Father's Day Surprise

The first signatures

I had a great ride out to Peterborough this past Sunday.  The highlight of the day came at 7AM before I left, when my 3 teen age kids dragged themselves out of bed to give me a father's day present.  They're never up at that hour, and when they insisted that I open the present right then I knew it had to be something related the ride, but I had no clue what the could have gotten me.  Open present; big surprise!  The gift was a custom Episcopal Bike Project (NH) Bike jersey, complete with Diocesan logo, the "Infinite Respect / Radical Hospitality" tag line, and ride stats.  It is very cool.  Immediately I decided that I should get it signed by every congregation I visit, so I tossed a laundry marker in the pocket and hit the road.  For the first time, I had company on my ride; my wife Sarah joined me for about the first 8 miles.  It was great to have someone to ride with.  I'm going to have to work harder to recruit some more companions.

My first stop was St. Matt's, which is on the way to Peterborough, and by luck (The Rev.) Bill (Exner) was there getting ready for worship.  I was hoping to catch him so he could put the first signature on the jersey, which he did.  He also snapped some new photos for the blog.  After that it was on to New Boston, then Francestown, then Greenfield, then Peterborough.  These are truly classic New England towns connected by well worn roads dotted with farms, colonial houses, and barns.  It was moderately hilly, but nothing unreasonable.  On a sunny Sunday morning, I couldn't think of a better place to be riding.

The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole

All Saints Peterborough is a beautiful old gothic stone church, a mini cathedral actually, tucked in off the street at the end of a lawn framed by the rectory and the parish offices on either side.  It is quite a setting.  Once again, I don't think folks knew what to make of me, although again they were friendly and greeted me.  My post ride stretching yoga routine on the lawn certainly helped provide some additional head scratching.  The cool thing is my new jersey helps explain what I'm up to, and once inside the church it provided a good advertisement.   Sarah and Emma (my daughter) joined me for the service.  It was Trinity Sunday, and The Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole gave an excellent sermon on the topic, which she managed to frame inside a discussion of Title IV, the canon on the discipline of errant clergy.  The canon has been revised recently, and has been a hot topic among Episcopal clergy.  All in all very interesting and thought provoking.  We had a nice chat afterward, she signed my shirt, and my family and I went off to grab some lunch.  We went to Twelve Pine (http://www.twelvepine.com/) a terrific, bakery, sandwich, burrito, gelato, food, wine, & beer shop kind of place right in the middle of town.  The food is terrific; I highly recommend it.  My other two progeny joined us after church (they had acolyte duties at St. Matt's), and we did some more Father's Day stuff as we ate.  After that it was a very pleasant, but uneventful ride back through the same pastoral scenery that I rode through on the way out.   My legs are feeling much better, which is good, because I'm heading up north of the notches in a couple of weeks.

The stats:

distance: 72.9 miles

average speed 15.9 mph

average heart rate: 145 bpm

total climb: 3600 ft

The next rides:

6/26 - St. John's Dunbarton

7/3 - St. Matthew's Chapel - Sugar Hill

7/10 - day off

7/17 - St. James Church - Burkehaven

Pushing the edge on church attire

I love it when I walk in the door of a church in all my bike gear, particularly if it has been raining.  I'm wet, sweaty, sprinkled with sand and road dirt, I probably don't smell too good; it's the last thing the ushers expect.  I'll go find a restroom, change into dry bike clothes, all the while getting quizzical looks from people hurrying about before the service.  What's with the guy in the bike outfit?  It's not until later when I tell people what I'm up to that the connections are made and the curious looks turn to smiles.  That's not to say that people aren't welcoming, it's just clear that people in brightly colored spandex are outside the norms of Episcopaldom.  Fortunately at my home parish, St. Matthew's in Goffstown, there are several of us that turn up in bike duds on a regular basis.  It's not exactly everyday Sunday attire, but the folks there have gotten used to it.  But away from St. Matt's, I enjoy being outside the norm.  Anyway...

