by Roby Holland, National Sales Manager
Went for a ride Easter Sunday, temp was 45 degrees with the sun shining. Was out for a short ride, roughly 15 miles to get the body ready for Easter Dinner! That's right Easter dinner. It is a big deal at my family's house - ham (the other white meat), sweet potatoes, home made Piccalilli and my wife's honey rolls.
With the feast in mind I set out on my ride down to the beach and back. It wasn't my first ride of the year but it sure felt like it. Every move I made the bike twitched, swayed and swaggered. At one point I even tried to go no-handed and almost crashed. I was rusty - the bike and I were not one, so to speak.
Anyhow I pressed on and enjoyed watching kids look for Easter eggs and people shuffling in to houses for the afternoon celebration, and even saw two crazy people go kayaking in sit on-top kayaks. Never did see those people on my return trip, wonder how it worked for them?
On this ride I decided to go the opposite way around Powder Point then my normal route, which was a north to south loop. At the bend to the north side of the loop I was almost creamed by a Crown Vic, and creamed is putting it nicely. This is a really weird intersection to the Powder Point bridge, where there is no stop sign on either side of the intersection. Thank God the driver was on the ball and saw me coming around the loop and was traveling at a speed where he could stop in time. I waved at him to thank him for the heads up play as I began to hyper-ventilate.
I thought about what had happened and what could have happened. As I said I was rusty! I was not thinking about riding I was thinking about dinner, what a nice day it is and how I'll be spending it with my family, and not being aware of my surroundings, like the drive was.
In short, as you get back out on your bikes, remember we are rusty, so are the drivers out there - be aware, pay attention and ride safe! I feel like a Smokey the Bear commercial, but seriously, be safe.
Showing posts with label Duxbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duxbury. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
A Winter Ride
by Roby Holland, National Sales Manager
WOW, how the weather changes in New England! Today is just down right nasty. It was just right last Saturday, a beautiful forty degree day, that I was on my bike for an afternoon ride.
The problem with winter days like this is that they are very sporadic and you are not always prepared to take advantage of them. I think it took me just as long to find my gear as it took for the entire ride.
It was one of those rides where the people in the cars look at you as if you are a crazy person riding tricycle in your birthday suite during a blizzard. You, on the other hand, have the feeling like "Come-on in the water is fine! You'd be surprised what it will do for your complexion, not to mention your dogs mid section."
The ride was appox. 21 miles, and took me on my local tour of the beach and points of interest in Duxbury. The bay was quiet and void of any birds working the fish, a sight which I long for and await its triumphant return!
Back to the ride. This ride was one part introspective, one part reflection one part stress buster, and one reminiscing past rides . I bring up the four parts of my ride because I think many of us think about similar things during our times on our bikes at one time or another. The most enjoyable part of the ride for me was when I let go of the bars to stretch and almost crashed into a mailbox.
You might be asking yourself why that was the high light of my ride? This brought me back to the day that my brother and I were riding our bikes around the neighborhood with some buddies. For the last few days my brother had been trying to ride his bike "no handed" and it just was not happening. One of our buddies suggested to him that he ride faster to help steady the bike. Well, it helped alright and when my brother proudly turned his head and yelled to me "Hey Roby, check this out" he was promptly removed from his bike by one of our neighbor's extending mailboxes. All of us fell off our bikes in that debilitating laughter we all had as kids when one of your friends shows off and get absolutely abused for it. After a good chuckle to myself, I began to think of other times that my brother and I shared similar moments in our life and when that next moment would be.
The point of this rant is to remind us of the fun times we have had with friends and families on our bikes, skateboards, roller-blades or whatever vehicle brought you together and made you laugh together. More importantly not to forget these good times and fond memories and that they can still be had everyday!
Happy New Year
WOW, how the weather changes in New England! Today is just down right nasty. It was just right last Saturday, a beautiful forty degree day, that I was on my bike for an afternoon ride.
The problem with winter days like this is that they are very sporadic and you are not always prepared to take advantage of them. I think it took me just as long to find my gear as it took for the entire ride.
It was one of those rides where the people in the cars look at you as if you are a crazy person riding tricycle in your birthday suite during a blizzard. You, on the other hand, have the feeling like "Come-on in the water is fine! You'd be surprised what it will do for your complexion, not to mention your dogs mid section."
The ride was appox. 21 miles, and took me on my local tour of the beach and points of interest in Duxbury. The bay was quiet and void of any birds working the fish, a sight which I long for and await its triumphant return!
Back to the ride. This ride was one part introspective, one part reflection one part stress buster, and one reminiscing past rides . I bring up the four parts of my ride because I think many of us think about similar things during our times on our bikes at one time or another. The most enjoyable part of the ride for me was when I let go of the bars to stretch and almost crashed into a mailbox.
You might be asking yourself why that was the high light of my ride? This brought me back to the day that my brother and I were riding our bikes around the neighborhood with some buddies. For the last few days my brother had been trying to ride his bike "no handed" and it just was not happening. One of our buddies suggested to him that he ride faster to help steady the bike. Well, it helped alright and when my brother proudly turned his head and yelled to me "Hey Roby, check this out" he was promptly removed from his bike by one of our neighbor's extending mailboxes. All of us fell off our bikes in that debilitating laughter we all had as kids when one of your friends shows off and get absolutely abused for it. After a good chuckle to myself, I began to think of other times that my brother and I shared similar moments in our life and when that next moment would be.
The point of this rant is to remind us of the fun times we have had with friends and families on our bikes, skateboards, roller-blades or whatever vehicle brought you together and made you laugh together. More importantly not to forget these good times and fond memories and that they can still be had everyday!
Happy New Year
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
