Putney/West Hill Race Bus

I previously floated the idea of buying an old school bus, painting it in the West Hill colors, and converting it to carry bikes and racers to road, mt. bike, and cross races. However, my discussions with the Vermont Dept. of Motor Vehicles went nowhere, and even if we took out most or all of the seats, they maintained that the driver would need to have a commercial driver's license, since the bus was originally designed to carry X number of passengers -- so I gave up.

Now I am considering reviving the concept, and purchasing a panel van instead, so anyone can drive it. Is there any interest in this project? I can locate a vehicle, but will need help painting it in the West Hill colors, and installing bike racks and ski racks and clothing and equipment boxes, and seats for racers. If it is parked in the field in front of the shop, with the side facing I-91, it will serve as mobile advertising for the shop. Anyone interested in forming a committee to work on this project? When I obtain non-profit certification from the IRS as a 501(c) organization for the PBC, any monetary donations or labor can be deductible as charitable expenses. We will need to raise some funds for purchase, supplies, registration, and insurance. If you are interested in helping out, drop me an email.

You're either on the bus or you're off the bus.Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. This is a great book by Tom Wolfe first published in 1967. It tracks the story of Ken Kesey following the eye of the storm so to speak as it leaves the Beat Generation, stops by the Perry Lane bohemians and then crashes onto California at full force with the hippies, LSD and psychedelia.


The van could be used to go to races, but can also be used as a support vehicle for long recreational rides, like the Length of the State ride, and can be used for cross country ski events, and we could have the van in the 4th of July parade, with a group of riders in PBC clothing riding behind the van throwing out Gu packets to the crowd.

Will.

Berkshire Brevet 300k

Berkshire Brevet 300K
Westfield, MA
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Register here.

"A hilly route heading west into the Berkshires then south along the Housatonic river to Kent CT. Crosses into eastern NY before returning to Westfield. Route is Lollipop shaped. Climbs include Jacob's Ladder (8 miles) both outbound and inbound and BashBish Falls (4.5 miles long with two short sections of steep, 18% grades)."

Repository of Rides

I will be creating an account on the Map My Ride website for all PBC members to access ride routes. This site permits the creation and viewing of routes in map, satellite, topographical, or hybrid views. I will post the account name and password in the near future, so stay tuned. You may upload any route you already have created using the Map My Ride tools, or that you have created using topographical software, or simply a text based cue sheet or map. Eventually, we will have a repository of all of our favorite rides that all members may access at any time. The link for the Map My Ride website is already on our main page, on the right hand side, under the heading "Our Favorite Spots."

On a personal note, I upgraded to Cat 3 based on my road race results in 2007, but do not have medical clearance to race this year due to my spinal cord injury resulting from the OTH accident last August during the D2R2 endurance ride, which prevented me from competing the Green Mountain Stage Race. I will be competing in the Mt. Ascutney, Mt. Agamenticus, and Mt. Greylock time trials, and participating in endurance events (Brevets, Length of the State ride). I will be having spinal cord surgery in the fall and recovering during the winter (no cross-country skiing for a second consecutive winter).

If you have any suggestions for future posts, please let me know.

Will, PBC, Inc. President

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Star Forming Region NGC 3582
Credit & Copyright: T. A. Rector (U. Alaska), T. Abbott, NOAO, AURA, NSF

This the photo for today. A different photo every day. The link is here.