General Cycling Discussion - Serial Ride Report - HogWild & Rainman

Well, it finally happened! HogWild, aka Carl, came to New Orleans!

Carl and his lovely wife, Christa, arrived the evening of Wednesday (6/27/01). Rainbabe and I picked them up from their hotel to introduce them to one of our favorite local seafood restaurants on the lake. We had a great time visiting and getting to know one another. Carl and his wife are great folks and very interesting. We had some great local beer, and Carl told us about brewing his own. He made it sound so good I think I want to try it.

Friday, June 29, Carl and I got together for a long-anticipated ride together. It got off to a shaky start when he called me at the appointed time to tell me his shifter detent had failed so he asked for a referral to a bike shop to see if he could get it fixed. As luck would have it he has a Giant Cypress like mine so I suggested he visit my LBS which, fortunately, was as close as any. I called ahead to tell them the situation and asked if they could do it right away as a favor to me. Thankfully, it was a simple repair, and they did it under warranty even though he did not buy the bike there!

Since it was on the way, Carl swung by my office about 1300. We put Yorick in the back of Carl's truck for the ride to Audubon Park and the levee-top bike path. Riding on the quite levee path gave us an opportunity to ride side-by-side at a leisurely pace and visit. A slight head wind and clouds to block the sun most of the time made the ride very comfortable for a summer afternoon in New Orleans. We rode about 7 miles out the path before we needed to turn around. I rode back about 4 with Carl where we shook hands and reluctantly said goodbye before I headed back out and continued my way home.

We asked someone to take our picture together so we could post it here. Even though I had checked the batteries in my digital camera that morning, they were dead when we tried to take the picture, as were the backup set I always carry. I had just charged them recently and they usually keep for quite a while. Maybe we will post pics separately. Mine, at least, may keep your computer free of bugs. :D

SpicMick, another New Orleans BikeForums poster had hoped to join us. He rode mtb Thursday and twisted his ankle pretty badly. Thursday night when he emailed me he though he would be able to ride, but it was just too bad when he got up Friday. He and I will try to ride soon to continue the serial.

This was a fantastic experience. Carl and Christa are wonderful and interesting people. Rainbabe and I really hit it off with them. I hope they feel the same. From the posts I have shared with all of you, I get the impression that everyone here would be fun to ride with. I can't tell you how much I hope to get to ride with any of you who get to N.O. or whose location I get to visit. I also hope to get to see Carl and Christa again.

I strongly encourage anyone who has an opportunity to ride with another poster to do so and share the experience with us. My feeling is that, though a ride is best, if it is not possible, just sharing a few minutes and a cup of coffee together is worth sharing with the rest of us if that is all you can manage.
Regards,
Rainman

That's really cool Rainman. Thanks for sharing that with us. Sounds like you guys had a great time. Wish I could have been there. If your ever up North, look me up.
Keep us posted on any further meetings. DG:)

Way to go! I always liked Carl, looks like the start of a great trend. One of these days...(seafood, WOW!)

;)

I'm really pleased it went well Rainman and Carl..looking forward to seeing the photos!!! :thumbup:

If you or Rainbabe are ever in the Kent area of England, look me up!

Cheers

Rich

Everything you've heard about New Orleans is probably true, but you haven't heard everything yet. The Crescent City is indeed a party town, with the kind of exotica you just won't see in the more subdued parts of the country. Wild parties, wonderful music, excellent food...you name it and you can probably find it in New Orleans. But did they tell you about the people? Friendly and easy-going, with a lyrical way of speaking and a joy of living that goes beyond just being nice to tourists, it's the people of New Orleans that makes it such a great place to visit, and I can't imagine two finer representatives of their hometown than Rainman and Rainbabe.

Picture this - we got to town after two days of driving, called someone whom we barely know through an internet forum and a couple of emails, and they graciously volunteer to come pick us up at the hotel, show us some of the sights of the city, and take us to an excellent seafood restaurant on the shores of lake Pontchartrain. Wow! We enjoyed a great meal and even better conversation, and though we were tired from the trip, we were sorry to see the evening end.

The Wildbabe and I didn't get to ride nearly as much as we had planned. We live in a small town in west Texas, and were completely unprepared for the narrow roads, hair-raising traffic, and potholes that are bigger than many of the lakes in our part of the country. New Orleans is crammed into a couple of acres between the river, the lake, and the swamps, and they apparently don't see any reason to waste valuable real estate on such things as wide roads or off street parking. We did ride in Audubon park, which is a lovely park west of the downtown area, and of course on Friday I got to ride with Raymond on the levee. As you can imagine, the ride, and the time we had to visit, was way too short. I don't have much to add to Raymond's description of the ride, except to express a mild regret that we didn't stop at the Live Bait for a beer or two when we were finished - maybe next time.

If you're ever in New Orleans, be sure to look up Rainman and the vivacious Rainbabe - they are wonderful guides to an interesting city. And if you're ever in San Angelo, look us up. We'll do our best to live up to their example.

c~

HogWild is too kind. I had been looking forward to meeting him since he told me he was coming. It was our pleasure.

As an added incentive to anyone else who heads this way, I promise we can stop at Live Bait if we ride out the levee path. :D

Rainman

Wow, it is really neat that you guys could meet through the internet and share the joy of bicycling.

This new friendship was made possible through the internet, BikeForums.com, and the joy of bicycling - something that couldn't have happened a few years ago.

The world is becoming better place.

I hope we here on the Forums will not only continue to puncture myths about cycling (bikes are toys; bike paths are great; too dangerous to ride in the street--and on and on...) but also about the Internet, for there's just as much prejudice and ignorance about the Internet, fueled, unfortunately, by a sensation-hungry press (your kid is about to be abducted! it's unsafe to shop! everything is pornography! and on and on...) as about cycling.

Dark days require bright-eyed road Bike Forums warriors to dispel the gloom!:)