Off to New Hampshire

August 31, 2007 / chas / Leave a comment

I’ve arrived in New Hampshire by way of Boston. On my way to Etna, NH and some rural road cycling this weekend. Amazingly, the flights went off like clockwork. Both out of Austin and out of Chicago, on time all the way. Can’t remember the last time that’s happened.

Nice summer day up here. Didn’t feel like driving all the way up. Instead, opted to go about half way. Landed at the Colby Inn in Henniker. Henniker is a one-light little town off the beaten path. Nice and quiet here. The http://colbyhillinn.com/ is a comfortable place. Nice rooms and great dinner last night. Great wine selection too. After dinner we were treated to a refreshing thunderstorm. Hopefully that’ll reveal nicer weather today.

The picture here is in the back yard at the inn. They had a chess board set out in the lawn. Kem and I played a game. It’s been awhile since I’ve played chess. Kinda fun though. I’m looking way too contemplative here in this picture though.

We’ll take in some hiking this morning, then it’s off to Etna to put together the travel bikes and meet the other folks we’re riding with. Hoping it’s a small group. The only other time I’ve done a BVT tour it was a pretty small group so assume this will be the same.

Ok, off to breakfast…

Pease Park Picnic

August 26, 2007 / chas / Leave a comment

Pease Park Picnic – say that 3 times fast. Yeah, kind of a mouthful. Today was all about a leisurely ride through the tree-lined streets of west central Austin. We eventually landed for a quiet little picnic in Pease Park.

Wasn’t really up for an all out workout today but it felt great to get the fat tire bikes out and take our time. It was also the only reasonable way we could manage to haul around our picnic fare.

We managed to bump into DK enroute, just walking down the street. Of course, we were riding down his street at the time so perhaps it’s not all that surprising. He was off to his usual haunt, Caffe’ Medici. I think he moved into the neighborhood just so he was closer to his favorite coffeeshop.

Dog Days o Summer

August 22, 2007 / chas / 3 Comments

The last couple weekends I’ve been riding the Bike Friday. Over the Labor Day weekend I’ll be doing a cycling trip up in New Hampshire and I figured the Air Friday would be just the ticket for the trip. While it’s not exactly the most flattering picture I’ve ever had taken of me, here’s a shot of me with my Bike Friday that Kem took this past Sunday. We had a fun ride in the hills of NW Austin.

If I look hot and sweaty, well, it’s August in Texas. What do you expect? In fact, one of the reasons for making the trek up to New Hampshire to ride is to hopefully find some cooler weather for a change. I get so sick of the hot weather by this time of year. Plus, it’s just fun to check out a new place. Looks like it should be a really fun trip. Kem will be joining me too.

The ride will be supported through Bike Vermont. I’ve done one of their rides before. For the most part, it should be a pretty cushy ride. Bike Vermont’s a touring company that’s been around for decades. They do a nice job and the food & inns are top notch.

It’s otherwise been awhile since I’ve posted. It’s been a very busy summer. Lately it’s been just a lot of work. I’m working to scale up and migrate a web site and in the event it isn’t obvious, such an endeavor takes a lot of effort. Still though, I’ve managed to take some nice breaks.

A couple weekends ago we got out and did the Bertram to Lampasas ride. There’s a picture of Kem attached below of that ride. We got caught a couple of times having to deal with some low water crossings. Sometimes, as in this case, it’s just better to walk across than try to ride through. They can be surprisingly slippery. It’s really an oddly wet summer though. This picture was taken in August! Normally a little creek like this would be close to bone dry at this time of year. Everything is usually drying up and brown and the city starts sending watering schedules out to conserve water. This year though, August is looking like a spring month. Everything is still very green. In fact, it’s rained again the last couple of days – on top of the rains we got last week in the wake of tropical storm Erin.