HIGHER GAS PRICES LEADING TO NEW CYCLISTS?

February 17, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Italy during WWII… “Beautiful day – Red line instruments in P-38 # 13 that had been replaced after being shot out. Plane ready to fly again. 5 planes are almost finished by 94th Squadron..”

We look to have a nice day headed our way this Friday, February 17th but expecting deteriorating conditions by Saturday evening. I’m hoping to get in a ride tomorrow morning to further document part of our Haywood Hub for cue sheet production.

In the meantime, I’m beginning (I think) to see the impact of higher gas prices…

IN MATTERS OF THE HEART…

 

February 14, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Bill and I worked all day with 71 Fighter Squadron on the new planes – Go to movie tonight. See “Reunion in France.”

 

On this Valentines Day in 2012, I wasn’t working on Fighter planes as was my father-in-law back in 1944 but I was working on matters of the heart…

THOUGHTS OF THE ‘BABE’ ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

February 7, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Snow & Rain – Many tents down. We don’t do much work because of coldness. (damn this weather) Bad on beachhead – No planes in air…”

 

(Oliver “Babe” Yount, Yokosuka, Japan Feb, 1, 1946)

February 7th is/was an important day in the Yount family life. Had our father survived his colon cancer and not succumbed to some other malady, he would be 88 years old today. As was my father-in-law, S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, Oliver “Babe” Yount was…

AND THE BEAT GOES ON…

February 5, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Rain: All day. Sleet and hail. Snow in Mts. Wind blows many tents down …”

As I sit here on Sunday, February 5, 2012 in 60 degree temperature with mostly sunny skies, it is hard to imagine what my father-in-law, S.Sgt. G.C. Watts and his “brothers in arms” were experiencing 58 years ago as they huddled together in tents in a war zone as rain, hail, and heavy winds surrounded them. My toughest decision so far today has been…

PROFORM LE TOUR DE FRANCE ONGOING REVIEW…

January 29, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Week of 01/25 through 02/01 has note “Huge Air Forces operating over Germany) Daily note for 01/29/44 – Go to air field. Joe E. Brown comes down and gives us some good laughs. Eat supper and go to Foggia to USO and see Humphrey Bogart and wife. Cold- …”

 

This may not be pretty… Even after a night’s sleep, I still may have a RANT getting ready to erupt. Just be warned. Maybe it won’t be more than a mini-rant. It will certainly be about my ongoing review of the ProForm Le Tour De France spinner bike.

But first… A cyclist’s dilemma…

(This is a test provided by a local survey crew…What’s a cyclist to do?)

Imagine if you will…

A WEEK IN REVIEW…

January 22, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Dug fox holes for shelter from strafing planes. Went to Foggi for belley tanks for P38 – P-38 leave with 2-1000 lb. bombs each…”

Our unseasonably warm, wet winter continues. As other parts of the country are getting hammered by heavy snows, winds, and frozen temperatures, we’re experiencing almost spring like temps with lots of rain. According to my weather station, we’ve already received 2.10” of rain this month.

I’ve noted a few cyclists out and about but, by and large, most cyclists seem to have retreated indoors or are riding at times when I’m not out and about to see them...

WELL, THAT DIDN’T LAST LONG…

 

January 15, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts, while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Work all day – Last nite one other flier broke his leg. Put some electric lites in my tent. – Still use a candle to write by…”

 

What a January workout plan I had. Note emphasis on “had”. You can file it under “Well, that didn’t last long…” But more on that later…

The last couple of weeks have been busy and the coming week isn’t showing any signs of letting up. Starting tonight, with the monthly meeting of the …

THE “GREATEST GENERATION” DIMINISHED BY ONE…

January 5, 1944 From the daily diary kept by S.Sgt. G.C. Watts while stationed in Naples, Italy during WWII… “Nothing doing today. Rain and snow. Go to town – shave and lunch. For Spagetti and French Fryes it cost 150.00 Lira – In the states it would have cost only 35 cents.”

 

We lost another member of the “Greatest Generation” on New Year’s Day. The Navigator’s father, age 93, “passed on” after a full and rich life. G.C. was a WWII Veteran serving our country in the Army Air Corp. He saw action in Africa and Italy. One of the discovered treasures in his home was a day-by-day journal that he kept of his activities. I find it illuminating to stop today and consider what he was doing on this date time during the war…

(G.C. Watts, Gen. Colin Powell, The Navigator (on left with camera) during the HonorAir Flight to the WWII Monument in Washington, DC)

Cycling Updates:

While the weather here in Western North Carolina has been less than hospitable for most of us, our fellow BicycleHaywoodNC members “Cross Country”Stan and his better half, Shirley, have managed to avoid our winter weather…

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

As 2011 comes to a close, it is tempting to look back and compile a list of accomplishments and a list of failures. This year, I choose not to do so and will simply say, “Hey some really good stuff happened and, yeah, I didn’t pull everything off I intended.” Unlike Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings, I’m choosing to focus on the space between yesterday and tomorrow.

(Janus – Roman god of beginnings and ending, openings and closings)

Beginnings and endings have been on my mind quite a bit recently. I’m finding the bleed over from…

EMERGING FROM A FOG…

I’m finally emerging from a multi-day fog of chemical induced surrealistic life experiences. The past few days have been a great roller coaster ride in which shadows and shapes shifted in and out of my Robitussin, Alka Seltzer, cough drop, infused existence.

When last I felt this way, I was soothed/tortured with a cycling reality involving some interesting characters…