Bath from the past

Rummaging through old urban decay files, I came across this image taken on September 14, 2008 at the DC Children's Center near our nation's capital. I remember crouching behind my tripod in a cramped , little, dilapidated bathroom, heavily laden with asbestos and broken tiles. I had just acquired my Tamron 19-35mm and was still frustrated that I couldn't quite fit everything I wanted into frame. In retrospect I'm quite happy with the image. On a fun side note, I also recall the huge wolf spider inching towards me as I feigned off squealing like a little girl and running out.

Cadillac

Nikon 50mm, F/11, 1/160th of a second

R62A

An R62A running on the 42nd Street Shuttle waits for passengers to board.

I really like the shape of this generation of cars. Bombardier built 825 of them from 1984 to 1987. (Kawasaki made the first 325 of the R62's) The city runs them on the 1 & 7 lines and the shuttle between Grand Central Station and Time Square. I snapped a shot of this one at Grand Central this past weekend. The MTA decal is the same as the ones we apply to the new R160's I help ship out of Kawasaki Rail Car in Yonkers every day.

I must admit, I have a not so secret desire to drive trains in the city for a living. Who knows; maybe one day I will.

Picture of the day

A totally random picture I found while rifling through some old files on my external drive.I shot this in April of last year while on a business trip near Lake Erie.

First MTB ride of 2010

Zipping down through a twisty section, photo by Dave

Holy crap it was cold today. I met Dave in Jamaica and we rode a few miles to the trail head at Cunningham Park. It was 27 degrees F, so cold that my camelbak hose froze repeatedly. I had to chew the rubber valve to break the ice and then blow it back inside of the reservoir in order to get any water. In doing so, I must have punctured the rubber valve and it dripped throughout the ride and froze to my sweater. The wind was relentless and unforgiving. Why in the world, I neglected to bring a windbreaker is beyond me, although I was wearing a base layer, warm weather jersey, wind vest, arm warmers and a wool sweater over top of the whole shebang.

photo by Dave

The trails were solid with a crunchy layer of ice on top. Our rubber tires rumbling on the frozen trails make quite a pleasing ruckus. Cornering was a bit precarious and I found myself unclipping and hanging a leg out in some of the turns. I managed to ride a couple of snow covered skinnies which didn't seem like the brightest idea, but I saw that the snow on them was undisturbed and so I knew there were no icy ruts to detour my tires off of the log.

Descending the only really sketchy descent at Cunningham, photo by Dave

Despite the freezing temperature and blowing wind (which really did blow) we stopped often to take photos of jumps and log rides and other tom foolery. One of the funniest parts of the ride was when we stopped to jump the log below. It's so much easier on your make-believe bike.

But we did jump a few logs with our real bikes as well. Dave's been getting better and better on his mountain bike. He only just picked it up this summer and now he's out there skying off of jumps and riding steepies. Thumbs up D.

Dave hitting a jump in the middle of some great singletrack.

I am loving how light my new F1 is; makes bunny hopping logs so easy!

You can check out more of Dave's photos at his flickr site here.

January 1, 2010

I was getting cabin fever hanging around the house this morning. My wife and I were both a little groggy from celebrating New Year's last night (kissing 2009 good bye) and sitting on the couch suddenly became unbearable. I decided to pedal my road bike around the neighborhood for an hour or so. It felt great to stretch the legs and work that lump out of my left knee from yesterday's crash on the mountainbike. I ended up at the Cloisters sitting on a bench over looking the George Washington Bridge & Hudson River pondering what 2010 will bring. Will I get my fat ass back into racing shape? Will I come close? Will I be working on any exciting new rail cars? Will my wife and I get out of the country, if only for a couple of days? Who knows. You never know what life is going to throw at you. I only hope it doesn't sling as much crap as it did in 2009. (Lots of illness, death, broken elbows)

As for my resolution(s): I want to take more photos, I want to ride more, I want to spend more time with my wife and I want to learn more. (about everything I come in contact with)