Does it help to have friends in high places? If there’s any truth to the old political adage then expect to see rapid development of the East Coast Greenway through the region, now that homegrown Dennis Markatos-Soriano is executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance. The alliance was founded in 1991 with the goal of creating a paved, 3,000-mile path for bikers, walkers, runners and other non-motorized travelers spanning the East Coast, from Key West, Fla., to Calais, Maine, on the Canada border. Markatos-Soriano, who grew up in Pittsboro and graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2001, was appointed executive director of the alliance in August. We caught up with Dennis at the ECGA’s Rhode Island headquarters to get an update on the trail and hear what his plans are for its future.
Paradise: If you have to ask …
I needed a water bottle. I wound up contemplating the price of paradise.
Packing for a week of backpacking last night, I could only put my hands on one Nalgene bottle. My MSR water filter screws into Nalgene water bottles, making an otherwise annoying task – pumping water from a stream – slightly less annoying. Since I was leaving town early this morning, I’d have to pick one up on the road. Which put me standing in front of the somewhat new REI in Asheville late this afternoon.
Fifteen minutes of disco: the price of Halloween
Before you wait for Suzy to slip off to sleep tonight, her Halloween sugar buzz having finally worn off, and before you sneak into her room to pillage her plastic pumpkin, think about this: For every fun size Baby Ruth bar you filch, you’ll need to go disco dancing for about 15 minutes.
Coping with Standard Time: Mountain biking at night
When I saw that Jeff LeBlanc was leading our ride, I knew that whatever he said was going to happen on the ride would be what would happen. Rare in group riding circles and reassuring, especially since this ride was at night, on mountain bikes, through twisty trail in the forest. While I’d done night rides before, this was a first for my 14-year-old stepson. The fewer surprises the better, and I knew from experience that LeBlanc, a retired Marine remained possessed of Corps discipline.
MPB (miles per burrito)
While fact-checking (yes, bloggers fact check) a post that will appear next week, I ran across a curious aside noting that “the most fuel-efficient vehicle available — the bicycle” gets “30+ miles per burrito.”
Frankly, that seemed conservative to me. Granted, it was unclear whether the author was burning a basic 350-calorie burrito from the dollar menu or a higher-octane version, say, Moe’s 950-calorie Homewrecker. Still, an assertion was made. So I Googled “energy from a burrito.”