Sunday, June 29, 2008

Police Encounter

While doing my Mud Hollow training loop today I encountered Church Traffic leaving Our Lady of the Lake at 12:35 pm. That alone was a surprise. First Baptist traffic was all gone and I always thought we Baptist were the worst for long sermons. Anyway, I slipped into the very polite stream of traffic easily enough and proceeded to the intersection of Stop 30 and Drakes Creek Rd where a policeman was directing traffic. He held everyone up for a few seconds to come over and tell me he could write me a ticket for holding up traffic by not riding far enough to the right. Then waved me on and said" Have a nice ride." Now I'm in a quandary.

I was riding just to right of the oil streak, on the place where most cars right tire goes, which is technically not as far right as possible. But then I was doing about 25 mph and it was only 200 yards from the church exit to the intersection and did not consider that anyone wanted to speed up fast enough to pass me in that distance anyway. Certainly the SUV behind me was keeping his distance. If I had gone way over to encourage a pass, I would have created a dangerous situation. Etc, etc, for my reasons but I was not about to attempt a discussion on the spot. I did note his particulars for later reference. I think he is a reasonable guy and was honestly giving me what he thought was good advice for my safety.

I'd like to discuss this with him and spread the word that on most of our roads we cannot possibly ride far enough to the right to allow cars to safely pass us when there is oncoming traffic or limited sight distance. However, given my perceived attitude toward cyclists by the Powers That Be, any pubic airing of this, including this blog, will likely get the guy into trouble for not giving me a ticket. Certainly more likely to create ill will than to help. Bummer.
Fortunately, the rest of the ride was great, legs strong, nice breeze, polite cars, no dogs so my immediate impulse to put my home up for sale and move out of this g*d**n city has passed.

What do you guys think? I'd sure like to chip away at the attitude that automobiles have the absolute right to proceed as fast as the road surface will allow, but also don't want to make things worse for us. I probably break five laws with every trip out of my drive, be it by car or by bike.

Bruce

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Intro ride idea

I am planning to do a much shorter (and less hilly) ride next Tuesday with April. So we thought if there are any significant others who might be interested in riding that they'd be welcome to join in.

We will be leaving from the Family Restaurant on Stop 30 (near New Shackle) at 6PM and doing around 7 or 8 miles of the mostly flat Stop 30 / Drakes Creek area.

We will be out of town Tuesday the 8th, but are planning to do this again the following Tuesday, July 15th.

Beyond that we'll see if the mileage and hills increase a bit...

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Gone Graffitti

Fantastic ride today guys ! Feel like I should eat some Wheaties for having seen so many amber waves of grain. I guess I'll have to settle for the next best derivative of grain........ beer.
David , thanks for the maps and routing. Next time we traverse Graffitti we need to carry cans of spray paint in Bruce's panniers ! Tom, thanks for fitting us to our jerseys.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Don't Ride Against Traffic Flow



Tom : I have a new bike picture for you to post. (the others are pretty amazing also). I didn't think I could beat the Mexico race accident but I think this does. Could you post it for the FOGBees. Gary Seee you next Thursday.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Fall Foliage Tour 08

Now that it's hot as blue blazes we can anticipate with favor a ride in cooler weather. And it's never too soon to begin planning. For this year's fall ride I propose a Saturday/Sunday out and back from Hendersonville to Cedars of Lebanon State park. The ride could be as short as 40 miles and relatively flat to whatever and hilly. To avoid back tracking as much as possible, about 60 miles each day would work well.
The park has cabins but no restrauant on site. We could drive back about ten miles to Lebanon or take stuff to prepare at the cabins. Their Delux AAA cabins rent for about $110/night and advertise to sleep 6 but that depends on the mix. Each cabin has two bedrooms and another double bed in a loft. I have usually slept on the couch and done very well.
The time can be from late October to mid November. It seems middle TN weather gets bad about first of October but then we have a warm dry spell mid November. No promises but it worked out well enough for Red Boiling Springs last year. Ok, there was a miseble headwind coming back.

Other/future options are a drive to Henry Horton and do some loops. Rock Island State park is also a good option for a drive and ride weekend.

Let me know who is interested and any preferences for dates and place. We can work on difficulty level of routes etc as planning progresses.
Bruce

FOGBEE HONOR GIVEN

Just to let you all know, I went to the bike shop yesterday (after the ride from Hell,Part II!!)and was talking to Travis (I believe is his name) who repairs the bikes and he said the following:
1. The FOGBee website (blog) is fantastic and he regularly visits the Blog. He says that the information contained therein is exceptional and that he gives the blogsite out to people he knows. He particularly likes the maps.
2. He also said that the FOGBees had developed into a great bike club and we were very dedicated to the art of cycling (or something like that).
Lastly, a person I know, Dean, was shopping for a bike for his son and he immediately said, when I began to explain the ride yesterday, that I must be a "FOGBee". I asked him how he knew that and he said that he had heard of us! I invited him to ride sometime.
Unintentionally, our hard work and dedication pays off in other ways.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Rogana Ride

Doug, although I'm still feeling somewhat scorched, I thought that route today added just the right amount of adventure to keep the wheels turning. Thanks for the rest breaks, the views along Greenfield , and the comraderie during and after the ride. It was good how we worked it out so each one had the ride they wanted and no one got left behind. David and Gary , I'm not sure why you wait for us , but I'm appreciative that you do. Brett, your a wandering prince for herding and guiding us along the way. We've a special thing as fellow FOGBees, unlike any band of brothers I've experienced yet. Oh, and by the way , Rosemary said my noggin looked no more or less hairy, but my butt seemed shaggier !

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Ed's Jersey Movie #2


Mexico Needs 3-Ft Law


Check out this gallery I found at AOL...http://sports.aol.com/top-sports-photos?feeddeeplinkNum=0


Tom post this on the blog . . . Gary

Bike info

ED:
The twist bands that I use to tie the wheels of the bike on trips are called "kwiktwists" and can be found all over the internet for sale. I have tried to remember where I bought these but can't recall. They may have them at walmart.

Monday, June 2, 2008

PARTY UPDATE

I have some new party dates for Glen Oaks Clubhouse as follows:
JULY ----26
AUG.----9, 16, 23, 30

These are all Saturdays and the party would start around 6 0r 7 pm. I would like to reserve the clubhouse by Friday so let me know what works.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

By Popular Demand

. . . Because of the interest in FOGBEE history, Bruce's post "Back by Popular Demand" has its own PERMANENT Web Page, which will keep our young lady from disappearing in the future. Please click "FOGBEE History - The Yazoo Connection" also found in the Side Bar.