Richmond Ride

In actual fact we spent around 45 minutes there lyming and not only because we were enjoying the food and camaraderie but also because Howie, who never disappoints when it comes to punctures, had his fifth in two weeks but  expertly dealt with the problem while we waited.      Jamaica is such an absolutely beautiful country that sometimes when we journey out into the country and are overcome by the sheer peace and tranquility, we tend to forget that we actually exist in the country which is one of the top five murders capitals in the world. So ofttimes we relax out vigilance which could easily lead to us becoming victims of crimes of opportunity. Crimes of opportunity are defined as those "..... committed without planning but simply carried out because a potential perpetrator sees and seizes the opportunity to commit a crime".

Howie the puncture expert

Sharon, the "almost victim"

     I was seriously be reminded of these facts yesterday as Fun &Thrills members set out enjoy a great day at a river at Richmond in St. Mary. 

We actually set out in time and were at Stony Hill by 6.30 am where we waited until we were encouraged by organizer extraordinaire Ayatollah to take our rest break at Golden Spring where Shamira was waiting to join  us.

After that it was great, easy riding along the heavily shaded, lush and curvy Junction Road as we headed hungrily to Castleton gardens where the best janga and cow skin soup and boiled corn is sold and is always ready and waiting.

It was on the way to Westmorland bridge, that wide 185 metre bridge built between 2012 -2013 by China engineering at Chovey to replace the one destroyed by hurricane some years before, that I was reminded how easy it is to become a victim of a crime of opportunity.

As I rode slowly up one of the many hills along the Junction road, I heard Sharon calling to me and the story she had to tell  when she caught up was really frightening.

She had been riding alone with new rider Ashawri and as they passed a white van with two men aboard,she overhead them talking about kidnapping someone.

Shortly afterwards the same van passed them, slowed down and moved over to the left bank so that Ashawri who was ahead of her, would have been banked as she approached . So Sharon called out to her telling her to overtake on  the outside. As Sharon approached, the man on the passenger side opened his door and invited her to get in but she too took a wide berth and seeing me ahead, called out for me to wait on them at which point the van drove away.

The fact is however, had they had a weapon, they could easily have ordered, not invited,  Sharon in to the vehicle and with no support vehicles around, they would have got away without problem. Thank heavens nothing like that happened yesterday but we have to remain cognizant of where we live and our support  drivers need to be more supportive, especially of the women riders.

Apart from that it was another great outing for those of us who love to discover Jamaica via our bicycles.

I have certainly never been to Richmond and only knew of it as the place where "elite" prisoners are held.

Having heard about the series of hills once one crossed over the Westmorland bridge to head west our destination, I had long decided that I would stop riding as soon as we reached the foot of the first hill and as always I kept my promise to myself, jumping into Charles Simpsons' vehicle which was being driven by Gayle. To my delight, not only was I greeted by cool, most welcome A/c but there was even a cooler with ice water in the vehicle. Not one to suffer unnecessarily too was Charles himself who soon joined us.

We journeyed slowly through some of the most beautiful countryside with green rolling hills to the south and the blue Caribbean sea visible on the n northern side, through verdant and uniquely named districts such as Bromley, Clonmel an Alleppo and you could see the fabulous houses perched on the hillsides around Highgate as wee approached.

The final hill to Highgate was really challenging and I could see why those who insisted on riding all the way, bypassed that hill by turning off at Alleppo.

Unfortunately we did not know they were going to do this so waited in Highgate for about an hour before Simpson decided to drive back to see what happened to them. It was only then he learnt from a villager that they had turned off.

By then we had been joined by another vehicle of non riders, and Pat who had not been riding because she had suffered  injury to her ribs on a previous fall, decided to join Simpson and I on the all downhill 2 km hide to Richmond.

When we got there, just about everyone else was  seated and waiting on us and the Ayatollah to start eating as the food and servers were ready and waiting.

The food was not as good as at Old Harbour  Bay and I cannot recall seeing more dour faced server for years but Kim insists that most of the persons serving in the canteens she has eaten at, have been miserable looking! I wonder why?

