the riding I'm up for today" or "am I hydrated enough"? I just jumped on and went.

So today I look with envy upon those who just jump on and go because that's how they get where they are going. Weather it is because of age, financial status or (especially) by choice. To all of them, and all of you: hat's off and hazzah! I hope you realize how good you have it. Some of us can only dream about having the time to ride whenever we want and to have energy to ride wherever they want to. I am jealous.

Raleigh Marathon

That's my bike. That's what I have decided to ride on the road. It's old. Very old. It's heavy. Very Heavy. But it's paid for, had a lot of family history in it and is, most of all, perfectly functional! And it's beautiful. It has sport touring geometry!
[IMG]http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff57/noreasterDL/Bicycles/Raleigh7-10050.jpg[/IMG]

I don't know what that means. I found a .jpg of an old catalog a while ago and the Marathon is near the top of Raleigh's non-competitive "10-Speed" line from back in the day. "The Day" is the Eighties. This is NOT from the Eighties:


This is from the sixties and it was on every bicycle that my father in law has owned since then. He has never struck me as much as a cyclist, but I guess that was a mistaken preconception on my part.

I rode it a little bit last fall when it first cam into my hands and I liked it. I was riding my Peugeot on the road at the time despite the fact that it really is too small for me, no mater how much I wish that weren't true. For this year I put a little rack on the Marathon. It's designed for a MTB but fits over the top of the 27 inch wheels of the Marathon with very little clearance but it's nice and level. I don't think that a fender would fit in there but I don't have any fenders for it (yet) so that is not an issue (yet). What I DO have is a Triumph 3-Speed with a flat tire. Upon closer inspection I found that the valve stem is ripped away from the body of the tube. No sweat right? Well, it looks like the tire is also "sliced" at another location so now I ahve to source a 26 1 3/8 tire from.......wait a minuet. I bought some 26inch tires last year that did NOT fit my mountain bike..... Hey! they are the right size! They are gum-wall cyclocross looking things but they are on hand and will go on as soon as I get a new tube or two, which isn't on the front burner since I'm going to be riding the Raleigh Marathon exclusevly on the road this year. Right.

Back on the bike

I've done a couple of bike-path and neighborhood rides with friends and family over the summer, but nothing for "fitness". But I started yesterday and today to get back in the game. I've decided to ONLY use the Raleigh Marathon on the road for consistency sake unless I'm just fooling around. My legs hurt.

Not much going on these days

The sun came back out and the weather got warm and DNR stocked the trout ponds. I haven't cycled nearly enough in the last month or so, only getting out for a few bike-trail rides with the family. My little guy LOVES his trailer and I am so glad to have it! Any sort of "training" stopped and the Cycl_ops sit;s idle as does the 3 speed, the Peugeot and even the Marathon. My "MTB" is in pieces in the basement workshop and I somehow lost touch with the nice man that was going to sell me his one-owner UO-8. My wife's project bike sits neglected as well. I have had some lovely paddles on the local lakes and eaten some yummy fish dinners though. I miss cycling though. We'll just have to see what kind of time that I can make for it soon!

Minuteman Bike Traile with the new Burley

Saturday morning I was lucky enough to meet a wonderful couple up in New Hampshire who were selling a Burley bicycle trailer that was in excelent shape. Like new in fact. I bought it and quickly made arrangements with my wife and another trailer-towing couple to head for the Minuteman Trail to try it out. We met yesterday morning at the Bedford end. It was colder than I would have liked for my baby's first bike ride but we bundled him up and at the end, he seemed no worse for wear.

The Burley Encore trailer went together in a jiffy and was very sturdy. The nylon covering was tight and there were no rips or tears any where on the trailer. The only design flaw that I saw was that to use the flag there had to be a small opening where the cover did not fit all the way on the frame. Not a big deal unless it was raining, which it wasn't. On the trail the width took some getting used to. The weight of the trailer, and The Bruce, was noticeable but not overwhelming. Once underway it didn't really slow me down all that much.

