Back in the Saddle Again...ST.N Region 6 Spring Meet Day 1

Believe it or not, the last time I was on the back of a motorcycle was Saturday, September 22, 2012. It had been over seven months since I'd ridden when I finally threw a leg over our Concours on Friday morning - how sad! Needless to say, I was champing at the bit to get out and rack up some miles this past weekend during the ST.N Region 6 Spring Meet at Canaan Valley Resort and State Park in Davis, West Virginia. 

Earlier in the week, Chris made plans with our friends Jeff and David to meet in Breezewood, PA and make our way to Canaan Valley together. Jeff had an obligation on Friday morning, so we planned to meet between 1:30 and 2 PM Friday afternoon at the Gateway in Breezewood. That meant Chris and I got to sleep in Friday morning, snuggle with Oscar, and take our time packing and preparing to depart.

We left the house at 11:45 AM and took a nice, scenic route from our house down to Breezewood, beginning with a run down Marengo Road. During our brief stay on US 22, I was able to point out the Lower Trail and the Alfarata Station trail head from my recent weekend bicycle ride to Chris. While we were riding, Chris showed off a fully operational tire pressure sensor screen on the Concours. He recently successfully (and easily!) replaced the tire pressure monitor system (TPMS) sensor on the rear tire while he also changed the rear tire. 

Back in the saddle again!

No more annoying flashing "low battery" warnings from the TPMS sensor!

 

First barn shot of 2013 - and one with lots of signs, to boot!

We arrived at the Gateway in Breezewood close to 1:45 PM and promptly topped off the tank. We moved the bike to a parking space out front and I went inside to hit the washroom and snag a bottle of unsweetened iced tea, which they actually had - yay! David and Jeff arrived soon thereafter; they gassed up before they joined us in our parking spot. I snacked on multigrain pretzels whiles the guys tried the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I'd made for the weekend. Just before we left, we synced our Senas so we could all talk on the way down.

David fueling up his Concours.

Jeff and Chris syncing their Senas - what a bunch of techno snobs!

Jeff and David are ready to roll!

From Breezewood, we headed west on US 30 to Bedford before making the turn south onto Hyndman Road (PA 96) into Maryland. In Maryland, we picked up MD 36 which we used to skirt Frostburg. We crossed into West Virginia and took WV 46 to WV 42 to US 50/WV 42 over Mt. Storm. We continued on WV 42 to WV 93 to WV 32 to Blackwater Falls State Park. Neither Jeff nor David had ever seen the falls.

Hi, Spanky!

David stretches behind us.

Along the way, we turned 40,000 miles on the Concours!

David and Jeff behind us.

Blackwater Falls State Park

David had a sexy photo shoot!

These two just love each other!

Chris and I at the falls.

Some of the 214 steps from the parking lot to the falls.

Three pretty Connies.

Chris documents Jeff's 428 steps to/from the falls.

Rocking my new cool weather jacket - the Firstgear Jaunt.

Chris noticed the rear brake caliper bolt on David's bike was VERY loose, so David tightened it.

From Blackwater Falls State Park, it was about another 25 minutes to get to Canaan Valley. 

We made it!

Right turn, Clyde.

Well, look at that! A warm welcome for our group in the resort's newsletter!

Our room - 550 - a non-smoking corner queen...not too shabby!

Follow me to dinner!

Before we headed to dinner, we needed to take some motorcycle pictures.

Look at all of the pretty bikes!

SO MANY pretty bikes!

Once we'd arrived and checked in, we made plans to take 30 minutes to get cleaned up before we headed to dinner. When we were seated for dinner, we saw lots of familiar faces!

Jeremy and Rachel were at the table next to us.
In the far left corner, Frank, Beans (Scott), and Robert's sons Richard and Alex were seated.

On the left (back to the camera) is Jay and to his right is Bill - they're both local riding friends.

Doug and Garry in the background (left) chat, while Ken and Dave visit with Chris and Suey.

Frank, Jeff, Scott, David, and Doug carry on in the hallway of the resort.

Following dinner, we sat in the Laurel Lounge for a while, catching up with our friends Jeremy and Rachel. We retreated to our room shortly after 10 with plans to meet folks for breakfast at 7:30 Saturday morning before we headed out on our day ride. 

Stay tuned for Day 2...