 We didn't let her bother us as we shared stories about the trip over and it turns out the road the others had taken was narrower and terrible causing the Ayatollah to lose his balance at one point and JuJu to complain about the toll it had taken on the vehicles. Howie of course who relishes off road riding (read bad, potholed,  unpaved tracks tracks with grass growing in the middle!) thought it was wonderful.

After brunch, we headed to the river which was grossly oversold by the Ayatollah who had  claimed we were going to a place where five rivers converged and you could dive off safely.

Where we ended up was under an unsafe looking bridge and swimming in  water below where some people were washing upstream, but what the heck, we were hot and tired and had a wonderful time.

Not long after, Maurice who deserves to get an OJ next year for  ri-biing, (riding back from wherever we go) took off and although no one else volunteered  to accompany him, insisted he would ride back to Westmorland bridge anyway. Later when  Pat called him he was at Castleton gardens!

 We were the first to leave with Stevie driving Howie's vehicle and as we started on the Junction road the rain started to pour but that did not prevent  us from stopping to get some more of the delicious soup with curb service to boot.

It was not until we started to ascend from Golden Spring to Stony Hill that we found Maurice and prevailed on him to join us in the vehicle and that is when we discovered that he had ridden so fast that he had out ridden the rain and was as dry as ever.


Big up Mr. RIBI.

TOTALITARIANISM RESURRECTED?

I thought totalitarianism was decisively defeated with with the overthrow of Pol Pot in 1979 but clearly some of the crumbs were blown in the wind to Jamaica landed on  representatives Dayton Campbell and Richard Parchment.

For what else could explain their attempt to have government pursue those who use a legal product in the privacy of their own home?  Not even James Otis' internationally accepted  philosophy that "A man's home is his castle' seems good enough for these legislators!

I have not smoked for many years and have absolutely no desire to again be tied to that product, but what possible leg can these men stand on in trying to outlaw the use of a legal product in the privacy of ones home? And what would be the next step, the establishment of a  special police squad to go into people's homes to see if the water they drink has the correct  ph balance or that parents only feed their kids on healthy foods (defined by them of course!)?

Anyway, since I maintain that the glass is always half full, these gentlemen have  probably done the nation a good deed by reminding us of the words of the great Desmond Tutu himself that "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

Thank God for those members of the special select committee reviewing the Tobacco Control regulations  who stood firm against the dangerous position proposed by Parchment and Campbell in  the house of parliament recently.

No goats there!

I think that Charles Williams, aka Ayatollah, is just about the best organizer in Jamaica. No if's, no buts about it, for to have carried out the feat of organizing a walk/ride from Kingston to Old Harbour bay for around over 80 people with great and more than enough food and then the boat trip to Goat island without a hitch, took more than ordinary organizing skills.

The great Ayatollah himself

Take a bow Charles and I even forgive you for crashing into me and giving me my first riding scars for 2013!

 It wasn't his fault entirely though. In fact, it probably happened because I was ungrateful for didn't the good book say ingratitude is worse than witchcraft?

I am of course talking about the memorable visit to Little Goat Island by the F&T posse and friends who "walk the hill” on Sunday October 6^th 2013.

I was actually the last rider to leave Kingston as the Ayatollah had asked Winnie to bring in his panel van to help transport back bikes and riders. Winnie, who lives in Linstead, does not know his way around town too well, so I had to wait till he came to my house then take him to Sean's to get Gary to drive the vehicle. By the time we got ready to ride out, it was almost 6.30 am. 

By then, we saw no one from F&T until we got to Dunrobin Avenue where Orrel, Johann, Nicole Brown, Alrick and Maurice were waiting on us. In no time however I couldn't even see their tail lights, but Sean stayed with me and I discovered why quite soon, as he was not feeling well and had to go into the support vehicle. So I continued riding alone, happy anyway since I was going at my own pace with great Sunday music coming from my earphones.  

When I got into Jose Marti, I saw Ayatollah, Barry, Fatman and a couple other riders and support drivers but didn’t want to break my momentum so did not stop. It was not until Ayatollah crashed into me further on that I heard they had been waiting on me on his insistence, hence my comment about ingratitude!

