Transcript:

00:00 Hello, this is Melissa, Hale-Spencer, the editor of The Altamont Enterprise here today with Bill Little and I know very little about Bill Little, he called our newspaper because he's organizing what I think is the first ever bike rally and I thought that sounded exciting. We should find out about it. So welcome bill.

00:20 Thank you very much.

00:21 So tell us first of all about this event that you're organizing.

00:25 Well, it's a annual event by the Mohawk Hudson Cycling Club. And in past years this event has been held for club members and other interested in bicycle riders up in places like Saratoga County. And this year we wanted a change of venue and when I heard that I felt compelled to speak of the qualities of the ultimate fairground. And also, um, the extraordinary qualities of the bicycle riding around Altima knocks burned Duanesburg western low, um, because of its rural quality. And there are a lot of other reasons that I wanted to do it, but those are the main ones. And you know, the, the fair ground itself is really a, a unique spot. It has a lot of capacity. And uh, so we're grateful that the ground staff agreed with us and they said, yeah, we can, we can accommodate you and they, they, they're putting us up and making space available for us and it'll be a weekend in September for anybody to so people can mark their calendar.

01:43 Sure. They should mark September eighth and slash or September nights for the, for the fee that you would pay. And I can get into that later are you could ride one or both days. And um, so are there separate courses, one for each day and how it works? There's five different courses and you can ride them either day or both days. And um, they are divided up by different lengths. There's a seven mile and there's a 25 mile, there's a 50 mile, there's a 62 and a half mile and then there's 100 miles. Right. So are they recommended for people of different levels? In other words, the shorter courses are easier? Oh, definitely. Yes. We've replaced this at the end of the season or at least the end of the summer because people can kind of use the summer as a preparatory period if they wanted to stretch their legs, so to speak. And if they don't want to stretch their legs too much, you know, we have a full variety of challenges or flatter rides. Uh, the seven, the 25 and even the 50 are um, spend more time on flatter territory. The seven miler in the 25 miles of our, within the direct ambit of Altamont and Guilderland Center and advil. I'm the other rides the 50 to 62 in the $100 goal out to western low.

03:20 Yeah. When you mentioned the Helder Burgs, which are beautiful, I can imagine you'd have to get up those hills. I often see cyclists get their bikes and walking. Part of the way those are, that's a steep climb

03:31 there can be. We've actually tried to orchestrate the routes so that the, the elevation gain, we call it Tgi f total gain in feet that the tif is, is moderate even for the 100 because you know, we want people to have a good time. We want them to come back again. We want them to ride both days if they'd like and we want them to get back in time because we're providing a lunch with this. We want people to come back and sort of celebrate with all in the morning.

04:07 Well they would probably get there. We're starting them early, but we will,

04:13 we get them back in six or six and a half or seven hours. So when people ride the 100 day have normally prepared for that and they may have done it well. If we're thinking about September 2018, they may already be doing 100 miles at this time of year yet. And so some of them are quite accomplished I would guess. How long does it take an accomplished person to ride 100 miles? Would you say? Just somewhere between six and seven and there may be some who can do ours, that is, there may be some moving to a slightly less time, so they're going to gather for a lunch and where's that? We're going to have the use of the Dutch barn over at the fairgrounds. And um, it's a catered lunch. The four corners, a catering service out of del Mar has worked with us to provide a nice lunch. It's late lunch admittedly, but you know, the Dutch barn is a kind of a cool, kind of a nice feature on the fairgrounds and I think it'll be really accommodating because, you know, you can, there are picnic tables if it rains, which of course is not going to happen.