Sunday Morning Trail Ride

Since the last time I blogged, I've acquired a bicycle computer and a helmet, and I've had my bike out for five rides. The first three rides were in and around my neighborhood - 5.5 miles, 4.85 miles, and 6.48 miles, respectively. There are some nice hills in my neighborhood that give me quite the cardio challenge, but at the same time, the downhills feel like cheating. I was in search of some nice, flat riding that would allow me to pedal (and work!) the entire time. So last week, I loaded my bike into the back of my car and made plans to hit the Spring Creek Canyon trail after work. At 3:30 that afternoon, my co-worker Greg called to say he'd meet me. We did a nice 7.69-mile ride in just about 50 minutes. 

With Chris scheduled to teach an Advanced Rider Course all day today, I started thinking about doing a longer rider today toward the end of the week. I happened upon a new app - All Trails - and while searching for bicycle trails, I came across the Lower Trail which is part of the Rails to Trails of Central PA. The trail is a point-to-point trail from Alexandria, PA to Canoe Creek State Park. The trail is 16.5 miles in length and has six trailheads, or stations, along the way. It is 85% crushed limestone and 15% paved (through Williamsburg, PA). 

I got up with Chris at 6:25 AM this morning, fixed him breakfast, packed his lunch, and got him out the door at 7 AM. I did a few morning chores, filled Chris' CamelBak (I've asked for one for my birthday...I think my padre is on it, LOL!), loaded the bike into the car, and headed out. It took me 30 minutes to make it to the Alfarata Station near Alexandria.

Starting at the northeastern end of the trail.

Originally, I'd planned to ride a total of 15 miles - 7.5 out and 7.5 back. But then, as I was riding, I decided that for my weekend "endurance ride" (something I'm planning to do most weekends) I would shoot for doubling my longest during-the-week ride (at the very least). Since I did 7.69 miles at the Canyon on Tuesday, I decided I would do 8 miles out and 8 miles back for a total of 16 miles.

Whether by design or coincidence, just as my cycle computer turned 8.00 miles, there was a bench along the trail, so I decided to take a break, stretch, and enjoy a snack. 

Giving my bike a break at the 8-mile mark.

Oh, hey!

Admiring my bike while I nosh on some raisins and dark chocolate.

I rode straight through on my ride out from Alfarata Station. I did stop to take a few pictures on my way back. 

One of the three bridges I crossed this morning.

The Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River.

This interpretive sign has information about the Cerulean Warbler,
which can be found along the trail in the summer.

Another bridge crossing.

I pretty much fell in love with this trail today. The scenery is really nice and the riding surface is great. I can DEFINITELY see this being my weekend trail ride every weekend (well, every weekend that I'm home!). 

I was on the trail just under two hours with a total riding time of 1:26:36 to cover 16.09 miles. My average speed was 11.1 MPH; my max speed was 15.0 MPH. 

The weather forecast isn't so hot for tomorrow and Tuesday (guess they'll be treadmill days), but Wednesday and Thursday look pretty good for some more riding!

A new set of wheels...

"Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike." - John F. Kennedy

Right around Christmas, I started thinking about purchasing a new bike this year. During Holiday Break, Chris and I did a little preliminary browsing at the State College and Altoona Dick's Sport Goods stores, as well as a bike shop in Altoona. The sales guy at the Altoona shop gave me a lot to think about - the kind of bike I wanted and the kind of riding I'd like to do. 

Back at home, I started doing some internet research. After a while, I settled on the idea of a hybrid or multi-use bike (different manufacturers call them different things). To keep my research in one place, I started a "Bikes to Consider" board on Pinterest. Among the bikes I'd earmarked for consideration was the Specialized Ariel, a multi-use bike. Someone from Specialized actually commented on my Pinterest board and engaged me in conversation about the bikes I'd pinned. 

The more I looked at the bikes, the more I focused on just two - the Motobecane Jubilee Deluxe and the Specialized Ariel. The Motobecane sells for $400 and is sold by BikesDirect.com. The Specialized retails for $550 and The Bicycle Shop in State College carries Specialized bikes. While the price of the Motobecane was certainly attractive, I was really skeptical about buying a bike sight unseen and, more importantly, not test ridden. 

On Thursday of this week, I called The Bicycle Shop to see if they had an Ariel in stock. They did, but it was a 2012 model. The sales guy explained that because it was last year's model, it would be 20% off of the retail price, or $440. "Well, now!" I thought. A $40 difference in price between the Motobecane and the Specialized was just enough to entice me into the store to see it in person and test ride it. $40 would buy a lot of peace of mind; $40 was worth being able to see it, ride it, and establish a good relationship with my local bike shop! Besides asking what the shop's Saturday hours would be, I asked another very important question - what color was the 2012 model? (The 2013 is blackberry and silver.) The answer? Blue! (Right on!)

