Riding my bike around home

Some times I think posting a video I made can say more than what I can put into words. So I am post a video and let it say what I can not say.

Riding around my hometown.

I try to ride my bike several days a week. Once in a while I ride to the city of Lancaster which is about 8 or 10 miles from home. I don't ride there  very often as the route I take goes through what is now a pretty rough  neighborhood.  It was not always that way but time has change things.. there. I also was borned in this  neighbor and live there for the first 4 years of m life I have been very forunate in that no one has ever bother me or even attempted to bother me. I guess the th reputation it has now that worries me the most. A few weeks ago a cyclist was attacked and beat up while riding through this neigborhood.

I mention that in my last post that I had acquired a camera to record my bike rides that I do. On September 14th I did a 25 mile bike ride to town and did a video of this ride. Well it takes about two and half hours to ride the 25 miles plus the time I mess around. Two and half hours of video is a long time so I have edited it down to just a little over 4 minutes. I am finally getting more familiar with editing and think i did a pretty good job on this video but I am going to get better at as I learned.

I hope that my readers of my blog will enjoy the video I have made and posted.

New technology at least it is for me.

After doing the Blue Ridge Breakaway bicycle ride I regretted not being able to take more photographs of the ride. I didn't stop to take any photo pictures because I was riding as hard as I could.

I saw on Facebook about a camera that could be  mounted on a bicycle to take videos and photographs. I had to have one and so off to REI to buy one. It is a  very small camera that almost looks more like a spy camera but it it a awesome camera.  It can be mounted almost anywhere on a bicycle being it has a wide angle lens it gets a lot of the surrounding it the pictures. 

The camera is a GoPro hero 2 and now I can video my rides. I also have wanted away to photograph cars that cuts me off or nearly hitting me so I could get there tag number to report them. Now I can and that is good. Last summer when I was hit by a truck I wish I could have had the camera then to record the incident. Thank to the Lord I was not hurt but only stunned.

I will try and post a video on my blog of my fist bicycle ride. It is a short video of me climbing a steep hill leading to my house. Hope it works.

The Blue Ridge Breakaway Bike ride August 18,2012

Here I am at the finish line just after I completed doing the bicycle  ride.

The big day arrived to do the Blue Ridge  Breakaway Bicycle ride in the mountains of NC.  I don't have the  official total of cyclist that had enter to ride in this event but at last count it was over 500 cyclist and if I heard right they expected about 200 more.  The event feature 4 different routes with different lengths of the ride ranging from 24 to 105 miles in Length.  Not knowing what to expect I elected to do the 24 mile Rabbit ride route.

Rabbit Don't let the name fool you; this is not a warm and fuzzy beginner level ride. An intermediate level ride with several challenging mountain climbs. The Rabbit rolls through the farm lands of Jonathan Creek and Crabtree. The ride is marked by two moderate hill climbs over Coleman and Hyder Mountain before finishing with a scenic tour around Lake Junaluska.

The above description my route is pretty accurate. It was not a warm and fuzzy ride. I was really pump up and though I would be among the front cyclist at the finish line but the mountains climbs was much steeper and long than I expected.

At 7:30 AM Saturday morning August the 18th the race was started. Well it was not suppose to be a race but for me it was. A race to be sure I did not finish in last place. 

As the ride started I did not feel my energy level was all that good. I was probably in the middle of the 500 plus cyclist. The first 2.6 miles before we turn  on highway 276 was not good. My heart rate got up to 148 beats a minute and before I got to the end of the first 2.6 miles almost everyone had past me by. I felt terrible and thought to myself this was not going to be a good day for me. My max heart rate is 148 beats minute so I was on my max heart rate on a road which only had a slight uphill climb. My average  speed was only about 10 MPH.

At the turn of Highway 276 I was all alone not a sold in site. After I got on highway 276 it ran slightly downhill for the next 7.7 miles. That was  good for me, my average speed went from 10 mph to as high as 25 plus mph. It wasn't long before I started to passing everyone, I mean I was flying by the other cyclist by the end of that 7.7 mile run I had pass most of the cyclist except for a small group. I thought to  myself now today wasn't going to be bad after all. However my heart rate was now at 152 beats a minute has had been for all the 7.7 mile run.

At the end  of the 7.7 mile run we had make a right hand turn onto Coleman Mountain road. This was the beginning of some serious mountain climbs. It wasn't long until my heart rate was  up to 155 BPM and I had just only begun climbing. That was not good, I didn't see how I was going to keep on going with my heart rate that high with the worse climbs to come. I haven't had a heart rate that high since 2005. 

