Yesterday proved me wrong. I have to ask your forgivness, I was wrong, and I'm sorry for saying it. Yesterday every body was there on time except for ride leader. When it was pointed out to him that he posted the ride at 10 he said "I did?" Shaun and I looked at each other shrugged and started looking for a bathroom. [Small segway--note to West Stockbridge counsel people. If the town has a public bathroom, why isn't it ever open? I can't tell you how many times I've waited till I reached that bath room, only to find it locked. To prvent this in the future, I think the BCA should have a bathroom position similar to the job Paula does for Grates. She calls the offending town DPW and gets grates fixed, so we need somebody to call town health departments to get bathrooms open. What do you think? Any Vollies?]
The attached picture is the goup ready to roll, but we are waiting for, you guessed it Potty stops. It looked to be a beautiful day for a ride. I pulled in at the meeting area at about 9:30 and saw that Karen and Scott where there ahead of me. Shortly Deb Mc I pulled in. Well I say pulled in, it was her second attempt. She actually missed the parking lot and circled the bank building a couple of times looking to find the exit. I'm not sure what the lady in the drive through would have thought. It was kind of strange watching her car go round and round the bank. I could tell this was going to be a good day for Deb when she finally found the exit pulled into our lot, got out of her car then promptly asked for bike chain oil.
First thing she said when she go out of car, "I cleaned my bike last night and got all the oil off but I don't have any oil for my chain." Poor Deb no chain lube from anybody. Funny thing was that after she looked all around and asked everybody she found some Pedros lube in her trunk. Good thing, she was planning to start heading for hardware stores. She was proud of her clean bike though, and rightfully so, she did a great Job. I've attached a pic so everybody could see. The route for this ride was the first half of the Tosk to Hillsdale, NY, then back to W. Stockbridge. The distance was planned to be 50 miles. A good group of folks showed up, John C., Nicky, Shaun, Duke, Mary-Lou, Karen Mills, Debby Mc-I, and Scott L. The route was supposed to get to Rt 71, to Rt 22, west on Rt 21, back roads to Rt 22, down into Hillsdale, then Rt 23 back to Mass. Once in Mass it was You Pick em. Dukes favorite route, "You Pick 'em" Just Ride Baby!!!! This means I don't have a clue where to go from "You Pick'em. We will worry about that when we get there."
Ahh Scott L. Scott wants to do a Century. he brought it up again yesterday. He figures that he's in great shape because he runs a lot, and if the pace of the century only 10 mph he can make it. Today was going to be a good test of that theory. We discussed how he would feel after only 50 miles, that's whe he told us that of all the rides he started, he never finished a Duke Ride. Those of us who have finished Centuries, all had the same thought, we would see how he felt after the 50. [Also doing a Century at10 mph?? Think about how long you would be in saddle at 10 mph. OMG I should have purchased some of that Chamois Wax I talked about last week. I could have sold it to Scott for a profit.]
So off we went up 102 to climb West Center Road, it was a very scenic. As we were slowly climbing West Center Road, John C. shared with us that he was telling his wife, Deb, all the roads look the same; all the same scenery, the same houses, the same rolling hills, the same green trees, and the same red barns. That comment put me back in my saddle. Wow both Shaun and I think every road has it's own charm. I guess because John doesn't realize this because he is powering up hills and down the roads he must be focusing on the joy of biking instead the joy of bonding. I could not let this comment pass by, had to write it down. This is one of the best, a real Duke Comment from a Newbie.. "All the roads look the same." You know, it's like "Just Ride", do we have a Jr Duke in the making? Shaun warned John about saying too much because I may be hard of hearing but when I'm in earshot it gets written about. Yep!!! So John, guess what. I've decided to share with you some typical sights along the way. Oh you can share this Chapter with Deb C. too, so she believes you how all the back roads look.
This is just another typical Berkshire House that you see on all the Berksire Roads, esp in North County. I bet we all live in something like this. I'm not the only one picking on poor John. Shaun spent the whole ride pointing out all the different colored barnes along the way. Poor John, the whole ride was about barns. Shaun has a sadistic streak at times. Look John there is a Brown Barn, and a White one.!!!
Well as I was contemplating Johns point of view, I was ridding behind Scott when all of a sudden he pulled off the road and fell in grass. Damn!!! What the heck happened?!! He pulled off into grass and just rolled over, feet still in pedals. I yelled up to the group ahead and asked them to stop. Turned out Scotts bike seat snapped a bolt and fell off and his feet were so tightly clipped in that he couldn't get them out in time so he just did the Latvalla Flop! After I realized he wasn't hurt it was funny to see him trying to get his feet out of his shoes while they were still clipped in the pedals. Sorry Scott but it was kind of funny.
Good thing he didn't get hurt. While we were standing around figuring options, Shaun came back and McGyvered the thing, he took the bike rack off and took the bolt out and used it for the seat. 
. The Jimmy rig worked after a fashion, way to go Shaun. It didn't work well enough, it was obvious that Scott had to return to the cars. The one positive thing about this was that having to go back kept his record of not finishing a Duke ride intact. This happened 7.4 miles into a 50 miler. Too bad Scott, if your honey do list allows you to, you can come play with us next weekend and we can try again.So off Scott went with his now useless Rack on his back.
After he was down the road a bit Deb Mc-I pointed out that you could tell Scott was a man because his rack was in wrong place. Deb was in different world on this ride.Oh by the way John did you see this wall?
