Truer Words - A Journal

PMC Day 1: Sturbridge to Bourne, by the Numbers

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:03:02 GMT

Saturday, August 2, 2008

This was my sixth year riding the PMC, and my fourth year to include the Huckleberries ride (which makes it a three-day event). Those previous three years, I was totally exhausted on Saturday morning from the hard ride on Friday.

This year was different...

PMC Day 0: The Huckleberries Ride Again

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:50:25 GMT

Friday, August 1, 2008

This ride was epic.

There were fifteen of us, as shown in the picture below:

15 at the Start

From left to right: Scott, Joel, Jon, Tom, Mark, Dave, Tim, Not Sure, Ellen, Me, Steve, Mike, Mark, Not Sure, and Steve.

Could someone fill me in on the "Not Sures" please?

Did I forget to mention that I was riding with Lilliputians? They may be tiny, but they make up for it with numbers!

Click the image for higher resolution. (This is Mark Stockwell's photo, used with permission.)

Not pictured...

Happy Birthday Michelle & Isaiah Drake

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:25:13 GMT

Corinne, Lauren and I went to Isaiah Drake's birthday party on Monday. He's one year old. Monday was actually his mom's (Michelle's) birthday, his is today, but we were mostly celebrating his because it was his first.

I took 134 pictures (good grief), and managed to whittle that down to “only” 104 before uploading them all to Facebook. The flickr set contains a more manageable 55 pictures: I recommend the slideshow.

The party (cookout) was held at Ben & Mandi Isbell's house on the Bradford River. Games, canoeing, lots of food, cute kids, friends, and loads of presents for Isaiah. Ben even started a big bonfire on the ground near the deck (but more than one story below) that made some of the kids a little nervous.

(If you're reading this in email, make sure you see it on the web for the pictures.)

Westerly Summer Solstice Festival

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:54:35 GMT

Last night, Corinne and I brought Lauren to the Westerly Summer Solstice Festival. She's three and a half months old and has no clue what all the stuff is, but we figured it would be fun anyway. :-) We were right, but mainly because we met Ellyn, Katie, Tom and Gramma there.

The highlights of the festival included the best smile picture of Lauren (so far) as seen here; a really tasty sausage and peppers grinder; the rock wall that Tom couldn't climb often enough; the beautifully restored, antique fire truck owned by the Westerly Fire Department, and the local karate school's street show.

I took lots of pictures, so go peruse.

Flickr on the London Bombings

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 14:48:58 GMT

The flickr photostream for the bombing in London this morning is really... odd. Half the photos are just screenshots of news websites!

Looks like most of the screenshots were posted by one person, but it's still odd.

Other than these web site "non-photos," flickr is really showing its usefulness. Better than any single weblog, it's become a central place for people to share their first-person accounts of major happenings.

Navigators Game with Dad

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:41:56 GMT

(Click the pictures if you want
to see larger versions.)

As I mentioned yesterday, Corinne won some tickets to a Norwich Navigator's game. She hates baseball, so Dad and I went.

The game (Against Altoona, PA) was rained out in the fifth inning, when I believe the score was tied 1-1.

This was sort of "WCTY Night" at Dodd Stadium. Jimmy and Karen (the morning crew) were there, as well as Dave Elder the afternoon DJ. Jimmy and I got to chat for awhile about cycling. He's not really an "avid cyclist" (which may have something to do with living at the top of a brutal hill), but he does some charity rides every year which scores him some points in my book.

As we were leaving, Dave Elder took our picture with my camera. Thanks Dave! Then Dad suggested that Dave be in a picture also (I think this might have had something to do with the contrast, although Dave is just as well known around here as Jimmy), so Jimmy's 12 year old daughter took the second one.

Jimmy's almost tall enough to fit into our family. Dave, uh... not so much. ;-)

Evening With an Author: Dominick Dunne

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 30 May 2005 15:27:27 GMT

Saturday night, Corinne and I attended a fundraiser dinner in support of the Otis Library of Norwich, at the Meshantucket Pequot Museum. The keynote speaker was the famous author, Dominick Dunne. Corinne's a huge fan, and was very excited about this evening.

The Otis Library is the public library of Norwich, CT. It's in dire need of an overhaul, but they have now raised most of what is needed. Didn't get all the details, but the Meshantucket Pequot Tribal Nation just donated a million dollars, which rather dwarfs the $72K they raised with this charity dinner.

