Magical Princeton
September 3, 2017 § 1 Comment
The Princeton ride has been a magical ride for many years. My earliest rides were with the Colts Neck crowd, and that made Princeton a round-trip of roughly 60ish miles. You could do that in a little over 3 hours and make a bagel stop downtown, all then followed by a hard hammer pace home.
It was awhile after I started riding with what IS now the Pronto Crew, that one day Larry, Mark and I decided to go to Princeton. It was an early Fall day, and the conditions weren’t the best, but we were the only ones who showed up to ride. I don’t think there was a plan to go, but seeing how it was just the three of us, after we each confirmed that we didn’t have any time limits, Princeton became the target location.
State College Instead of Mallorca?
May 29, 2017 § 2 Comments
It’s not the Mediterranean; There aren’t gorgeous ocean views, or even gorgeous ocean villas! However, in my mind at least, some of the best riding I have ever done was in and around State College, Pa during my tenure at Penn State.
Fleche Buffoonery 2017 – “Just can’t say Thank You”
April 29, 2017 § 1 Comment
Me: “Hey Tim?”
Tim: “Yeah Bird?”
Me: “If Fools Classic was the hammer and I was the nail, what is Fleche Buffoon?”
Tim: “A bigger hammer Bird. A much bigger hammer.”
Fools Classic 2017 – Who’s the Fool Now?
April 15, 2017 § 2 Comments
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a person lacking in judgment or prudence Only a fool would ride Fools Classic without knowing what thy got thyself into.
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a : a retainer (see 1retainer 1) formerly kept in great households to provide casual entertainment and commonly dressed in motley with cap, bells, and bauble: The designers of Fools Classic are entertained by the motley fools who sign on for their event.
b : one who is victimized or made to appear foolish : dupe History has made fools of the many who ride Fools Classic. -
a : a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding That fool must be MENTAL and has no idea what Fools Classic is going to do to them.
b : one with a marked propensity or fondness for something a dancing fool, a fool for candy, a cycling fool
In some ways it seems pretty simple to apply each of these to the participants involved in the 2017 edition of the Fools Classic.
Recovery
March 27, 2017 § 2 Comments
“Recovery from what?” you might ask. As a word we have
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A return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.
synonyms: recuperation, convalescence -
The action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost.
synonyms: retrieval, regaining, repossession, getting back, reclamation, recouping, redemption, recuperation
I am referring to the first definition, and more importantly to the “strength” part. I have dealt with the first part in more than simply the common cold, but the third part I encounter fairly often
My Life – Bike by Bike
February 7, 2017 § 4 Comments
Other than walking, and maybe sleeping and eating which can be considered activities, cycling is an activity that I have engaged in pretty much, most of my life. When I was young it seemed like all the kids had some kind of bike. I can only assume that I started on a tricycle in nursery school, and later at home, as I do have memories of my youngest sister riding my tricycle. Myself? Not really.
The Adventures of Frank & Stein Part I
July 3, 2015 § 1 Comment
Every year is an anniversary of “The Adventures of Frank & Stein” played by myself as Stein, and a college friend and roommate Frank Falcione. The name really has to be credited to Thomas Dudek, another college friend. Tom was a somewhat streetwise Philadelphia fanatic that played a great game of pool, and lived in the same student housing slum as both Frank and I. We were in the same small Engineering Science department at Penn State, and we spent a lot of time together in class, at the Rathskeller shooting pool, at The Hub shooting pool, and drinking lots of beer. Somewhere along the line in this friendship Tom gave me the nickname Stein. Pretty soon that was how my circle of friends knew me. Very much the same way that I am known today amongst my cycling contingent as Bird (yes, it is short for Big Bird). I don’t really recall how Tom came up with stein. It was not like we were all looking for nicknames. We weren’t sitting around drinking and smoking dope thinking out loud “We should all have some nicknames….Eric you be stein”. Suddenly it was there, and that was who I was. So the following (and subsequent posts) is a recollection of an adventure that was hatched by me, and drew in Frank so that by the time we left for this adventure it was already being called “Frank & Stein’s Big Adventure” or something like that. “What route are you taking?” “It’ll be the Frank & Stein route.” “What the hell is the Frank & Stein Route?” “It will be the route that we travel, where ever that takes us.” Mostly it should end up being a tale of friendship, and the people we meet along the way. What are stories, but the recollection of past events shared with friends? So here is the recollection of one of my major past events.
Big Bird's Adventures 
Meriam-Webster provides the following definitions of fool, slightly modified for this print edition