05:29 We can be inside. And so the biking is a rain or shine event. Sure, yeah. Yes. Um, and you know, the, the interesting thing about the era is such as yesterday, although it rained, it didn't rain all day long, it rained on and off and that doesn't deter. Or some bike riders they will, they will, particularly in a alarm there will persevere. They'll go out anyway. So there's must be a sense of camaraderie you get back to the Dutch

05:58 barn after people have completed their courses. Are these people that generally all come out together, this whole hot cuts in cycling club, you know, each other or it's a holiday

06:12 confederation with cells that for the different rider experiences, those would like to ride the hills a lot, ride together. Those would like to explore different areas, uh, not repeatedly ride the same venues they might ride together. So we all kind of know each other a little bit, but we're always meeting new friends within the club. The club has about 700 members. That's one of my question. It's um, you know, it can tend to be a little overwhelming if, if, if a large group of us gets together, uh, which is great, which is kind of what we want is a large mix of people meeting each other. The one of the functions of the club is really to sort of explore writing experiences. Took, promote, just writing, being outdoors, the public recreation experience. Um, so, you know, we're the more

07:11 merrier for us. So is this event opened to anyone or do you have to? Sure that. So if someone wants to sign up for this, what do they do?

07:20 I'm well, thank you for asking that. The, the um, it's very simple. There's a website, the Mohawk Hudson cycling club website. You can just type that into your search and I'm on the site is a dropdown for, uh, going to a link that will bring you to registration, um, sections. It's called bike rig B I k e r e g.com. There's also another dropdown on the MHCC website which shows the different routes all five of, I think four of them at the moment, the 25 six, the 50 to 62 and the 100 milers. Um, so you can see, you know, where they mill about in southern Albany County and it gives also a profile for what the elevation gain will be and where it's located on the ride. And it also, um, will be um, although it's not on the. I take it back, it is on the website, it is on the link and there'll be a.

08:27 If you read the cue sheet, which is a lefthand dropdown for the map, it'll show the lefthand turns, the righthand turns where you go straight and where the rest stops are and that's something I should have brought up earlier is that we're supporting this with, uh, about every 20 or so miles, there'll be a, a restaurant provided for people who want to go to the bathroom. They want to fill up their water bottles with gatorade or something like that and they need a sandwich or some fruit or just want to stop and talk to people. And that's really critical when you're doing longer mileage because the body can, no matter who you are, your body will start to wear out after a while here and just pedaling along. Um, and so we're gonna have a located at a number of different places. A three actually rest stops staffed by our, our volunteers.

09:20 And it's going to be one of the basic creek reservoir is another one at the burn town library on the lawn next to the library. And the library people in the. Actually, the town board has been very accommodating and they're very nice to us and said, yeah, and you know, you can use this part of our property, um, and we can set up there and, you know, people come and go as they need to. Then we're also using Schafer Park in Duanesburg, which is very proximate to school there. Um, and um, it's a nice location. I'm just off of route seven and um, we'll set up our, our last rest stop there and people can, you know, that's toward the end of the right. People who may be a little tired, they'll be able to relax. There

10:07 is a huge amount of work to organize. This is all run by volunteers.

10:12 Yeah. The club members are very generous with their time. They've been, you know, there's a core group of people. Um, and I'm, I, my Cochairman with a gentleman named Chet Lasalle who is, um, you know, helping out guiding me and I'm guiding him along the way to find ways to advertise this, select the routes, a call on volunteers to help with the restaurants and things like that. So yeah, we're

10:44 parts of the time, I can see because when I typed your name, there's a newsletter that your organization, the club puts out and you keep popping up for having volunteered for different races over the years. But tell me just a little about yourself as a cyclist. When did you start riding a bike?

11:01 Oh, well, uh, like a lot of people. I never didn't ride a bike but.

11:07 So you started as a little kid? Yeah, with training wheels, like the rest of us. Yes, yes, exactly. And

11:16 I make it back to that one day, but uh, the, um, it happened later in life in large part because I moved down to Mont, um, where you've been before. Um, I've lived around the capital district. I grew up in Vermont, um, and then moved down here. I'm in around 1980 and I moved to Alabama and in 91. And um, so what about ultimate inspired you? Well, it was, it's location, what the road's offer for riding and the, the, I don't to sound too romantic about it, but the bucolic nature of the, the, the, the places that you can ride to like rent surveil a Berne Knox Western low, you know, Middleburg scary just plying the back roads of the southern part of the county is extraordinary. And um, I've never had a bad day and uh, never ran into anybody who wasn't, you know, pleasantly surprised to see a, a bicyclist on a, on a sort of an unknown back road and unknown to me anyway. And I'm,

