Recovery Ride in Paradise

[BumbleBeeDave]

It was an absolutely beautiful Memorial Day weekend in Upstate NY and it was just too perfect not to ride ball three days. Things started with riding up to my girlfriend's cabin in the Adirondacks with one old friend and two of his friends--my new friends--who were riding from Schenectady up to Keane--120 miles. I'm training for my summer trip and only did 83 to the cabin. They are training to climb Denali later this summer and were doing 120. Old friend GRay is 60 and can ride away from me whenever he wants. Incredibly fit!

I only got this one picture of us with the Giant Chicken of Chestertown because the rest of the time I was panting and wheezing trying to keep up with them.

BBD

[roguedog]

um...if that's what paradise looks like.. think i'll stay here :p

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I needed a recovery ride at a pace so slow even my (dead) grandmother could keep up, so I decided on Sunday to head up Trout Brook Road, take the camera and stop any time I wanted. It was only 21 miles, but most of it was like this . . . no cars, great pavement, bright sunshine, temp between 75-80. Perfect.

[BumbleBeeDave]

um...if that's what paradise looks like.. think i'll stay here :p

. . . grasshopper!

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . taking advantage of the beautiful late morning light with my little Lumix. I like this little camera more and more every time I take it out on a ride with me.

Wheels within wheels . . . I found this big dump truck where a new house was being built out in the middle of the woods.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . about a hundred feet to get some photos of this bend in Trout Brook. There sure seemed to be a lot of yellow and black tiger swallowtail butterflies flying around--same colors as the Queen Bee!

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and walk over to the bank to get a wide-angle shot with the creek in the foreground . . . and there on the bank, where there was water seeping out, are several hundred of these yellow and black butterflies taking advantage of the seep to drink their fill.

So I put on my cleat covers, stashed my bike behind a tree, and decided to try to climb down the bank to get some close-up shots of all of these beautiful butterflies. It took a few minutes of moving slowly, but I was finally able to get right up on them and was able to use the macro setting.

They were . . . cooperative.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . .without killing myself and rode off to see what else I could find.

The sign says this is the "Lazy 7 Rod & Gun Club." Either the Lazy 7 are all out hunting all the time or they are so lazy there's no energy left to keep their club up.

Then up XXXXXXX Road to one of my favorite view of anyplace I've found in the 'Dacks. Huge open field receding to the mountains and forest beyond.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . .and you just can't shoot pics in the 'Dacks without a couple of weathered old barn shots.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . beneath one of the several bridges where the road traverses Trout Brook. Then a quick stop at the Olmstedville Store for a bag of trail mix and over to the town dam to find a picnic table, and a few minutes pent meditating over the water rushing over the dam.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . back to the cabin this 49 'Merc said hello.

BBD

[Louis]

Dave, were all those taken with your Panasonic Lumix?

TIA

Ooops, I just saw that you said that in Post #5.

Sorry.

[tiretrax]

Great shots - I wanna move! Digital cameras are amazing. I hope everyone has a great, safe trip on their summer adventures. Thanks for posting, BBD.

P.S. That chicken is fantastic. It's too bad more of those types of signs aren't used rather than inflatable apes, etc.

[buldogge]

Hey Dave...Which Panny Lumix model???

-Mark in St. Louis

[akelman]

I've got this weird feeling that even if I buy the same camera Dave has, I still won't be able to take pictures like that. Sort of like how even though I ride really nice bikes, I'm still slow as molasses.

[Louis]

I've got this weird feeling that even if I buy the same camera Dave has, I still won't be able to take pictures like that. Sort of like how even though I ride really nice bikes, I'm still slow as molasses.

You need more Spanish beef.

[thinpin]

Lovely work Dave, love the compositions.

[akelman]

You need more Spanish beef.

With molasses? Kidding aside, I never get tired of looking at the pictures you take, Dave. It's a real treat to see what happens when someone knows what they're doing with a camera.

[BumbleBeeDave]

With molasses? Kidding aside, I never get tired of looking at the pictures you take, Dave. It's a real treat to see what happens when someone knows what they're doing with a camera.

