Up Hill

We spend a lot of time being critical of ourselves, much more so than we might think. A lot of people would say that we tend to judge others but I think we find fault with our own situation far more than we look to the short comings of others. I have to say that I am guilty on both counts. If I could resolve to do one thing this year, I would attempt to be more aware of this destructive behavior. Like Popeye, “I am what I am”, and basically I am not going to make any great changes, but, I can try to be comfortable with who I am. I will never loose all the weight, but I can loose some. I’ll never take perfect care of my teeth, (a promise made after every cleaning) but, I can floss everyday. I do know that I can make changes. This March I’ll be smoke free for 2 years, so there is evidence that changes can be made. But how to not sit in the Judges chair? That is the tough one. I found myself muttering about some guy at a red light with a cigarette hanging out of mouth the other day, shoot

Not a creature is stirring here at Uphill, Including the mouse I caught in the shed, I’m sitting here wondering if I should go to bed, An overweight-overfed-middle-aged Fred, all I can say is at least I’m not dead. Well, I should be considering how much food I have consumed in the past 24 hours. My hippie vegan brother-in-law made a feast and that along with several courses of lasagna, Cookies, pies, way too much chocolate, wine, beer and god knows what else supplied by the rest of us. I can barely move. It was a WONDERFUL Christmas. It looks like here in the Hudson Valley we are in for the first real snow storm of the year so tomorrow morning I’m off to get gas for the snow blower. I have this idea that if I go through all the effort to get ready well in advance of the snow storm that I can actually cause the storm to be averted. As if placing the snow shovel out on the porch acts like a talisman to ward off the snow. Merry Christmas, Good health and happiness to all. Spencer

Peace on Earth The Solstice celebration was a success and now we will have good fortune in the coming year, at least we can hope. I now have a headache, due to my old buddy Sam or possibly the wood smoke. The other benefit, not counting the cranial throbbing, is that there is not a branch or dead limb left to be found here at Uphill. The other day, I received some information that has thrown my whole being out of whack. You know the old saying, “ignorance is bliss and knowledge can be dangerous” or however that goes. In my mind I have a home movie with sound (played on an 8-track) and I can go and watch anytime I choose, I know the plot, I love the actors and the scenery is beautiful. I treasure the film, even as parts fade from the reel. I’m not sure that I want to re-release, digitally enhance, or create the sequel, but I can’t stop considering the possibility. The whole thing does not make for a good nights sleep or a settled stomach these past few days. It is still friggin cold and

Well, first let me say that it has been some time since my last post AND I know that I said that I was done complaining about work on the UpHill blog but, I do blame my lack of posts on W.R.S. So anyway, I have been reading the folks I follow and I am still riding, maybe not outside today as the wind is just a wippin here. I rolled over 2700 miles last week. I am home till New Years as I failed to use up enough vacation days over the nice weather when a guy could get out and ride and instead chose to labor for the man,I am an idiot! I've been home since Friday when I retrieved the Princess from the city. She is now home as well...the Queen may very well evict us both by the time we return to a normal schedule. I have been building up a winter beater out of scraps from the parts bin, it turns out to be a pretty capable rider and features a 1x6 drive train, rear rack, fenders and best of all old school lights run of a bottle generator. Kind of paper boy meets commuter. Tonight around

I got nothin...I can't think of a single thing to write about...pretty scary. So, we went down to the Blaze it was pretty cool. I don't know a lot about the lower Hudson Valley but Croton seems pretty nice. I been spending a lot of time driving all over for work so not much time for posting.

With the seasonal change in the weather and the shorter days it seems that I need to keep on the go and I haven’t had time to post in quite some time. I did hit a milestone on my goal of riding 2000 miles this year. I had to stop and get a shot of this. I had less than 1500 on the odo back in January. So I am pleased about my progress. I am continuing to ride most days except that it is harder to get home early enough to get a good ride in before dark. Last Sunday was just a beautiful fall day and I rode out along the Columbia, Dutchess County line and stopped to take a couple snap shots of the view. My camera-phone does not do this justice. The Catskills were clear and fantastic with the blue sky as a backdrop. Sometimes, I feel like I am stationary on the bike and the scenery is only moving past me because I pedal.

Yesterday I had to leave the comfort of Uphill very early and head out to central Connecticut for a trade show and then out to Long Island for a meeting this morning. Rather than face I 95, the bridge and the LIE in afternoon rush hour, I took the ferry from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson. The weather was great and I arrive on the Island rested and relaxed. I wish I brough a bike, It would have been nice to explore a bit of the north shore.

