My intention in August and September was to go for a long ride once each weekend in training for my 100-mile ride on 9/17.  Various factors have thwarted that plan, though.  For instance, the weekend of August 27 was when hurricane Irene was passing through New England, so there wasn’t much of any opportunity for … Read more

On August 20, I went for another long ride – this time I wanted to check out a hill that was mentioned in the 100-mile ride description on the Food Bank website.  They mentioned that the hill was where the route passes from Westhampton into Huntington, and that it is the worst hill of the … Read more

2 weeks ago I went for my next training ride (I had a few weekends where I didn’t ride, because we were on vacation – pictures from that to come).  This time I planned a route around the Quabbin reservoir. I started out the same way I had a month previously – by riding east … Read more

2 weeks after my adventure with flat tires, I made another attempt to bike to Shelburne Falls.  This time I made it!  I took a slightly different route through Northampton, allowing me to stay on the bike trail much longer, and avoid a little hill climbing that I’d done before.  The route through Williamsburg was … Read more

After my failed attempt to ride to Shelburne Falls, I planned another training ride the following weekend.  This time, I went for a bit more modest distance, because I went biking the evening before, and was a bit tired from that. The evening ride was on Saturday, July 9, and involved riding from Hadley north … Read more

As I’ve done on two previous occasions, I’m doing a fundraising bike ride for charity.  There are a couple of differences this time, though.  Instead of the MS Society, I’m riding in an event being held for the first time by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.  It’s a local organization that collects and distributes … Read more

Last fall, we acquired a night-blooming cereus plant (more correctly known as epiphyllum oxypetalum) from someone on Freecycle.  I was told that it had never bloomed in its former home.  We thought, “well, maybe we’ll get lucky”.  So it sat on the porch until the weather got cold, and then it sat by a window … Read more

Over the July 4th weekend I made an attempt at a longer bike ride, intending to ride to Shelburne Falls (where I had never been before).  I made sure that I had plenty of air in my tires, and plenty of water, and set out mid-morning, riding first to Northampton. I headed out into Florence, … Read more

The first weekend in June I went on a bike trip up to Turner’s Falls and Greenfield.  I headed up through Amherst, Leverett, and past Montague Center to get to Turner’s Falls (where I had been on a previous ride), and once I got there, I rode the full length of the bike path that … Read more

Over Memorial Day weekend, I was visiting Philadelphia, and went walking in the Heinz Wildlife Refuge.  I had not been familiar with it before, but it’s many acres of preserved wetland, located right near the Philly airport.  It’s surprising, but cool, that a chunk of nature has been protected in such a heavily urban area. … Read more