The trail, on the other hand was a but of a disappointment. I had expected something wider and nicer from the grand-daddy of the Mass Bike tails. It was crowded, but not overly so, with walkers and joggers. There were PLENTY of recreational cyclist and families out too. The little ones trying out their first little bikes with their training wheels were adorable. We had the only two trailers that I saw. Honestly, I wish that there had been a lot less traffic out there as I was still just learning how to maneuver the Burly.

I have a pet-peeve about cycling and that is Road Bikers. Not a guy on a road bike, or even a couple of people out on road bikes together. NO, the thing that scalds my butter is when a gang of six, ten or twenty of the lycra-clad once a week cyclists with bikes that cost more than my car spew out of the suburban bike shops lots to clog the roads and (yes) sidewalks pretending to be some European TT star or whatever fantasies are being played out under those $300 lids. As obnoxious as they are on the roads, at least they are in an environment where people walking their dogs or letting their children ride little tricycles and stuff. These people with their inflated Egos and low self esteems do NOT belong coursing down the MUP at twenty miles and hour in big gangs. They didn't bother me any or I would have been in the news this morning instead of typing this but the behavior that I saw was atrocious. A few years ago I had a Harley Davidson motorcycle. I loved that bike but in the and d I couldn't STAND the Harley "people" and did not ever want the "real" motorcycling public to think of me as one of those Hayley Guys. I sold it. I smell the same smell coming off the Road Bikers as I did the Harley Guys. I love my Vintage road bikes but I'm not sure any more that I will by buying a modern one any time in the future. They come with a smell that is distasteful to me.

Salisbury Paths

I noticed that there was a new, paved MUP in Salisbury a couple of weeks ago and decided to look into it more. According the web site this was part of the Coastal Trails Network and that "Salisbury’s Coastal Trails provide an integral link in the Coastal Trails Network that connects Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport and Salisbury." Well, not really. You see, the trail in Amesbury is separated from the Salisbury trail by a major highway (Rt. 495). None of the trails in Salisbury connect without riding on roads that are not marked as bike routs nor without crossing over Rt. 110. Newburyport's paved trail is separated from Salisbury's paved trail by a small thing called the Merrimack River. Other than that last one, these obsticals are rather minor and any one that is fairly confident about riding on the road can string together a nice little trip that ends with a rather dramatic view of Newburyport and the river from the point where the trail would have crossed the river when it was a rail line.

Previously, we rode the Amesbury part of the trail. Although paved, it was quite hilly for what one would expect of a "rail trail". It was a medium-scenic peddle through a quaint New England town. Today we rode the Salisbury part.

The Salisbury Point Ghost Trail is said to be hard-packed gravel and to "pass through beautiful woodlands". Well, today found that the gravel was pretty loosely packed and quite difficult to peddle through. Surrounded on wither side by scrub forest, marshy ground and the refuse-strewn back sides of commercial buildings, construction yards and private homes. There were benches and planters along the way and it certainly had the potential to become a scenic ride but for the time being I'll just have to give cudos to whoever wrote the grant. I rode this section of trail several years ago before the hippies gentrified it. At that time it was not passable by a recreational bicycle rider but it was passable by dirt bike! Well, the trail today has been graded since then and....... that;s about it. Other than the installation of the above mentioned benches and planters there is not much different about the trail or the view since then. Some body got a lot of money out of somebody else for very little work.

The second part of the non-interconnected trail is called the Old Eastern Marsh Trail. This is a flat, wide, paved fairly straight MUP with a nice little down-hill at it's head. The scenery along this trail was much nicer than along the Ghost Trail encompassing rolling woodlands, vast salt marsh and the aforementioned view at the end of the trail. Rumor has it that eventually the old railroad bridge will be modified to allow the MUP to continue onto the paved trail on the other side of the river which is clearly visible from the overlook.

Overall it was very enjoyable to be out WITH my wife for a change. She had fun and we both got a little exercise. While the "Trail" was actually "trails" and did not quite live up to the billing, it IS a great start and a welcome and relatively safe way to get out cycling. If the cyclist is moderately comfortable riding "transitions" on the street, there are a wide variety of relatively easy and family friendly cycling opportunities that rise from these trails including a trip the the Dairy Queen a nice little playground and the bike rout to Salisbury beach and the state reservation.