The climbs was very hard. the roads was very twisty probably as more than any roads I ever been on. One girl did wipe out on one of the turns but I not sure how bad she was hurt. For the next 9 miles it seemed to be all uphill. There was some downhills but going downhill was 10 faster than going uphill so the downhills took only few seconds to do, uphill took forever.

At mile 16 there was a sag stop with food and drinks to get fuel up with. I debated about stopping there and losing time to the leaders. I thought we were over the worse of the hills and it was going to mostly downhill the rest of the way. I felt going  downhill I would make up the time I would lose at the sag stop. I happen to mention to one of the girls helping at the rest stop that I was glad that it was mostly downhill for the rest of the way. She corrected me and said, well she said I had to cross Hyder Mountain which was extremely steep and twisty.  I told her she just broke my heart as I did not see how I could do another steep climb. She tried to soothe me by saying well it wasn't that bad.  It was worse than bad. Again climbing that mountains sent my heart rate to 155 beats. For all of the 16 miles I had already done my heart rate never got below 145 beats. However I was never stress by the high heart rate but my  legs was really getting to feel the pain. Well I made it up Hyder Mountain  and though there wast no more hills to climb.

Now I was getting close to the finish line, my heart rate had finally got down to 140 beats. As I turn on the road around Lake Junaluska I could smell the finish line. But the  Rabbit Ride had one last attempt to break me. The ride around the Lake has some pretty good climbs on it. Probably made worse by the fact my legs was turning to jelly. Then there was only a mile left to the finish. At least that was flat. By that time I felt my GPS was lying to me and maybe there was still al long way to go before getting to the finish line.

Suddenly there it was the finish line. I had made it never stopping once except to the sag stop and stop signs. I always stop for them.

My stats: Ride time 2 hours  25 min. 20 seconds .9 tenth of second. Has I not stopped a the sag stop like  many did not do I probably would have finish around 13th or 14th place. So I got to be happy with my time but wish it had been better.

In 2005 before my accident that left me with a cripple left leg I my hear rate rarely ever got as high as it did on this ride and never for as long it it was. So comparing my performance with 205 I say I think I am in as good cycling condition maybe even better than I was then. It has been a long 7 and half years to get back to this level.

The next day after the event I had to go back over the route in my RV to see the countryside where I had ridden. On the bicycle I had to ride so hard that seeing the scenery was a little hard to do.  The route was extremely scenic so much that I want to go back and take some landscapes with my camera.

I am sort of in the middle at the start line getting ready for the big show.

One of the curves on the Rabbit Trail. This curve was easy to take compared to the many others on the routed.

I am stopped here scratching my head trying to figure whether to turn left or right.

At the finish line the finish order was posted so the riders could see where they finish at in relation to the other participants. At the point I was in 29th place among 36 riders that had finish at the time this was posted. They could have been more that finish later but the final order of finishing will be publish later,

What to do when dogs chases you on a bicycle.

I was out riding one day last week when I saw a person in front of me riding a bicycle. I hardly ever see anyone riding a bike anywhere close to my home. I overtook him going up a hilll as he was  going much slower than I was.  At the top of the hill I stop and waited on him to say hello and to chit chat. Boy was that a big mistake.

At first  the conversation started out rather nice but the conversation turn about dogs chasing cyclist. He said he was always being chase by dogs that nipped at his feet. I suggested that he carry some pepper spray as that has worked very well for me. None of the dogs that I use it on has ever chase me again but I don't use the peper spray except as a last resort.  Well he answer that by saying he has used peper spray but that it didn't do any good. The dogs just stop wipe there eyes with feet and take off chase him again with the intentions of biting him.

I then told him about the Lease Law in our county. Dogs must either be on a least or inside of a fence in area.  Well he said he has tried calling animal control and they supposely has said that there was nothing they can do dogs chasing him and it was waste of time to call animal control.  I told him that I have had several dogs to chase me and I reported  them to animal control and now the owners keep there  dogs either in there house or in a fence area  and are no longer a problem. 

That started to making our conversation more confrontational.  He said there was no such thing as a lease law in our county. I tried to tell him there was and that all he needed to do was look it up on the internet and see. That didn't make and difference to him as he was still adament that there was no lease law for dogs. I ask him politely to drop the subject as it did not make any difference to me whether he believe me or not. I was only trying to be helpful and didn't need or want to argue about it.

Well that was enough and I told him I only stopped to say hello to fellow bicycler rider and not to argue.  I was getting mad at myself for even stopping and trying to be nice.  

It was time to say "Have a nice day" and for me get on with my morning ride and I left quickly. He shouted out while I was leaving that there was still no lease law. I think he would have argue that all day long and if I had given him the chance.

