Connections

Riding a bike is best done in the company of others. Half the time I ride it is usually with a group, mostly the Insane Bike Posse. Riding is safer and more fun with others. Yes the people I ride with may be a little odd but that is probably true of most serious bikers. 

I am amazed at all the connections that I have made through biking. Besides the Princeton Freewheelers I'm also a member of the Jersey Shore Touring Society(JSTS) and Philadelphia Bike Club(PBC). I joined JSTS when I moved so I had a club closer to where I live. I probably ride with them once a month during the warmer seasons. It's been a year since I joined the club and am starting to get to know some of them. 

Last Saturday I went on a club with JSTS. It was a 40 mile ride at a B pace. There were 8 people on the ride and I recognized a couple of them. At the rest stop, which was at Roy's, I ran into Statler and Waldorf who were on their own ride since they didn't think they could do Laura's longer 60 mile ride. So I was on a JSTS ride talking to people from PFW who know most of the Posse. It was a meeting of my many connections.

Saturday night we went to a party at a friends house in our community. There were about 20 people there most of them I knew but I also met a few new people. The community I live in is a true community in the sense that most people here respects each other and work to make the community a good place to live. There are a lot of active clubs and events and a lot of chances for social interactions. 

We don't attend a most of the parties or events but are a member of some of the clubs. This past Wednesday the veterans club ran a trip to the Battleship NJ. I had always wanted to take a tour of the ship so I went along. It was a well organized trip. The club rented a bus that drove us to and from Camden and arranged for a complete tour of the ship. We got to see everything from the main bridge all the way down to the boilers in the lower decks of the engine room. The engineer in me really loved seeing the mechanical workings of this complicated ship. It was also fun taking the tour with some veterans who shared some interesting stories from their time in the service. You can see some pictures of the ship here.

Although I only knew a couple people in the veterans club they ended up being a very fun an welcoming bunch of people so I now have a couple new connections to people in the community.

For a person who shy's away from social interactions I'm amazed by all the connections that I have made and continue to make. I'm glad I have made these connections as I know they help my mental well being and hope my interaction with people help them as well.

Is It Wednesday or Saturday

 

I am still adjusting to having Wednesday's off. One of the good things about having an extra day off a week is that I can take advantage of good weather. This past Wednesday was a perfect spring day so I organized a ride with the posse down to Pemberton. This was a longer ride than the usual Wednesday ride to take advantage of the weather. It felt like a Saturday ride as we almost had the full crew since Laura took a day off and joined us. 

It was a perfect day for a flat ride and even though we had a strong head wind on the way back we ended up with a good average. I was actually hot at the end of the ride and which has me looking forward to the warmer weather. 

This Saturday threaten rain that never came so I ended up doing a short solo ride. If I knew it wasn't going to rain I might of done a longer ride but since I did a long ride on Wednesday it didn't really matter. 

So this week was flipped flopped when I did my long ride and short ride so Wednesday felt like Saturday and Saturday felt like Wednesday. It doesn't really matter but I can now see how people that are retired lose track of what day it is because their routine has changed and what day of the week it is no longer matters.

When is a Porta John an ATM and other Musings from our Wednesday Rides

 

So I'm not a retired person but I play one when I'm off on Wednesdays since I only work 4 days a week now. On Wednesday I usually try to get a ride in if the weather is good enough. As the weather has gotten a little warmer some of the retired members of the posse are leading rides on Wednesday so I join then when I can. Last week I led a ride out of Allentown and had all the the retired members plus Laura who had the day off. 

This week Ricky decided to lead which I think is the first time he led. It was a good route from Thompson Park. 

The Wednesday rides tend to be in the 35 mile range but may get longer in the summer. About 5 miles into the ride somebody needed a bathroom so we pulled into a park with a porta john. As we rode up the driveway somebody working under the covered picnic area was yelling at us. We didn't understand him but it sounded like he was saying ATM. As we pulled up to the Porta John with the door open we saw that it was empty. Apparently someone took the porta john house and removed the JOHN part so it could serve as a cover for an ATM. Never saw that before but no problem we found a usable one down the road. 

It was cloudy 50 degree day with some mist so it wasn't the best weather for a ride but I felt strong and we moved along at a good pace even into an unusual east head wind. 

These ride may not be as adventurest as our weekend rides but it is a nice way to break up the week. I may not post about many of them but since our most prolific blogger is on hiatus I figured I'd try to post more often.