What Is It About Riding On A Holiday?
11-28-13, 08:37 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
What Is It About Riding On A Holiday?
I love my family and I really enjoy spending holidays with them. Today, I am headed up to Connecticut for Thanksgiving with my children and grandchildren and I am totally psyched.
However, on the way up there, I am sure to see at least a handful of cyclists riding along the Long Island Expressway Service Road or the roads that run parallel to I-95 and I am sure I will be painfully jealous of them.
For some reason, the thought of getting out on a bike when everybody I know is sitting at a dinner table somewhere -- all dressed up in stiff, starched collars -- has been an ongoing daydream for me for as long as I can remember.
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
However, on the way up there, I am sure to see at least a handful of cyclists riding along the Long Island Expressway Service Road or the roads that run parallel to I-95 and I am sure I will be painfully jealous of them.
For some reason, the thought of getting out on a bike when everybody I know is sitting at a dinner table somewhere -- all dressed up in stiff, starched collars -- has been an ongoing daydream for me for as long as I can remember.
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
11-28-13, 01:56 PM
#2
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I love my family and I really enjoy spending holidays with them. Today, I am headed up to Connecticut for Thanksgiving with my children and grandchildren and I am totally psyched.
However, on the way up there, I am sure to see at least a handful of cyclists riding along the Long Island Expressway Service Road or the roads that run parallel to I-95 and I am sure I will be painfully jealous of them.
For some reason, the thought of getting out on a bike when everybody I know is sitting at a dinner table somewhere -- all dressed up in stiff, starched collars -- has been an ongoing daydream for me for as long as I can remember.
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
However, on the way up there, I am sure to see at least a handful of cyclists riding along the Long Island Expressway Service Road or the roads that run parallel to I-95 and I am sure I will be painfully jealous of them.
For some reason, the thought of getting out on a bike when everybody I know is sitting at a dinner table somewhere -- all dressed up in stiff, starched collars -- has been an ongoing daydream for me for as long as I can remember.
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
- Ed
11-28-13, 02:03 PM
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Ya same I rode 10 miles and family will be over after 4 today. So I seen a perfect chance and took it.
11-28-13, 07:03 PM
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agree with the above. after getting the turkey in the oven, the wife said "you can go for a bike ride if you want." i didnt need to be told twice! got a nice two hour ride in.
11-28-13, 07:16 PM
#6
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After dinner with the family I rode 27 miles home. Lots of stops and sight seeing. Felt a little less guilty about all of that food I consumed. My wife is pretty used to me taking off on bike rides. Even on holidays.
11-28-13, 07:37 PM
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There is nothing wrong with being "Asocial/Loner" TC, don't listen to what the masses say. Anti-social means something completely different, usually these people have plenty of "friends"...........to manipulate.
11-28-13, 07:40 PM
#8
The Drive Side is Within
it's the calories. ride on.
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The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. Christopher Morley
The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets. Christopher Morley
11-28-13, 08:46 PM
#9
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I rode last year up in the berkshires where I am right now. I didn't bring the bike this year because fnthe weather.
11-29-13, 10:55 AM
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I slept in and skipped my usual Thanksgiving ride this year. It was too much trouble to balance the cooking with time on the bike and this year my wife is in the middle of her project to regrout the bathroom tile, so not a good time to skip out.
11-29-13, 11:09 AM
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A keen cyclist is keen to ride and many people get time off work during holiday periods thus they have time to ride or they are able to ride earlier in the day for the first time in a while. A keen cyclist usually feels the need or they get the urge to ride when they see others out riding. I think you're a keen rider.
11-29-13, 12:05 PM
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... getting out on a bike when everybody I know is sitting at a dinner table somewhere -- all dressed up in stiff, starched collars -- has been an ongoing daydream for me for as long as I can remember.
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
I am not antisocial, so why is this so appealing to me? Anybody else feel the same?
Yesterday for the third consecutive Thanksgiving Day in a row, fellow "Metro Boston" subscriber mtalinm and I did a late morning ride from Norwood into Boston. He and I are year round commuters on similar routes in the opposite directions, he from Westwood to Cambridge, and me from Kenmore Square to Norwood. I usually go into work on T-day for a few hours in the morning, and for the past three years I’ve called mtalinm to meet me in Norwood, and he rides with me up to about Jamaica Plain…
On Wednesday, I had kiddingly asked a professional nutritionist what she was serving for Thanksgiving. Her answer was the standard fare, but she (knowing I’m a cyclist) said be sure to at least take a walk. As mtalinm and I split I said “Same time, next year,” though we do rarely encounter each other en route during the year.