12:34 he's had a bad day. You don't have ever dogs chasing you or traffic that isn't considerate or traffics never been a problem with it. A few dogs who had strong opinions about what I was supposed to be doing or not doing. So typically, how long are your forays? How loud from here? Three or four hours. Cars

12:55 don't run. Surveil is, is maybe 18 miles away. So. And it's um, and do you by yourself usually like, yeah, a lot of the times I do. It's a. and, and walking here today, I, there was somebody just spinning through town and heading out on the other side and uh, almost every everyday in the summer you see somebody doing that and that's, that's common. It's, there are the club, this club and many, many other clubs in the area do offer rides. And I would encourage anybody who's interested in riding in a group, um, and learning how to ride in a group to go on the club's website and pick that up. That because it's a lot of fun to ride with people. How is it different? Well, for one thing, you get a little bit of, um, uh, of an exposure to areas you might not otherwise see and they're organized by a leader.

13:53 And the leader takes some responsibility for, uh, making sure everybody is accounted for. And if somebody wanted to sort of start riding or start writing in a group, they would know that fluoride leader is, has a list of people everybody has signed in. And um, and there's insurance club members would be insured. Um, uh, so you have this additional level of comfort that you're within a, a, both, a more recognizable group. There was more of you on the road, more lights, more, more, more control of the ride. And also, um, with the insurance and a ride leader, you have kind of a more structured, it's not that evident physically, but you have that comfort of knowing that, you know, yeah, if you have word accounted for somebody who would ride back to find you and help you with your flat tire or help you with your chain or something of that nature. And that kind of thing is, is infrequent. But it's also, um, you know, uh, it's a little added security. It's the kind of thing that a lot of writers like. Plus it's a lot of fun to, to, you know, it's, it's, it's a conversational social event as well.

15:17 Yeah. I live right on the Altima field road and I'm amazed the number of cyclists that go by that have conversations at the same time because you can hear them just, it seems to me it would take all your energy, but you you must get such as physical shape that you can. Well there's, there is some of that, but it's also that

15:38 I guess it's the endorphins that you're, you're, you're usually in a pretty good mood when you're doing that kind of thing. Even if you heard a little bit, you're doing it, you've told yourself to do it and you're doing it and this is the reward of accomplishing it and doing it with somebody who you are familiar with or maybe you've just met them and you therefore have a lot of, you know, you have a lot of time to exchange thoughts and

16:02 yeah. The conversation, if you started this in 1980 year, coming up on like Etsy, that's like almost 40 years of. How old are you? I'm 62. Oh my gosh. You remember a marketable and I actually, I, I, I moved to the area

16:18 but I started the writing a little later, but it really was the fact that I moved to Altamont and then realized I needed something like that.

16:30 So tell us about it as like a fitness regimen to be in, in this kind of shape at 62. It, I mean, it can be that there are a lot of

16:39 very dedicated riders who ride right through winter, all four seasons and which is not that difficult to do except you've got to be ready to prepare yourself for the climate and um, so that produces the mileage and you know, you, you can make herself fit that way. You can, you can acclimate yourself and be more fit and uh, you know, it's, it's good for your, your maybe your blood pressure or your cardiovascular system and it's like being a runner in that sense. Although it's for the knees, it's much better for the Nice, which is why I'm a writer and not a runner, but um, it's a, um, I think one of the other things that drives it is the, the sort of, the social aspect of it is that there is a, there are a lot of people to talk about it with a, within just the phone call away or texting and events like this all over the capital district all summer long.