After reading a very good and well written report of the Putnam and Westchester trailway system, I have been hoping to give it a ride. Yesterday morning I met a good friend and co-worker at the unfinished parking lot at the intersection of Tilly Foster Road and State Rte. 6. This parking lot is the northern terminus of the Putnam County Rail Trail. I have to say that for the most part I find rail trails to be crowded, boring and uneventful. This trailway system is, by far, the most interesting and fun rail corridor that I have ridden. For example…. How many Rail trails need to post a warning sign like this? Well I, for one, want to ride THAT train! We rode on down the trail to the point where it changes over to the Northern County trailway where we had a good cup of coffee at the new Starbuckish clone that will not be in business long if they continue to serve stale croissants. After a short business meeting over the coffee and marginal pastry, we continued south. I think one of the n

I have been packing on the miles this week…unfortunately not on the bike. I do like the cooler temps though and have been getting in a hour or so most days. Last Saturday, I went out for a very enjoyable ride out to Turkey Hill and on to Red Hook via Spring Lake. It was a perfect day and all went well till I got back to Germantown. I was within a half mile of home when …BANG, tic tic tic….I ran over a roofing nail. The nail popped the rear tube but continued to stick in the tire for a couple revolutions, whacking the brake caliper as it passed. Being so close, I walked the bike back home. As I came in sight of the driveway, I see the mailman at the box, shoving a package in with the assorted fliers and credit card offers. It is funny how things work out, within minutes of blowing my worn out rear tire, the new tire I won on eBay shows up in the mail. This new tire is a Kevlar armored model and should last a couple thousand more miles. The old tire made it just short of 1800 miles and m

Wow...I see that it has been a week since I posted. We were in renovation mode here at Up Hill this week, the roofer finally decided to show up after I hounded him for most of the summer. He started stripping the shingles Tuesday and noontime here on Friday he was putting the cap on and his helper is cleaning up. This was a job that was due but could not come at a worst time as we just paid tuition, local school taxes and our car is on it's last legs. The new roof looks nice and I , somewhat morbidly, realise that I will not need to replace it again. My work has me running back and forth to the Connecticut shore so I've spent hours in the truck. I did win (ebay,$15.25) a brand new Specialized "all conditions" kevlar folder to replace my worn out rear tire. It will match the front and I can continue to roll on through the fall.

I thought I posted this last night....one too many Sam Adams? The past few days are all about whether or not you will run out of water or pass out before you complete the evening ride. I am just skipping it altogether tonight and drinking beer instead. I am going ride in the early dawn before work….at least that is the deal I’ve made with myself. Today work had me down in the woods of Fairfield County and it was hot, sticky, bug infested misery. The kid is doing great and I feel much better about that. The weather forecast calls for cooler temps for the holiday weekend and I hope to pack on some miles. I notice that it is going to be rear tire time soon for the Surly, the cords are not quite showing yet. I had bought this discount pair of Specialized all condition wire beads last January and I guess I should not be disappointed with the nearly 2000 miles of no puncture flats this season. I think I paid 60 bucks for the pair. I do think I should at least replace the rear prior to settin

Last post I mentioned how I felt that the rain event we had a couple weeks ago seemed to mark the end of a chapter for me. Well, the next chapter was a short one. The period between the rain and this Sunday past was all about getting packed and ready to take the kid back to school. We moved her into her dorm in NYC Sunday morning, I got her TV, wireless, printer setup, the Queen did the rest, we gave her a hug and we headed out. Even though she will be back up many weekends, this time has hit me hard, I miss her terrible.

With the recent rain here in the valley everything is quickly taking on a darker shade of green compared to the dusty khaki hue that has predominated the landscape the last month or so. This welcome relief from drought comes not without a down side; The valley now echos with the hum of the lawnmower and the din of the weed eater. I went out to the shed after work and chased the mice (tiny rats) from the lawn mower. It takes me about an hour to do the lawns here at Up Hill, I hurriedly completed the trimming and got out on the bike. It was a beautiful evening and I passed many others out on the Tivoli loop. I think the rain has been like the end of one chapter in the story of this summer, now everything has a Fall feel. The days are noticeably shorter, the Fair is in full swing, the Princess will be returning to school very shortly. I am not going to complain, now starts some of the best riding weather and apples will be aplenty at the roadside stands. I am going to enjoy this brief gre

I think we have had enough rain, by my observation of the pool out back we have recieved in excess of 3 inches. Today is day 3 of no bike riding and I am ready to get back out. At any rate the rain has caused me to spend time on the web searching for more local history. Here is the Story of Mr Robert Fulton and his connection with the lord of the Manor. To a man as full of mechanical genius as Dominie Gebhard, and to sons growing up with the same tastes, the stories of a forth-coming boat on the Hudson run by steam, could not but produce eager expectation and intelligent interest. The fact that this new venture was the combined effort of Chancellor Livingston and Robert Fulton, made it doubly attractive to the section of country which Chancellor Livingston called home. The subject was under discussion a every stage-house and tavern, and the skippers of the sloops on the Hudson, looked forward with ill-concealed disdain to the attempt to run a boat irrespective of wind or tide, and th