I really appreciate that! It's so liberating to just ride around and shoot pics with just the one little camera. I've had a whole career of carting around big heavy cameras and this is fun!

BBD

[BumbleBeeDave]

This was around Brant Lake and Schroon Lake and, once again, good pavement, little traffic, and while I saw a few other cyclists on the Schroon Lake road, otherwise not a soul on a bike. That's the usual when you get away from the main drags up here.

I stopped for a pic at the upper end of Brant Lake.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . on a favorite backwoods road and found this cemetery where graves had been decorated for Memorial Day.

It really struck me that the graves with flags were people who had given their service--and often their lives--so the rest of us could live in places like this and I could have the freedom to just ride around on my bike and make images of things.

I think this is the real memorial of Memorial Day . . . not the huge cemeteries that make good pictures for the daily papers. But instead the small, often old and out of the way graveyards where local people are still remembered for what they did to protect their friends and families in thousands of small, out of the way hamlets like this.

They trooped off and left everything behind--friends, families, homes, lovers, children--all to protect their homes and way of life from something that must have seemed almost incredibly abstract to them. Something so far away that it took a leap of faith to even appreciate that it needed to be defended against.

I don't mean at all to minimize what local vets groups do. But it's easy to go find a big cemetery in a big city and put out flags. But when you go to some little place like this in the middle of beautiful nowhere and yet somehow, somebody has still remembered that these graves are here and made sure these people are remembered . . that's the real meaning of Memorial Day.

[wc1934]

WHOA - great pics - the butterflies are awesome - thanks for sharing = keep them coming!

[Louis]

Hey Dave...Which Panny Lumix model???

I don't think Dave saw this.

I think it's a DMC-TS3

[BumbleBeeDave]

I don't think Dave saw this.

I think it's a DMC-TS3

Yes, it's that one. 12mb, Zeiss lens, waterproof, shockproof, coldproof. does HD video with instant video button. I carry an extra battery just in case, and I got the orange one so in case I do drop it, should be easier to find.

BBD

[roguedog]

. . . grasshopper!

I know.. I just wanted to rib ya while you were creating your story :) Was just funny to click and see a two sentence post and an incomplete sentence..

Like the post and photos..

[maxn]

nice shots!! Looks like you are on course for mega-col action in July!

[rdparadise]

. . back to the cabin this 49 'Merc said hello.

BBD

Dave:

Was that old Mercury, galvanized aluminum, silver paint or stainless steel? It looks like bare metal whatever it is.

Thanks for sharing your pictures and ride report. Looks as though you were having fun.

Bob

[Louis]

Was that old Mercury, galvanized aluminum, silver paint or stainless steel? It looks like bare metal whatever it is.

Brushed Ti ;)

[Keith A]

Dave -- Great pictures and story...wish I could have been there with you.

[BumbleBeeDave]

Dave:

Was that old Mercury, galvanized aluminum, silver paint or stainless steel? It looks like bare metal whatever it is.

Thanks for sharing your pictures and ride report. Looks as though you were having fun.

Bob


I didnt get up real close to it. but I know it's drivable, because we saw it out on route 9 later that day.

BBD

[Joachim]

I really like BBD's photo reports. I might just get a zebra striped kit (Cipo style) and take a picture of it.

[velotel]

Like your shots and perspective. My lady friend (I'm too old for a girl friend) who is not my wife is an excellent photographer and like you, has a nicely different perspective. I tend to shoot tourist shots and overlook the foreground. It's good to see others' shots, learn something new. I'm always learning from what she shoots.

I'd also like to be able to use a small camera like that but those damn small screens are worthless for me. Have to dig out reading glasses to see anything and even then it's marginal, especially in the sunlight. With a camera like that I'd be shooting blind, literally point and shoot and wait until later on the computer to see what I shot! So instead I haul along a DSLR that I really enjoy and with which I can actually see what the heck I'm pointing at. But sure would be nice to just have a small camera.

Really like your attitude, just stop and shoot when of a mind to do so. Nice. Looks like a good ride too, just too flat for me of course.