....I visited The Church of Our Saviour in Milford this past Sunday and was warmly received by Fr. Chip Robinson and the entire congregation.  The highlight of the visit was spending time talking to their crew of workcampers who are going to Rochester, NY this July to do home construction and repair work for who ever needs it.  They converge on a high school along with people of many different denominations from all over the northeast and beyond.  Making the school their home for a week, they go off in small teams to do projects at local houses: build a wheelchair ramp, do some painting, fix a roof, whatever needs to be done.  It sounds like a great program, and the campers and their adult leaders are really energized by it.  They have been doing this for a number of years, and it has been a very successful program for them.  I wish them the best on their trip this summer.

As for the ride, it was a wet one on the way out, drizzly, with water from the wet pavement spraying up and insuring sogginess from all angles.  The ride home was better; the pavement dried out and it was only spitting occasionally.  At 39 miles and not much climbing it was pretty easy, which was good, because I am still in recovery mode from my leg injury from last week.  Afterward, my leg was hurting a bit, but not as bad as last week.  I've been pounding the "Vitamin I" (ibuprofen) and doing my best to rest and ice my leg, and it seems to be helping.

Regarding next week, I had a change of plans: I will be going to Peterborough instead of Keene.  At 35 miles each way, it will be a good one to ease back into the longer distances.  The average distance for the EBP(NH) is 112 miles round trip, so I need to start regularly riding those types of distances (and more) if I am going to stick to the plan.  That means heading up north, which I need to do pretty soon.  There are a dozen rides that are more than 200 miles round trip; 5 of them summer chapels in the north country.  I need to get to at least a few of them this summer if I am going to have a hope of completing the journey in 2012.   It's going to be interesting.

The stats:

Distance: 39.0 miles

Average Speed: 16.2 mph

Average Heart Rate: 141 bpm

Total Climbing: 1800 ft

The next rides:

6/19: All Saints, Peterborough

6/26: St. John the Evangelist, Dunbarton

The workcampers of The Church of Our Saviour with their Rector The Rev. Chip Robinson

The first Century

This past Sunday took me to St. Andrew's, New London.  The Rev. Cricket Cooper, their rector, is leaving parish ministry to pursue a career in speech pathology.  Cricket is a friend and a former member of the MRC; I wanted to see her in the pulpit one more time before she left.  She is a smart, insightful, upbeat, sunny person with a great sense of humor that injects fun into whatever she does.  Last Sunday they were celebrating their choirs and music ministry.  They did three big hymns with a flautist playing the descants.  The also performed an anthem with the adult and children's choirs combined.  It was a simple tune, but done in a round with the different choirs taking different parts; very nice.  Cricket gave a great sermon.  One nugget I remember: Cricket spoke about the fact at the ascension (which was celebrated Thursday before last Sunday) the apostles were not afraid as Jesus was raised up to heaven.  In all the other times in the New Testament, the apostles were panicked whenever Jesus left them.  By the time of the ascension they knew they would receive everything they needed, and they were joyful.  That was something I had never heard before.  She then wove that story into the concern that the congregation was having over her departure and their search for a new rector, and how they shouldn't be afraid.  She said their new rector was out there already, praying for them to find him or her.  It was masterful, and wonderfully delivered.  She is a terrific priest, and her church and the Diocese of New Hampshire will miss her dearly.  She will be an incredible gift to whomever she works with in her new endeavor.  As a side note, Tammy Trahan, the administrative assistant at Diocesan House also made a surprise appearance at St. Andrew's.  She provides a lot of assistance to the MRC, and it was good to see her outside of her work environs.

