Two Lone Wolves Go On A Riv Ride

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

I have had precious few chances to meet Rivendell riders in real life. I’ve been a Lone Wolf forever, always riding alone and never in the vicinity of other Rivendells. I decided 10 years was enough of that and when we moved to Michigan, I joined a bike club. Jon D, out of Colorado, told me about Marc, another Lone Wolf Riv Rider in my city. So, I emailed him and we met at a bike club board meeting. His Riv is a 2012 Sam Hillborne; don’t ask him how many miles are on it, he’s a Just Ride purist who doesn’t keep track of such silly details. But, it can be concluded from these photos, that that Lone Wolf likes a color-matching theme as much as this Lone Wolf does. 

Anyway, he rides everywhere, all the time, and is a wealth of information about the city and surrounding communities. He’s also kind, so he will share it. We have been trying to organize a ride to help me get my bearings in the city, but the weather has thwarted every effort…until today. Lesser devoted riders might have stayed out of the wind and cool temps, but no way were we cancelling AGAIN.

I had been floundering, trying to find safe routes into downtown from where I live, but today I was shown some better routes on roads I wouldn’t have discovered for months. We rode about 20 miles in high winds to find and explore the bike route options in the city. Despite the weather we had a fantastic time. I highly recommend exploration by bike; it’s the best way to really KNOW a place.

Pictured is the halfway point of our ride; conveniently, at a coffee shop in downtown. It made me ridiculously happy to see these two lovely bikes parked together.

I think we should make this an official club ride for members who want to use their bikes in the city, and there are getting to be more members in that category all the time.

 

(Formerly) Lone Wolf Leah

[Patrick Moore]

I'm glad you made a new friend, and that you are finding your way downtown. I've certainly found that the first weeks or even months in a new city to be awkward if all the roads seem to be 4 or 6 lane boulevards. But I find Google Maps very helpful to get to new places here in ABQ, even tho' I've been here for 33 years; Maps has a "bike" option for route finding. I just wish there were better online maps of the acequia trails and ditch roads.

Are there even better apps for scoping out bike routes in US cities?

Had my own little friendly encounter just now, after a very pleasant spring ride on the 1999. I stopped on the way home at Sprout's and as I put my things on the conveyor belt, I realized I'd forgotten my wallet, as often happens. But the very nice lady in front of me insisted on paying, and after removing the most expensive item, I agreed; she would not let me send check or Pp repayment. This is the second time someone has done that. I guess I must look sweet and forlorn; not a Lone Wolf but a soulful puppy.

I have a favor to pass on....

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

[Mike Godwin]

Fabulous. When I first moved to San Luis Obispo, a coworker stopped by my cube and within the first week of the new job. I started riding with him and his longtime riding partner. Every Sunday for 7.5 years we have a ride date, except of course when one of us is out of town.

Colors?  I assume you mean blue bike-blue table and chairs, and red bike - red table and chairs. 

Mike SLO CA

[Leah Peterson]

Mike, I suppose it’s hard to see the color coordination here, but he’s got shades of blue all over his bike and I’ve got shades of rose/raspberry all over mine…and a pop of teal here and there! 

Mike, that’s so awesome that you made a friend the first week and he included you in his ride. And that you had chemistry and could keep up the standing appt is so rare and such a gift!

Patrick, Google maps had me going some dark places when I tried it out. Riding with pals has been so much more helpful. The best app I know of is Ride with GPS; but you have to really know how to use it, and it’s best done from a computer and not on the mobile version. Pam Murray is a whiz with that app and she plans her routes ahead of time, before she ever rolls out of her driveway.

Leah

On Apr 14, 2022, at 5:43 PM, Mike Godwin <spoke...@gmail.com> wrote:

Fabulous. When I first moved to San Luis Obispo, a coworker stopped by my cube and within the first week of the new job. I started riding with him and his longtime riding partner. Every Sunday for 7.5 years we have a ride date, except of course when one of us is out of town.

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[Roberta]

It's wonderful to find like minded and wonderful people to ride with.  Lone Wolf is nice sometimes, but so is riding with others that you like.  I'm so happy for you.

Roberta

[JAS]

There's nothing like a guide on the side to show you the ropes regarding bike routes, coffee shops and other treasures in a new town.  I'm really glad you found a fellow rider who "gets it."

#RivSisters,

Joyce

[brendonoid]

This warms my heart. Thanks for sharing.

[ascpgh]

Leah,  I love to hear stories like this. Is this Marc (pointing)?

He joined a handful of us in April 2012 for the Riv Rally East. We met and rode from Cumberland, MD to Ohiopyle, PA where this picture was taken. Temps at dinner Friday in old Cumberland neared 80°, a few hours after this picture Marc was sheltering from the snow in his tent and I was riding home in it.