Some days it don't pay to stop and talk with strangers who may be cooky.

 I didn’t have a specific route in mind so I just went on some roads to see where they went. Well I sort of had in mind to ride towards Health Springs the long way. After a while I came to the conclusion I was lost. So I switch my iphone to mapping to see where I was. To my dismay I was actually going in opposite direction that I thought I was going. So much for my sense of direction.

I finally recognized a dirt road that road last year and wrote a story about it in my blog. It was a shortcut back to home but it was not a road to be riding a road bike on. So I decided to turn around and go back the way I came.  Unfortunely turning around proved to be a little disastrous for me.  I got into some loose rocks and down I went. I remember thinking this was going to hurt. I laid down for a few minutes while I examined my body to see what damage I had done to it. Thank goodness that all I had is some skin rash on my elbow and knee, nothing bad. My big worry was did I damage my bike and the good news is that I didn’t.

Well I finish riding28.24miles and ascended 799 feet which is about half what I will have to do in the 


The link provided below will open up Google Earth and show you my bike ride I did today.

http://share.abvio.com/58c9/7cee/4ebd/f17d/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120802-0903.kml

The Blue Ridge Breakaway or Bust

I have not done a organized bicycle ride since 2007 and only three since 2005. It was in December of 2005 that I had a accident that left me handicapped. Although I  kept on riding after I was able to get on a bike again I was so slow that I usually ended up one  the last people to finish the rides so in 2007 I stop trying to do long distance bicycle rides. For about the first three years after my injury I could not even get on the bicycle without help. Once on it I had to stay on it until I finish riding as I needed help getting off it.

Here it is 2012 and I am now schedule to do my first organized bike ride since 2007. I have gradually got a little better at riding and better at hill climbing on a bike. I will need to climb hills a lot better than I was even back before my injury. I hope I am able to do this ride finish closer to the front of the cyclist like I used to be able to do.  The hills is still my concern. If they are long and steep I may not do all that well but I will find out the hard way.

Old Red

My trusty Road Bicycle

In signing up for this ride I had to decide on which route that I would take. Having not done a lot of cycling in  the mountains I decided to be cautious and selected the shorter route but once I get there and see the roads I may elect to do a longer ride. The mileage does not bother me so much it just how long and steep the hill climbing will be. Now all I need to do is  to figure what bicycle I a going to use while doing the Bicycle tour in the mountains.

These is the two routes that I am considering and I have to chose which one to do.. Both are not long rides but as I said I am being cautious. If I do well in then maybe I can start doing longer distance bike ride. The description of the routes are below.

Panther - A gorgeous ride through Panther Creek, Fines Creek and over Hyder Mountain. Riders will enjoy miles of river views and farmlands. Intermediate 40 mile Ride.

Rabbit Don't let the name fool you; this is not a warm and fuzzy beginner level ride. An intermediate level ride with several challenging mountain climbs. The Rabbit rolls through the farm lands of Jonathan Creek and Crabtree. The ride is marked by two moderate hill climbs over Coleman and Hyder Mountain before finishing with a scenic tour around Lake Junaluska.

Added: August14th 2012
The time is getting close now. Temperatures is expected to be around 54/55 degrees at the start  time 7:30AM. Thunder storms are forecast but hope I that I will have completed my ride before it starts. Due to the fact The sponsors will not let me changed the route from the one I signed up for so  I will be doing the Rabbit Route.  I  ought to be excited about doing my first organized bicycle ride but I am  not.

OH YES the bicycle ride is being held on August the 18th and will start at Lake Junaluska North Carolina and finish there.

Boykin SC

Swift Creek Baptist Church in Boykins

Establish in 1787

When we were on our way to Charleston  last week we stopped by the small Town of Boykin SC which is only about 5 miles or so south of Camden SC.  This isn't all that far from Lancaster were I was born and now lived.  Why I never heard of this place before I don't know but it has one event that happen a long time ago that is very significant. He happens to be where the last battle of the civil war is though to have been. It took place 9 days after the surrender of general Lee army in virginia. Wether it was the last battle or not it was at least one of the last battles.

 Inside of Swift Creek Baptish chruch. The building is in very good shape for a church that is that old. We were able to see the inside of the church and I took a few pictures of it.

 Some fo the buldings in Boykin. Boykin has a old timey grits mill, A broom maker which sells old timey brooms, but be prepare to wait if youi want one. There is waiting list of a year or more to get one. Two restaurants I didn't get to eat there but the food did look so good I plan one returning there to eat. A few other business as well.

 A cover bridge, didn't know there was one in South Carolina.