In attendance were most of Norwich's high society (having paid hundreds of dollars per plate)... and us (as guests of Chelsea Groton Bank). We may not have paid so much, but Corinne was the prettiest girl in the room in her new blue dress and fancy, high-heeled, hard-to-walk-in shoes! (I was the, uh... tallest? cyclingest? funniest? ;-)

We arrived at 6 PM, and both had a beer. We thought dinner would start at 7, but it seemed that everyone there knew each other and they were in no hurry to sit down and really start the evening. Finally, a little after 8, they asked -- then told -- everyone to sit down so as it was time to start.

Dinner was served buffet style. The salad was nothing special, but had a tasty blueberry and strawberry vinaigrette dressing that I loved and Corinne detested. The roast beef was out of this world, though. There was also shrimp and scallops, some interesting wild rice, and a truly decadent chocolate pie for dessert.

Amazingly, there was no water at the tables. This drove me nuts! They served it for free at the bar in tiny, eight ounce bottles... but do you know how fast I can go through an eight ounce bottle of water in a stuffy room just a few hours after I've done a 42 mile training ride!?

Ok, we weren't there for the food, nor the water. Dominick Dunne showed up while we were eating and sat at a table with the event's organizers. Once most people had finished eating, they started the serial speech-giving.

The first speech was -- literally -- just a verbatim reading of the first page of the attendee's handbook. I don't remember the second and third speeches, except that the second speaker introduced the third as the most tenacious fundraiser in the history of the world, and warned us all to hold onto our wallets, but all the third speaker really did was introduce the fourth speaker. The fourth was Ellen Lind, president and publisher of the Norwich Bulletin.

Lind was pretty good. She started out a little rough, bragging about how she was going to break all the rules they'd set for her in giving this speech, and might embarrass a few people, but once she settled down and started talking about Mr. Dunne, it was clear that she had at least done a little research before taking the stand. She did her best to describe him as a "real person," not just a star producer, stage manager, and author. As a war hero, a friend, someone who has suffered loss and found success. She didn't get every detail right, and she wasn't a particularly good story teller, but looking back on the evening from two days hence, how could she possibly look good in light of who came next?

Dominick Dunne. He's 79 years old. He's a small man, both short and slender, but his voice is strong, his back is straight, and his eyes are bright. All signs of a man that's still fully alive, completely there.

He wasn't there to talk about the library, of course. He was just there to entertain and amuse, to be the "draw" for the evening. So, he told stories, which -- of course -- is what he does best. He reminded me of my grandfather at his best: funny, fascinating, reminiscent, and carrying so many story threads at once that you think he's just meandering aimlessly until he ties everything up at the end with a neat little bow and you sit there, in the audience, scratching your head. "How'd he do that?"

He talked about a woman coming to visit him, to ask him about his old war (WW II) buddy. (The woman was the buddy's daughter.) He talked about the war, and the saving two men at the Battle of the Bulge that earned him and his buddy each a Bronze Star and a salute from a general. He talked about losing touch with his buddy after the war, and never talking about what happened, but forty years later they saw each other in a café at the Waldorf Astoria, and his friend bragged about being "very successful." Mr. Dunne's response was, "I'm not exactly chopped liver!"

Agreed.

At some point in his story, he casually mentioned "chatting with Steven Spielberg about my (Mr. Dunne's) daughter," who had acted in one of Mr. Spielberg's movies. Anybody else, and I would have called it a very big name-drop, but this is the type of person that Mr. Dunne associates with. (I should mention that his daughter was murdered in her early twenties.)

I can't retell his whole story... it was too long, and I remember the imagery better than the words or the order he presented them. I'm not even sure for how long he spoke! Frankly, I had tunnel vision most of the time. He was fascinating, and the room was utterly silent except for a few interruptions for applause. He did mention the book that he's hoping to have finished by the Fall, which I think he said would be called "A Solo Story." It's semi-autobiographical, and sounds like it'll be very entertaining.

After it was over, someone from the Pequots got up and "closed" the evening with some sort of Pequot Prayer. That was fairly uncomfortable and utterly unexpected, but he translated it for us and all he really did was ask "the creator" to guide us all safely home. Of course, I don't speak Pequot, so he may have actually prayed for all of the settlers to go broke in their little casino. ;-) We'll never know.

Corinne is a real fan of Mr. Dunne, and actually got a chance to meet him, briefly, after the event was over. (Have to admit that I'm a bit of a fan now, too. You have to love a good storyteller.)

Update: Corinne posted about our evening, but didn't link to me! So, I've added a link to her story at the top of this one.

