Day 84: ripping on the Ripley

Activity: Ripley spring shakedown - had lots of fun riding the Ripley for the first time in months it seems. I don't really count heading out with studded tires on lame ice...

Photo: dog walkers at Sheepfold

Thought for the day: full suspension with gears and a dropper post is so, so different from a single speed. Neither is better, but full suspension is definitely more fun!

Day 83 (March 23): chickens and Ripley

Activity: another lame activity which was basically walking from Smooth Automotive which was fixing my car to home Morning Walk

Photo: I didn't take any photos of that epic walk, but I did manage to get my Ripley ready for spring riding and tossed out some treats for the chickens so they could look like they were checking out the bike.

Day 82 (March 22) - dark hiking

Activity: Evening Hike Anita and I went for a hike at dusk. Most of it was in the dark. But it sure was fun and we didn't get lost.

Photo: before the sun went down, I managed to get a few long exposure photos taken (see Strava link). But my favorite photo of the day was a portrait I took of Katie

Day 81: March 21 - spring snowstorm beauty

Activity: Family snow hike It was the first day of spring and it snowed. The snow was absolutely beautiful in the woods.

Photo: snow on pine needles. Taken with the Sony A6000, Minolta 50mm Rokkor vintage lens and a macro screw on closeup 4x filter

Day 80 (March 20) - fun sun spring skiing

Activity: Day 27 of snowboarding. Conditions were spring corn on the lower side of the mountain near Gatehouse Lift and North Lynx and we hung out there ALL DAY. Lots of fun!

Photo: Giovanna, Katie and Sophia plotting their next run

Day 79 (March 19th) - firm snow / fun party

Activity: Day 26 of snowboarding. It was kind of chilly and the conditions weren't that good. I was going to call it a day early, but we found the Destefanises and had a good time doing some runs with them.

Photo: The main reason we went up for the weekend was to attend Bobby and Mary Shea's 8th Pig Roast. The pig was fantastic. And so were the fireworks!

Day 78: (March 18) - riding to the sunrise

Activity: Catching the sunrise - kind of lame - basically got on the bike to ride out to photograph the sunrise. And then rode back.

Photo: I took a lot of shots of the sunrise, but really liked this one

Day 77 (March 17): Secret lunch ride

Activity: I wasn't really supposed to head out onto the trails for a ride... but I did anyway.

Photo: The center of Winchester Center. It was stormy, and looked like an excellent time to head into town and check out the drama.

Day 76 (March 16): Afternoon hike after the rain

Activity: Afternoon Hike Another hike - trails were too muddy for a bike ride. But the conditions were more conducive to photos.

Photo: A reflection of the woods in the water

Day 75 (March 15) : rainy day hike

Activity: Rainy hike It is always fun (and challenging) to get some photos in lousy rainy weather.

Here is my favorite from the day: I loved the juxtaposition of the power line with the tree...

Day 74 (March 14): photos and bike riding

Activity: Finding gems on the Cross Fells trail - Had a great time taking photos out on the trail today (see Strava link above)

Photo: However, this quick snap with the cheap Sony long range telephoto from the deck went crazy on FB (not sure why - it isn't that great...)

Day 73 (March 13): Fun at Gordon College on the SS

Activity: Gordon college fun on the SS with the crew I had never ridden at Gordon College on the SS. It was pretty challenging, but manageable. I'll have to do it again...

Photo: I know I'm not supposed to do this, but the view on the way to the drive was pretty amazing! Took this with my iPhone...

Day 72 (March 12): Emilia's 3rd all state festival!

Activity: Early morning love for the Gates Carbon Drive Sometimes a sloppy ride in the woods is just sublime when you know you don't have to clean your drivetrain afterwards. Thank goodness for Gates carbon drive!

Photo: Emilia having fun at the MMEA All State festival at Symphony Hall! It's her third year in a row at All States!

Day 71 (March 11) Gem at the dump

Activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/514216099

Photo: Great clouds at Winchester's transfer station. One man's junkyard is another's canvas!

Day 70 (March 10) Pizza night and fast rides

Activity: Catching glimpses of the soul-crushing pace set by Rob and Scott Well that was a really fast ride. Rob and Scott were outta sight. That's okay... early spring time  - no need to stress over how much faster they are right now!

Photo: Katie doing homework after pizza night

Day 69 (March 9)

I've been remiss about posting, so I'm going to skip the "thought of the day" and "before and after" photos and just post the photos and a quick activity log to catch up...

Activity: From no daubs to a gazillion - you are only as good as your last ride! Singlespeed ride with lots of bad ugly riding...

Photo: our friends made us Maple Syrup from the maple tree at their house!

Day 68 (March 8): wonderful day in Boston

Activity: fun bike ride with my friend Matt early, early in the morning. https://www.strava.com/activities/511576104

Photo: I was in Boston for an interview in the North End. The skating rink there has striking regularity in its architecture and the shadows and contrast looked great mid morning. 

