1938 Colson Firestone

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Rochester, NY
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On Saturday, I stuffed my camera and a parking stand into a backpack and headed up the rail trails on my old Colson-built Firestone to find some spots to take some decent photos of it. In particular, I had in mind a steel girder bridge that the Lehigh Valley Railroad used to cross the Auburn Railroad (New York Central later on), as well as a tunnel where the interstate also crossed the Auburn Road. It was in the mid '60s, the sun was more or less out, and I had a few hours free. Considering that it was supposed to rain, and it IS October, here in western NY you take what you can get.

I started up the path out of the town park, but hadn't gone far when I decided that the bend that joins the Lehigh Valley Trail to the actual road bed was particularly photogenic. The path was in the woods, the trees that were filtering the sunlight down through where changing colors, there were lots of leaves on the ground already, and there was no one around. In fact, I think the title "The Road Less Traveled" would be an apt name for this set of photos as a whole. Anyway, here we go:

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I then switched over to the Auburn Trail. I rode into the hamlet of Fishers, where I took this picture:
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The pumphouse that I leaned the bike against here is the oldest cobblestone railroad structure in the country.

Then a half mile past Fishers, I came to the tunnel.
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Epilogue -

I took 110 shots on my DSLR and and half a dozen or so on my Windows phone (which, BTW, has the same resolution as my DSLR). These are the ones I like the best. I strongly suspect that I'll choose one of these photos for the calendar photo contest and replace my current picture of my Monark Rocket. Also, I only rode the Colson about 5 miles. I ride all the time; as I mentioned elsewhere, I commute to work frequently, which makes for a 45 mile day, part of which is on the trails shown here. But that 5 miles on a saddle slammed down on the frame combined with flipped bars led to such a bad riding position that I did myself a minor injury. I woke up yesterday morning with a wicked charlie horse on the left leg, which has persisted to today. No more low seats for me!
 
Rat Rod said:
Great shots and nice scenery too! :D

dogdart said:
Great pics , thanx for sharing

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Here's one more. This one actually came off of my phone, but I might like it more than any of the others...
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Not bad for being nearly 75 years old, eh?
 
Super nice pics Rick!!!!!!!! That bikes looks perfect in ALL those settings and the angles you used are great!!!!!
 
Your Colson and my Rollfast look like they'd have fun together.. same kind of theme with the color, patina, clay reds, and rusty, bare seat pan 8) Nice shots!

My seat stays high even for pictures. I'm not a true ratter and choose riding comfort over looks :lol:

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expjawa said:
Thanks guys.

Jpromo - I see you're in Plymouth, MI. My company has an office there, off of Beck on Halyard Dr. I'm out there once in a while myownself.

Right on! That's like 2 miles from my residence. It's also very near to the Post Office I often baffle with awkwardly large boxes.
 
Jpromo said:
expjawa said:
Thanks guys.

Jpromo - I see you're in Plymouth, MI. My company has an office there, off of Beck on Halyard Dr. I'm out there once in a while myownself.

Right on! That's like 2 miles from my residence. It's also very near to the Post Office I often baffle with awkwardly large boxes.
Rectangle boxes say: 48"x 32" x 8" I'm guessing. Christmas every time one arrives.!!!


1918 Ranger
 
Great old bike, great photos as well.
 

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