Riding and All That

Yesterday the ambitious F&T crew took on the challenge to do a 71 mile ride from  Mineral Heights in Clarendon to Chris Dalrimple's place just outside of Priory, St. Ann. Not being one of the ambitious ones, I decided to ride until I felt like quitting then taking off to enjoy the day at Chris' beach.

So off I went on an uneventful ride with Charles and Chuck from Mineral  Heights to Jucci in  Clarendon Park and after a short stop, Alrick and I rode off to take on Melrose Hill in Manchester.

Alrick humored me by staying with me until he sighted the first of the A team coming and took off like a light.

 I thought I was doing quite well until my derailler started to give problems as I ascended the hill , causing my chain to fall off and become entangled in the back spoke. Gary (Shawn's driver ) was close by and stopped to help me. He got the chain back on, but by then, I had lost the impetus to ride so jumped into the support vehicle that he was driving.

As we started to ascend the notorious Shooters Hill in Manchester (which I find has suddenly been rechristened Penn Hill,) we saw Bernadette who wanted some supplies from the van. As the hill did not look too daunting, I took our my bicycle and decided  to give it a try. I guess I rode about 1/8 of the hill before I decided that life was too short for such a struggle and after trying unsuccessfully to get the support
vehicle to pull me up hill by holding on to the stem of the side mirror, decided to still get some exercise by pushing the bike uphill instead. (Holding on to the stem of the side mirror as the vehicle drove, felt like my arm would be pulled out of the socket! I had seen Shawn do it earlier but I guess he has an expertise that I don't!)  That too did not last too long so I returned to my favourite past time, driving  in the support vehicle and listening to good music and watching the others struggle in the sun.

I was really proud of Shawn for this was his first ride with us and he did quite well though. He  actually completed the entire 71 miles and told me he had a wonderful time. Incidentally, there is no doubt in my mind that Johann is by far the strongest and best  F&T rider.

By the time  got to the top of that infamous hill, I decided it was time to go to the beach  and thankfully Nicky allowed her vehicle which was being driven buy Ulette to be commandeered.

Chris'back yard.  ()A Samira Bowden photo.)

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the road from Spaldings to Cave valley in St. Ann was beautifully paved, really great surface and I regretted for a while that I did not have my bicycle to fly off the hill in that section..

We got to Chris' by 12.30pm . (we  had actually left Kingston at 5.30am although the scheduled departure time had been 4.30am.) Anyway as I got there the beach was very inviting and I saw "Ask Dr. Mary" swimming and joined her. It was then she revealed that she had been the first female to ride from Kingston to Negril. I knew she was an outdoor lover but would never have known she had that particular distinction.

Stewie, Pat and crew soon arrived and as usual Stewie had his  stash of vodka so we started out having a breathless afternoon. After the mannish water and curried goat I was hit by a severe case of niggeritis and had a wonderful sleep.

 I think the last masochist aka rider,( Aytollah) rode into Chris' place about 5pm. Most of the riders did not even seem to have the time to enjoy the wonderful beach but as they say, different strokes for different folks. 

 I drove back to Kingston with Charles 1st and needless to say, slept most of the way.. ....even now, I have no  clue where my bicycle , bicycle rack or helmet is.

What the heck, I know it is safe somewhere and I did indeed have an absolutely wonderful day with the crew, including Chris, who unfortunately returns to England in 3 weeks. Will really miss her as she had been  my Beverly Hills Saturday riding partner for quite a long while/.


Ps. Gary knows where Noisy River is. I thought it was in Manchester but it is in Trelawny near Troy. Hoping to go there soon,

Ride to Dornoch

The Dornoch that we sought.

The Dornoch that we got!

According to the late, brilliant Albert Einstein,"Reality is merely an illusion" but boy the reality of Dornoch was no illusion but a great disappointment interspersed with real mosquito bites!

It was just yesterday morning that Betty was telling me about a documentary she saw about the photos that we see on the Internet versus how the subjects really look. We got a taste of this after going to Dornoch and I am especially sorry for Tara, Stefan, Penny and family who never got to swim at all or even ride. But I am sure they had a wonderful weekend nevertheless. I surely did.

On Saturday night I decided to sleep up by Betty and Charles, since the MTR Fun and Thrills people had decided to do a ride to Trelawny starting on Sunday morning at 4am and I did not feel like getting out of my bed so early and riding up to meet anyone. Besides I had long decided not to start any more rides from the Headquarters since I am allergic to getting up early to start rides at the appointed time only to end up waiting hours on end for those who do not respect other's time or simply lack discipline. So I have been, for almost a year now, riding out with Charles who does things my way. This two day ride was slated to have ended on Monday morning (after a night's rest) at Dornoch  in the Cockpit country where the Rio Bueno has its source, for the pictures which we had seen, had made it look like the Garden of Eden.

Charles and I set out promptly at 4 am with Kenesha as a support driver and after a brief servic stop at the gas station on Constant Spring road, we were joined by Chuck. From the beginning, the three of us had decided that there was no way on earth we were going to spend hours on end on a bicycle, but instead we would ride to Juici Beef at Clarendon Park, then leave the MTR's and drive over to the beach in Trelawny.