17:45 And um, there's, there's, there's other clubs because the Tour de cure, which is a charitable event for diabetes. Um, and um, I would say almost every weekend there is a, either a charity ride or some other competitive ride or a social right, you might call it our century ride is, is, um, is sort of like what the Europeans would call a sport teeth. And it's meant to be challenging if you want it that way. If you want to, you know, you pick a goal and sort of meet that goal by training for it or it's a, it can be. We have, you know, at certain levels, this is a fun ride. All the rides are fun, but the, uh, you know, there they would have less total gain in feet and um, they're uh, they're shorter and can be done with more rapidly and they're just kind of their, they're, uh, going to be more available to a broader spectrum of riders and then more of a recreational rather than a high sport level ride. For me, the sweet spot in the rides that we've developed is the 62 mile ride. It is. Um, it, it has a lot of different features. A

19:09 geologically in the area. You, did you yourself plot the courses for this thing that's coming up because I've lived here for long enough. I know, you know, a lot of the different features in the area. So tell us about the 60 mile ride that you're excited about. What things I like about it as it goes by. Um,

19:26 there's a small, it goes by a number of ponds and reservoir. So there's a small reservoir over in new Salem and um, there's, there's the, a lawson lake reservoir that's I think a county park or a city park and then there's the basic creek reservoir and that's an Albany city.

19:49 You hit all three of these on the 60 mile rides and

19:52 that's a city reservoir. I'm and by after that you roll through western row and then to, to burn. And so that's the swift skill valley as I call it, which I think is county route one. And um, by that time you're, you're in burn at the library and you can then work your way up to Knox and you have that beautiful. You have the, I think it's called the Fox Creek Valley or the school Harry Creek Valley, the valley that runs from, do they call the Fox street or the colposcope valley, depending on what people call that creek running down to go harry and in the afternoon. And that's, it will be proceeding through that area by say 11:00 or 1:00. It's going to be just beautiful. The Sun is going to be slightly in your eyes and you'll be looking west and um, it's one of the stirring qualities of writing in this area and southern Albany county because you have these great views down that valley or views of the catskills and um, it's just, I think very compelling and I think that's one of the reasons why you see from your home. People riding along route one, 56, um, because they're heading to those areas where they're coming from those areas. And I'm really, that's one of the reasons why we think it's a good idea to move to Alberta law, speaking just to change the venue for people who are going to be doing this

21:30 to see different sites have different experiences. But I'd like it if you could talk to a little about equipment. These people that come by my house, they remind me of almost a different species. You know, they looked like a flock of birds. They go by and then does it make a difference if you were, you know, I don't know what these form fitting clothes. Our helmets I assume were important. Make it mandatory. But do you have any thoughts on equipment or what people wear they can wear just about anything, but when the tight ones, do they cut down on wind resistance? Is that the idea or did it, does and aerodynamics do make a difference

22:12 in, um, if you get up over it, I think maybe about 10 to 15 miles an hour than aerodynamics make a, a big difference actually because if you're, say you're out for two or three hours, you are subject to a lot of wind resistance over that time. So

22:33 yeah, it's, it's, it looks peculiar and that's great. But it is a, it is a phenomenon you have to encounter and nowadays they're building the bicycle

22:44 more aerodynamic and even the helmets and um, because people are trying to maximize the experience and perhaps cover the most mileage with the least resistance and um, the, the fact that the clothing doesn't flap around it will make a difference in. I guess a good analogy would be sailing, is that if you're loving your sales, if your sales are flapping, we're not harnessing the wind. Um,

23:18 well when you're riding a group is do you get like a draft if you're at the back and did people take turns being a leader like they do in cross country, you know, breaking trail with snow or doesn't that make a difference where you are in that

23:30 definitely makes a difference in your work, about 30 percent more if you're at the front of a group of riders. It's, and I'm so everyone behind, we'll get the benefit of working 30 percent less. Um, so do you tend to turns with your leadership is there can be, if it, if, if you're, um, in a cohesive group and practiced in doing that, it's pretty easy to pick up of a people you don't know who will do that if they've, if they're all aware of how to do it. Um, it's, it can be, it can be dangerous because you're close to the wheel. The person in front of you if there. And that has in the past been known to cause problems, accidents. So it's, it's for the initiates to do, it's a, it's not done all that frequently unless, I mean we're all amateurs in this kind of a group and you know, if, if we know each other, we're, we're fairly comfortable or if we know that someone's done it before and they can lead us, we're pretty comfortable doing that. But it doesn't, you know, it may happen for awhile, but like I said, we're amateurs and we don't necessarily to maintain that kind of A.