If you think taxes are high here in the valley...be Glad you were not living back in the day. I wonder what "Low Dutch' sounds like. An account of a voyage taken in 1769 by the proprietor of a wide tract of land called Smith's patent, in the middle of New York State, gives some interesting facts concerning the Manors and the Manor life along the upper Hudson, form an observer's standpoint. It says: "May 8th.--We went on shore to Two Stone Farm House on Beekman Manor in the County of Dutchess, the Men were absent and the Women and children could speak no other Language then Low Dutch, our Skipper was interpreter. One of the Tenants for Life, or very long Term, or for lives (uncertain which) pays twenty Bushels of Wheat in Kind for 97 acres of cleared Land, and liberty to get Wood for necessary Uses anywhere in the Manor--12 eggs sold here for six pence, Butter 14 d per pound and 2 shad cost 6 d. One Woman was very Neat, and the Iron hoops of her pails sc

Last night was the first time I’ve been caught in the rain on the Surly. After work chores caused me to not get out on the road till after 6:30 pm. By 7:30 the sky was getting dark and I was cranking along, still about 6 miles from home. I was thinking to myself that it is getting on to that time of year when I might want to carry the frog lights, when the first flashes of lightning drew me away from my thoughts. Moments later the first big drops of rain started stinging my eyes. I hunkered down and headed on. Up in the distance I saw Mister Potts roadside fruit stand and rolled in under the overhang. Well, “this ain’t so bad”, I thought, I did not get soaked, I have all these nice peaches and plums, the shower will pass and I will not have to spend a bunch of time drying, cleaning and oiling later. I made a call to the Queen, just to let her know that I am ok. I enjoyed a 47 cent peach, as all I had was 47 cents and there was not a “per peach” price on the hand lettered sign that was

Well at least we got some rain yesterday, it is so dry at Up Hill that some of the trees are starting to drop leaves. Sunday had a real fall feel to the day and I kind of enjoyed it. The rain gave me a chance to test the new VO fenders that I recently installed on the Raieigh. The fenders work really well, they are way long and do deflect about 90% of the water from the tires. I have used those little ABS plastic fenders before and they really don't do a good job as they just consentrate the spray into one steady stream up your back. So it is off to work for me..Hi Ho Hi Ho

The City was still hot and muggy in the wee hours of Wednesday morning as the Queen and I made our way east on 49th street heading for Rockefeller Plaza. Even at 4:30 am there are still folks out on the streets especially Near Times Square. When we arrived at our destination there were already 5 or 6 people in line and I could see more arriving as I looked down the street through the early dawn haze. The things I do for work, people would never believe. Before too long we were as many as 100 people all dressed in the same black tee shirts, sipping the free coffee and mushy doughnuts that NBC supplies to the daily mob that populates the fence during the broadcast of the Today show. Right around 6:30am the production assistants let us into the plaza and we took up positions around the crowd fences. On and off during the show, the camera man would make a sweep of the crowd but every time they got close to us, they went to commercial…rats. I did get to shake hands with full time weather

August 6th 1983 is the date that we got married in the gothic church in Hudson….27 years goes by quick. We marked the anniversary with brunch in Rhinebeck. Thankfully the town has returned to normal after the media encampment for the wedding of the Clintons daughter last weekend. When we got married we had $1500.00 bucks between us and I bet the Clinton wedding spent more than that on toilet paper. I did have a good week selling bikes, with the kids going back to school; they all are looking for cheap bikes to get around campus. I sold 2 girls 3 speeds, the old Columbia single speed and a 10 speed Ross. It funny how the Bard kids love the old girls bikes, I guess it makes a statement?

I have been busy here rebuilding an old lugged Raleigh "Sportif" that I rescued from the metals bin at the town transfer station earlier this summer. I am very pleased with how this project is progressing and the bike turns out to be a very comfortable and responsive ride. When I dragged the carcass home, the bike had been the victim of a poorly done "flat bar" conversion complete with big old ugly "comfort" saddle. The wheels were egg shaped and rubbed the brakes both fore and aft. The only thing that saved the old cromoly was a protective coating of oily grease on everything. I wish I had taken a "before" picture. I completely stripped the frame and did a through cleaning, hours of truing and polishing, lots of fitting and re-fitting. New cables, a nice vintage brooks, salvaged bars, and brand new fenders from Velo Orange. I still have to decide on what color bar tape, a water bottle cage and it will be ready to roll. Oh, and yes, I have cut th

I am not much of a gardener, we put in flowers in the beds at Uphill and that is about it. I do like to get a couple tomato plants and set them out in pots on the back steps as the giant rats don’t seem to be bold enough to come up on the porch. This year we have an abundance of tomatoes but they will not turn red…at least not fast enough for us. It always seems this way, all green, then overnight, and so many ripe tomatoes that you are overwhelmed. It’s like everyone you know is running around with bags of tomatoes, trying to give them away. If you could somehow save them in that just picked state till February, man oh man. The Queen and the Princess went down to Red Hook and picked Blueberries the other day, a great big bucket of them. They are great with the mini wheat in the morning. I have been riding steady most every day, my knees are starting their mid-season, dull, pain, but I will work through it. I think I might try moving the saddle a bit.

