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