24:49 Yeah. Well I think of a better word is love and I think it's great because you're doing something you love. What about, do you have any thoughts on one of the towns we cover? Guilderland is working really hard, um, to try and put in more bike paths when they. Do you know, the road reconstruction? Do you have any thoughts on, if that makes a difference to have that, um, as a cyclist to have those decisions? It doesn't in a lot of different

25:14 is actually. And um, without attribution. I was in a bike shop yesterday and someone working at the bike shop said how happy they were that the conversion of the rail line through a, I guess it runs from the port of the port of Albany, how beneficial that had been to them because more people see that and they want to use it and if you have more bike lanes, I think it's going to draw people to use them. But it's also of course safety feature. And that's to me, you know, critical for, for this sport because um, you know, we, we, we know that we can be in traffic in most of the time. We are in some sort of traffic and the safest way is to, you know, make sure that you can maintain some kind of distance between you and any vehicle that you're sharing the lane width. There's should be just more lanes to be shared. And that's um, you know, that's the prospect of having more of those bike paths is, is um, to me a, a great one because it just brings A. I can't say it's a guarantee, but a, a safer feel on the road. Um, the, my experience writing in this area has been great. The, the drivers are a patient and I'm David. Do you know that never had a bad experience? Well, that's really good to hear

26:52 because I was going to quiz you on some of your bad experiences to raise drivers consciousness about this, but that's great. You haven't had it right

27:03 and maybe I've just been lucky, but the um, and, or either that or I've been around long enough that people sort of recognize me a little bit. I'm not sure, but I doubt it's that. But, um, you know, it's, it's also dependent upon, it's not just dependent upon the driver awareness. It's dependent upon everybody knowing what their role is on the road and for a cyclist that is, you know, they should treat themselves as a vehicle and follow the rules of the road. I'm just, as much as a driver needs to follow the rules of the road. Um, the, uh, the. So the prospect of having a lane and having that dedicated is, is, is very positive. And I don't expect you to see that everywhere, but it on major thoroughfares. I'm like 1:46 or route 20 particularly, um, you know, we do need more of that kind of thing.

28:01 Our, our club MHCC, he actually works with the Newark bike coalition, which is a statewide coalition to try to, um, you know, gain at a municipal level or upper levels of government support for bike lanes, for more safety training and things of that nature. So on the serious side of this whole, the more serious side of this, of the whole cycling institution, um, there's quite an effort to get legislation for things such as a three foot space out between cars and a rider. Um, I think that's still pending in the legislature, um, the, and to get more bike lanes and to make sure they're, you know, bike lane, uh, divisions are, are policed. Um, so the, you know, the outlook meeting that everybody wants safe variety, safer driving for vehicles. Um, the, you know, the experience that I've had, which has always been a positive one.

29:09 It hasn't been shared by everybody. And, you know, every summer we have a few freak accidents, which are, you know, are, are painful to read about, but um, I think it's about, for, for drivers and for riders alike, it's about consciousness, you know, the, you were speaking about the riders being in single file and taking advantage of aerodynamics and you know, that's something that is, should be acceptable to drivers because for riding file, when we're not writing a single file, we may ride two abreast and it's legal to do that. But it doesn't. I've understand there are instances where, you know, there have been clashes between drivers who think that that's improperly taking the road. And uh, you know, that's, it takes education on both sides to make sure that the air is cleared for those instances where everybody should just give her body enough enough room.

30:13 Yes. Well, one of the things with the movement for bike paths and especially in this era of worry about climate change is thinking of using the bicycle as a way to do things instead of using a car. Do People in your club, are they mostly recreational bicyclist? Are they people that like ride their bike to work or you know, use it as a mode of transportation instead of the car? There are people who are

30:45 and who, um, you know, they'll have, they'll have their, they're riding bike for long rides and then they'll have their, uh, Vela dilla deal that's French for cycling for the, for the village and sell a Delac deal. Oh, I liked the sound of that. So, um, they um, you know, don't just to compete with that happen or they'll just use that for riding around.