We don’t subscribe to many printed publications here at Uphill but the Hudson Valley Magazine is one that we always look forward to its arrival via the mailman from hell. This publication is a great resource to find things to do in the area as it contains a calendar of upcoming events and related reviews. This months issue also contains a list of the top 25 things , in their opinion, that you “must do” . Topping the list is the Walkway over the Hudson. Also the Bike trail in Putnam County made the list as well as Olana. I did notice that Biking Route 9W was somehow overlooked. Anyway, I think Fredrick Church was correct when he wrote that this river valley is the center of the universe. http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/ I have been sorting out a vintage set of Dia-Compe center pull brakes that I plan on using on a lugged Raleigh I am building up in a Rivendell style. I m trying to find one of those old quick release seat post, pinch bolt mounted rear brake cable hangers. I g

If there is nothing else to talk about, you can always complain about the weather. I have continued to ride early and "lay low" during the heat of the day. There was a pretty steady stream of bikes past Up Hill on Sunday. The rest area was just up the road and seemed very well organised. I felt bad for those that came through later in the day, it must have been a long hot grind back to Poughkeepsie.

I see they are painting orange markers on the road.... right past the Up Hill estate. Maybe I'll sell Beer. http://www.biketherivervalley.com/Home_Page.html Well,, Whoever they are...they must have cornered the market on Orange paint.

In my attempt to beat the heat, I have been heading out on the Surly at dawn and getting in some miles. I love the early morning silence and the absence of any traffic. One thing that has become a potential hazard is the fact that I am not totally awake for the first 15 minutes. That fact that I am not quite "with it" is compounded by the presence of the white tail deer (Giant Rats) that stand on the road side. The idiot deer spend their evenings treating everyone's gardens like free "all you can eat" salad bars. Once they have had their fill of cultivated plants they decide to stand along the road side to enjoy the sunrise. They wait very patiently until some fool comes cycling along, then at the last possible second, they stroll right out into the road. I am thinking of taking a paint ball gun along with me, load it up with fluorescent orange paint balls, and mark the repeat offenders.

The heat has set in here in the valley, I think it has crept up the east coast over the past few days. I have been doing my best to get out on the road early and crank out 20 or so before the rest of the household is up and about. It is also very, very dry, so my routine has been, ride, water, try to stay cool in the pool. Early morning rides are great...well that is once you wake up, for me, that is about 3 or 4 miles out. I have been taking a couple bucks with me and stopping for coffee at a quicky mart. Other than that, I have finished restoring a 1961 Goodyear "Bridge crusier " that is a lot of fun, I wouldn't want to ride it too far but the Queen and the Princess think it is neat. I got to find a new set of streamers.

Clermont is one of my favorite places in the Hudson Valley. This will be a lot of fun this weekend, Click on Clermont below Clermont this weekend

There is only one small problem with these long days, there isn’t enough time to sleep. Lately my days start to run together and are only interrupted by short cat-naps between midnight and 5 am or so. I see that I haven’t updated the blog since last Tuesday! It feels like just the day before yesterday. I think it is a good thing…squeeze every second out of every day. My head stone should read “Didn’t miss a thing”. Lets see…Friday; we drove to Rhinebeck and took the grand tour of Wilderstein http://www.wilderstein.org/ Wilderstein is one of the many “old money” mansions lining the banks of the Hudson river. Wilderstein is kind of unique in that it was still occupied by the last remaining family member up to 1991 when Margaret Suckley passed away just short of her hundredth birthday. The group who is taking care of the place is restoring what they can, while keeping the appearance that Margaret might still be living there. The river view from the front porch is one of the best. Saturday

My work takes me out through the back roads and off beat places that you just don’t get to see from the thruway or main routes across NY and CT. Yesterday I was headed for a meeting in a small town out near Cobleskill and having plenty of time, still basking in the Fathers day / Solstice glow, I decided to take the scenic route. Monday mornings are a particularly good day to be out on the back roads as that is the time to find post-yard sale free piles. So, I’m riding along, listening to a back log of downloaded podcasts, Tommy and Ray, snorting and dispensing advice about warped brake discs, when I come on the mother of all bike piles! I stopped and was gazing at the pile when a guy in his mid 70’s comes out of the house and announces that he is not open yet but to “Hold on a minute”. In those few minutes, I started to grasp what I was looking at. I was only standing at the edge of a vast expanse of bicycle carpet. I mean bicycles stacked deep in every direction, disappearing into the

Good day to be a Dad, Diner breakfast, Early morning Ride, Yankees - Mets on the tube, Beer is cold.

It will rain today; I know this because I washed the truck yesterday afternoon. For some reason, I am only allowed to drive a clean car from the car wash to home, other than that I must be rockin down the highway in a bug splattered, road grimed mess. I have a meeting in Hunts Point at 3:30 in the afternoon….I am so looking forward to the drive back home in the rainy, evening commuter traffic. On the bright side, the last couple of days have been spectacular, the Queen and I did the “Walkway over the Hudson” Monday evening. We rode a couple of the old bikes, I rode the recently rebuilt Raleigh and the Queen on the 71 Columbia. We are very lucky to live here in the Hudson Valley, I have been lots of places but nothing compares to what we have right here.

