SEEING as how the roads might be unrideable for a while, I got out Sunday on the arctic piglet for about 140 miles. Took a blast down to Narragansett and had coffee with our friends Marty and Diana, then rode over to East Beach in Charlestown.
The ’49 truck about an hour ago…
In Charlestown I tried to pick up a GPS route through the woods going north, said to be mostly off-road. On the screen it looked as if I could intersect Plainfield Pike at some point then cut east for home before the route crossed the Connecticut line.
Something wasn’t working. GPS sent me too far west. I kept wondering when the dirt was going to start and before you know it I’m seeing signs for Norwich, Connecticut.
Here’s where I thought I was going…
I’m not handy with GPS, have always ridden without one. If you want to ride for distance off road, though, at least here in the east, it’s a necessity. I need to get on the learning curve.
It was a nice day, in any event. Temps were in the mid 40s, just brisk enough to sharpen the senses. I like to ride chilly, just on that little edge of discomfort that brings everything into focus. Didn’t bring any electrics with me. Did bring a vest and mitten liners and ended up needing both before I got home around daylight’s end.
Here’s the place for riding off road…
Robyn sent this pic from Montana a few days ago, Two Dot Butte as seen from the ranch that morning. I’ve ridden quite a lot of gravel in Wheatland County, all of it on the big bike, porky iron piggy laden for transcontinental pavement. She’s weightless at speed on a paved road; on gravel, she’s very heavy, and very unforgiving.
Not much else going on. All systems status quo. I’m reading Vonnegut for fun, Bellow for the language, Baudrillard to ward off senility.
I keep an eye out for movies worth catching on Criterion. Will close with this, a clip from a fun little watch from 1946 I saw the other night, though the title hardly makes it sound like fun: A Matter of Life and Death
It’s a sappy little love story, wonderfully acted by Kim Hunter (adorable at 3:38 with her breathless “I’m not frightened”) and one of my favorite actors of all time, David Niven. I read his memoir many years ago, The Moon’s a Balloon.
There’s a little motorcycle action in the yarn, too, the village doctor bombing around narrow, unpaved lanes on an Ariel Square Four like this one.
A hardtail liter bike, that must be a kick to ride on dirt.
The movie opens with Captain Peter Carter piloting a doomed Lancaster as he faces his final moments with well-bred aplomb. A hail fellow well met, he recites 17th-century poetry by Sir Walter Raleigh and Andrew Marvell; a poetry of mortality, his impending own.
Did you hear the ticking clock all the way through? And did you note when it stopped? It’s a clever bit of audio storytelling.
And now, with snow to shovel, I’m bailing out, bailing out of this post—no, no one can help, June, let me do this in my own way.
Tony DePaul, February 13, 2024, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Great read, look forward to more.
Thanks, Sarah. I hope you’re doing well. Hi to Haley
Enjoyed the flick immensely. June’s uniform is right: arm patch from the US 8th Army Air Corps, but her voice sounds more Brighton than Boston. Anyway, I like her shadowed eyes, which focused mine on hers. And those lips sure beat Taylor Swift’s glossy red jibs. As for our pilot, no one has ever been more suave than David Niven. Glad he didn’t go over the top when he dropped out, crying “Tally ho!” First time I was in England (back in ’69), I met a middle-aged Brit would had served under Niven in the war. When I asked what he was like, the fellow said he was a good bloke, for an officer. “He let us smoke whenever we wanted.”
Tally Ho! lol…
Niven was the real deal, the only big-name Brit in Hollywood who abandoned his career, went home and enlisted. He led a commando outfit behind German lines, identifying targets for air bombardment.
What a way to mess up June’s life…tho still better than dying alone and unnoticed, I suppose. Thanks for the long Phantom explanation last week. I’m figuring it out more as the story unfolds. (No, not the same as life. We make that as we go along.)
Keep flying down the road.
I think of it as explication more than explanation, but I’m happy to know you read it and found it useful. It scared most readers away, I think.
One more thing Tony: I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the short clip from the David Niven film, I enjoyed his stuff very much as well.
When he called his book The Moon’s a Balloon it was a play on words, a reference to his 1953 romantic comedy The Moon is Blue.
In A Matter of Life and Death,, his character mentions that his father died in World War I. I wonder if Niven had that little detail inserted into the script, given that his father had been killed fighting the Turks at Gallipoli.
The father listed on Niven’s birth certificate, that is. Niven was said to have an uncanny resemblance to his mother’s second husband 🙂
Hey Tony, good to hear from you. We got somewhere between 6 and 7 inches of wet stuff that came down very quickly; it took me about as long to shovel it as it did to accumulate.
I’m glad to hear that you were able to get out on the piglet and enjoy the 40+ temps. As for the GPS, it sounds like the issue is with selecting “tracks” while navigating (I’ll have to dig a little deeper. The folks over at AdvRider should be able to help as well).
I had the Versys out last Saturday for about 80 miles on paved roads, temps not too bad (of course, I’m wearing heated gear the whole time). Only 16 days until March!
Hey, Will. We have to figure out a MABDR run this spring that doesn’t interfere with your trip to Italy. Doesn’t have to be all the way down to Tennessee (though I wouldn’t mind). A few days down, a few days back…
Maybe early May, or late April for an abbreviated MABDR? What about June, does that work?
Spring’s always a good time to ride south. In June we’d be riding into the heat.
Hi Tony,
The GPS trail looks a little like the RI north south trail. Except the northern part of north south stays more in RI if I remember. Did some hiking on that back in 2000.
Take care,
Dennis
Hi, Dennis,
I downloaded the GPX file from Advrider. I wonder if it might be an old file. It was posted in 2017. I haven’t run across a newer version yet.
The file might have been fine but maybe my GPS didn’t recognize it as off-road, tried to route me around it on pavement? Dunno…
When it finally dumped me onto I-395 and said don’t get off for 44 miles… 🙂 that’s when I called it quits.
Good read. I’d be happy to give you some GPS tips. I’m an old pro now. 😁
Cool. I’m trying to find my way around in the Garmin Base Camp app. It’s not exactly intuitive. Which is probably why it’s free.