Fast forward to this afternoon when Chris and I arrived at The Bicycle Shop. Ben approached us and asked if we wanted to see anything in particular. I said, "Yup. That one!" and pointed to the Ariel. He asked if I wanted to test ride it and, again, I said, "Yup!" The tires were already aired up; Ben just needed to adjust the seat height and - after handing off my purse to Chris - I was out the door. I didn't make it very far; the seat height was still too high! I couldn't touch the ground! I opened the shop door, caught Ben's attention, and said, "The seat's still too high!" He came outside, lowered it some more, and I hopped back on. "Ahhh, that's much better," I said before setting off on my 10-minute test ride through West Campus. 

I absolutely loved the bike - the rapid-fire shifters, the light-weight aluminum frame, the coil-sprung fork, the 700c tires, and the riding position. As I was riding, I thought to myself, "This is so much fun! I could just keep going! I wonder how long it would take to ride up to OPP (where I work on campus) and back?!?" I decided against that. After all, I'd left Chris wandering around the shop! Instead, I returned to the store grinning from ear to ear. Chris opened the shop door so I could bring the bike back inside and I told him how much I liked it. I asked, "Can I get it?" and he replied, "I don't know, can you?!?" and smiled. I said, "I'm getting it!!!" 

With that, another sales guy (whose name I didn't catch) came over to ask what I thought. I told him I absolutely loved it and that I wanted to go ahead and buy it! He took it downstairs for a check-up/set-up by the service guys (I did ask that the brakes be adjusted slightly to engage sooner). I was giddy with excitement while we waited. At one point, I grabbed Chris and said, "I'm so excited!!!"...kinda like Toby from Seinfeld. 

About 10 minutes later, I was paying for my new bike! We wheeled it outside, put the back seats down in Scooby, took off the front wheel, and loaded my new blue ride into my old blue ride. When we got home, I took it for a VERY CHILLY spin around the neighborhood. And with that, I am SO OVER winter (which is probably good considering it's now spring!) and ready for warmer bike-riding weather. I'd like to get out a few times a week after work, which will be great for the Biggest Loser Challenge I'm participating in at work! And I'm already making plans to take my bike with me to the beach this summer and riding in the mornings.

So, without further ado...check out my new bike!!!

Thanks, The Bicycle Shop!!!

One goes "Vroom-vroom" on its own; the other requires sound effects! :)

Side-by-side blue bikes...and a spousal photo-bomb!

We came, we saw, we babysat!

Chris, Oscar, and I went to Baltimore for the weekend for another visit with our new niece, Mallorie. It had been four weeks since our last visit; we were really looking forward to seeing how much she had changed! We decided earlier in the week that we'd all meet for dinner Friday night at Jerry D's...our first time out to dinner as a family of SEVEN! It was Mallorie's first night out, too! She did great and she had lots of folks in the restaurant fawning all over her.

Hanging out with Daddy

Sitting with Pop

Party of Seven!

Saturday, Chris and I went over to Bill and Casie's house to babysit Mallorie so Bill and Casie could have an afternoon date. They went for a nice ride, enjoyed lunch at Carson's Creekside, and did a little shopping. All the while, Chris and I logged some quality uncle-aunt-niece time. 

Uncle Chris and Mallorie

Mallorie and Uncle Chris

We decided to take advantage of the fact that Mallorie was awake first thing; we had some serious things to discuss with her.

"It's never too early to start thinking about college, Mallorie.
Penn State offers over 160 majors at over twenty campuses across the Commonwealth."

Past Penn Stater and future Penn Stater?

Mallorie is all smiles in her new PSU hoodie!

It's a little big...so she'll have it for a while!

Look how cute she is!!!

After we had our little recruiting conversation, we played on the floor for a little while.

I love the outfit Bill and Casie chose for Mallorie!

After some playtime, it was nap time. Mallorie started snoozing on me while Chris ate his lunch.

OMG, those cheeks!

Flashing gang signs in her sleep.

Tiny little fingers!

After Chris was done with his lunch, we traded off so I could eat my lunch.

Snoozing on Uncle Chris.

Oh my...such a rough life!

If you only knew!

Uncle Chris' view

This child and her hand gestures, LOL!

After a nice little snooze, it was time for a feeding which Uncle Chris tackled like a champ!

Chug-chug-chug

After a nice hearty burp, Mallorie decided watching "Top Gear" was as important as feeding.

We had a great afternoon with Mallorie and Bill and Casie had a nice afternoon to themselves. It's fun to see just how much Mallorie has grown and changed in the four weeks since we saw her last. We can't wait to see her again!

We'll see you soon, Mallorie!