Wednesday Night Night Ride - this week -PLUS a Hartwood Acres Ride Event

Wednesday Night Night Ride - this Wednesday, meet at 9pm at A-Frame parking area, when the sun goes down, we go out. Bring fully charged lights and a backpack big enough to carry a few cans of brews, because that's how this ride will roll.

 

And Sunday... 

BABE Bikes, Brews, Beef & Blues

Meet at Hollywood Gardens, 9am, we'll depart for Hartwood, get a good spot in which to ride, cook, eat, drink and dance the day away. Bring plenty of food, water, clothing and what-have-you for a full day of fun BABE style activities. You know what those are.

http://www.pghblues.com/

It didn't end...

Did it?  The good times.  Well, it didn't for us, although, inevitably, someday others will step in.  Not just for us; everything.  Days come and go, rides, laughter, people, place, space, time. It will always continue.  With or without us.  The smiles.  Sunshine. Leaves. Dirt.  Long after we're gone.  I find comfort in this. It's all around us.  Quiet.  Listen.

Familiar.  Timeless.  It never ends. 

It never ends...

...does it?  The good times.  Well, it does for us, but there will always be others to step in.  Not just us; everything.  Days come and go, rides, laughter, people, place, space, time. It continues.  With or without us.  The smiles.  Sunshine. Leaves. Dirt.  Long after we're gone.  I find comfort in less. It's all around us.  Quiet.  Listen.

Familiar.  Timeless.  It never ends.

A six pack of years.

While writing the details of the BABE DirtFest weekend, I got to reflecting on how uniquely different this past  event was to the last "BABE Report" at the Single Speed Word Championship in State College in 2005.  Back then the club was just over a year old and we certainly didn't have a reach whatsoever in the biking community.  We didn't set out to do much more than ride our bikes and be good trail stewards.  But still, I think we all knew we had something to offer each other, and the bicycling world in general.  Between countless hours riding our bikes and fully well documented hours working on our trails ;-), we've still managed to have a hell of a lot of fun off the trails as well.  It's all about the balance.

Catch ya further on down the trail.

The BABES are back!

…and ready to ride, drink and fest!


It’s been a fun spring with a good deal of riding and I’m really looking forward to the BABES first ever (I can’t believe it took this long!) official camping trip at the 2010 Dirt Rag Dirt Fest event at Raystown Lake. Leave it our good friends at Dirt Rag to help motivate us to get in gear, get the gear and gear up for a fun weekend outdoors. I plan on keeping some notes, ala SSW05, to document the weekend. Of course, photos will accompany. I look forward to reporting back next week.

Until then, ride on.

Do you like me or are you ignoring me?

And I decided to go out for a walk
And do nothing except
Look everybody I see in the eyes
And not be the first to avert my eyes
No matter what
And I was planning to be gone for ten minutes
But things started happening
And I didn't return for two years
By which time I was the heavyweight champion of the world
And the expectant father of sixteen children
By thirteen different women
                       - Dan Bern "True Revolutionaries"

This song, and specifically these lyrics looped throughout my head on my Thursday evening as I pedaled Mr. Plow through the wonderful streets of downtown Pittsburgh.  I hadn't been on a solo city ride in some time and what I could not believe was how many people were out, walking and cycling.  But even though I was encouraged by how many people were out, I was discouraged by how many people seemed not to be enjoying themselves.  And how many were ignorning the very people all around them partaking in the very same activity they were, uh, "enjoying".  As is usual when I'm cycling, whether alone or with a group, I was smiling.  Cycling represents such freedom and connection to community to me, but I grow concerned that others are doing for other, less fun reasons.  Perhaps they're just showing their concern for the "environment" or trying to save money in fuel costs in the tough economic times, but whatever it was, it didn't seem like many were doing it for the joy of it.  After noticing this, I decided to start smiling at every single walker or cyclist that I passed.  I would look them in the eye, smile, and nod to them that I recognized and appreciated their endeavor to be active and enjoy the day.  Throughout the day and evening I encountered 84 people and only two people smiled back at me.  The rest had looks ranging from fear to completey nonplussed. 

Perhaps it's just our culture of cell phones, internet and facebook, but it certainly seems the people on the streets are uninterested in friendly acknowledgement of their fellow humans all around them.  On the positive side, however, I had a decidedly different experience on our Sunday mountain bike ride at Bavington.  Every rider we ecountered that day on the trails was friendly and made some effort to say hi.  It was also very nice to be smoked by local cyclist Tim, who blew by us on his single speed Moots, but still yelled out thanks for our moving aside.  We had the good fortune to meet up again with Tim shortly thereafter as he finished a loop around the same time we did and he stopped on the road for a chat.  Turns out he actually reads this blog (Thanks Tim!) and is aware of the BABES endeavors.  Just shows once again in the balance and harmony of our wonderful world.  Yesterday, they were as big as small dogs, yessir, yessir.

Rides are on!!!

The Wednesday and Friday night rides are in full swing in this lovely spring! So get out and enjoy the evenings after that long and brutal winter. 6:15pm meet times and 6:30pm ride starts!

Sunday rides are taking shape as well and there’s talk of getting out of Beaver County for a ride real soon. Perhaps even this coming Sunday, April 18th. I’m wondering about Bavington. I think I only rode there once last year. Or perhaps even Moraine. I hadn’t ridden there at all last year. Gotta make up for lost time.

Also a PGH City ride scheduled for Friday, April 30th for the BABE favorites Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival and Whiskey Daredevil show at the Thunderbird. The show doesn’t start until 10pm and the ride starts at 6pm, so if your soul is in need of no cleansing bubbles

 and therefore you want to skip the show, you still can come out for the ride about town.

Lebowski Fist in about 2 months as well. Wow, these years just fly by, don’t they?

Check the BABE Facebook page for up to date details on these and other activities/events.

Ride on,
Frank