Up Hill

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