Bike Club, New Stuff, and Rensselear

      Bike club on Friday was great.  I rode a "Folley" trail (named after the incredible Mr. Folley who created the rediculous trail...) for the first time, and it was nuts.  We had a really small group because it was Halloween and lots of kids bagged out on us; that was fine by me.  We got home pretty early and then we did some more loops around the school until my parents came.  After I showered and ate, I spent Halloween at my friend's house playing Fallout 3 and watching Silence of the Lambs.

      I finally got some new stuff at the bike shop in Southbridge with my certificate.  I ended up spending about $100 on a specialized hand pump, specialized multi-tool (with chain breaker...an extra $15), a tube, and a pretty big saddle bag.  The certificate covered $50, and I had $20 from other birthday funds, so it wasn't too expensive.  I really want to get a breakdown in the woods sometime soon now, because I'm soooo ready.

      On Saturday my Dad and I went up to Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and we absolutely loved it there.  It's a great school, and they even have a bike club!  The woman in charge of student activities told us that, "one day I was outside and I saw these kids going off of a 12 foot jump, then I realized that we actually have a bike club here."  My eyes lit up when she said this and I knew I really wanted to come to this school.  RPI's also pretty close to some great mountains for skiing and biking.  I even got to drive on the highway for my first time.

      I have some pix of my new mountain biking accesories and our trip to RPI, so hopefully I'll find some time to upload them soon.

Ride hard, and don't get caught by the fuzz like I did!!

      -At0m

Finally Turning 16 Today!!!!

      Hello everyone, it's my Birthday today! I'm finally turning 16; w000000t!  I got some sweet presents, like a $50 gift certificate from my Aunt and Uncle to my local bike shop located in south bridge, so I'm psyched! Maybe I'll get some new pedals or gloves... Whatever I get I'll shoot some pix and post them soon.

      I'm also planning on taking the test at the Southbridge Motor Vehicle Registry soon to get my permit; I studied the permit handbook all summer long, but didn't have the time, money, or fortitude to take driver's ed...

      I feel bad, but I really don't have enough time right now explain what happened the other day when I was biking up at our housing development, other than someone called the cops on me.  I shot some good footage and took some decent pix, so stay posted for them.

Ride hard.

      -At0m

Mountain Bike Club Friday, October 24th, 2008

      We usually mountain bike every Friday in the Fall and Spring on very elaborate and long trails behind our junior high, but yesterday I told our mountain bike leader, Mr. P, about trails I recently found out about behind our high school.  He was somewhat tired of the same trails every week, like most of us, so we decided to do some exploring.

      For hours we biked around the many trails behind the high school that no one really knew too much about, and we had a great time.  

      It all really started because I'm taking this AP Environmental Science class, and we do a lot of field work.  A couple times we went out into the woods behind the high school to measure the dissolved oxygen content, temperature, PH, and otherof aspects of a nearby stream, and we had to get there using a variety of trails.

      So by the end of that Friday, I had biked where I had walked just that morning!

Hopefully we will develop and use these new trails often, and the possibilites are truly endless...

 

Ride hard.

      -Atom