Mileposters News 3-13 to 5-13

Four-way chess for our last two Games Nights was exciting, and more sessions are scheduled!

 

Plans are underway for fundraising during the 2013 cycling season. A new family will be joining us for the event to raise support for the Campus Ministry at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Oakland. Another effort will be for continuing building repairs at St. Thomas Lutheran Church.

 

Although planning for boating events began months ago, scooters leapfrogged that activity, with two of the devices on the property and the first test ride completed. They will allow shorter trips on some of the same trails used for tandem cycling. At the same time, an expert in kayaking has agreed to help guide our watery events.

Mileposters News 12-12 to 2-13

Roller skating has commenced for the winter. One of our skaters has outgrown our largest pair of skates, so a new pair, speed skates this time, is on the way.

We have moved into brave new worlds at Games Night, playing three-way chess (yes, three players) last time, and with four-way chess scheduled for the February event.

The big news is that we are planning for Mileposters boating for the upcoming season. Two sessions will be on pedal boats at Schenk Lake, in Oglebay Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, and on Tappan Lake in eastern Ohio. Rentals are available in both places, but we are investigating the possibility of the Mileposters’ own pedal boat or perhaps a tandem kayak or two.

 

Mileposters News 8-12 to 11-12

Whew! What a summer! Trips to Washington, DC and Cumberland, MD, BOTH!

Where did the last three months go?

We finished the tandem season on October 28 with a “booster”ride for our campaign to raise support for the campus ministry at First Trinity Lutheran Church in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. That started with the trip to Cumberland. We really didn’t do “nothing” all that time — the main thing was getting going with our Instep Sync trailer, which is how we can now have a three-year-old Mileposter. She was along on the October 28 ride, and there is a picture on the site. There’s a whole page on Cumberland, of course. Other pictures will have to wait as our ailing van #4 is being replaced with #6, a very complicated process.

One of our skaters has outgrown his skates — again. So we are shopping for skates as we look forward to the start of skating season.

More later!

 

 

Mileposters News 7-12

The 2012 ride from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC was made from July 11 through July 19. It covered 340 miles, ending at Berwyn Heights, MD, where the group leader’s last-night stay was graciously hosted by Pastor Rudy Kampia and his wife Judy.

The ride was made to support advanced cancer patient Jayden Collington, close relative of several Mileposters riders. After four rounds of chemotherapy, Jayden has surgery scheduled for the week of August 13, to remove the tumor and affected organs. Three members of Jayden’s family and one other rider joined the group leader for the first day. The other eight days were completed by him alone on the triplet.

A second long ride, to Cumberland, MD, is planned for August, to benefit the campus ministry of First Trinity Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh.It will be the fourth Mileposters ride to Cumberland.

An Instep Sync trailer has been acquired so that rides can include young children who are too small to reach the pedals even on a specially-built tandem.

Pictures of recent events, including the trip to Washington, DC, are on the Mileposters site. Some will be added here as time allows.

Mileposters News 5-12 — 6-12

The days have been a blur, but at this writing we have two new trail dads and four new stokers. The first dad also qualified as captain in record time, staggeringly short — ten minutes, riding only one mile, with one of his two kids as stoker — he is a veteran racer who belongs to another cycling club as well. He also brought his wife and a third kid along for the first of our Twin Tornado Rides, from New Castle, PA to Lowellville, OH, on the Stavich Bike Trail — 16 miles round trip. I made the second ride on Memorial Day –- 50 miles on the Great Allegheny Passage (Youghiogheny River Trail), from Milepost 19 (Boston, PA) to the “phantom milepost” (44), just past Whitsett. (The actual milepost is on private property, so someone painted the number on a board and hung it from a tree branch.) The second dad and stokers are pictured below the phantom milepost.

 

Meanwhile, the little brother of our incredible 6-year-old stoker has been diagnosed with advanced cancer. For that reason, this year’s ride to Washington, DC will be to raise support for him and his family.

Mileposters News 4-12

Approaching Easter, Mileposters got a preview of Holy Week on Palm Sunday with the Pilgrims, at Grace Lutheran. They considered important issues, and afterwards joined in beating pecans to make some special divinity cookies.

On the Wednesday after Easter, our newest youth captain, 11, qualified on a 12-mile ride on the Riverfront Trail. Her stoker was our incredible 5-year-old veteran of a dozen rides.

Planning is underway for the long tandem trip of the 2012 season, which is scheduled this year for Washington, DC.

Mileposters News 3-12

We continue to roller skate, although the season is winding down. The first tandem ride was on St. Patrick’s Day. Our original youth captain (pictured, on the Riverton Bridge) and our newest youth captain requalified for the season. The trip was 12 miles, between the Waterfront and McKeesport.

Mileposters News 2-12

Roller skating continued in February, at both Romp’N’Roll and Neville Island; the picture is from the February 25 outing at Neville Island.

Mileposters News 1-12

January’s warm weather left us wondering, sometimes, whether to skate or ride, but the warmest days always seemed to come at times which made a ride inconvenient, for whatever reason. So skating did continue, first at Romp’N’Roll, and then, at last, for our first session of the season at the Neville Roller Drome, which is under new ownership. January 28 was the date, and we had five skaters besides myself, including one who was joining us for the first time. An advanced photo setup allowed action shots, for the first time, under the dim lights on the main floor.

Anticipation is building for the first rail/bike trip in the Cuyahoga Valley, which is expected to be in March. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has several flag stops at which cyclists can board the train, enjoying comfortable coach seating while their mounts are placed in the baggage car, all at a bargain low fare! The rail line parallels the Ohio and Erie Canal towpath, which is open for biking and hiking.

Mileposters News 12-11

On December 13, we asked the Adult Organ Skaters at Romp’N’Roll, in Glenshaw, PA, to assist us in a fundraiser for the Pittsburgh Area Nursing Home Chaplaincy. We were delighted at the response, since about a dozen of them joined our effort, not only skating, but contributing on the spot! Father Ray was especially helpful, and our own original Mileposters skaters were of course indispensable! We got a total of 815 laps altogether. The photo below shows only five of our helpers, since the rest of them were camera-shy. By December 16 the kids and I had wrapped up 136 appeal letters and mailed them — a new record for a speedy campaign, for which we thank God!

December 11 was Games Night, and we used our own Jenga game for the first time. (Last month we borrowed one from the Pilgrims; the kids had played it with them before.) We had a super cliffhanger tower at the end, with the whole works incredibly teetering on two center blocks stacked in the same direction! It didn’t last forever, of course, but I did get the picture below first!

On December 18 we went Christmas caroling; our first stop was the customary call at the Woods Run fire station. This year they let us pose for a picture with a fire truck! After caroling, instead of McDonald’s, we went to Wendy’s.