Highly support lone wolf riding and finding others through groups, even if they aren't your thing outright. This one was a great rolling two day ride and overnight. Marc was a wonderful addition and came from the farthest. A Nor' Easter on the coast concerned many who for their drive home so we adjourned from Ohiopyle after touring Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water house. Marc shook off the incoming snow and camped that night in the state park before heading back to Michigan. 

The event definitely wrapped up lone wolf style for both of us. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Leah Peterson]

Andy, that’s Marc! Sheltering in his tent from the snow? A true Lone Wolf, God bless him. I’ll have to ask him about this ride. 80 degrees and then snow! April is a dirty trickster - fills one with false hope and then dumps snow on it. 

Adding group rides and rides with pals has really enriched my bike life, and like a junkie, riding is all I want to do now. The more miles I go, the more I want. It just does something for me; maybe it’s the experience my senses get. It’s the scent of pine trees. The sound of the road under your tires. The clicking of gears. All the new scenery, and especially the wildlife here - I always get to see animals. The birdsong. Lakes and ponds teeming with life. Yes,  my regular duties are at risk of being neglected; the weather is only getting nicer and it is greening up out there. 

Send help.

Leah

On Apr 15, 2022, at 6:25 AM, ascpgh <asc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Leah,  I love to hear stories like this. Is this Marc (pointing)?

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[Ted Durant]

On Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 2:10:40 PM UTC-5 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:

I had been floundering, trying to find safe routes into downtown from where I live, but today I was shown some better routes on roads I wouldn’t have discovered for months. 

Yup, there's nothing like cruising around exploring to get to know a place. I have also found (recently spending 5 weeks in Los Angeles) that Ride With GPS can help speed up that process. It shows you routes that are more popular with cyclists, and I found that to be very helpful in LA.

When I first graduated from college, a long time ago, I moved to Tulsa. I put a map of the area on the wall and started tracking my rides with colored pens on the map. It's nice to have the equivalent of a whole city full of people marking up the map with you. And it's REALLY nice to meet a local who likes the same kinds of roads as you!!

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA

[ascpgh]

More junk for a burgeoning junkie: Flickr album: Riv Rally East April 20-22, 2012

I'm headed out this week for a two-day lone wolf ride on the GAP. I got an Amtrak+bike ticket for the return trip from Cumberland but the calendar at home changed and I have to ride on another day, no train bike hook slots available for the trip home. My wife (calendar owner) offered to pick me up. 

Andy Cheatham

Pittsburgh

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

It’s been a long time since I started this thread, but Marc and I have continued our Riv Rides around our part of SW Michigan. We even held an official Riv Ride, with 10 riders in attendance and we are hosting our 2nd in October! Anyway, I have chronicled our rides on Instagram but thought it might amuse some of you if I re-posted them here. So, I’m going to do a little copy and pasting. 

Here is the first installment.

Behold: 2 Riv Riders on the Monday Night Ride!

Poor Marc. Ever since I moved here, that Lone Wolf has been tasked with showing the new kid around town. He got conned into taking me on the bikeways and was forced to listen to all my effusions of wonder over the landscape. Including but not limited to: swamps, streams, roadkill, flowering trees, and bridges.

After months of missing one another on the MNR, (wait - was this intentional?!) we were on the same ride. Two lugged steel Rivendells amongst a hoarde of carbon machines.

“Let’s take a picture!” I said.

“No,” he said flatly.

“But we’re the Riv Riders! Grant will love this!” I insisted.

It nearly killed him, but before he could further protest, I recruited David to snap our photo. David, like any good man, took exactly one photo that made me look like I had rabbit teeth.

I thought Marc might stomp me with his Sam, but he submitted to one more photo attempt.

1. Pictured: a Lone Wolf with the irritating new kid in town. Posing here against his will, but trying to cooperate.

2. Bonus photo. David, being funny as the photographer, showing the irritating new kid in town adjusting her eternally crooked helmet in her rear view mirror before the photo while the Lone Wolf looks on, disapprovingly.

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Poor @marcirwin5. I twisted his arm into letting me tag along on another one of his famous rides. I don’t have to worry about the route; I just tell him what time I have to be back and that I don’t want to get killed. That is what he has to go on. He’s a good sport, that Marc.

