Today's Ride,,,

So nice, we did it again!

Todays Ride

If there was ever a ride I would choose as my favorite, It was todays route.
Everything that you would ever want, all the hills, corners and fast down hills!
What a Blast!

Thanks Danni and Brad!

Wednesday's Ride

Six Riders, 40 miles, 17 mph average speed.
This was a fantastic ride. Its always nice to ride with such talented riders that know the roads. Chuck led the ride at a gentleman's pace that allowed pleasant conversation throughout the whole adventure. The North Shore or what is known as "Cape Ann" has numerous back roads with very little traffic. Besides for the pavement, riding at times seemed as if we had gone back in time with all the beautiful antique homes.



We took a short extension out to "Plum Island" and to the Parker River State Park. The smell of the ocean was heaven.
We made a quick stop at the local bicycle shop " Riverside Cycles" to thank the nice folks for sending customers for recumbents my way and then on to the finish.
Back at the Mosley Woods Park, Rich had a charcoal grill going with all our favorite summer foods. The Hot Dogs were the best we have had all summer!
Thank You Rich and Thank you Chuck for leading such a successful and beautiful ride!

The Nashua River Rail Trail

Twenty Four miles of true cycling bliss!
We had the pleasure of riding a new route today, Hot as it might have seemed, we were in total shade for 95 percent of the whole ride. Times were so nice, it brought up thoughts of summers past and times spent in the wood as a child.
Our plan was to check out the trail so we could schedule rides with other friends at a later date. Part of a series of sorts, we could do a 4 part rail trail ride and lunch in the fall.
The Nashua River Rail Trail Covers a fair amount of farm land, Wetlands and pine forest. At times the trail had two distinctive tracks through red pine needles.Just lovely.




The shortest of the 4 trails I covered in the past month, the trail would be perfect for a quick ride in a cold day or for when time is short. Perfect for children and adults alike.
All paved with all safe road crossings, we made our way from the northern most part to lunch at a great spot in Ayre. We met up with our friend Danni at an Irish Pub called "J.P. O'Hanlon's", in Ayre center, just a block from the trail and enjoyed great food with fun conversation.

http://www.jpohanlons.com/Lunch.asp

After a lunch of Shepard's Pie, we headed back to the start at speed. Long stretches without street crossing can be enjoyed in total tree cover.
This is a very sweet trail. Super smooth and very well kept.

Summer Time!

It seems like just yesterday we were talking about snow. Bitter cold is part of our past for a while.
Summer time brings summer fun, Food and friends. Longer rides and warm nights.
The Spring of 2010 has been one of the best I can remember. We have enjoyed many great rides and found new roads. Riding in Southern New England is always fun and with the glorious weather we have had, it will be a Spring to remember!
Everything is in full green now. Even the sunniest days are dark under some stretches of road. Like coasting on a bike, you never have to endure the sun over the whole ride. Tunnels of green and cool breezes allow a break while moving. Far different then if we were in Kansas!
Get out today. Find a spot and stop to enjoy the difference of the season. City or Country it makes no difference. The change of color, the angle of the sun and the smell in the air. Summer Time in New England is here!

The Farmington River Trail

Wednesday we had the pleasure to ride the north end of the Farmington River Trail.

Starting in Southwick, Ma., at that point on the southern Massachusetts border that dips down into Connecticut, We parked the car and headed south. Crossing the border in the woods on a super smooth path, we traveled in total canopy at times and at other times in the open crossing huge fields. Mostly flat with very few cyclists, we seemed to have the trail to ourselves.
The weather was cloud cover, making it unnecessary for having to wear sunscreen, Cool and comfortable.
The trail covers farm land in use. Places that seemed to have possably have grown Tobacco in the past, now large gardens of nursery stock.
We traveled along Route 202 for a short while and into the town of Simsbury,
It was then close enough to lunch time that we decided to go looking for a spot for a bite.
Less then 100 yards off the trail we came across a spot called "Plan B"
After locking the bike I went inside an after one glance realized we were in for a good time.
The name Plan B, seems like a second thought or something, but after thinking about it realized that Plan B stood for, Burgers, Beer, Bourbon, and Beef.