Post processed in Capture One Pro. I did a slight (but not full) keystone correction, increased contrast,  and highlights, and then used a trick to bring down the cyan and blue in the B&W processing to give the sky some drama. A little bit of clarity brings out the interest and busy windows, and voila - architecture shot!

Original RAW file with no changes in Capture One Pro

Thought for the day - it was great to see schoolchildren out playing on a nice spring day. It made me mad to think that my kids don't have outdoor recess in middle school and high school.

Day 67: March 7 - spring is starting

Activity: pretty nice mountain bike ride in Spring conditions: https://www.strava.com/activities/511003286

Photo: I spilled some coffee beans in the morning and decided to make some lemonade out of lemons. On the coffee bag, I am using the technique of reducing brightness to increase midtone contrast and increasing the exposure to make up for the reduced brightness.

I like how the increased midtone contrast of the bag makes it pop without looking unnaturally bright, and there are some basic highlight and shadow adjustments to make the windows and reflections look a little more defined as well as to give some definition and increased exposure to the floor

I also liked the photo in black and white - the red is brighter for the bag, and I reduced the brightness of the yellow for the floor.

Original RAW image out of Capture One Pro. The bag is not exactly leaping out of the photo, and the light through the window and the reflection on the floor is blown out

Thought for the day: every year, I love how a certain amount of snowboarding really brings some good balance and flow to my mountain biking. There is something about being really attuned to your body's position that snowboarding enhances and that is somewhat lost over the summer of cycling with such a focus on going uphill faster and faster.

Day 66 (March 6): another nice hike out to Castlerock

Activity: Day 25 of snowboarding. Conditions were better than the day before, although Spring skiing was largely absent. Katie and I made the hike out to Castlerock and had a great time doing it. The top of Castlerock was really nice, and Cotillion wasn't all that bad, although I didn't exactly enjoy it.

Photo: Here we are at the Church lookout. This was shot into the sun, and it is great how much photo information you can recover from the RAW file.

Post processed - we are properly exposed and the fatherly pride comes out of the shadows

Original - shot into the sun. Lots of shadows on us making us look kinda dark

Thought for the day: Katie and I have hiked to Castlerock quite a few times over the past few years, and it is great to watch her grow up and just love being outdoors and enjoy the journey.

Day 65 (March 5): Snowboarding on yikes and the Castlerock Extreme competition

Activity: snowboarding on ice. The beginning of the day had promise - Steins and Ripcord were both really nice. The end of the day was scary. I was falling constantly just doing speed checks and you could see the sections of glare yikes everywhere. Katie did well in the Castlerock Extreme competition, placing 12th in the women's division.

Photo: I learned something from this photo of the winner. I have been using the mid tones adjustment in Snapseed on my phone, and I wanted to get the same type of effect in Capture One Pro. Apparently all you have to do is move the brightness down to get mid tone contrast bumped up. I then compensated with the exposure and got the "pop" out of the image that I was seeking.

After processing - saturation, structure, and the combination of increased exposure and reduced brightness add some mid tone contrast and interest.

Here is the original - good composition, but it was an overcast day and lacks "pop"

Thought for the day: it is four days later and Sugarbush still hasn't posted the actual scores for the event. You wonder how these operational slips slip through the cracks!

Day 64 (March 4): indoor street at Clover Burlington

Activity: hike at lunch https://www.strava.com/activities/508449471

Photo: the inside of Clover, Burlington

After - corrected for vertical keystone to remove distortion and changed up the contrast overall and in particular added some interest to the center whitish section of the photo with highlights and curve adjustments

Before - it is pretty distorted with the wide angle, and the contrasts between dark and light have promise, but aren't really there

Thought for the day: good food doesn't have to be expensive to be transcendent. The mushroom sandwich at Clover was fabulous - and strangely yet satisfyingly meaty for vegetarian fare.

Day 63: chilling ride - winter is back!

Activity: singlespeed ride with Matt https://www.strava.com/activities/507558352

Photo: Our wine opener from France!

Thought for the day: good sunrises are fleeting - you can't plan to wake up to a good one - it just happens

Day 62 (March 2): a couple of hikes after the rain

Activity: it rained overnight and was too wet to ride. I ended up doing a couple of hikes during the day - one at Wright Locke Farm and another in the Fells - to check out the conditions and also take some photos.

Wright Locke Farm: https://www.strava.com/activities/506981123

Fells: https://www.strava.com/activities/507144945

Photo: the farm scene with a trailer as the foreground subject. Here's the post processed version. A keystone adjustment with some saturation and structure.

The original photo: taken with a super wide angle lens, this looks a bit bendy

Thought for the day: holding your tongue is good and the exhibited restraint can allow a narrative to develop naturally

Day 61 (March 1): early morning singlespeed ride

Activity: singlespeed fun in the Fells. I did most of the mountain bike loop without any daubs. Yeah! https://www.strava.com/activities/506024371

Photo: I missed (a beautiful red fiery) sunset, but managed to get this one of the sun rising over another part of the reservoir

Thought for the day: an early ride is a great way to start the day. It focuses the mind and sets a great tenor and mood for the remainder of the day.