31:12 Have you ever done that? Where'd you work? I don't even know. Uh, I used to work downtown and I was not able to commute with my bike because now that's one of the things they said with the rail trail. People would be able to use it to commute, but should, it should promote that it should facilitate that a lot. And I think, I know people have used it for that. I just wonder the other end when you get to work and you're kind of sweaty and I wondered like how, how people deal with that part of it.

31:38 They, I think they have to accommodate everybody else and do something, either that or they'll the was instructed otherwise,

31:49 but I think it's a great thing. I keep meeting so I'm so close to my place of work to do, but somehow I always have big bags of papers and things to carry and never, never make the one with, with the panniers on the back. But yeah,

32:06 afterwards I'll, I'll, I'll hook you up with somebody and give you one of those or get you one of those.

32:11 Um, well, are there things where our half an hour is kind of really fast? I don't know if there's certain things you wanted to talk about that you haven't had a chance. I see you've got a list there. The, yeah, I would certainly, uh, encourage people

32:26 on the club website and um, you know, to pick up rides their wides of all different types and they're all throughout days of the week. Some are during the day, some are after work to be a club member. What do you have to do? Well, you pay $20. It's a very. Yeah, it's a very inexpensive thing. Also, if you want to come and join the club during the century weekend, uh, you can pay $10. And so let me throw out a few facts about the century itself. Again, is that the altimeter fairgrounds, September eight and nine. Um, why is it called century century for 100, 100 miles or the metric centuries 62 and a half miles. I'm half a century, 50 miles, quarter century, etc. So the point where we're meeting is at the dutch barn, which is a beautiful spot and I'm grateful for the ultimate fairground making that available. And I think thiS barn came from knox originally and was found by someone had brought down here in the old songs festival.

33:39 people use it. We covered the construction of it and I think it's new elements been built in the old fashion style, but it's a great venue. So on the website, um, members right now going to sign up for $45, nonmembers for 55, that price are, those prices will go up $10 on the weekend of the century. And um, so we encourage people to, um, to, you know, register ahead of time, they'll save themselves a little money. Anybody who registers will get this fabulous lunch that I mentioned before and we're also going to have a bike expo there, which is, um, we're inviting a bicycle shops and other recreational community providers to a, they might be people who Do bike wrenching and things like that or bike training to come and have a display table featured their wares or maybe a, a great bike or clothing or do a, a bike fit or adjust your bike if you're about to go out in the century.

34:50 So we'll have that there too. Assist just makes it a little bit more festive and uh, uh, has a more going on there then. well, it's practical as well and everybody should check their bite before going out on a long ride like this. So we try to feature that as, uh, as, as an attractive to everybody and having been at these kinds of rides before, um, in, in, in the area, um, put on by other clubs and other providers. um, you know, it does, it does add to the atmosphere and it, it gives you more to think about in terms of, of what you are, how you're participating in a riding event and our hope is that, uh, draws a, you know, more interest just to writing itself. And if nothing else, it'll get people outdoors and um, you know, southern albany county enjoyIng ultima and certainly, um, the and um, we'll be hitting all points of the compass on the different routes and they can check those out on our website.

35:51 Again, that's mohawk hudson cycling club at [inaudible] dot com. And it, um, you know, the routes go from here to western load a burn and knox and duanesburg and all come back into the, to the, uh, to the fairgrounds for, for the, uh, for the luncheon. So we hope to schedule writers leaving so that they'll all get back at the same time. The people going the longest distance leave earliest and the people who ride short distances leave latest and hopefully they all come back a smashing through the gate at, uh, at the same time for lunch. And we'll be there to take their picture. Well, I would, I would think so. Um, does, um, I can't sing the praises of the ultima fair people enough because they really, they made a great facility available to us. It's going to be fun. Terrific. Thank you so much. Well, thank you for having me here.