Ride #33: Best Speed, and 4999 Miles

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 14 May 2005 18:48:34 GMT

It looked warm out, yesterday, from my office in the basement of our house. The sun had been shining all day, and the temps were supposed to be in the mid-sixties.

But, no. By the time I reached downtown Mystic, the bank clock said it was only 53° and I didn't have any warm gear with me. I stopped at the open bay door of Mystic Cycle for a minute, just to commiserate with the other riders about the weather. Almost nobody was there, but Rob was working on a bike in the shop.

"Rob, you know I buy almost all of my bike stuff from you guys, right?"

"... yeah... ?"

"Well, I'd like to order something."

"Oh! What do you need?"

"A dozen degrees."

"... (pause) ... Uh oh. What are you doing?" (This was Rob's way of trying to figure out what the heck I was talking about, without giving away that he had no clue.)

"I'm freezing my butt off."

"Oh! Hah hah!"

(From someone else, at the back of the room) "I think you need at least fifteen."

"No, I think a dozen is fine, I can't afford fifteen. Any idea how long it'll take them to come in, if you order them today?"

"Not until mid-June, I'm afraid."

"Shucks. Nevermind then, I'll see if I can pick them up somewhere else. I hear there are shops in the south that are over-stocked."

Everybody was talking and laughing at once when I left. I'm such a comedian. ;-)

Got my best average speed of the year (so far, it's still very early) on this ride, too, finally passing the 19mph mark. What's starting to annoy me is my weight. It's floating between 260 and 265. My speed is going up, both on hills and overall, so I'm definitely getting stronger and am improving my cardio, but I wish the numbers (on my bathroom scale) would start to shrink. I guess all I can do is keep going.

The difference this year is that I didn't start out nearly as heavy as I did in previous years. I knew it was going to be harder to lose weight this time, but I didn't think it would quite this annoying. :-)

Oh, one other big 'notable'. As you can see in the attached photo, I've ridden 4,999 miles since I got this bike at the end of April, last year. I didn't plan this, it's just dumb luck that it stayed on 4999 as I pulled into the driveway.

Stats: 40.27 miles (64.83 km) in 2h 6' 1" for an average speed of 19.17 mph (30.86 kph).

PMC 2004: Way, Way Over Budget ;^)

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:23:43 GMT

Last night the PMC presented the check to the Jimmy Fund, at a big gala/dinner in Boston. The goal for this year was $17 Million, but the check was for $20 Million!

That's excellent! $3,000,000 over the goal!

Quoting from the email they sent out last night:

The record-setting sum is more than twice the amount ever contributed to charity by an athletic fundraising event anywhere in the United States and represents 97 cents of every dollar raised.

Here's a shot of Steve Davis and Jim Boyko, a.k.a. "the smiling bandits," trying to sneak out of the building with both the check *and* the Red Sox World Series trophy. (Remember, the Sox are the PMC Presenting Sponsors, so that's the real deal.) What were they thinking?!

Thanks again to all of my sponsors! My total for the year was $4,061. That's $1,536.50 better than last year!

Update: Steve tells me that Jim Boyko's tie is actually a bicycle innertube! (Dress code for the event was "creative black tie.")

Ride #78: Tri-State Seacoast Century with Steve, Jason, and Steve

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:31:38 GMT

September 25, 2004

(There's a photo album for this ride. You can also click any of the pictures on this page for larger versions with descriptions.)

I set the alarm for 3:30 AM, and actually managed to drag myself into the shower when it went off. (Man it's hard to get up that early, even for a ride I've been excited about for weeks.) The car had my gear and my bike on it by 4:05, and (after a couple quick kisses with my mostly-sleeping wife) then I was on the road. The plan was to meet at the parking lot of Foxboro Furniture at 5:30.

Photo: Steve, Seth, Steve and Jason

Steve Davis, Steve Harper, and Jason Cicero arrived in Davis's car at exactly the same time I did (5:33 AM). A few minutes later my bike was moved to the rack on the back of his car, my gear was stowed in his trunk, and we were gone again. It's another ninety minutes from there to Hampton Beach for the start of the ride.

We waited in line for twenty minutes to register/sign-in, but once we reached the front of the line it only took ten seconds. The lines (queues) were alphabetical, different lines for different last initials. I joked that next year I would have to register as Don Quixote so I wouldn't have to wait in line at all. :-) (OK, that wouldn't really work because the lines were A-E, F-J, etc.)

When we were ready to leave, I couldn't find...

Continued...