Several forces threatened to ruin our day but we persevered. First, the rain that was NOT in the forecast fell just before our ride. It resolved but left a mist and breezy conditions. Then, Marc’s chain spontaneously combusted (he calls it a broken speed link but I like my term better) and he had to fix it on the fly. I stood there, useless, not even knowing you could fix a spontaneously combusted chain. Turns out there’s a tool and he has it. I did my part, though. First, I resolved to watch him so that I, too, would know how to do this magic. But 10 seconds in, it looked too complicated and messy, so instead, while he worked, I recited the story that I was writing in my head about this experience out loud. Then I handed him a surgical mask to wipe his greasy hands on, and then found latex gloves in my Saddlesack for him to keep that grease from ruining his new Brooks blue bar tape on his Sam Hillborne (he refused to wear them while working because he’s a Real Man). So let’s not act like he was the only one solving the problem here.

And then we had lunch at a cute place in a far-flung, one-horse town that is not actually a town and I got these photos of our Pair O’ Rivs. I especially like how my bike is tagging along in the back, possibly annoying that Sam, because this is a metaphor for real life. I also love that however The Lone Wolf and the Platypus Rider may differ, we apparently have one bike style. I will direct your attention to our German mirrors, Saddlesacks, and Blue Lug triangles. (I may have given him that triangle so we could match.)

35 miles, maybe the longest ride I’ve been on, and I enjoyed every last bit of it. Thanks, Marc!

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

The Lone Wolf allowed himself to be lured into another ride (that he would be forced to plan) with the Platypus Rider. As we met up in the parking lot, I expressed my dismay over his choice of Rivendell.

“You brought the Hunq?!” I asked, incredulous. “This is not what we do. We ride the Sam and the Racing Platypus together, and when you ride the Hunq I ride the GREEN Platypus!”

The Lone Wolf rolled his eyes skyward and mumbled something about Godzillas. (See Bike Snob’s Velotaxonomy for explanation.)

“You have never said this, ever,” he argued.

“I shouldn’t have to tell you,” I countered.

“I was going to bring the Soma mixte,” he said.

Flabbergasted, I said, “Well then what would I be riding?! My Clem?”

“No,” he said, “Mixtes. We’d ride mixtes.”

After that minor disagreement, we set off. The plan was to connect to a local bike trail that would wend its way through some nature and spit us out in downtown Kalamazoo. There is a pilot project for 2-way bike lanes that we wanted to try. Also downtown is a new coffee shop, which we were just as eager to visit.

1. I was not expecting to find this in the middle of the woods on our trail. Has anyone seen Outlander? I waited to be transported back to the 1800s. These pillars are somebody’s art, but I don’t know the story.

2.&3. The Eye of Sauron! Especially apt since there’s a Rivendell in the scene.

4.&5. Our pair of Rivs parked outside the coffee shop. You can see the metal wavy structure which is the pilot project for a 2-way bike lane.

We cycled through the city and returned home by a different route. We passed the candy store, which always offers a riddle. “Why is it dangerous to play outside when it’s raining cats and dogs?” I’m still trying to figure it out, but I did get the last one, which I then recited to the Lone Wolf.

“Why don’t teddy bears eat dessert? Because they’re always stuffed!”

The Lone Wolf rolled his eyes skyward, making a silent vow to leave the Platypus Rider behind next time.

I, as always, had a wonderful time and cannot wait to badger @marcirwin5 into doing this again.

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

I got on the horn to The Lone Wolf and asked him when we could do one of our famous Riv Rides around town. He said today. Good, I said, but I’ll tell you right now I’m bringing the mermaid Platypus, so you know what that means.

The Lone Wolf paused, pensively. “It means I can’t ride the Sam.”

Yes! I said, because of The Rules.

For the rest of you who don’t know The Rules, the Sam Hillborne goes with the raspberry Platypus and not with the mermaid one. If The Lone Wolf were to bring his Hunq, I would need to bring the mermaid Platypus or possibly my Clem, but that has not yet been done.

At the meeting spot, The Lone Wolf came into view with…a red Soma mixte.

I threw up my hands. “You brought a red bike when I brought a green one? That’s Christmas colors and it’s not the Christmas season! There are rules!”

The Lone Wolf shot back that he didn’t know about *that* rule and I countered that I had made it up just now but that that was no excuse.

The Lone Wolf rolled his eyes heavenward and thought back to simpler times, like 2021, when The Platypus Rider had not lived in his territory.

More tolerant than he lets on, he led the ride anyway, and we went in our Christmas colors all over the bikeways of the city. Then we stopped for ice cream and we both felt better. But next time, we’re going to play by The Rules.

[Mike Godwin]

It seems apparent, to me anyhow, the Racing Platypus rider was strongly influenced by the philosophy of Calvin and Hobbs. 

Mike "who needs ephemeral rules" SLO CA

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Lately, Christmas has been starting in October, so why not August?

It's amazing how compact the SOMA is in length compared to the Platy.  Beautiful greenery!

Toshi