Tortola (BVI) Vacation, Day Six

Thursday morning was rung in with a great breakfast--home made mango pancakes. Of course, the only reason I remembered what we had (remember, I have food amnesia) was that I took a photo. MMmmmm.

Anyway, after breakfast, Jean and I did a short hike up on Sage Mountain--highest point in all of the British Virgin Islands. When I say the hike is short, I mean it was REALLY short... about a mile. Interestingly, for the vast majority of the hike, we were in tree cover, so we only had a good view at a couple of vantage points where little platforms were erected. It was fun, but a far cry from what we had a couple of months ago in Yosemite.

Tortola (BVI) Vacation, Day Five

Wednesday morning, another sunrise, another good breakfast, and then out for another bike ride.

We started off on the same loop as before, out by Smuggler's Cove, and up and over Zion Hill, and then I wanted to try to find another little loop.

As is so often the case, routes that I like to "try" translate into lots and lots of climbing, this time, ultimately with some bike pushing.

Tortola (BVI) Vacation, Day Four

Tuesday's big adventure was going to be a day on a boat. The plan was to charter a catamaran, the Kuralu, from Soper's Hole to take us around to some other islands, do some swimming and snorkeling, and then head back. Admittedly, I'm not a "let's spend all day on a boat" kind of guy, but it was a nice change of pace. We also got to chat with some other people on the boat.

As a side note, one of the things that I like about traveling is the chance to go all over the world and to talk with people who have different views and experiences. For example, the other people on the boat were all the way from Boxford, so their perspective, being about 10 miles from our home, was amazingly different. Not. In all, we met people from all over New England during this trip…

Tortola (BVI) Vacation, Day Three

Monday morning gave us another beautiful sunrise (yawn), and another great breakfast.

After a somewhat lazy morning, it was time to have the rubber hit the road and do some exploring by bike.

Tortola (BVI) Vacation, Day Two

Day Two, started off for me, in the same clothes as Day One. To make a long story short though, my bag made it to the local customs office later that morning, and by lunch, I was in fresh clothes and squeaky clean.

We were staying, again with Jean's parents, Nancy & Del, at Frenchman's Resort, on Frenchman's Cay, on Tortola. It's a beautiful beachside resort with nicely appointed individual villa's. Our was at the top of the aforementioned hill, which afforded us an amazing view. Walking down to the beach and we were rewarded with a quiet little lagoon, rocky outcroppings and persistently incredible vistas. In fact, I quickly developed Beautiful Vista Fatigue (BVF) and had to force myself to take yet another landscape photo.

Tortola(BVI) Vacation, Day One (getting there)...

Yes, that IS champagne...

I swear, every trip I take starts off with an ordeal of some type (see more in the "About Me" section for my disclaimer about my bitching). This trip was for a 10-day jaunt to the Island of Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands. It was to celebrate my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary, and technically, their trip. Jean and I were invited to chaperone and to ensure that no international incidents occurred. John Kerry may have a tough job, but he's never traveled with my in-laws.

My Winter Escape

Here I am, struggling against gravity again. Now, with my super secret indoor riding spot, I'm also in a confined space. I've seen PLENTY of riders do just fine with smaller spaces, but not me (Luke, you bastard). Seriously, I know most modern riders can shred in small spots, but I come from an era where a basketball court was sometimes considered small. I can't, and won't complain though... I'm riding, and it's winter... I'll take it. Video below...

Old Man Ramp Jam... in a Barn...

I got the invite to head out to the ramp jam in central Mass, and I thought it would be a good chance to get some practice in... no, not ramp practice... practice shooting with my flash. Yeah, I did bring my bike, but, it stayed safely on my car.

But enough about that. Here are some pics, in no particular order. I don't even know everyone's names, and, unfortunately, I didn't get shots of everyone. Well, I did get shots of everyone (about 200), but some were pretty bad. It's a learning process! Hopefully I wasn't in Jim Paiva's way. Anyway, I'll post these to Facebook in a couple of days, and people can grab their pics if they'd like, just please give me credit...

To view on an iPad or iPhone, go here.

A New(ish) Flatland Pedal

So, I'm not that great of a rider, and I will take all the help I can get.

Recently, some things I have been working on have been thwarted by my pedals. If I set them one way, they're in the way on the other side of the bike, and vice-versa. I started wondering if I could get away with smaller pedals. After all, I don't really pedal all that much... really just to get into tricks, and then again to ride out.

Florida

I hopped down to Florida for just more than 48hrs of fun in the sun. I actually went down to spend a couple of days with my mother for Xmas, and to help her with some stuff around the house. It was a quick trip: arriving late on a Tuesday morning and leaving early afternoon on Thursday. But it was good to get down there, visit, see a buddy, and of course, ride.

