Road Bike Ride this Saturday at 3 pm sharp, West Birdeye

Thursday, December 26, 2013

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!  Jackie and I are hosting a road bike ride on Saturday.  Forecast is 57 degrees.  Keep in mind it gets dark early so be on time East Birdeye and the rest of you! :) Kara and I have talked about doing Million Dollar Road which is about 24 miles.  I will be serving up tamales, so plan on socializing afterwards.  See ya'll Saturday we hope!  -Keeli

Cycling in Brooklyn and New York

The Brooklyn Bridge, I have no idea why Blogger
uploaded these pictures in this order...

I wish the stranger photographer with my camera had asked
me to pull my shorts and tshirt down...just sayin...

This is a shot of the middle of the bridge, notice the crowd
grows at 10 am

The OTHER side of the bridge, into Manhattan

Headin to the Hudson River Park Trail

This was a market just a block from the Hudson River Trail
filled with children and parents...

This was the first part of the Hudson River Trail...
it's totally away from traffic except for some turn in's to
the piers along the way...

This is one of several families we saw on the trail and
in the farmers market....fun times! Chloe would love this!

This was a tennis court we went by...and yes, I took
most of these on the bike while riding, it was kinda
questionable at one point, but for being on the bike
from 10 am to 4 pm, it wasn't that bad and it was a
great workout, just sayin....

This trapeze school reminded me of one of my favorite
episodes of Sex in the City

This building was on the edge of Central Park, home
to Time Warner...I didn't see a celebrity but we weren't
there for long.....

This is the lunch place we "happened upon", it had calorie
counts on the menu, very interesting and it was delish!

I believe this is Jackie telling me that it's safe to ride in
traffic with cabs because of the green lane to his right,
and well, he was right. Totally safe, yes, I was
worried that I did not have my big, orange flag on my
cruiser, just sayin....

We realized after a few blocks down the "designated"
bike lane on Broadway, that there was this long, long
flea market for many blocks and the closer we got to
Sean P. Diddy Combs on the Times Square Billboard, we
were ready to make a right and get back on the Hudson
River Park Trail and we did!

This is another view I took from behind Jackie when we
were at a stop sign...have I said it yet that 99% of my
photos were on my bike behind Jackie??

This was on the other side of Times Square just before
we headed back to the easy, Hudson River Park Trail

This was going on as we passed by, looks like Yoga..
good for them...what a fabulous, healthy choice!

Another close picture of Times Square

This is the one of the new towers being built...it sits on the
World Trade Center spot...the memorial is just blocks away

This is Trinity Church that withstood the 911 disaster
with little damage.  It's an Episcopalian church built in
1697, that's not a typo, 1697 is correct.  It was beautiful!

I cannot make tacky comments but I want to about the
GREED ON WALL STREET... I hope Chloe's college
money will be there for her 2019 freshman year...

Holy Smokes, my camera taking photos....

This was a dog park near the Manhattan Bridge on the
East River Park Trail....

Jackie asked me to stop and take a photo of this
First Chinese Presbyterian Church in Chinatown 

This is the bike trail over the Manhattan Bridge...an
easy ride back over to Brooklyn

This was Jackie's bike he used to cycle our 6 hour trip

My rented cruiser bike.....it was fabulous!  And from
Bike Brooklyn Bike Shop...who gave us GREAT
insight and tips. We loved ya'll!

This joker was in Brooklyn just blocks from our
FABULOUS RENTAL that was so affordable it
should have been a crime...I took this for Kyle....

The view of our fabulous street in Brooklyn....

This was the end of our Brooklyn trip
on the steps of our rental....

This is the view heading over the Brooklyn Bridge
at 10 am...

This was some sort of wedding coming across
from Manhattan to Brooklyn, we cracked up, the
lanes were not populated like later...BTW

The closer we got to the middle, the bigger the crowd
grew and at 10 am it looked like this crowd of people
were raising funds for a cause there.... I do love that...

This was a view from the Brooklyn Bridge over to the
Manhattan Bridge on our way to NYC...it was a great
photo and little did I know we would be in NYC all day!
The bike lanes were easy and absolutely fabulous and totally safe.
Have I mentioned yet that we had NO HELMETS ON?
They aren't required for adults in New York but kids under 13 they
are required.  Helmets are not required in Arkansas either
but they should be and in Cross County you shouldn't EVER RIDE EVER
without a helmet AND a flag....we have to get our drivers
educated that cyclists (and motorcycles) are on the road!

Monday, May 21, 2012

This is a copy of my blog that I thought you cyclists would enjoy...