Great Shot of Start of PMC

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 19:19:01 GMT

Wow, here's an excellent photo of the start of the PMC. That's almost good enough for a non-participant to understand what it's like, and for our sponsors to really get a sense of the magnitude of this event.

Keep in mind that the group is way bigger than what can actually be seen in that picture, and that the group starting at this location is only about 3/5 of the riders (there's another starting location for a shorter ride).

See them on the web...

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 10:57:22 GMT

Hey, I forgot to mention: if you've been reading these reviews of the weekend in email, then you should go check them out on the web site. There are pictures, and if you click the pictures you get more and bigger pictures!

Sunday Morning, PMC Stage 2, Bourne to Provincetown Inn

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 14:09:46 GMT

It's Like an Insomniac Convention

No matter how good you felt on Saturday -- and I felt great -- 112 miles on the bike will wear you out, and a good night's sleep ends up very high on the agenda. That's why having to get up at 3:45 Sunday morning feels so incredibly WRONG!

But get up we did, and Corinne once again drove me to where I needed to be, from our hotel in Plymouth to the MMA in Bourne, and then drove herself back to the hotel for some more sleep. She dropped me off at about 4:45.

I deposited my bag in the truck...

Continued...

Sunday Afternoon, PMC Family Finish, The Long Trip Home

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 08 Aug 2004 17:13:04 GMT

After having our bracelets scanned on arrival, Jim and I walked our bikes up to the walkway where the Scariest Sight Ever was found last year. This year there were no such horrors. In fact, we were so early that we both got decent spots for our bikes on the walkway itself. Jim counted forty bikes against the rail ahead of us, and there were still plenty of open spaces...

Continued...

Saturday Morning, PMC Stage 1, Sturbridge to Mass Maritime Academy

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 10:02:11 GMT

Since sleep was eluding me anyway, I was up a couple minutes before the wake up call at 4:30. Corinne answered it, and then immediately went back to sleep (or she tried, anyway). After showering and dressing, I put as much stuff back in the car as I could so that she wouldn't have to lug so much when she checked out, packed a small over-night bag with my camera and some clothes for after the ride, threw the bag over my shoulder and then rode my bike to the Host, arriving at about 5:15 AM.

Like last year, the entire parking lot was split up by ropes, dividing the riders into groups by approximate speed. ..

Continued...

PMC Saturday Afternoon, Mass Maritime Academy

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 07 Aug 2004 15:27:01 GMT

After check-in, I parked my bike in the lockup, in section A3. There were 150-200 bikes there already, but that's nothing compared to how many would be there by the end of the day! Then, at Steve's prompting, I went straight to the massage tent to sign up. They scheduled me for 3:00 on table 8 (out of 60 something massage tables!), so I had a couple hours to kill.

From there, I found Steve and and Jim again...

Continued...

Friday Night: PMC Opening Ceremonies, No Sleep

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 12:57:54 GMT

After Corinne dropped me off, I found Jim, Steve, and Chris and his wife already seated in the hall for the opening ceremony, with a seat saved for me.

They started with speeches by Billy Starr (founder of the PMC), the head of the Jimmy Fund (Mike Andrews, former Red Sox second baseman), and the president of Dana-Farber (Ed Benz).

Billy went through the numbers, and I was disappointed to learn that CT had...

Continued...

Navigators with the Ellisons

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:54:58 GMT

Corinne got skybox tickets for the Navigators again (through the bank), so I brought Andrew, Eric, and Leah Ellison with me. The Navs lost, of course, even though they've had an impressive streak going this month.

Andrew "won" a free T-Shirt. That's what he keeps saying, anyway (and that it's the only thing he's ever won before), though he didn't actually win it. At some point during the game, they started sling-shooting balled up T-Shirts into the stands. One went into the skybox seating next to the bank's. Nobody was over there, so Andrew hopped the fence and grabbed it. Leah (almost) immediately nabbed it from him, of course. Typical sister.

Like last year with Art, I have a picture of Leah's head being gnawed on by Tater the Gator. (Haven't pulled it out of the camera yet, though, so you'll just have to wait!) On the way out of the game, Tater signed the back of the T-Shirt.

After the game, Eric and Leah followed Andrew and I to Buttonwood Farm for icecream. Just before we got there I said to Andrew, "Duh! It's almost 11:00! As if an ice cream shop in the middle of the woods is going to be open this late!" I was right, unfortuantely.

I arrived home about 11:30, and then Corinne and I talked until well after midnight. Man, I have not been getting enough sleep for the last four or five nights. Five-and-a-half to six hours just doesn't cut it. I want eight!