Actually, I was partially to blame for the crash for riding along the highway between Jose Marti and the train line, I thought I heard my keys fall and not realizing anyone was close behind me, stopped and dismounted. It was only then that I saw the Ayatollah barreling towards me at about 90 mp and with no escape, I had to accept my fate. 

When I did manage to overcome the pain in my knee and get up, I went searching for my keys but recalled that I might have put them in the bag in the support vehicle and there I found them. That crash had therefore been totally unnecessary but having once lost those same keys on a ride along the Junction Road and not realizing it till Michael found them, I was not taking any chances. 

All is well that ends well for I did manage to ride into Old Harbour under the watchful eyes of Winnie Charles and Fatman at various legs of the journey.

At Old Harbour I decided to join the walkers who were all gathered there and loaned my bike and gear to Lisa (Larry's sister) however, after plodding for about a mile in the sun and seeing support drivers driving by and enjoying great air condition, I could not resist, so joined Bobo in Betty's vehicle. We saw Betty White further on and she too opted for A/c over the pelting sun as did Daniel Morrison. 

The long, winding breakfast line

By the time we got to old Harbour Bay, just about everyone had arrived, the grace had been said, a long line for breakfast was in place and some people were even playing dominoes already.

Luckily , I had met the owner of the place on Tuesday when we had gone down to make final arrangements. so I was able to bandoolo him into getting me some breakfast without having to join the long line,to the chagrin of many of my friends who though starving too, had to wait patiently!

The food was great though and well worth the wait I would think.

The trip over to the island was well organized with three boats adequately equipped with life jackets and carrying between 8-12 passengers, pulling out like clockwork to take the eager passengers quickly and safely over.

Little Goat island is no Lime Cay.

It has very little white sand which is quite coarse anyway and while the water is pleasant, it tends to be cloudy (read polluted) and the bottom is mucky and clayey, not sandy as at good beaches. 

It seems the trip I made to goat island many years ago was to Big Goat island as I recall a nice beach with a reef where we had gone spear fishing. 

So this time I opted to return on the 2nd boat going back to try and get in some dominoes on the mainland before the impatient one returned to say "we have to leave now."

As we headed out, we saw Stefan, Penny and family going over in a boat and it was wonderful to see them as it proves that they have not abandoned us although they have migrated to Mobay! In fact, Stefan told me later that he is organizing ride in the west for us and I am sure he will be held to it.

Dominic the great domino player

You know, although Alrick insists that he is not a domino player, we certainly held our own against Stanford and Chris (support drivers) and in fact, the closest we came to getting 6 love was when Dominic nagged me into giving him a game and he and Chris took us to 5 love. I had to remind him that his birthday was coming up soon and he would not get a present if he gave me 6 love, to save the day. lol

Anyway it was a very nice day although I think the beach by Old Harbour bay is one of the worse kept fishing beaches in Jamaica. It so bad that on entering the boat, some people did not even want the water to touch them.

According to Grace, one person at the market,

The water is really dirty there!

on seeing a Chinese couple among our group, entreated them to quickly take over the place as the black people were keeping it so nasty that even maggots were running wild on the beach. 

That is a profound statement and although I don’t know how widely held that sentiment is in the area since the Tuesday before, the people who I spoke to all claimed they were against the Chinese takeover, but I am now having second thoughts after seeing how we have polluted the area!

By the way, Maurice and Johann lived up to the MTR label by riding off in the blazing sun. They seemed to have had some luck though, for when we got to Kingston at 2.30 pm, it was very overcast and Maurice had already reached Kings House gate and was riding alone as by then Johann had turned off to go home. Incidentally, Johann says he is training to ride for the first time in the Jamaica Cycling Association's annual Kingston to Negril ride this year and I have no doubt that if he does not win, he will at least come in the top 5.

Go deh Johann.

And no, there are no goats on Little Goat Island, just this one about to take the boat over!

Some photos purloined from David's collection.

Looking Back

I just cant find the time to keep up my blog these days as I am recording some of the more interesting incidents in my life in a soon to be published book called "Looking Back".

It is becoming far more intense than I had initially intended though, but I guess that's life. Cant wait to finish it though for it has become so all consuming that I find that I find myself putting of everything else.