The music was classic rock and the craft beer selection huge. There wasn't Bud or Bud Light anywhere to be seen, Really.



Our Waitress, Aaron was a Sweetheart, She came right over and with a huge smile asked us both our names. She continued to call us by name for the rest of our stay. What a blast. I could only think of all my friends that would truly be in Heaven with us at this surprise spot, One of the best here in the States that Barb and I have every fallen across. We will return.

We headed out after a great lunch south to a point where we felt the first drop of rain. At that point it was 1:40 and turning around at that point would have us home in Dover just before rush hour.
We finished our first trip on the Farmington River Trail in light rain and just in time for it to start to come down harder.
We had ridden about half of the trail and after talking to my friend Warren at the store was told we did the better part.
The trail is very nice and worth the traveling time to get there. Very few cyclists to tangle with, the trail make the perfect get a way for a smooth, fun day of making the bike go! We wont soon forget our lunch spot!
Thank you Paula for the recommendation and thank you Aaron for such great service at now our all time favorite lunch spot!

Tuesday's Ride.

The return of Rich Pinto brought the group together for a tour and lunch on the roads we love in the Metro West area.
We met at the house here in Dover, Three riders, John Totman, Rich Pinto and myself. Heading to the river and up over Strawberry Hill Street to Wilsondale.
Fast and fun, Rich excited to be back where there are hills didn't stop with the story telling and information about subjects of interest. The pace was moderate and fun.
We covered some of the nicest sections of road one could ever want to ride on the recumbent style bicycle. Places were like tunnels of green and others open.
Cool and comfortable was the weather with big puffy fair weather clouds,
We did our lunch stop at our new favorite spot in Holliston, Casey's for Pizza and Beer. A wonderful lunch as always with more story's.
A fantastic ride that no one I know would not enjoy.
Here are some of the photos:









Aerocycle and the CA-2.0 Pinto's first and his latest design,

Bacchetta 2 Day, July, 24, 25

Come join us for 2 days of Recumbent fun in this beautiful part of the world. Saturday we will be giving test rides and answering any questions you might have about this different style of "Heads Up" cycling. The 2 events are free. No sign up nessasary. The 2 rides require your own recumbent, helmet and light for the Friday night opener, but the demo day is open to anyone who would like to learn to ride and take one out for a spin!

Hope to see you there!



Saturday July 24th, Bacchetta Breakfast ride. Ride starts in Wellesley Center at 7:30 and heads straight for breakfast first and then for a moderate paced 30 mile tour of Boston's Metro West. Finish around 10:00am.

Saturday July 24th, 11:00-5:00 Belmont Wheelworks, Test rides, Fittings, Riding instruction. Come test ride a recumbent for the first time or try something new. Mike and Rich from Bacchetta will be out on the street with Bacchetta's full line of recumbent bicycles, answering questions and signing autographs.

Sunday July 25th. Bacchetta Southern New England Tour. 66 mile fast paced tour of the roads and sights you have enjoyed reading about and seeing on this blog. No Q sheets or street arrows. This ride is not for the squeamish and will require your best road skills. There is a 42 mile cut off. or a 24 mile short ride for those that don.t have time to do the whole ride. See the second loop to the East of the larger loop.

Here is Sunday's ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/41237600

You can print the map, or download the route to your GPS.


Finish back in Dover for a Riders and Support Group BBQ, sponsored by Wheelworks, Bacchetta Bikes and Harpoon Brewery. Volinteers to help with the ride support will be greatly appreciated and welcome to the after event party.


Check back later for ride info, other tid bits and GPS maps of the rides.

10,000 Hits!

Then Thousand Hits. Thank You!

My Friday!

