Up Hill

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