This one of the restaurants in Boykins.,arbecue is there  specialty. It has only been open about a month but I got there to early to eat. However it is a unique place and I want to go back soon to eat there.

Boykins is out in the boondocks but it a wonderul place to vist. I plan on going again soon. I also plan on riding my bicycle on the road is it located on. It looks like it would be a great senic road to ride on.

 The Cape Hattera Lighthouse as it is seen today in its new location. It was moved some years ago to keep it away from the ocean. like what happen to the Morris Island Lighthouse in Charleston.

 This is a picture I took of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse back in the late 1960s. There has been some dramatic changes in the beach since that time.

 The Lighthouse at Ocracoke NC 

 I added the above picture to show what the Lighthouse in Geogetown SC looks like as compared to the Ocracoke Lighthouse, they are very similar.

 A beautiful snarled Cedar tree near the Light House at Ocracoke. NC

 The above picture is were the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was first built. The orginal Light that was in it was removed during the Civil War to prevent the Union from using them to navigate when they travel the coast. The South was not about to help the Union Sailors any.

Another view of the Ocracoke Light house as seen today.              

This is a picture I took of the Morris Island Lighthouse back in the late 80s or early 90s.  You can see that the ocean has washed away all of the land from around the Lighthouse and it appears to be just sitting out into the ocean which it was. The lighthouse had a slight tilt to it at the time.

A few years ago perservation effort made has now stablized the Lighthouse so it would not fall into the ocean. Last time I saw it some sandy shoals has buit up around the lighhouse and at low tide it was out of the water. 

 When this picture was taken there was about 10 to 15 feet of water around it at low tide. My sailboat drew about 7 feet of water and I anchor my boat near the lighthouse and row my little dingy over to it. I then climb the stairs all the way to the top. I don't think it legal to do that anymore and is probably lock so no one can. 

I hope that when further perservation efforts are made eventually it may be open up so that it would be again possible to climb to the top. The view is magnifcent.

 The Charlotte Transporter and bicycle show was held May 19th at the Hodges farm just off the bypass 495 that goes around Charlotte.  The was there 1st bicycle show I believe  and has a lot of room for improvements. But being the first it was not bad. 


I took my 1971 Schwinn Collegiate which all original to enter it in the bicycle show contest.  There was not a specific category for my bike so I just enter it in hopes of winning the peoples choice for the best bicycle. I knew I had the best but wonder if anyone else did. It didn't seem like to many people were that interested in my bike, one of about 40 or more in the contest.  I was so discourage that I almost left early. Well I stuck around but being so sure I was not going to win I pack up my bike before the the announcement of who won took place. 


When the winners were announced I was sort of on pins and needles as I knew I had the best bike of the show but still though my bike was  not going to win. The annoucement for each category was made for  the Oldest bike, the best muscle bike, the best BMX, The Tetanus award for the most rusty bike, not sure what else and then the best of the show.


My bike WON, Hurray. Surprise Surprise 

The above bicycle surely was the most talked about and I half expected it to win because of the attention it was receiving. I surely was the most unusual bike ever made, sort of scary.

The After the Bridge Run Cycling ride in Charleston SC.

This weekend was my biggest day in Cycling since my injury in 2005.I went to Charleston South Carolina to partcipade in the After the Bridge Run. I had orginally plan on doing a century ride but though better of it since I have not ridden the long of a ride since 2005. I settle for doing the Metric Century instead as I felt like I could do that even though I have ridden this far since 2006 when I came in almost dead last in three different long bike rides. That ended my doing long bicycle rides and slow down dramatically have much cycling I did after that.

This year led to dramactic improvements in my cycling ability and so this led to my trying to do the Metric Century ride in Charleston. I am happy tosay my average speed was pretty close to what I probably would have done before my injury. Can't say enough how good this made me feel. Hope to do some more organize cycling this year since I now have a better chance of keeping up with other cyclist. I know I can't expect to ever be as good as I was before I shatter my leg in 2005 but I am doing much better now than I had dare hope I would be.

The two picture here were took while cycling on James Island and Folly Beach before the big ride this past weekend. I did not take any pictures during the ride because I was pedaling like heck just keeping up.

My new 1971 vintage Schwinn Bicycle

 Collecting old vintage bicycle can be fun especially when you find them that look practically brand new. These three photos are of a 1971 Schwinn Collegiate bicycle. They are classified as lightweight but are for from being lightweight escpecially compared to modern lightweight bicycles.

I just finish putting this bike together  and spit polishing it.  It is a prize for sure and I plan on entering it into some bicycle shows in the future for best unrestored bicycles along with my 1961 Indian bicycles that are equally like new. My orginally intend was to use this bike as a rider but since it completely all orginal down to the tires I want to keep it looking like new so it will be a show bike instead. I may ride occassional maybe in a vintage bike ride.