Well by the time I got to Sandy Bay and was about to cross on to the main highway, I felt the sun pelting down into my back and who did I see drive up beside me but Stewart, music and  air condition running and feeling no pain. He looked so happy that I immediately decided that I had had enough of the ride (3 1/2 hours in the saddle) and also wanted to share the good life, so I beckoned him to stop, packed up my bike and we drove off happily to Juici Beef where I had the most delicious porridge I have ever had anywhere, Peacorn porridge, made from peanuts and hominy corn.

When the MTR's arrived, I heard that there had been one mishap as super rider Howie had slipped and fallen while crossing the train line in Old Harbour.  He got a cut on his knee but happily there were no other mishaps for the entire weekend.

Beautiful, calm Burr Head Beach

Charles, Kenesha and I left the main group at Juici  (Chuck drove back to Kingston) and drove straight to Retreat Guest House in Trelawny where we heard about this absolutely wonderful beach, Burr Head beach. In my book, this beach is only to be outdone by Negril.  It is a public, white sands beach right beside Beaches hotel and it is so clean and shallow that I swear that if you wade out for half mile, the water is still at your waist. This is going to be my beach of first choice, from now on, in Trelawny. Betty later joined us there as she had driven down my car but came via the north coast whereas we had  taken a new and challenging route, going into central Jamaica then heading north from Porus, up Shooters Hill then to Trelawny via Albert Town, Clark's Town, Duncan's then on to Falmouth.

Whereas we used the beach for free, Betty had to pay $300 as it had been rented for a private stage show and after noon they had closed the gate.

After a wonderful swim we went to Bodmint where we found that Caroline and Charles Simpson had also defected from the ride and had driven straight over after riding to Porus.  Later, we went over to the bar next  door  to make arrangements for dinner. It was there Carolyn and  found two Jamericans  and played dominoes with them.

When we went back over there to wait for dinner, one was still there and he played with Carolyn while I played with Charles Simpson. That's when the 6 love drop! 

While we played some more,  the main group of tired riders arrived . (about 7.30 pm)  It was then that I learnt that the only person s who rode the entire journey were Alrick, Orelle, Maurice, Howie and Michael. Everyone else had to be driven over Shooters Hill and Sanford and Fatman never got back on their bikes. Disgraceful, considering that the stalwart women like Nicky and Sparkles did! (I wonder who dares to say "Look who's taking" . I aint no masochist! lol)

Anyway, when Fatman came he joined Carolyn, one of the six loveites and threatened to give it back to us.  Thank god we were called for dinner just when we were at the dangerous got 4 love point!

The dinner was quite good and I dare say the curry goat was probably the best I have had in years.

Next morning I discovered that Penny, Stefan  and family had arrived in the night as they wanted to ride to Dornoch  next day. The breakfast at Retreat guest house was excellent and before we could finish, Charles was calling desperately for Kenesha to pick them up at Burr Head Beach for while they had walked over from Bodmint from 6.30 am, they did not feel like walking back. I could have kicked myself for not thinking of driving to the beach when I woke up for I had been up from 7am but just never thought of it.

The lazy men who refused to walk from the beach back to Bodmint!

After breakfast Kenesha and I drove down and found the bunch of lazy men who we piled into the back of the pickup and took them back to Bodmint. We then walked with them to Aunt Gloria's where they voraciously gobbled up the breakfast but  poor Howie, chief masochist could not even sit down at breakfast, as he was still sore from the 15 hour ride.

As we got back to Bodmint, Chris (Dalrimple) joined us, having driven over from her home in St. Ann's bay. While we hung around, we heard brakes screeching outside and a faint thud, only to discover that a taxi  had run into the back of Donavan's  vehicle as he was turning into Bodmint. Although his vehicle's bumper was damaged, it was admirable to see him working assiduously to help the taximan pull away metal from his fan so he could drive his car to a mechanic. I wish I could be as charitable to people who rear end me. I promise to try.

Well sanity finally prevailed and it was decided that we would all drive the 19 miles to Dornoch instead of riding. We took the winding road  via Clark's Town to Stewart Town where we then took an unpaved, potholed access road into Dornoch. When we got there we parked at the top and hiked for about fifteen minutes down to the river head . Disappointment, for the beautiful clean river that we had seen in the pictures was no where to be found but instead only a mud hole and millions of mosquitoes. Luckily I had a towel to ward them off so only got bitten about a dozen times!

Disappointed I returned to my car with Johan and Kenesha and we decided to go back to Stewart Town to find a bar to get some cool beer. We did but then got a call from Charles saying that he had discovered that if you continue on the road to Dornoch, you could end up in Discovery Bay in 10 minutes.  I could not bother to go back on to the bad road so instead proceeded on to Kingston via Brown's Town. I was sorry to have to separate from what was a really nice group of fun loving people, but c'est la vie for after all, it had been a wonderful weekend of riding, swimming, eating, dominoes and camaraderie so there was no reason for me to be greedy.

 Another weekend well spent despite the disappointment of the Rio Bueno river, but I imagine that the mud and mosquitoes were a natural result of the islandwide rains which had pelted us all on the Saturday before .


No regrets about anything.