July 4, 2007

I did not make it to the Fireworks in Red Bank last night. I could not get anyone to go with me and I ended up falling asleep watching Comedy Central. All the riding is taking my energy.

I found the source of the riders I see in the afternoons. It looks like a group of riders meet a 6 PM at Holmdel Park. I am not sure if it is a regular thing. I wanted to have a quick chat with them but I was with my daughter who in a hurry to try out her new field hockey stick and ball. It might be fun to ride with others once in a while but unless I can find some other single gear riders I may be riding by myself mostly.

I need to bring my camera with me more often. Some men were playing Cricket in Holmdel park. I have never seen it played before. One of the guys I worked with AT&T Bell Labs in the late 80s used to run the Cricket club. He always invited me out to watch but I never went. I am not sure why.

The weather is not so nice today. Such a shame since today is a National Holiday and the start of the summer vacation season. At least I have got two nice days out of it. Once I finish my morning coffee I am going to get in a quick training ride (I am not sure what I am training for since I do not like to race) before everyone gets up. I think tomorrow is going to be a rest day. I am going to go to the gym , lift some weights and have a no cardio day.

I would like to go to Syracuse, NY to visit my parents and maybe get a ride or two in. Unfortunately, I just spoke to the manager of the towing company that broke my bumper and he wants me to drop my car off tomorrow. He already started out being confrontational. Accused me trying to get some additional work done. I watched the guy not line up the truck right. As soon as he hit the lift lever I knew what was going to a happen. I need to get it done before I go back to work next week.

When I was growing up in Syracuse I belonged to the Onondaga Cycling Club. I checked out the website and I remember some of the names. Not much has really changed. The rides are the same but the weekly time trial has been moved to another location. Check out the maps section.

I noticed that Syracuse University has a cycling club . The home page of the club kind of sums up the whole Syracuse experience. As soon as I saw it I started laughing. I have always had the feeling that the weather in Syracuse is one of the big take aways for students that attend SU and this kind of confirms it. With all the snow it is really a shame that there are not some big mountains to go with it. There are some really nice hills but nothing like what exists out west or even up in Vermont.

Here is an interesting piece of equipment the Sweco 480 trail dozer. I found this picture on the National Forest Services website after reading that Northstar-at-Tahoe uses one of these to build its mountain bike trails. Below is another picture of one working.