Here at Uphill we have an old boat, a 1983, 19 foot Bayliner that we have owned for almost 20 years. The boat has served us very well and we have had many enjoyable days on it, poking around, up and down the river. When we bought it, it already had many hours of use and I never expected the old girl to last as long as she has. I think the trick is that I’ve always kept her covered summer and winter. Last year with the princess graduating, all the rain, and preparations for collage, I never even started her up. I was astonished this weekend to put her at the boat launch and with very little futzin around she was running once again! I had charged the battery up (7 years old) and cranked on the starter but no fire….could not smell any 2 year old gas coming up to the carb…found that the float and accelerator pump to be stuck, cleaned them up and we were running. I was so happy that I ran it up to the Quicky Mart and put 20 bucks of high test in her. We ran her back to the boat launch, sh

Not too much to report here at Up Hill. I just finished a 2 day road trip for work. As the years go by a 6 hour drive takes more out of me than it used to. The motel sucked and I got about 2 hours sleep. It was good though to get out and see some old co-workers that I don't visit with too often. I did buy an old sears 12 speed found along the road, 5 bucks. I only bought it because it has a really cool front wheel that obviously was added at some point. The wheel has a nice high quality, cast, high-flange front hub and will look nice cleaned up and installed on the Raleigh . The bike also had new "gum wall" tires that I will save. I plan to grab some bits off the frame and toss the rest.

Ah, Yes... I am glad that the weather changed over the weekend. I think the August in June may be gone for the week and I don't need to bring 2 water bottles per ride. I did get out Saturday morning, very early, and got in 20. The Queen and Princess went to the mall for the day and I spent the better part in the cool basement rebuilding a nice old lugged frame Raleigh . I just received a very nice, glossy, "Hudson Valley Bikeways & Trailways" map, published by the New York State DOT. I tell ya what, it don't make no sense to me! ...oh wait, if I turn it over there is a short description of each segment...good thing because the Thruway is marked out in about the same color as the bike routes...I'd hate to make that mistake. Actually there are some nice looking rides, it seems that much is unpaved but I guess if a fellow had some 32c tires mounted up it might be fun to run the dirt sections and still enjoy the paved sections. This weather makes me want to g

I have to say that I do not agree with that old saying “too much of a good thing”. This past weekend was good and could have gone on forever as far as I’m concerned. It has taken me a full day and a half to get caught up at work but, it was totally worth it. I think 4 day weekends are just enough to really relax and unwind. I rode everyday and found another bridge has been closed. This little bridge gets me out to the east into the hill country. I came upon the barricade on my way towards home, after putting 30 some odd miles behind me, with another 7 or so to the house. I was really disappointed as the detour would have added another 10 miles and I really was not prepared to do more. Luckily, I was able to lift the bike over the barricade, walk across the bridge and continue on my merry way. I just don’t get all these bridge closures, it is like the state is holding us hostage. I mean this is 3rd world country stuff when bridges just close and there is no money to repair them. I also

I like Memorial day weekend and I look forward to the hokey little parade and ceremonies that come along with living in a small town. One thing that I started to notice over the past few is that the VFW float has changed. There is only one WWII guy left and the Korean vets are really fading as well. Of course the Vietnam guys must be around but, as was the case with that conflict, they don’t really seem to get (or maybe want) any acknowledgement, as far as appearing in the parade. I served post-Vietnam (Carter administration) and spent my years of service in a haze of partying. I do think it is important to remember all the young people who gave their service and I think some of my feelings apparently rubbed off on the Princess who always accompanied me to the annual ceremonies. She has always been a strong public speaker, Girl Scout and Student of History, so it was not surprising when she was asked to deliver the key note address during the Memorial Day service in the Veterans cemete

Today I sold my 79 Fuji and bought a new wheel set for the Surly. Seems weird that one complete bike equals one new set of wheels, it just doesn’t add up. From the amount of calls I had on the ad, I think that old 12 speeds must be the next “hot” thing. It is possible that these kids are realizing that a bike with no brakes, one speed, that doesn’t coast is not the best choice to get around in the real world. The temperature is approaching 90 this afternoon and I think I’ll wait until later in the evening to ride.

I came back in from a 20 miler yesterday with the rear wheel bumping the brake pad and discovered a broken spoke, These poor old wheels are getting to be a real “drag". I think I got to sell another 12 speed and buy a new set. These county roads are rough on wheels and I am going to look for a heavy duty touring set, I will add a little weight as a trade off for durability. We went to the city and brought the Princess home for the summer on Friday. I like to see all the different bikes down there, from the strange little folders to the nasty, greasy take out delivery bikes. The delivery guys seem fearless or brainless as they fly along in the traffic taking no notice of one ways, red lights or pedestrians while they balance 12 large pizzas on the handlebars. So anyways I’ll be riding the old GT till I get my wheel situation “straightened” out.