A typical hand made Berkshire Wall that everybody has around yard. I know I have a little smaller one. One Rock!!!While we were waiting for Scott's bike to get fixed, a number of bike riders cruised by. When I mean a number I mean about 100+. Apparently they are from the NY Cycle club up here touring. We could tell they were from NY because very few of them said hello or even acknowledged our presence. Mary Lou and Nicky kept saying hello and most of them would pedal buy without even looking up. It was quite irritating. Finally two locals came by and waved and smiled and told us to have a nice day. No it wasn't Shaun. We talked about that NY Cycle club the rest of the ride.
The ride continued to rt 71, then west to route 22 in New York, tuning south for long climb. John C. Shot up the climb, he is very strong and missed the briefing about stopping at the top of the climb and waiting. Because instead of regrouping he shot over the top and flew down the long downhill into Hillsdale. The rest of us were standing trying to catch our breath wondering where John went. You can see from the picture that we were all very worried.
Since there were no other roads from the top, we finally figured out that he kept going, and Nicky went after him to make sure that he was ok. We all followed shortly and went directly to the store in Hillsdale, figuring that they were there. By doing that they missed the Rt 21 turn, we thought they might have taken it. We weren't sure and couldn't take the chance so we guessed that they continued straight to the store. Duke was right, they were at the store. When asked what happened it got to be pretty humerous, John was blaming Nicky and Nicky was blaming John. According to John, he was circling, waiting for us at bottom of hill, and Nicky just pedaled by and took him straight to store. Nicky said why not, she knew what was on other route and figured it was more fun sitting at store waiting. True Nicky, True, you cut out a tough climb. Thank you. The only problem is that John missed the Bulls. Another typical road.
After all were togeather we moved down the road 110 yards to a Stewarts where we all had Table Top pies. Finally!!! Man I sat there and enjoyed that pie, thinking of Dudly. Man you missed out. Deb even shared some of her chocolate milk with me. I only drank a little because I was worried that I would start talking as fast as Deb. She promised that I wouldn't. I do wish it would have helped my biking, so I could be as strong as Deb.
At the store, it was pointed out that with Scott gone that the sexes were equally distrubuted, 4 women, and 4 men. First time ever that there has been parity. It was noted that there was not one husband or wife team in this parity. Mary - Lou laughed and said that her husband had her bike in the car at 7:00 that morning for a 10:00 ride. What's he trying to tell you Mary Lou???
The ride back was quiet a lot of long climbs up Rt 23. I liked this climb because we went by a ski area. [ Do you realize it's about 6 months to start of ski season? YES!!] We decided to put more miles on and did a loop around Egermont into Sheffield and back to Egermont. This is a great road and pretty smooth. John, did you see the typical school that all the Berkshire County kids go to?
Oh by the way, I hope you saw the typical trimmed tree.
Last week, when we returned for Old Chatham, we crossed I 90 a number of times and people remarked about it. This week we crossed the Appalachian Trail about 10 times. I was amazed at how many times we weaved our way back, either we were going around in circles or the trail was. And since it's a Duke ride I suspected we were. It wasn't really bad, it did offer another opportunity to see things that are off the beaten path.
Yep, a typical Berkshire Monument. I have on in my yard. A Bryan's rebellion. I'll let you figure out what I'm rebelling against. If you are interested in story behind Shay's Rebellion go to this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays_Rebellion
After admiring the monument and disussing the historical significance of Danny Shays and how it applies to the current cunnundrum of high gas prices we moved on. [If you think we did this you've been smelling too much of Deb's chain lube!] We did move on and we wandered through the back roads of the county, we descoved that Pumpkin Road had some art work that every road has..
Oh and the typical yards.
This family doesn't need lawnmowers they have sheep and some dogs watching them. It was pretty neat to stand there and watch the dogs work the sheep up the hill.Finally we had to stop at the Duke Farm [Old Story, won't be repeated here.] We watched sheep dogs work on hearding the sheep.
. We also noted that there was a huge red barn in close proximity, which Shaun couldn't resist in pointing out to John. I think John was thinking the comments have gone to far.We continued on to Division. It was a quiet ride (No Barns.) When we stopped to regroup on 41 I pointed out to John, Arlos Guthries church. What I didn't know was that Deb was in the movie Alices Restrant as an extra. She shared with us the story about her part, and how she got extra attention from the director, who told her to be quiet she was talking too much. LMAO. Rumor has it that Deb was talking the moment she was born.
Oh John, one more thing before I go...
Last week a Turkey, this week a Wood Pecker. Wonder what next week will bring???Great job guys, 57 miles for most of us. Of course John had to continue till he hit 60. That's ok we've all done it added miles to get cardnel number. By the way you should have gone 62 miles and you would have done metric Century.
Once again, great ride, lot of fun, even good Pies. Man Life is Good.
Notes that have nothing to do with Ride
Chamois Wax
On route 71 Deb and Duke were talking about long rides, and Deb asked Duke the question about saddle sores. Duke responded with use Vasoline. Deb thought he said Gasoline and asked him to repeat his response. He repeated "Vasoline will help with lubrication." Deb once again thought Duke said Gasoline and told Duke, in a very serious voice, that if she used Gasoline it could cause Brush fires. I do not think she realized the connatation. OMG. OMG. I almost fell off bike. Jeez Deb are you OK?? This is not like you.
Piacenties are Grand Parents, Congratulations
Baby Girl. Mark didn't tell me name or stats. But I'm a man and don't really care about the stats anyway. Sorry. So add another Grandma to the list of riders we bike with.
Grates
Note to Grandma. On Division Road, south of Route 41 is a grate that is improperly installed. Shaun wanted me to make sure I told you.
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