As the days wind down towards the end of the year, and hints of snows to come are in the air, I am trying to get in a bicycle ride every day, for as long as is possible. It's getting cold, but still not so much that riding is a pain instead of a pleasure.
I took one of my favorite short rides yesterday on some dirt roads in Northampton, and brought with me a small saw.
Why a saw, you ask? Well, there are still spots around here where the damage from our crazy Hallowe'en snowstorm is still very visible, and one of the dirt roads I ride on is probably the last to get any attention from the cleanup crews. As such, there are a few places where fallen tree and branches are partially blocking the road. It's not impassable -- people in trucks and cars have made alternative routes around the blockages, or in some cases just driven over the thinner limbs and pushed them down into the dirt.
But it is still a mess, and not much fun to ride through, so I thought I might do a little bit of hand-sawing to clear away some of the more egregiously offending branches. As you can see -- if you look closely -- in these photographs, I made some headway (look for the freshly-cut branch ends).
The little saw worked so well that I decided to try something a little more difficult -- this large branch which had broken (but not detached) from a fairly tall tree and was leaning into the road.
I think it was about six inches or so in diameter, but it only took about five minutes to cut through. I did it cautiously, cutting from below as well as from above, as I wasn't sure how it would fall when I finished the cut. But it worked out pretty well, and I was able to drag the cut end out of the road, as you can see here in the "after" photo. -- PL
9 comments:
Nice work!
I used to bike ride along a tree-lined river in Washington. Nothing more invigorating than pedaling over fallen leaves and wheeling around fallen branches--you have to be alert, and nimble. How cool, that you've extended your rides to include upper body workouts with all that sawing... :)
Good for you, Peter! Did you fashion your recumbent (right word?) bike yourself, or purchase it that way? I have to admit that when you said you bike everyday, I thought you might mean your OTHER bike, the motor cycle. But, wow, that's great that you are using the pedal power variety. Good for your health, and definitely makes those yummy cookies you photographed less guilt-filled than for the rest of us! Anyway, I'm looking forward to another walk -- and also wanted to congratulate you on those "REAL" bike rides. Way to go, Peter!! :-)
Michelle
Mr. Laird, I just saw that comic book legend Jerry Robinson died this morning. He created my favorite non-TMNT character,Dick Grayson. Jerry fought for creators rights and recognition and helped independent creators like yourslef get started so I was wondering if you ever met him or had any thoughts on him. Thanks.
"mikeandraph87 said...
Mr. Laird, I just saw that comic book legend Jerry Robinson died this morning. He created my favorite non-TMNT character,Dick Grayson. Jerry fought for creators rights and recognition and helped independent creators like yourslef get started so I was wondering if you ever met him or had any thoughts on him. Thanks."
I know very little about Jerry Robinson, outside of his connection to the "Batman" mythos. I never met him or had any communication with him. Sad to hear of his passing... coincidentally, I was saddened yesterday by learning about the death of another well-known figure in the entertainment world, Harry Morgan who played Col. Potter on "M.A.S.H.", and also Detective Bill Gannon on "Dragnet". -- PL
Thank you for your reply,sir. I knew he was big in creators rights and independent creators. I met him a year before I got the honor of meeting you back in '08's Heroes Con. Quite the gentleman!
I heard about Harry Morgan this morning as well. Sad to see men how made us smile so go but at least they lived long and rich lives.
"Melodye said...
I used to bike ride along a tree-lined river in Washington. Nothing more invigorating than pedaling over fallen leaves and wheeling around fallen branches--you have to be alert, and nimble. How cool, that you've extended your rides to include upper body workouts with all that sawing... :)"
Melodye, I was inspired to start doing this a few years ago when two friends of mine regularly accompanied me on bike rides around town. There was another dirt route -- this one a path, rather than a road -- which, after a nasty windstorm, was littered with downed branches and trees, a few of them pretty substantial (like with trunks a foot thick). Unfortunately, this path (like the dirt road) was far down on the list of the town's cleanup priorities, even though many people used it for walking, running, bicycling, pushing baby strollers, etc.. We realized pretty quickly that it might take many more weeks, maybe months, to get all these fallen trees cleaned up. So we decided to do some of it ourselves. At first my friends were skeptical when I brought along a little hand saw, but once we started, it became clear that while a chainsaw would have done the job in a minute or two, this little saw would cut through any tree trunk that was not as wide as the blade was long.
Of course, it would take a lot longer -- on average about half an hour to saw through a foot-thick tree. But an interesting thing happened. As people walking or running on the path saw us working away at cutting the fallen trees, some of them volunteered to help us, and took brief shifts sawing. And we managed to clear away at least four large trees that way, opening up several parts of the path which would otherwise have remained blocked to easy passage for who knows how long. -- PL
"Melodye said...
I used to bike ride along a tree-lined river in Washington. Nothing more invigorating than pedaling over fallen leaves and wheeling around fallen branches--you have to be alert, and nimble."
I forgot to add this to my reply -- I agree, it's great fun to have a dirt path or road to ride on. I think I actually enjoy it more than the paved paths, at least the parts that are hard-packed (sand does NOT agree with bicycles). One of my favorite things about the dirt road in this blog entry is riding in and out of the large potholes in the road -- they're gently sloped on their sides, so it's a little like a roller coaster effect. There's another path of this type up in Keene, NH, about fifty miles north... and it follows a lovely river flanked on both sides by trees, for several miles. Beautiful! -- PL
"Michelle Kwasney said...
Good for you, Peter! Did you fashion your recumbent (right word?) bike yourself, or purchase it that way? I have to admit that when you said you bike everyday, I thought you might mean your OTHER bike, the motor cycle. But, wow, that's great that you are using the pedal power variety. Good for your health, and definitely makes those yummy cookies you photographed less guilt-filled than for the rest of us! Anyway, I'm looking forward to another walk -- and also wanted to congratulate you on those "REAL" bike rides. Way to go, Peter!! :-) Michelle"
Thanks, Michelle! No, I didn't build the recumbent (exactly the right word!) bicycle in that photo. It's one that I found and bought online, actually. I will miss riding it in the winter. But then, there IS walking. And I look forward to our next walk… maybe TWO times around the park…? -- PL
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