Finally, a Picture of Steve at the PMC

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 11:47:36 GMT

I finally ended up looking at most of the pictures in the PMC photo album, but I never did find a picture of Steve Davis. But, it turns out that was because I thought his helmet was all white, and that's what I was looking for as I scanned the thumbnails.

By Saturday night, I had decided that he was just too darn fast for the cameras. ;-)

Steve saw my comment about not being able to find him, and told me where to look. So...

Steve Davis, in perfect focus and yet very fuzzy at the same time! It's a conundrum, I tell you.

(This pic from the Barnstable SAG stop (waterstop) on the second day.)

Me, Bonking in the PMC (Photo Album)

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 13 Dec 2003 15:59:25 GMT

I've looked at most of the pictures now, and found five or six with me, and another fifteen or twenty with people I know or at least remember.

Here's what is probably the last picture I'll find with me in it. I'm at the very back of the crowd.

This was the worst part of the weekend, for me. You can't really tell from this picture, but we're heading up a really, really steep hill to a water stop at the top. That's the stop where I was completely bonked, and had to wait forty five minutes for my bike to be worked on.

19 miles to the finsh from this point. A really long 19 miles.

Oh man, I can't wait for next year!

Me, in the PMC (Photo Album)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 14:22:32 GMT

Today the PMC released their photo album from the 2003 PMC. It's huge, mammoth, and gargantuan. And really big. It would take days to go through the whole thing. (Especially since they're serving every picture securely, which has me completely baffled. What's the point of serving all those photos via https, except possibly to make the site run extra slowly!?)

I've only seen a few hundred of the pictures, but I found two of them containing your's truly, one with Chris Rossen, and one with Jim Boyko. Didn't see any with Steve Davis, though I'm sure he's in there. I recognize lots of other faces, and I even found a shot of the other clydesdale.

Here's the first picture showing me, from the beginning of the first day, very early in the morning and in the rain. That's me at the front of that pack, found in this set. I found one other picture with me in it, towards the end of the ride, but it's so bad there is no way I'm linking to it.

They obviously had some really good photographers, as most of the photos are in perfect focus with a shallow depth of field and very well framed (bracketed).

This stirred up a lot of nice memories.

Gators Baseball

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:58:39 GMT

Corinne procured four free tickets to a Norwich Navigators baseball game for Monday at Dodd Stadium (vs. the New Britain Rock Cats). The "Gators" are the SF Giants AA farm team. Corinne works at Chelsea Groton Savings Bank, and they maintain a Sky Box at the stadium, and allow employees to use it for almost every game.

The original plan was to bring Art, Jed, and Dad. Jed backed out at the last minute, so Andrew (one of Jed's roommates, and another member of our ecclesia) came along instead. We're glad he went, as we needed a heavy to scare off the hoodlums. (Andrew's the one in the middle in that shot.)

The sky box was really nice. Perfect view of the game, air conditioning (not needed with the weather we've been 'enjoying'), and a waitress to bring us wings and beverages!

At some point "Tater the Gator," the team mascot, stopped dancing like a fool on top of the dugouts and made his sky box rounds. Apparently he was very, very hungry. He tried swallowing Art, and didn't give up until I'd taken this picture (at which point shame and reality must have set in...). His eyes must have been bigger than his stomach.

The "game" was actually a double header, to make up for a rain-out in May... but they lost both. In fact, their own web site says they were crushed, losing the second game 12-1. Ouch.

We had a good time, but can you believe this was my first professional-ish baseball game? Pitiful. I'd like to do it again, hopefully Jed will make it next time.

That's a Scenic Road?

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 15:55:43 GMT

Go to Google's image search and look for pictures of a scenic road

It's funny that the very first shot is of the backside of my friend Jim Boyko, when we rode in the Tri-State Seacoast Century last year.

Searches for "scenic road" have overtaken everything else as the number one reason that people find my site, so thousands of people have seen that picture of Jim's better side. ;-)

SCC Pictures

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 23 Sep 2002 19:09:39 GMT

Steve Davis brought his camera to the SCC this weekend, and today he sent thirty-three pictures to be posted here on [tw]. All great shots, except for a couple of the guy dressed in too much black, scrunched up on his little bike. :-)

Steve threw in at least one bit of humor. There's a picture of a tired and sweaty Seth walking out of the ocean after the ride. What did he name this picture? "Post Ride Dip". I guess that was deserved, after my "butt-slapping" comments!