I don’t really care if Lance did dope or if Floyd is lying now or he was lying before, they are all a bunch of idiots who are lucky enough to have the ability to ride professionally and just that should be enough, not to mention that Lance was with “soak up the sun” Sheryl Crow…ya know, you would think that would be enough. But no…they gotta have more and I don’t care, fell and busted up your elbow Lance? It serves ya right.

Ah yes, the Frenzy is in full swing here at Up Hill. Wow, this weekend was a bee hive of activity. The Princess has started her summer job and still has one more week of school. We have to go down to the city and pack her up on Friday, always a thrill to try and park the truck close enough to load it. Saturday was town yard sale day and between getting the boat un-winterized and getting the Honda 90 inspected, I did make a sweep of the town and scored 2 free 10 speed bikes. Both too big for me but they are in pretty good condition and with a little cleaning will fetch a few bucks. The Up Hill estate has been plagued by giant wood boring bees over the last few years, they like to drill little holes into the trim and buzz annoyingly around your head when sitting out on the porch. I picked up a very nice badminton racket at the one of the yard sales and the bees make a very satisfying “poink” when met with a clean backhand…..great fun for the whole family! In between Mowing, boat work, an

Not too much to report, except the wind is kicking my butt. This morning I went out and did 20 miles, dodging the twiggs and branches along the river road. Tivoli appeared to have suffered the worst of it with a couple big old trees down in the road. As soon as I turned to the east and headed inland, I was flying along at 20 without much effort. Then, on the northern leg…forget about it…It was like the brakes were dragging, I was cranking on the small chainwheel like I was going up hill. In dodging the sticks and crap in the road I must have hit something as I now have a very annoying shimmy that I feel right up through the bars. I see that I have a pronounced wobble in the rear wheel. I wish I had a spare 700c wheel set. Maybe this is just the excuse I need.

Well, My odo just rolled over 700 miles since January 1st. I feel pretty good about that with an average speed of 14.62 mph. I am hoping to stay injury free and roll over 2,000 for the year. Feeling good, back is a bit sore, and there is always something that hurts but I think I just need to work through the little annoying annoyances and keep moving. Like Neil said...better to burn out than it is to rust.

WOW, I feel like crap..between the grass, pollen, and this thick weather, my head is pounding. I did get some nice early morning rides in this weekend and there is all sorts of activity down at the boat launches. The strippers are running and all manner of small craft are out on the river. Except for the morning rides, I spent the entire weekend working on the Up Hill estate. I need to go to work tomorrow and rest.

Man the wind has been blowing for like 3 or 4 days now. My riding has been limited by the weather and other commitments so I am primed and ready for a ride tomorrow. I am also excited to see the Princess who will be home this weekend. I love taking a ride with her. It is so cool to ride along and talk. We have been riding since she was a year old. I can remember coming back on the home stretch , one hand on the bars and one hand reaching back holding her limp, sleepy head from bobbing in the baby seat. Then there were the years of the tow behind, alley cat when I used to buy her M&M's for a little power boost. I think the stand out moment, and probably any dad would agree, was that moment when I let go of the seat and she tottered along under her own power. Oh man, exactly one split second later comes the realization that this will only be the first of many times ya gotta let go and let her make her way without you to guide her.....Ya just gotta hope she keeps her feet on

It was a good weekend in spite of a rainy day today. Friday, I did a 16 mile recovery ride after the Platte Clove adventure on Thursday. Saturday was great, we spent the day with family, food, wine and 6 strings. It seems that the older I get, the more I enjoy time spent with family. We were sitting there playing songs and we realize that collectively we have forgotten more songs than we remember. Getting song lyrics correct is not a problem after a couple glasses of wine; we just go right into another song. Sunday brought some much needed rain and we went down to Adams for plants and walked the new “Bridge over the Hudson” with the princess. It will be real nice when the connecting bike trails are complete. Speaking of bridges, the Route 9G bridge over the Ro-Jan Kill is closed and I have to drive way around to get to the office, they say maybe 6 months till it is re-opened. I think I should just work from home till fall.

Well, I can check that off the list! Whew, I got an early start this morning and did the Platte Clove ride. It was a beautiful morning and I do not feel bad about missing a few hours work. The ride is a 20 mile loop that includes the accent of Platte Clove road and a decent of route 23A. Now everything I have read about climbing this road does not even come close to describing just how tough it is. It is steep and then it gets a little steeper and then it just gets stupid. I had to walk quite a few sections, I just could not recover…Oh did I say it was steep? Oh, and did I mention that it is long? When a section is running at 7% is looking like a recovery spot, you know it is steep. Having said all that it is beautiful, there is still snow on the trails at Hunter and the views are out of this world. The decent was really cool and fast. As far as my ratio setup, all I have to say is short of a Mt. bike, there ain’t a setup that is going to help much, I should have taken the Surly as I

I was cleaning up the dumpster Fuji on Sunday and I noticed that it has one of those Alpine stacks of cogs on it. The large cog is a 32 and the small is a 14. It is a pretty wide range for 6 speeds and not real great for normal road riding. I guess that is how they get away with the 52/42 rings on the front. So that got me thinking and I went out to the shed and pulled out another old 12 speed that I fixed up last summer. This bike had a really cheap crank that I replaced with a no name compact and cartridge bottom bracket. Within a few minutes I had the Alpine rear wheel on the bike with the compact crank. This setup gives me a bike with a 34 front to a 32 rear……Look out Platte Clove because I now have the gear for the accent. I tested it out around town and went down to the town boat launch, the climb back out was nothing on it, I wasn’t even down in the granny. Now if it doesn’t rain on Friday, I am going for it.