For most, its the start of a new week. For me its my Friday and tonight the start of my weekend.
It has been over the top busy at the bicycle shop this spring. Non stop action. We hit the ground running every day and only on some days make a successful escape for lunch. Call ahead and lunch is waiting and back to it in less then a half hour.
The next two days should bring extra time to both ride and write.
Check back soon for the dates of this years "Bacchetta Weekend" The Bacchetta Weekend is 3 days of recumbent events. Friday night Boston Pub Crawl, Saturday morning breakfast ride and a Long Sunday ride and BBQ. This years Sunday ride will be an extended tour of over 80 miles.
The Date is in the planning. Please feel free to comment or email me for a date or dates that will work best for you and look here in the next couple of days for a poll.

The East Bay Bike Path

What a beautiful day and what a beautiful place to ride.
We short cutted the ride and took the car down to East Providence to the start of the East Bay Bike Path.
14.5 miles of southern New England views and smells. The trail one of the oldest is also one of the narrowest. In great shape and well maintained. The trail heads along the East shore of Narragansett bay from East Providence to Bristol RI.
We started out in the cool but sunny weather. As we went along we noticed the clouds starting to gather. The first drop was felt by Barbara and soon later we were in a spring shower with a constant 15 mph tail wind.
The end of the trail comes to a classic Clam Shack by the name of Quito's. It is everything you would expect. On the water with a covered deck, for day's like this, all the tables were filled.
We found seats at the Bar and settled down to a full on New England Dinner of Clams, Fresh Fish and Maryland soft shell Crab,
A wonderful feast, maybe not suited for a bike ride, but once a year, a must!
As we were finishing we noticed the sun coming back out, but by now it was so windy that the deck was clearing out and moving indoors.
We headed out into the head wind and the shower.
Soon after we got under way and off the shore line, it became dry again and warm.
We finished the ride on a dry path in the sun.
At the last mile while standing along the trail we were passed by a Bacchetta Corsa 24. I yelled out, "Hey, Where did you get that bike?"
The rider yelled, "Belmont!"
I knew it! I sold that bike to the rider. We got back to the parking lot and chatted for a while. The rider is a great Gal by the name of Paula. She was totally surprised to see me and the moment she reconized me said "Welcome to Rhode Island!"
She told us of a trail we need to ride in Connecticut that goes from Hartford to North Hampton, Ma. Possibly next week.
Sorry for no photos. I just did not take the camera out today because of the wet. You will just have to see it for yourself! It so worth the trip!



http://www.riparks.com/eastbay

http://www.quitosrestaurant.com/

Rain Cape Caper

My friend Dave and Recumbent cyclist told me about a new way of dealing with the rain. The Rain Cape.
Years ago, I saw a full Schwinn catalog. All the things you don't see in the stores.
Early 60's were the the beginning for me and at the time when it was all new. Things I saw were very strange, but very cool.
Bicycle helmets like black straps. Later known as "hair nets". Mud flaps for fenders that were stock in the 60'. And a thing called a 'Nor Wester" Named after an English Storm from the North West. Straight from the "States" and most likely New England. The Nor Wester rain cape was designed as a roof to a poor man's car. The bicycle.

Totally covering the upper body with a hood. Thumb hooks for your hands to bridge the rain that hit you in the chest.
Total rain cover and slightly Aerodynamic, The Nor Wester kept a body dry in a sudden shower.
My friend Dave wrote me about his new discovery. Funny, I never tryed the rain cape on a recumbent let alone on a under seat steering style bicycle.
Turns out the bridge between your chin and your knees cause a lake.

Somewhere in the Northwest section of the UK there is a lake called Dave, Its in Cornwall or Devon, But its there. If it doesn't exist, it did. Here in New England, First.

