Bici Pazza

I feel blessed to have such wonderful people in my midst. A ride up the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway not only provides a quiet, traffic-free escape from urban Arlington but whether I plan it or not, I usually meet up with very interesting people with whom I can share a few miles of cycling and free-flowing chat. I was riding the path with my dad yesterday and passed Tom Fortmann and his wife Carla who live in Lexington, literally steps away from where the American Revolution began in a lovely colonial house on the green.  Tom, by the way was one of the founders of the Minuteman Bikeway, the most used bike path in the country, and pushed for its creation against townsfolk who were convinced that it would increase crime.

Although he is a retired top executive, as many of our “retired” Ciclismo guests, at a super youthful looking and energetic 67, he is as busy as ever with a plethora of activities.  He is a grandfather of three, very active with the Massachusetts Board of Education and recently  performed as Paul Revere in Lexington’s “In Their Own Words,” a live performance with key players in the American Revolution.

As busy as he is, I will leap to the conclusion that what Tom loves most is to ride his bike. In the last ten years, Tom has ridden an average of 5,000 miles per year. Luckily he has our complete collection of Ciclismo jersies which he wears regularly. Tom and his wife, devoted Italiophiles are two of our most generous Ciclismo ambassadors; when our Ciclismo guides come to town they welcome and feed them with the requirement that only Italian is spoken

Last week Tom and a friend left me in the dust on a Charles River Wheelmen spring century. This week he will ride from Boston to Provincetown, the infamous “Cape in a Day” ride.  Only five months into the year Tom has ridden 3823 miles in preparation for his longest trip to date. In less than two weeks he will embark on a two month ride across the country on Timberline’s Odyssey 2010. Over the past ten years, Tom and his wife (a more leisurely cyclist) have taken our longest Ciclismo Classico tours: Bike Across Italy,  Giro d’Italia, Sardinia/Corsica (photo), The Best of Southern Italy and  Bike Across Southern Italy. In 2001, he and his Stanford buddies rented a villa and cycled around some of Tuscany’s most challenging roads.

Luckily, Tom has documented most of his cycling journeys on a unique website, Crazy Guy on A Bike

We look forward to following his cross country adventure on this web site

His favorite tour: Our 15 Day Giro D’Italia
His ride. A Seven
His favorite gelato flavor: Cioccolato

Good Luck Tom!

When I was in high school I remember spending hours in Betty Doyle’s massive vegetable garden on Hurricane Road in Keene, NH. I loved having my toes in the soil, weeding, laughing with Betty and of course bringing my bounty home to stir fry. 

Flash forward to my urban existance on Marathon St in Arlington. I have been whining about my tiny yard for years. It has barely enough room for the kids to play in and until this fall when I chose to cut down a hemlock tree to make room for my future vegetable garden.  Although, I wept like a baby at the cutting of this massive tree, replacing it with plants and now a 10 x 10 plot of fresh soil has finally created closure my treehugger’s mourning.

Although I had my share of critics on the Arlington List ( our town’s highly opinionated list serve)  who felt like I should plant and maintain my own garden, my time is limited and when young Ben (who I found on the A list) came to my house and offered his very reasonable services, that amounted to the cost of one week of groceries, how could I resist?  I am all for “doing it yourself” but I also see the tremendous value and satisfaction in supporting a young entrepreneur like Ben.  I see it more as a partnership. He has the skills, the passion and the talent that I want to invest in. Having a small garden reminded me of Italy, where no one has lawns, but everyone has  gardens! Now that Ben has gotten me started, the kids and I just have to maintain it.

Come to find out Ben skipped college and has been travelling the world to learn about growing food. He spent time in New Zealand and is now back in the Arlington trying, with the help of mom, to “grow” his business. Standing over my fresh soil, he asks me what veggies I like, I ask him what he wants to name his business. He says “Dig It”, I suggest “We Dig It”. He likes that and keeps digging.

The garden is now planted. I better get watering!  I am still not sure what I am going to do when we travel during the month of July and are away in August but I know I can pay Ben to do it. OK I won’t be doing the “work” and therefore cannot collect my “Do-it-yourself Gardener stars” but at least we will be producing lots of food that I plan to share with anyone who wants it. Want to be a bit greener? Find yourself a gardener and turn that lawn into a garden.  Just imagine if every tiny urban lawn was, for a small investment,  turned into a veggie garden.  Just imagine if more young urban kids realized that they could support themselves by digging up lawns and planting seeds.

Live in the Arlington area? Got a small, sunny plot of land? Grow your own veggies!
email Ben @ Bennyb73@gmail.com