As I mentioned last week, this was a big step up in distance, and I paid for it.  The Friday before the ride I was up in Waterville Valley with some college friends as part of our 25th reunion.  We went for a 10 mile hike up and over Mt. Osceola, which was spectacular.  Then Saturday was spent criss-crossing the MIT campus while wearing boat shoes, not the best for lots of walking.  I had a minor shin splint in my right leg after the hike, and it got worse during the day on Saturday.  Sarah came down to join me that evening.  MIT had a 150th anniversary celebration complete with champagne and fireworks.  It was fun, but we got back late, and I hit the road Sunday morning having had only 5 hours of sleep.  The ride up was very nice, clear skies and calm winds, but a bit chilly at 42 degrees.  I was a bit sore from the hike and walking around MIT, but it was manageable.  There was a fair amount of climbing involved, as New London is about 1100 feet above Manchester, and there were a lot of ups and downs in between.  The final pull up into New London was a lot of work.  My usual post-ride stretch / yoga, performed upon arrival, was good medicine for joint and muscle pain.  After the service I had a nice chat with Cricket and several other St. Andrew's parishioners, grabbed a cup of real coffee (something I rarely have) and some fruit at coffee hour, said goodbye, and hit the road.  The major uphills into New London of course were downhills heading home, and I really spun my legs on my fixie*.  The high revs were not good for my legs, and the pain in the front of my legs got to be fairly steady and a bit worrisome.  By the time I got home, it hurt quite a bit. I stretched again, took some advil, and enjoyed Sunday dinner with my family.  The next day it hurt a lot.  These types of injuries involve in inflammation of the tendons and muscle, which gets exacerbated as you move and load the joints.  When I flexed my ankle the muscle and tendon on the front of my leg made a squeaking sound, as if it was rusty inside.  It felt weird, and very uncomfortable.  The only thing to do about these injuries is to rest the leg, take advil, put ice on it if it gets bad, and wait.  So that is what I did this week.  It seems to be improving, and with any luck, tomorrow I'll knock out the 40 mile round trip to Milford without incident.  I am planning on going to Keene the following Sunday, which is 116 miles round trip, so I need this to get better.  We'll see.

* fixed gear bicycle - see the link for details if you are interested.  I'll explain in a future blog entry.

The stats:

dist: 99.8

Avg Speed: 15.4

Avg HR: 140

total climbing: 5200 ft

Next Rides:

5/12 (tomorrow): The Church of Our Saviour, Milford

5/19: St. James, Keene

5/26: St. John, Dunbarton

Cricket, Tammy, and me after worship service

OK - Time to get caught up

Last Sunday I went to St. Thomas in New York City.  Unfortunately I didn't get to bike there; it would have been a heck of a ride. But on the other hand, maybe it was better that way, it didn't look like a particularly bike friendly parish.  St. Thomas is on 5th Avenue in Mid-town Manhattan.  The crowd was very much old school Episcopalian, jackets, ties, ladies with hats, '28 prayer books and all.  But the tuxedoed ushers were quite welcoming and the people around us seemed friendly enough.  Their crown jewel is their music program.   They have an amazing men and boy's choir backed by a fantastic organ.  They performed a complete mass from a variety of early composers.  It was the best music I have heard in an Episcopal church, or any church for that matter.  Impressive.

The Sunday before last (on 5/22) I went to Holy Cross Church in Weare.  John McCausland, their Vicar, is retiring in a few weeks, and I wanted to see him while he was still at the helm.  It was great to be back at Holy Cross; I used to go there occasionally when they were getting grants from the Diocesan Mission Resources Committee, which I serve on.  Under John's 14 years of leadership, Holy Cross has undergone a major transformation.  They grew the congregation, built a new building, and took on a host of new ministries and innovative programs.  I think they are one of the big success stories of the Diocese of New Hampshire.  They fed me a great breakfast when I arrived, something they do every Sunday for anyone that shows up early.  It was nice to worship with them and catch up with some friends there.  John welcomed my bike into the sanctuary and shared with the congregation what I was up to.  The ride was good; I had mostly climbing getting there, then some nice downhill on the way home.  40 miles is still in the "no brainer" distance range.  Next week I'll be going 100, which will be a different story.

The stats:

distance 41 miles

Average speed: mid 15's?

Average heart rate: not recorded

The next rides:

6/5: St. Andrew's, New London, approx 100 miles

6/12: The Church of Our Saviour, Milford (with a stop at the St. Matt's parish picnic on the way home), approx 40 miles

 Ann McCausland and I enjoying coffee hour at Holy Cross