The Art Critic

I know it is far easier to be a critic than one who creates. And I know that I don't understand some of the subtleties of art, but sometimes, a description or explanation of a hidden meaning just seems to much to bear.

Case in point, these doors. Jean and I went to the MFA recently (see more of the pics here), and I just couldn't get past this...

Look at the doors. Look at them closely. Think about them. Think about what they mean. And now, ponder the description.

Rachel Whiteread
English, born in 1963
Lives in London

Double--Doors II (A+B), 2006-07
Plasticized plaster with interior aluminum framework

Look carefully--this work is more complicated than it seems. These are not doors; instead, they capture the space created by doors. Whiteread made plaster casts of both sides of two doors, then assembled the casts back to back. The finished work combines the spaces on either side of a threshold--fusing entrance and exit into one solid form. The pale doors suggest the ambiguous emotion attached to coming and going and, in the way they resemble funerary slabs, maybe even the fleeting passage of life. (copyright MFA)

Ambiguous emotion?
The fleeting passage of life?

How much pot would I need to smoke to come up with that?

I guess I'm just an ignoramus... but expect some "deep" explanations from my photography henceforth.

More Old BMX Footage (1999 or 2000?)

View from Mt. Hoffman

As a follow-up to my photos from Yosemite National Park, here is a quick video shot from the top of Mt. Hoffman. Hopefully this will begin to show how awesome this view was...

Yosemite!

It doesn't seem like I do much "local" travel. Most of my trips require a flight of several hours duration, and then, upon arrival, usually several more hours of driving. My trip to Yosemite National Park was no different. Although, our flight departed at a civilized hour of 8am; I typically fly out much earlier…

So, up at 5am, out the door by 5:30am, drop the car off at the parking lot and in the terminal just a bit after 6am. Board the plane by 7:30am, and away we went…

The Cape of Cod

I'll be honest. I've never seen a cod in a cape. I even did a quick Google image search for a cod in a cape, and came up with nada. Maybe I'll make a cape out of cod, but I suspect that it would be heavy and smelly. With that, I'm left to only talk about the place, Cape Cod. I like to just call the area, "the Cape," but apparently people out on Cape Ann think that THEY are on "THE" Cape. Silly people.

So, Cape Cod, in summer can be a mad-house, filled with people, people, and more people. I have a love-hate relationship with people. I'll let you figure out which people I love and which I hate, but needless to say, if I can go to the Cape when there are less people, I'm happy. So it works out well that Jean and I went down off-season. The tourists were gone, the traffic was light, the weather was still warm, and the beaches were empty.

It's not a "kid's bike".

I ride bikes; many different types of bikes in fact. I ride mountain bikes, BMX bikes, road bikes, cyclocross bikes and commuter bikes, sometimes all on the same day. Right now, my BMX bike holds the spot as "favorite" bike, and that includes riding flatland (mostly) and the rare street or skatepark jaunt.

What I don't understand, is why the BMX bike is largely considered "a kid's bike." Sure, kids ride BMX bikes, but kids do lots of things. Kids also play baseball, play basketball, play soccer, and play hockey. Despite this, I don't think any of my age-peers who may participate in adult leagues of any of these sports have to endure people asking why they are still involved in kids' activities.

More Todd's Farm..

I know I've posted some pics from Todd's Farm before... but I just love the place. It's a strange assortment of interesting "stuff" and interesting people.  Follow along with my strange assortment of pics of some of the stuff and people... 

Some Manodnock Pics

King of Flatland Reunion!

Twenty five years ago, one of my favorite events was the King of Flatland contest series held in New Hampshire. It was an excellent series, many of my memories from that era are still vivid, and some of the riders back then are still friends today.

Now, it appears I'm having my mid-life crisis, manifested as a renewed obsession with my BMX bike. Apparently I'm not the only one, as old-school and reunion style BMX events are becoming more and more popular. I consider them my generations "classic car shows."

Getting Caught Up

Where have you been? Me? Where have I been? Oh, well, let me tell you...

I've been here, doing nothing too exciting. With my last blog entry, I had just come back from the Old School BMX Reunion in California. I had an AWESOME time, but I came back to an intense work schedule, and to time to heal. I had picked up a broken rib while out in CA (who knew they were contagious?), and it took a few weeks to really be back to some level of normalcy.

I took a couple of weeks off from the BMX bike, but I could still ride on the road and trails, although, for a while, climbing, on the mountain bike, was still pretty painful and I'd sometimes just climb with only one hand on the handlebar just to avoid the stress on the left side of my body. One thing that definitely helped get me back to riding quicker than normal was the Smith & Nephew EXOGEN bone growth stimulator. I love technology. MORE>>>