It’s been too many weekends with out bicycling. The truth is I’ve been preparing for my 2 week trip through China . I decided to replace bicycling weekends with running weekends, targeting my training to the specific activity for the next 2 weeks, not that I’d be running, but rather walking more often. What irony, walking in China, a country of more that a billion bicycles. But as in all cases when you travel the choice is always between getting close to the country or see more of the country. I chose to see more of the country. In doing so I shot over 2,000 photographs. The challenge to see and capture 5,000 years of history in 2 weeks was over whelming.
What a weekend of bicycling. Denis Mechov won The Giro d’Italia by a close margin. Lance Armstrong finished despite a broken collar bone. My fans waited to cheer me on my Tour of Jamesport despite my flating at the beach.
Finally a dry Saturday. My first ride of 2009… correction my first ride out in the East End for 2009. I’ve been taking mostly short flat rides in the city. I chose to take a short loop of the ‘Tank Hill’ on Sound Shore Road. As I crested the hill a group of riders were comimg down in the opposite direction. The ride was pleasant with a short brake at the Beach for a view of the Long Island Sound. The ride back West was another story. The head wind was stronger than when I started out. Right now my legs are paying the price for cranking it up into the headwind.
My ride stats: average speed was 14.5 MPH, Distance was 20.1 Miles, Max Speed was 27.7 MPH, must have been on a downhill stretch.
March 20th Thursday, the first day of Spring. Weather forecasts called for scattered ’snow flurries’. The month of March is known to be cruel, teasing us with 60 degrees F one day and snow the next. The forecasters obviously didn’t look out their windows the flurries were a traffic stopping whiteout. But it’s Spring, time to get my bicycle out for the Spring ritual.
After several disappointing weekends of poor snow conditions in the Adirondacks I decided to stay closer to home. The weather forcasters predicted snow accumulation in the East End to be more than up North. Though not ideal Indian State Park was a great change of scenery.
August 2001, I jumped at the opportunity to work in Singapore. I was motivated more by the opportunity to bicycle on weekends there, than furthering my career. I have my prioroities. This weekend we boarded a Bumboat to Palau Ubin. We rode the Island’s dirt road through dense forests which seperated the villages. Singaporeans’ food obsessed reputation is true. Every village we passed had a square with a food court. Each village had their own local speciality, all were exceptionally well prepared. You might say we bicycled food court to food court. If only Club Centuries had food like this at their rest stops.
Back to the East End of Long Island this weekend, back to beaches,farms, vineyards and flat roads. The sun is setting earlier as winter is slowly but surly coming. Retuning later than expected from my ride I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture the changing colors of the setting sun reflecting off the Peconic Bay. I paid the penality for stopping. My legs stiffened and my fingers numbed from the cold as I struggled to maintain a pace during the last few miles toward home. It’s not too soon to plan for an alternative to my bicycling weekends.
The date of this MTB ride in Minnewaska State Park Preserve was agreed upon several months in advance. However no amount of planning assures that you will see the fall foliage at its peak. The Preserve is part of the Shawangunk Ridge located in a sparsely populated area in the Catskills. The carriage trails provide the most spectacular views. The Nature Conservancy has designated the preserve as one of the “75 Last Great Places on Earth”.
It’s mid Fall, as I bicycle pass the farms they are full of families with children picking pumpkins and losing each other in the tall corn stalk mazes. Most pumpkins are made into jack-o-lanterns and with stacks of hay and corn stalks used as decorations for halloween and the fall season.
