Day 3 Where we leave the NY, enter the CT, and clear the 100 mile mark

I'm writing now from the wonderful Wake Robin Inn. It is in Lakeville, CT (the same town we stayed in last year) though it is much better than the craptastic Inn at Iron Masters where we stayed last time. First of all, the staff is uncomparably nicer, the rooms a bit smaller but, as you can see on their homepage, the place is beautiful. I'm thinking the breakfast offerred will be suprior as well.

But that's enough about tonight's housing. Today's ride had many ups and downs, both literally and figuratively. Leaving Hyde Park was not that hilly, but once we got on 199 (after some bike trouble which Billy Q will probably write about) it started getting a little hairy. It was especially mountainy when we got passed Milan, NY (aka Rock City) and there was a decent amount of stopping involved. Nevertheless we made it here in one piece and had a nice dinner delivered (thank god) which we ate on the inn's porch. A nice way to end the day.

On the filming front, I approached several people to talk to about interviewing for the potential doc, but no one wanted to take part. Most of them said they weren't big baseball fans. Maybe what Billy Q said the other day is right - people in the mid-Hudson Valley just aren't as passionate about their baseball. We'll see how CT feels about it. I'm definitely preferring the preplanned interview style of doc right now. Even with some trouble getting interviews I can see a decent 30-60 minute doc coming out of this.

One cool part about being in CT for this trip is that it is the focal point of a frequent question of ours. Most people think that Connecticut is divided across the middle between the teams, although some say that it's more Yankees. We'll do our best to crack that mystery.

Well I'm on the inn's computer, so I'll let Lizzie on next. Have a good day, please pass this on to friend and encourage them to donate with the button on the right, and I'll see you tomorrow (hopefully with pictures on here).

Some thanks for today: The guy at the Rhinebeck Bicycle Shop for some discounts and replacing Billy Q's tire, the woman who helped John rehydrate mid-way, the people at the Wake Robin Inn for giving us a bit of a deal (and being nicer than the other inn staff in town), the delivery guy for not making us ride for food, and to my good buddy Erik for some communication assistance for tomorrow's housing. Adios.

Day 1-2 It begins, stops, then begins again.

For those who followed us on the blog last year, this trip has been very different, though, in some ways, the same. We're still tired at the end of the day, getting too much sun at times, eating a lot of granola bars, and occasionally peeing on the great outdoors. Also the route is very similar, though not exactly the same. At the moment there are four of us blogging here in the Donnelly Hall computer lab at Marist College (three of our alma mater), so I'll focus mostly on my stuff with the filming.

As I may or may not have mentioned last time around, I made a documentary in my senior year here at Marist with a few other students. That, along with a short fictional film, a promotional video for a summer camp, and some minor personal projects, is the extent of my filmmaking experience. Last time John and I did this walk we didn't get as much interviewing done as we'd have liked and at the time we chalked this up to being totally exhausted.

The difference this time is that we have done more interviews, but still not as many as I might have liked. When I look back at the projects that I've done successfully I notice that they all had preplanned interviews which were scheduled and organized around deadlines (and also all for credit or money). This time around I have no such planned interviews or deadlines (or upcoming paychecks) so going about the filming is different. I don't typically like just going up to people randomly, interrupting their day. We did get some really good ones so far though.

To name a few: there was the group of girls in the parking lot for Yankee Stadium before Friday's game who had some choice words for Boston fans (and were starting some kind of fashion business called Gruvie), Bald Vinny of the Bleacher Creatures (which was a huge get), and three guys (one in Red Sox gear and two in Yankees) outside Yankee Stadium the day we left who had a great argument about the team for the camera.

I'm also excited to look back at the riding footage I've taken. [MOM - DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH] My new camera is small enough to fit in my pocket, so I'm able to pull it out a film the other four while I'm riding behind them. I'm still not sure how this will all fit together, but that stuff cut together should look pretty cool. It'll probably become a short YouTube video to go along with whatever is done more formally with all this.

We're almost done with Day 2 and will be ending in Hyde Park, NY soon. The housing situation is not as nailed down as it was last year, but we're doing alright so far. Last night was crazy trying to get to the place, but you can read the others' entries for that. We still need to figure out where we're staying in Worcester, so if you know someone please email me (alex.bea@gmail.com).

That's it for now.

A new, but familiar journey

I'm stoked about The Ride this summer. It's going to be different from The Walk that John and I did last summer in some ways, but the same in others.

• Different: There are 5 of us. John, myself (Alex), a Liz, and two Billys
• Same: Still mostly guys (be prepared for more mentions of peeing outside - #1 & #2)
• Different: 40-ish miles a day rather than 20
• Same: Generally the same route. Some towns will be good to see again and some not as much.
• Different: no more getting picked up by people. 5 bikes makes that difficult, so we'll be rolling deep up to their front doors.
• Same: just like Blanche DuBois, we're going to be relying on the kindness of strangers. Okay, not strangers, but the reference doesn't work with "friends."
  
• Same: representing both sides of the rivalry in our group
• Different: Yankee fans are definitely in the majority. I'm leaving it up to Liz to represent for the Sox since she's much more qualified. I'm still a fan, but not enough to live up to the responsibility. So Yanks 3, Sox 1, Loser who doesn't follow baseball much 1
• Same: still trying to film for a potential project later on
• Different: biking will allow for more time and energy to do so
  

I could go on, but... I won't. I'm looking forward to getting more into the belly of the Rivalry. It'll be a very different dynamic now that there are more of us, and a true member of Red Sox Nation to give better support to the team than I ever could.

I came to the realization that no amount of reading books on the teams (which I've been doing some of) is going to make me a baseball guy, and that's fine. That doesn't diminish my curiosity regarding the Rivalry and the people on either side. People who are passionate about anything interest me, and I don't know if there's a better example of populations who are passionate about something than those on both sides of this debate.

Recommendation: check out The Rooters. It's a documentary about the Boston fans, from the original Royal Rooters to today. It's pretty impressive what they had going from the beginning. I got The New York Yankees: Team of the Century from Netflix today. I'll let you know how that goes.

Correction: One of the Billys is a Mets fan, not a Yankees fan. It's good to have an impartial guy on the crew who actually knows something about baseball. Final count: Red Sox 1, Yankees 2, Doesn't like either 1, Idiot who doesn't even know who's riding with him 1 (that one is me)