Monday, May 14, 2012

Jackie and I were in New York for a wedding of one of his roommates from Vanderbilt.  Mark Bechtel and Elana tied the knot at the Brooklyn Historical Society.  They live in Brooklyn, which was absolutely awesome.  We toured around the city and had great times at many restaurants and stayed at a fabulous apartment on Lafayette Street. (More details to come)  The rental had a bicycle that we took over to the city.  I rented a cruiser from Bike Brooklyn and we spent 6 hours over in the city.  MapMyRide said we biked 23 miles.  It didn't feel that long because we were seeing the city.  What a great way to see the city and use the bike lanes all over town!  I took over 100 photos from the weekend and most of the photos I've shared on this post are from the bicycle behind Jharmon on the bike...not sure why Blogger isn't putting this all in the right place.....we'll see when it publishes...

St. Patrick's Day Bike Ride, Birdeye

Kyle and Cecelia's tandem...it rolled off their car in front
of Crowley's Ridge Country Club and when it was pronounced
rideable at my house we all took off and then its chain fell off
and the Killough's only made it 4 miles roundtrip.  But at least
the post ride partee was fun, we had a great time catching up!

The BBC got a shout out in Cherry Valley coming in on the
home stretch by a driver that yelled, "Go Green!" haha!
Neall, Jackie, Becca, Jimmy, Beth, me Beth, Cecelia, Kyle and Stan

Cecelia told me that these socks were given to Kyle by his
parents who always get him a pair of socks when they travel,
alrighty then, I'd say these are vintage...

Chloe and Whit at the Little Rocker's Kids
Marathon 2 weeks ago, fun, fun!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

What fun it was to have such a great crowd yesterday for our scheduled 32 miler that ended up being changed due to wind gusts.  Martino decided going south to the Vanndale loop would be easier on us than battling the Weona flats.  So that's what we did and I can give Beth Bradshaw a standing ovation for speeding past me on the Vanndale Hill therefore I give her the polka dot jersey for getting up Kara and I's infamous foul language hill.  I was just behind her but she made it first for the females and I'm proud that she took my advice to stand up on the hills in a lower gear.

Now to the Killoughs and Jacksons who both suffered chain problems....The Killough's had all kinds of troubles with their tandem's chain and so forth.  Neall lost his chain at Vanndale and cut out the Million Dollar loop and went straight on to Birdeye.  We caught up with them at Cherry Valley on the last leg of the trip.

The post partee was a ton of fun and I'm so thankful that everyone drank our beer.  We've been sitting on a lot of use it or lose it beer from the club and I'm glad most of it's gone, thank goodness!  Cecelia made the most divine  corned beef terrine, Beth Bradshaw and I both made the same spinach dip, and Becca, Beth and Kara's dips were wiped out!  Thankfully the girls got me some extra chips so we were chip plentiful in the end.  Thanks again to everyone who rolled out and I'm looking forward to the next bike ride!


I hope Becca and Neall will host soon so I can blog about their renovated kitchen and house! -Keeli

Milliondollar Loop

I love the cycling jersey Neall gave me last summer.  It fits perfectly and I totally
use those back pockets!  Notice the stain on my shoulder, I am a gigantic spitter
and nose blower when riding.  It's actually kinda dangerous to be near me on a bike,
just ask Neall and Martin....I do try and look over my shoulder before getting rid of either one..lol!



 

Stan with his new carbon Trek

 



  

Pre-ride, Kyle cracks me up holding his bike over his head!
Chuck, Kara, Becca, Neall, Kyle, Stan, Jackie, Cecilia, Martin, Bob,
Polly and me...




This is Bob Hardin's Trek...nice Bob!  And impressive climb on the Cherry Valley Hill on the last 6 mile leg back....nice!  He also said he loves these pants...I may need to get a pair.





Our break at Cross County Bank (nice of everyone to wait on Becca, Neall and me)

Stan also reported the seat on this Carbon Madone was excellent...

The Madone...Stan picked a sharp bike!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

What a beautiful day for a bike ride!  Thanks Kara for hosting today.  We did the Vanndale Loop with an added stretch of Milliondollar road which added 6 miles to the trip.  On my speedometer, we cycled 24 miles in 1:43.  There was a 10 mph north wind that made the ride challenging and fun (if fellow cyclists want to say it was more than 10, please tell me, I am estimating the stinking wind).  I love to work hard on the bike.  We took breaks at Vanndale, Milliondollar road and Cross County Bank in Cherry Valley.  I so, so enjoyed visiting with Cecilia and Becca and Neall on the ride.  Chuck gave me good advice for worldwide travel.  I didn't take Kyle's advice and do more rpm's while chatting with Becca and Neall about local news and events.  I kept it in the hard gear to stay back and chat, I wanted to work hard and it was worth it.  Becca and Neall are just precious, I just love them! 

I am so sad I missed the post ride social time, Jackie reported beer and Boar's Head sandwiches, dang it, I hate I missed it.  But, I kept my day in check and picked up some of Chloe's friends for Biscuit's birthday party.  I don't like to brag, but it was a good party for the little fella.  Everyone had a great time.

This weather is giving me spring fever!  I want to ride this Saturday too.  I work till noon, who wants to host???