May Days

It's eighty-five degrees and dry. There's only a slight breeze. Perfect biking weather. Perfect. But I'm sitting at the park watching a few of my boys play little league. Not because I'm a devoted teacher, but because my bike is in the shop. Yesterday I brought it to a place in Coxsackie. I was hoping to get a simple tune-up. Instead, it needs a new duerailer- a mountain bike duerailer. Apparently the new cogset I installed is just too big to work with the large chainring and current rear deurailer. Mountain bikes have deurailers with longer arms. It should be able to handle the wide range of gears I'll be using. Not cheap, but I haven't had a professional tune-up in years. As soon as I have the bike back I'll be on the road as much as possible. I have to- Friday is June!

Summer Soon?

This is as far as one of my students got in the first 20 minutes of work this morning. I'm going to start counting the days, perhaps the hours, until June 22nd.

Ansel Friedmann

Check out my friend Dave's website

Dave Friedmann Photography

Amazing stuff. I wish I could capture images one-tenth as good as his on my ride this summer.

Rest?

It's not easy to ride and ride, and then rest and write. I'm bak at the same diner I was at last weekend, but this time I'm actually on my way back. I decided to do a 60 mile day no matter what the weather, and fortunately it's not too chilly and I only felt a few drops of rain. But the wind, man! The wind! 30 miles into a headwind- struggling uphill, struggling downhill! I don't want to jinx myself by saying it, but now the wind will be at my back all the way home.

The Timdom

Over the Hill

This diner is in Middleburgh- 26 miles away. I stopped and had a sandwich and fries before I turned back for home. The last mile and a half before the diner was downhill. You don't think at all about it in a car, but it's much more pleasant to eat at the top of a hill.
At the end, this marked the longest ride I've done in two years. Nothing got sore except my butt.

Tuesday Actually

Beautiful night for a ride. When I came home after school I fell asleep in my bike clothes for an hour. I almost didn't head out. Glad I did. The long shadow includes my bike bags (panniers) at the bottom- I'm not actually hitching a ride on top of what looks like a mac truck.

Perfectly Good House

You can probably just barely make out that vertical shape in the background. It's a tree. I think I've never been more excited for this trip than I am right now. It's a little after one in the morning, and I'm snuggled into the tent for the night. And it's beautiful out here in the backyard. I can hear the peepers in the back pond, and there's a very gentle breeze blowing overhead. I know... it's not raining, or too cold; I'm not hungry or tired, and I'm certainly not thousands of miles from home. But I can't wait to be out on this adventure, facing all of those.

Grandpa

I can't even imagine the number of times my dad will have to hear, 'Do you think Timmy's okay?'

Grandma

If you see this woman, tell her not to worry about me.

Farther

These pictures were taken about 15 miles from home. The road runs right through a gorgeous little valley. The old road marker reads '28 Miles to Catskill'. After school I can ride about 30 miles, but hope to get that up closer to 50 on nice days.

2001: A Short Odyssey

This diner in Preston Hollow (about 12 miles from home) was the end of my first day, first cross-country trip in 2001. I started out in Cairo, and knew almost immediately that there were major stability problems with the bike. It swayed back and forth, so that each pedal stroke was coupled with an upper body effort to keep the bike upright. Standing was an impossibilty. When I got to this diner I humbly called my friend Stephen. He and my sister came out in his truck to bring me back to my car. That night I was able to unload every bit of unnecessary weight and take a test ride. Much success and relief. Ultimately that first journey ended about a week later in Michigan. More about that some other time.

Baby Mine

Von and Kristen at home. Here they're discussing Iraq. Kristen's smiling because Von's doing his Bush impression.

Tearing Down Nostalgia

I saw a lot of movies here when I was a kid, including all three of the original Star Wars trilogy. Before the days of video and DVD (and HBO, for that matter) the theatre was it. Did that sound old?