Ray's Travels

We loved Sparty.

The best way to get over the loss of a dog is to get another one. We decided to get Augie (who was born on July 28th) from a very reputable breeder. It turns out that Augie is the grandson of the dog that is the father of Uno, the first beagle to ever win the Westminster.

It so happened that another male, tri-colored pup became available from the same litter. We decided to pull the trigger and get two pups. We will name the second one Basie (after Count Basie).

Here is the link to a video the breeder sent us of Augie and Basie playing together:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=bcb38bd3ce3a45f8e97312&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email\

Enjoy!

The last two days I’ve been working on a platform for a bench that will be situated near where Sparty was buried. My son, Matt, built the bench out of oak. I wanted a platform to that the bench wouldn’t be sitting on the ground. I did a lot of work with measurements, a design and digging out the area. Matt helped. Today I finished. The bench will stay there and we hope that it will become a place for peace and reflection.

We miss Sparty tremendously.

We have contacted a beagle breeder in New Jersey to secure another puppy. The breeder had a web feed on the day the mother gave birth to her litter. On July 28th a male beagle puppy was born. Being first on the list we will select a male puppy from the 5 males in the litter. We have already decided on a name for him. We will name him Augie.

On Aug. 26, we will visit the breeder and select Augie from the litter although he can’t be released until later in September. After the selection we will post a picture.

No pet can replace Sparty but we are very excited about Augie.

Today wasn’t such a good day for the favorites in the Tour De France. They rode on cobblestones. My post about Oudenaarde tried to convey how difficult cobblestones can be. The tour will smooth out and shake out but today was a day they want to forget. The leaders will reemerge but riding cobblestones is never fun.

Oh, and, today we rode up Overlook again. It was over 90 degrees F and I didn’t conquer it. The last of the three 20+ degrees climb kills me. Overall though, its a good and challenging ride. I’ll get it someday.

We did a familiar 35 mile ride from Hillsdale, NY past Copake Lake and back home. There were hills, headwinds and threatening weather but it turned out to be a great ride. We’ve done about 120 tough miles in the last 4 days. We’ve got to get into condition for the fall spectacular.

We wanted to replicate the ride from 2 days ago. It was better today. The weather was more cooperative. I made it through two of the three +20 degree climbs. Maybe next time I can conquer it. I have to get in shape.

Has a very good ride today. 42 miles around Copake Lake and back to Hillsdale, NY. The legs felt a little dead after the difficult ride yesterday but the weather was nice and it was exhilarating.

Today we tried to conquer the dreaded hill. It’s a road named Overlook. At the top is a cell tower. It’s obvious why the cell phone “powers that be” decided to put a tower at this spot. We rode about 3 miles and then started the climb up Overlook. While the climb is about 2 miles, there are three sections that are over 20 degrees. The rest of the climb is at or about double digits. The first steep climb went well. On the other two my heart rate went to 170 and I stopped to get it down before proceeding. On a road bicycle a climb of 6 to 8 degrees can be done for hours by a rider that is reasonably in shape. When you get into double digits (10+ degrees) it becomes very challenging. When you exceed 20 degrees it is about being able to maintain your pace on the bike for only hundreds of yards.

The rest of the story:

When we attempted to start the ride a localized storm brought rain. We waited until it stopped and then took off while the pavement was still wet. we did the climb and then descended on wet pavement which is somewhat hazardous. However, the sky’s were clear and it looked like the weather was with us. The descent went well. Then we rode into Egremont, MA and started a climb back to the road that would take us home. Climb, descent, that’s biking. At the top of the next climb the sky’s started to darken. I took off my sunglasses to see the road better. As soon as the descent started the rain came. I’m going down with rain beating into my eyes, slick pavement, a severe switchback and a prayer to make it home safely, soaked. Well, I made it but as short as this ride was, about 14 miles, it was one of the toughest ones in recent memory. It had a bit of everything.