This year I decided to use up some vacation by taking a bunch of Fridays off, so far the plan has backfired. Every Friday I took off has resulted in a rainy day. I sure hope this Friday thing turns around for me as I was looking to Fridays to be my long ride day. I spent yesterday (rainy Friday, day off) overhauling Scout, my trusty old hybrid that did winter bike duty this year. Poor old thing, rode hard through the brine and put away wet. I went through both axels, Derailers, and soaked and cleaned the chain. I cleaned up the rims and paint and hung it back on the rack. Scout is ready for the next adventure. I see that there is a bike swap meet in New Paltz on the 25th. I may take a couple of my Wips in an attempt to thin out the herd. I would also like to look for a compact crank for the Surly. No riding for 2 days now…I am going out tomorrow, rain and wind be dammed.

Last Friday we drove down to the city to rescue the princess. On our way back we made a pit stop at the State Line Lookout on the Palisades Parkway. The State Line Lookout is a little glance into the bygone days when auto travel was still an adventure and the Road Side Attraction was where auto travelers made their stops as opposed to the Quickie Marts of today. I love stopping at the state line, I don’t think a lot of folks traveling on the parkway even know it exists, or they just don’t think they have the time to stop. There is never a line for the clean bathrooms and the view is really nice. Stopping here you can imagine this place in its heyday. You can get hot food, cold drinks and a peaceful spot to sit and rest.

Just down the road from the Up Hill estate is located the town transfer station. At the transfer station they have a large roll-off dumpster in which folks dispose of all manner of stuff made out of metal. I find that it is most fruitful to visit this dumpster just after they close on Saturday. This weekend’s visit was very exciting as I found that someone had decided that they no longer wanted this nice old FUJI. I can not stop myself from rescuing classic bikes even though I need another like…well you know. I dragged it out, then went back in to retrieve the front wheel. I walked home balancing the Fuji in one hand, Surly in the other. Once home, I Pumped up the tires, got the brakes working, trued up the front wheel a bit and rode it about 8 miles! It is a sweet old bike and very lucky I came along. I am not sure what I’ll do with it, maybe just clean it up and flip it on Craig’s list. Easter was great and we spent the day with family, playing 6 string and eating. The Frenzy caused

Before too long the spring frenzy will swoop down upon the residents of the Hudson Valley and we will all be engaged in the annual rite of the spring season. Actually due to the unseasonably warm weather we had last week, the frenzy has already taken hold in some of the weaker folks. I can’t blame them, just like the fall rut causes the whitetail to run headlong into traffic on the Taconic, the first warm days of spring causes the homeowner to run headlong to the garden center. I have been a willing participant in this activity for many years but, in the past few seasons, I find myself admiring those residents that are able to resist the instinct to scrape, paint and rake. These folks must have a unique chromosome that is resistant to the call of the roto-tiller. While I and most of my fellow citizens are painting, scraping, hoeing and mowing, these low stress people are enjoying the first warm days of sunshine; they go fishing or get the convertible out of storage and go for a spin. I

Glad that it is Friday!! This was a long week at work but I have decided that the Blog shall no longer contain anymore bitchin about work. The man shall not control EVERY portion of my life! So today I am dreaming about rides to come over the summer. One road that I have been thinking about is the Platte Clove road over in West Saugerties. Here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platte_Clove Apparently this road has some bike race history and some ties to another tough Boss, ok last time on the work thing. I would like to take a day and do this, I am not too proud to get off and walk if I need to, there were some better than I that did the same. With a little more Google I found this really nice site http://www.roberts-1.com/bikehudson/ It is nice that there are folks willing to put the time in to document all these rides, Thank you Ken and Sharon.

On the road this week but not on the bike. If I did not have to work for a living, I could get so much more done. I have been sitting in meetings since Monday and here it is Wednesday. I can’t wait to get home and out for a ride. Man was not made to sit in a chair for hours at a time.