Latest vintage Bicycles I have added to my collection.

 I have acquired three more vintage bikes to my collections,two of which are shown here. The above bike may not qualify as a vintage bike as I not sure how old it is but guess it only about 7 years old. It a Dahon Foldup bicycle. I had to do some work to get it into a good rider and it now just like new. I got this bike to take it with me camping as it folds up and I can put it in my car trunk easyly. 
My first time riding it I felt like I was riding a toy bike but since I now gotten used to it I think it a really fun bike to ride and probably could ride it on long distance rides. So far I only ridden it for distance of 10 miles and that was no problem.

 Taking break while riding my Dahon out in the country

The above Bike is one that I bought back in the early 1970s and sold after a couple of years. I recentlly contacted the person that I sold it to and bought it back. Actually I had two bikes that I sold one for me and one for Leila. I bought both of them back but only have one of them posted there. I need to do more work on the girrls bike before I take any picature of it.

The bikes are made by Hulfy and are not particularly valueable, I only got them because I used to own them. The cost to restore them I expect to cost more than what they will be worth.  I hope to find some Huffy's for sale that I can use for parts especially the chrome parts.

I hope to get a couple of more vintage bikes to add to my collections and I am looking for them now.

I am planning or thinking about doing a bike ride called the Blue Ridge Breakaway this year around August in the mountains. It only a one day ride but it probably will be the most strenuous one day ride I have ever done, that is if I do it. It is to start near Maggie Valley and go into some very hilly mountain terrain. In past years I pretty much avoided doing bike tours that involved a lot of hill climbing as I never been good at this. Certainly since I injured my leg I really my hill climbing was really bad. However since moving back to Lancaster I had to ride on very hilly roads whether I like it or not, that is if I wanted to ride my bike at all. This has made me stronger at hill climbing than I have ever been so much that I now considering doing the unthinkable. It is a metric century ride however I do have the option of doing a shorter ride but the climbs will be steep no matter what.



I can’t believe that I am even considering doing this. But since a few months ago I found out I could stand on the pedals to put more power in my pedaling I am better at hill climbing now. Since my accident back in 2005 I have never been able to stand on the pedals until a few months ago. I never thought I would be able to do that again as the pain was too intense. Still is but I am over coming it.


I am also considering doing a couple more bike tours as well. One in Charleston that not far away and who knows maybe I will try and do the Katy Trail ride again. If I do that it will be my first bike tour that is longer than two days since I injured my leg more than 6 years ago.


This time of the year is always dream time. I don’t always do the bike tours I like to do but dreaming about them helps me sort out the tours that can be realty from the ones that will just remain dreams.


I have signed up todo the Blue Ridge Breakaway bike ride. I just hope I am up to doing it.

New kind of hobby like I really needed another one.

The top photo is of my 1947? Shelby Airflo bicycle. When I received it I was a bit disppointed as it look terrible. However with a little spit and polish it now looks great and does not need much done to it. Only the headlight was in bad shape but I am now working on restoring it.

So far I have obtain four antique bicycles. I love bicycling and collecting classic bicycles goes well with my love of bikes. I am hoping to at least add a couple of more bikes to my collection. However when I do find vintage bikes that are in good shape and the price is right I may just add them to my collection as well.

If you know of any please let me know where and how to contact the owners of such bikes. I am currently hunting for old ballon bicycles made in the 1940s and 1950s

The pictures of the above  two bikes are indian made bicycles. One is a Indian scout and the other is a princess Indian bike made in 1961. I am happy to be able to add them to my collections. Indian are rare bikes made by the company that also made Indian Motorcycles. In fact The Indian Motorcycle company made bicycles before they started making motorcycles.
To get a pair of Indian bicycles one a boys bike and the other a girls bike is indeed rare especially in the excellent conditions these are. The boys bike as a dyno hub in the front wheel to make electricity to run lights with. I hoping to adapt it to charge my iphone.



Wow this is indeed a rare find that I have. It is a Spalding chainless driveshaft driven bicycle made in either 1895 or 1896 which is the only two years that they were made. It is in great shape except the wheels are not correct. Some one also painted it and did a terrible job.



I am now workng at getting it restored. The original had wood wheels and I trying to get some to get the wheels like it originally had. Then I will have to strip the paint off and have it repainted the way it look back in the day. When completed I will have a true gem that should bring a good price. I only seem one other bike like this one and that was in a museum in Michingan. I will more news about my bike and restoration of old bikes as time goes by.