On this Northeast Discussion Forum is a current thread, What Is It About Riding On A Holiday?. Certainly the lack of traffic, and working off (or in anticipation of the feast) are especially compelling reasons, and I’m glad m’ and I are making it a tradition.
On Wednesday, I had kiddingly asked a professional nutritionist what she was serving for Thanksgiving. Her answer was the standard fare, but she (knowing I’m a cyclist) said be sure to at least take a walk. As mtalinm and I split I said “Same time, next year,” though we do rarely encounter each other en route during the year.
On this Northeast Discussion Forum is a current thread, What Is It About Riding On A Holiday?. Certainly the lack of traffic, and working off (or in anticipation of the feast) are especially compelling reasons, and I’m glad m’ and I are making it a tradition.
11-29-13, 01:59 PM
#13
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I'm in charge of all the cooking, so I got some of it done on Wednesday. Got up early Thursday morning & started the bread dough rising, made a coffee cake for brunch, and finished most of the side dishes, except the turkey by 11. My husband & I then went out for a wonderful bicycle ride with no crowds, enjoyed the sunshine, the quiet...
We got back rejuvenated. Guests arrived at 2:00. We played some board games with everyone, enjoyed a glass of wine, and I periodically got up to put in a casserole dish, turn the potatoes on to boil, etc. So, it's definitely doable to balance between being the host, yet having time for oneself.
We were still able to meet our needs of going out as a couple, riding, & outdoor time and meet the family/friends' needs. Fun & relaxing. I think it boils down to setting up a schedule and setting boundaries.
Long time ago when we were attendees to another's Thanksgiving, we would talk about what our expectations were for the day prior to going to the dinner and budget our time to do the fun with the necessary before having to leave for the dinner.
We got back rejuvenated. Guests arrived at 2:00. We played some board games with everyone, enjoyed a glass of wine, and I periodically got up to put in a casserole dish, turn the potatoes on to boil, etc. So, it's definitely doable to balance between being the host, yet having time for oneself.
We were still able to meet our needs of going out as a couple, riding, & outdoor time and meet the family/friends' needs. Fun & relaxing. I think it boils down to setting up a schedule and setting boundaries.
Long time ago when we were attendees to another's Thanksgiving, we would talk about what our expectations were for the day prior to going to the dinner and budget our time to do the fun with the necessary before having to leave for the dinner.
11-29-13, 03:56 PM
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I find it's a good way to get a little solitude and contemplative time on a day when those are in short supply. The absence of people from the usual streets and paths intensifies this.
Ride report from yesterday's 14 miles at:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post16286702
rod
Ride report from yesterday's 14 miles at:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post16286702
rod
11-29-13, 04:28 PM
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Papa Tom, I know exactly what you are saying. When I am not riding and see someone else riding I get a sudden pang of jealousy. I didn't ride yesterday because I rode on Wednesday. My rides are all over 20 miles, so I try to put rest day between them, one of my few concessions to age. However, even on a rest day I get a twinge if I see another rider out and about. I retired last year and set a goal of a minimum of 80 miles per week. I am yet to not meet that goal, and, yet, I always feel that pang when I am not riding and see another riding. I think that the words of H.W. Tilman best explain the need: "For that man who makes his way by his own exertions, no day is dull, and no journey without an abiding interest." In his book Snow on the Equator, Tilman describes his final journey before leaving Africa. He bicycled the "road" which eventually became the Kinshasa Highway across Africa from east to west. That was in the late 1920s.
11-29-13, 06:00 PM
#16
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I rode last year Thanksgiving night on the Hudson Greenway. Terrific. If you remember it was a warm day with no wind. I encountered no more than 5 bikes/joggers on the whole way. I kind of owned the Greenway that night 
11-29-13, 07:37 PM
#17
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Thread Starter
I suppose if I WERE to get out there on one of those desolate days, I'd just ruin the solitude for all those people I am jealous of. 'Guess I'll continue to be one of the sad sacks whizzing by in my car...
