Mind over Matter: Stuff I cared about at the time

Category: Biking

  • Weekend Away

    Weekend Away

    We went away this weekend to spend time with two other couples, and log some good biking in Western Mass. We rented a house in Amherst that was near the Mass Central Rail Trail. Late on Saturday morning, we hopped on our bikes and rode 14 miles to the Williamsburg Snack Bar where we had…

  • Keep the Rubber Side Down

    Keep the Rubber Side Down

    This autumn, I’ve had three good friends suffer falls and injuries from their bike slipping on ice. Probably a decade ago, I had a similar incident, on the Minuteman Bike Trail, where I was turning to go around the gates they had setup at the time, and my front wheel slipped right out from under…

  • These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

    These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

    ok — one of my favorite things. It’s my old Garmin eTrex! A friend’s son is going to be working at Garmin for the summer, and I was reminiscing about my long history with their products. This was my first — the original eTrex. I can still remember going to a MacWorld exhibition back in…

  • North Adams

    North Adams

    This past weekend, Susan and I drove to the northwest corner of Massachusetts, to a town named North Adams, as a last chance vacation before school begins. This year, only one of us is actually going back to school, Susan, to teach eighth grade science again. Even Clara, who is still in school at NU,…

  • Bike Commuting Stats

    So I’ve been stationed in Waltham a little over six months now, and with prime biking season behind me, I thought it was time to check in on the statistics. Since 17 April 2015, I have had 34 days where I was in the Waltham office for the whole day — those are the days…

  • Commuting Stats

    When we left off, I had commuted by bike 1/1 full days to Waltham. In the ensuing three weeks, I’ve had seven full days here, and have commuted by bike five of those. Pretty pleased so far. The trip to work ends with the final mile and a quarter incorporating three uphills. They are not…

  • Last Full Day in Montreal

    Today’s forecast looked pretty good in the morning, with an increased chance of rain in the afternoon, so we decided to head over to the Botanical Gardens early, and make our way over to the BioSphere later, since we’d be mostly inside. The gardens were lovely and we got to see many styles of garden,…

  • Brrrrrrrr!

    I planned to ride in to work today when the forecast called for overnight lows in the upper 30’s. I headed out at about 5:30 this morning, outfitted in tights, a semi-thermal jersey, wool socks, and hopefully warm gloves. Both the gloves and the jersey were new and untried. I was envisioning maybe it would…

  • I Want to Ride my Bicycle

    So I’ve been riding my new bicycle around town, but in the wimpy freewheel mode. Yesterday I got my courage up to flip the rear wheel around and give the fixed gear mode a try on the ride to Tyler’s soccer game. And today, I went for a longer ride — Arlington Center to Lexington…

  • My Bike

    Having largely completed Clara’s bike, I moved on to my bike. This is the bike I bought in High School, early 1980’s, from the bike shop that was at the edge of our neighborhood (The Bike Rack). It cost me about $300 at the time. I rode it all over during my High School year,…