One of my top favorite bike rides is the Turkey Hill loop. Turkey Hill is a steep long, heart pounding climb on the county line between Milan and Elizaville. I like to approach from the falls in Elizaville and climb to the summit. Then it is a thrilling drop down into Rock City and on to Red Hook where you can get good coffee and treats. I did this very loop on glorious Saturday except did the loop “backwards” from my normal direction and skipped the Red Hook stop. Either way you wind up hitting Turkey Hill at about the 16 mile mark. The new Pacer climbs pretty good, but every traverse of this route has me thinking of converting to a compact crank up front. The down hill in this direction will yeld speeds near 40mph. I passed many bikers on the 39 mile loop with opportunities to continue my “Bike Greeting” data collection. I saw a guy tying plastic Easter eggs to trees in his front yard, hundreds of little pastel plastic eggs, each with a hole punched to accept a length of nylon fishin

The nice weather combined with the extra hour of light has brought more cyclists out on the roads. For most of the winter I seemed to have the roads to myself but last night I passed 4 or 5 folks enjoying a spin. I can judge if a passing cyclist will return my wave or greeting by just how much brightly colored spandex they are adorned in. I mean you can meet some poor soul, dressed in sweats, cranking along on their squeaky old mountain bike and get a wave and a good natured hello. In the mid-range spectrum of bike greetings, you pass a guy on a nice “fitness bike” rocking the running tights and matching windbreaker and you might get a smile and a brief wave of acknowledgement. One thing for sure, when you see the guy in the matching jersey, shorts, helmet, bike ensemble, be prepared to know what it is like to be invisible, cause you ain’t gettin nothin outta them. I don’t know, I guess when you’re training for the tour de whatever; you can’t afford to move your focus off the prize. He

I will trade a lost hour sleep any day for a sunny day. Finally the rain and wind has passed on and today the sun is out and the temps will flirt with 50 degrees. I am so excited to have enough light to get a decent ride in after work. I made a few minor adjustments to my saddle and handlebar setup and the bike felt great last ride. The Brooks gets a stay from eBay for now. The commute to work this morning was beautiful, the sun shining on still snow covered Catskills off to the west and the river showing signs of life. Yes sir, the season is upon us. Last Wednesday I was snowmobiling in Vermont with temps in the high 40’s. It was a lot of fun and I felt great after riding almost 100 miles of rough terrain. I think that all the cycling has got my legs in shape.

Yup the Bastards got me last Sunday night. It was pop up city on the old Dell. Man it makes me so angry. So that took a week of screwing around with IT to root the crap out and restore systems to normal. I hate those computer hacking bastards. Oh the good side, the weather is great and I rode 47 miles this week end. I took the Pacer out and didn’t have any trouble. The only thing is that new Brooks is a bear to break in. I have a nasty case of saddle sores and if things don’t improve in the hundred miles or so that baby is going on eBay. After riding on Sunday I did a little yard work picking up branches. I notice the wild onions sprouting up, it is amazing how things renew each spring, there is a deeper message that these overnight sprouting onions are sending, I am not a good enough writer to “put my finger on it” though. Think of the native Americans slogging through the winter on dried meat and rotting corn. How wonderful it must have been to gather these fresh onions and have a li

Woke up to …what else…more wet snow…grrrr. I decided to ride snow, rain, wind be dammed. I dragged “Scout” my 20 year old “Swiss army knife” do anything, go anywhere, GT Passage off the rack and aired up the tires. I am not ready to baptize the new Pacer in the salty brine that is covering the roads this week. Scout has fenders that do help in these conditions…well scout has everything, if you look up “Fred” in the cycling dictionary, you might find a picture of Scout. Several lights, speedo, fenders, racks; all it needs is a couple rear view mirrors! It was a great ride and the sun broke out on the way back to the barn. I have been in other parts of New York State, as well as other states, and a couple other countries. One thing I can say is there is no place like home. The Hudson Valley is by far the most beautiful area I have ever seen. I rode almost 17 miles and encountered no more than half a dozen cars. I rode with a view of the Catskill Mountains most of the way and made a pit s

I am so ready for spring… We woke up to more wet snow on the ground and more coming down as I write. This is the worst stuff, it has been on and off for like all week. It is so wet and heavy it has collapsed the cover on our old 19’ cuddy cabin river cruiser. The “Snow Slurry” has also wreaked havoc on my back, work schedule and any thoughts of a road ride this weekend. I did spin on the trainer for 35 minutes while watching the Olympics. I hate the trainer. Too bad about the news on the overnight from Chile but from the dark pictures I see on CNN, it appears that, unlike poor Haiti, the Chilean building code does not include cardboard as an approved building material. Let’s hope for the best. Well, the weather isn’t going to change any time soon. Slogged around and managed to get the boat cover rigged back some what. The weight of the slush snapped the fasteners on the “baby carriage” top. It collapsed onto the seats with pools of wet glop in the low spots. I used a couple of step la

Short List of things I know about right now. 1. Bikes, those without motors and those with motors. 2. Music, I like music, lots of different kinds. I play a little 6 string 3. The Hudson Valley, I have lived here most of my life. I can combine all of them, A bike ride in the Hudson Valley while listening to music...Multi Talented! I always enjoyed writing, I can't spell though and suffer from severe lack of education. I think I might have done better if word processors and spell check had existed "back in the day". I will try the "Write what you know" thing. I know about lots of stuff and I seem to run with something for awhile then go on to something else