First Ride of the 2015 Season, "Captains of Capitalism."

By Bob "Cannonball" Addis

 

Your steering group, naturally being well organized and thoughtful, has planned several of the Rumblers' 2015 rides ahead of time, actually well before the Winter of 2014-2015.  So in our defense, how could we possibly guess that mid-April would only get up to 52 degrees with a bracing breeze? 

 

 I volunteered to lead "The Captains of Capitalism Overlook the Rustbelt", a playful little ride from Latham to the Farmer's Market in Menands. (Ride Leader's Notes:  When you list the ride as "starting in the Travelodge's rear parking lot," a true Leader would either send a rider or go himself to the FRONT of the Travelodge to see if anyone was waiting there.  Yup, three were out front!)

 

After we found everyone, the ride down to Menands went rather smoothly.  We debated where to go for lunch since our mob of eleven wouldn't fit in a pizza carry out place and some other places were closed..  It was cold outside - did I mention the strong winds? - so we wanted a sit-down place.  We finally settled on The Other Company Restaurant on North Pearl St, Albany.  It was absolutely the right place and the food good enough to return someday.

 

After lunch, we broke up into groups mostly heading home although I talked Chuck M. into an extended ride. Going west along the Mohawk River and returning on the opposite shore offered some interesting areas of winds gusting to perhaps 40 mph, giving a challenge to my P200E Vespa and to only a slightly lesser extent, Chuck's Honda Helix.  By the time we hit Route 9 at the Crescent Bridge, Chuck and I agreed that we had enough riding for the day and we headed home with big smiles and windburns!

 

And a Good Time was had by All!