Trust

Trust just doesn't happen. Its something that grows over time and is nurtured.
Understanding a persons motive is very much a part of trust. What does the person have to gain by persuading me on an idea, subject or item. How will they benefit by doing so?
The question of who to trust or not to trust comes up more the older we get. How many times do you need to be stung by a bee to feel that all bees will sting you. How many times will selfishness stand in the way of kindness to convince You that all people are in it for themselves?
As children, we trust. Heck, we trusted our parents when they said Santa was coming. Right. Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny. All broken dreams and preparation for the real world and the question of trust or not. When trust is lost, it sometimes is Never recovered.
Understanding that good people do good things for others for the bettering of themselves is a form of selfishness that pans out to do good things. Again the motive is there. Its just in this case understanding it allows one to trust.
I love the moment at the shop when the customer realizes that I'm not there to sell them a recumbent. I'm only there to help them buy one. Somewhere they figure out my motive is just to get them what they want and get them on the road. If there was any motivation of doing so its to see them justify my existence and the sport of recumbent cycling. Having them spread the news. Like planting a garden of sorts. Johnny Appleseed so to speak.
I wont care when someone in the future clames the there the cause of getting everybody riding recumbents. Its going to happen. Gary Fisher really didn't start it all with mountain bikes, Each and every rider in fact did. One person convinced another with there mutual trust for each other and before you knew it, almost everyone was the first to ride one. By the way, Albert Pope and his group of designers invented the Mountain Bike, They just didn't know it.
The worst thing about Trust is when you do and the Trust is broken. When the real motive comes out of why a person chose to be trusted. That's when when "Don't Trust" come to play and the poison is spread by a persons selfishness.
As a whole, I like to think people are good. The ones that don't speak out and are busy doing things for others stand out in my mind as the best in the world. The motives of the untrusted sometime shadow the ones that are good and have you feeling that everyone is bad or with there lifestyles, forced to be bad.
The closing of each recumbent sale is the true sign of trust. The buyer trusts the salesperson that what there spending their hard earned money on is right.
Trust is a powerful thing. To trust and to be trusted is a human feature that should never be abused or taken for granted.

Rides Like This,,,,,,,,,,

Today's ride made me feel as though I'm waisting time when I'm not riding.
I was lost in full on New England splendor for a while and when I found where I was, There was a great sandwich shop. I got my lunch and headed off, turned the corner and found myself on a 40 mile per hour down hill for over a mile to a bike trail in total canopy.
The sound of the rushing "Blackstone" to my left. Cool in the shade and very hot in the sun. Summer weather at its best in the Spring.



The Lunch Stop along the Blackstone River Canal.

The Bike Shop and the Bike Shop Customer

Sometimes its funny how the customer sees the bike shop. Being the only dealer of recumbents in Boston, I have people come from all over to see one in person.
Its like it was back in the early 80's. The shop I worked at was the first to sell Mountain Bicycles and customers were sent from other shops. You can't buy advertising like that! Have someone in another Bicycle Shop tell a customer that they will have to go somewhere else to spend their money. Nice to be on the receiving end!
Twenty five percent of my Recumbent sales are referred by other shops. People come from other states and other country's to buy. The average distance traveled to purchase a new recumbent at the shop I work at is at least 150 miles. They don't seem to mind having to travel, as long as there will be the selection that we talk about over the phone. I can always tell when the customer walks through the door after traveling a great distance to see what they came for. Wide Eyed and smiling. Its always nice. I Imagine that their taken by the size of the shop and the amount of business were doing as well. No smell of gasoline and no sight of a lawn mower or snow blower. It seem strange that our normal customers that expect to see what is there don't notice anything except how long it takes sometimes to get waited on.
For that reason alone, I love standing at the door and and waiting for the person to walk through the door with a "pick up slip" greet them and get their bike. I love having them at the register and out the door faster then they could ever imagine.
Being the only show in town makes things fun. The frustration of selling a customer on a bike and having them go somewhere else to buy it doesn't happen with recumbents. Of course they could go buy another computer and go read more about riding, but they come back.
I love the ones that come back to test ride 6 months after their first time, "Remember Me?" Hmmmm.. Nope!
The smart ones figure it out and don't ever ask the question.
The ever changing times and the ever changing customers make the job fun. As slow as the change is the word is getting out that recumbents are fun and painless.
Being on the front line of Recumbent sales is exciting and dealing with the happy open minded customer, The Best!

Ride Announcement 6-2-10

Wednesday morning, 5 Main Street. Southern mass to Rhode Island and then on to Connecticut. Back roads. Shaded streets.
Bring cash for food and drinks along the way.
Summer is here and its time to ride. Party and BBQ following.
Hope to see you there.
Email me at the address to the right for information. Recumbents only. Hope to see you there.