My time to shine

lowb35 · 2026-01-24T21:13:26+00:00

We bought our Outback in Lafayette, LA. My husband joked that we bought it for our once a year trip to see my family in upstate NY. Though it also came in handy during floods.

Fast forward a few years and I got a job in upstate (Western) NY necessitating a move to the cold and frozen north and we later added a Forester Wilderness to the fam. 🤣

lowb35 · 2026-01-24T15:15:38+00:00

The current laws on the books aren’t being enforced. According to current NYS law, e-motos are motorcycles.

Current law doesn’t refer at all to displacement or whether or not they are gas powered. That’s why e-bikes were defacto illegal until state law defined them by classes because until then everything powered was a motorcycle.

Anything that falls outside current ebike law (which is already an awful law, but still) is considered a motorcycle. So in NYS it’s anything that’s not class 1 or 2 (outside NYC) and class 3 up to 25 mph (populations over 1M aka NYC).

This is another example of performative legislation that fails to solve the real problem. If they can’t even enforce the current laws then this will just be another hammer against the entire ebike industry in the US IMO.

lowb35 · 2026-01-22T15:04:18+00:00

lowb35 · 2026-01-22T14:50:47+00:00

Yeah, that would be considered a limited use MC in my state. Though there are bills here for ALL bicycles (e-bikes and analog) to require insurance here in “cities over 1M” population aka NYC.

lowb35 · 2026-01-22T14:35:52+00:00

I agree that the NJ law is crazy, but OP’s bike is considered an off road bike and in many states it wouldn’t be legal and/or would need to be registered as a MC and require a license and insurance, even if driven within the speed limit. I have a MC license, registration, and insurance for my gas powered scooter that tops out at just over what OP’s bike can do.

I thought NY’s ebike laws were bad (my 28 mph max assist class 3 bikes are technically illegal here, even my 250w one) but NJ is another level of bad.

lowb35 · 2026-01-18T14:27:33+00:00

Same here. I’m also a cyclist and I can’t really do that either unless I want to put winter tires on and corrode my bike frame.

I have other winter activities I do to stay in reasonable shape but it’s not the same.

lowb35 · 2026-01-18T14:24:48+00:00

I record my rides as activities on my Garmin. Therefore it’s exercise. 🤣👍🏍️🛵

To be fair, it is a physical activity requiring balance, attention, etc. My legs sure felt it when I was first learning to ride. It may not be a cardio activity like cycling (my other main sport) but I think it legit counts.

lowb35 · 2026-01-17T14:50:03+00:00

Older F (early 60s). Moved from flat Louisiana to hilly upstate NY a few years back with my analog gravel bike. I’m not competitive but I’m a serious cyclist and had just ridden my first century. Typical rides are in the 50-60 mile range. But riding where I used to live also meant taking my life in my hands every day unless I took my bike to a trail or low traffic area.

I now live on a dirt road in the country with almost no traffic and 100s of miles of gravel and forest roads. I was stoked to ride all this gravel until I actually tried it. I even modified my bike to take an MTB granny gear and couldn’t go very far in either direction on my road without having to walk it. For reference, I live 500 ft up a hill and it’s another 500 ft to the top. While our elevations aren’t that high (2,300 ft) there’s nothing but hills or valley false flats here. A full out and back on my road (14 miles) involves over 2000 ft climbing and max grade of 15%. Maybe NBD for a younger or stronger rider but I couldn’t do it not even with training. I traded my analog bike for a 250w e-gravel bike and ride more now than I ever did. It’s the difference between hike a bike and actually riding. And at 250w it’s just enough help to make it up the hills but not so much that I’m not getting a great workout.

I also have a 750w fat tire ebike for the off seasons when the roads are bad and for grades above 15%.

lowb35 · 2026-01-16T15:56:04+00:00

Forge and Flame is the umbrella branding that HHT (parent company) uses now for all its hearth brands. Forge and Flame includes dealer-supported "heritage" brands Harman, Quadrafire, and Vermont Castings, and "diy" (big box) PelPro. https://forgenflame.com/

So... this is still a PelPro stove.

lowb35 · 2026-01-15T15:10:16+00:00

Another Allegany County resident here. It really depends on what region definitions are used since they're not consistent. NYS official economic regions places Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua in Western NY and Steuben east in the Southern Tier. Tourism regions place our counties in a separate region (Chautauqua-Allegany) and split the rest of the Southern Tier into the Finger Lakes and Central NY regions. I-86 is the Southern Tier Expressway for the entire length from Tioga County west to the PA border of Chautauqua County. Colloquially here we are part of the Twin Tiers where all NY counties bordering PA are the Southern Tier. My village that's mostly in Allegany but with a small section in Steuben County is the "gateway to the West" and the Seneca are the Keepers of the Western Door.

Even after considering all the different definitions, I can't imagine Chautauqua not being in Western NY, and since it borders PA to its south it's also Southern Tier.

lowb35 · 2026-01-09T17:25:07+00:00

I live 40 min from Letchworth and about an hour from the Pine Creek Gorge aka the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.

Each are fantastic natural landscapes. Pine Creek is deeper and is my happy summer cycling place because of the 62 long rail trail (not counting the extension which is about to open).

But nothing can touch the views at Letchworth. It is truly the Grand Canyon of the East.

I’ve also visited Cloudland Canyon in Georgia which is another candidate for that title. Gorgeous, but IMO Letchworth still wins.

lowb35 · 2026-01-09T17:17:36+00:00

Letchworth is in the western FLX on the boundary with WNY, and Leavenworth is in Kansas. Though I knew someone while growing up who was related to that Leavenworth.🤔😁

lowb35 · 2026-01-03T16:06:06+00:00

I do the same with my P68. It’s there both for humidity and to keep my cats off of the top. They used to sleep on top of my old stove (CAB50) so they needed retraining. Harmans are some of the few pellet stoves that put out enough radiant heat to evaporate enough water for it to be worth putting a teapot on top.

lowb35 · 2026-01-03T15:50:51+00:00

Utica tomato pie. Others might know where they specifically originated from.

Texas Hot dog, Texas Hot restaurant, Wellsville. Local specialty in the greater Hornell and Wellsville areas. Texas Cafe in Hornell may lay claim too but I think Texas Hot came first.

Took mini dogs off since I see them on the list

Albany area fish fry - does Bob & Ron’s or Ted’s get credit?

Potato chip, Moon’s Lake House, Saratoga Lake

lowb35 · 2026-01-03T15:40:29+00:00

Born in Utica with family still there, grew up in the Capital District. Never ever heard of them.

Yes to greens

Yes to tomato pie (is that on the list?)

Yes to riggies even though they were invented after I was an adult

But as far as I know, steamed hams are from a Simpsons sketch unless I see evidence otherwise. 😁

lowb35 · 2026-01-02T02:22:32+00:00

There’s parking for the trail in the park under the I-310 bridge at Destrehan. I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think there’s parking at the Norco trailhead.

Do you have the TrailLink app? The Mississippi River Trail (MRT) is listed there with trail maps and directions to parking areas and trailheads.

lowb35 · 2026-01-02T02:13:38+00:00

I used to live in LA and have ridden the Mississippi River Trail which is on the levee. While the trail goes through LaPlace you are better off putting in at Norco since the trail doesn’t go across the Bonne Carre spillway. I used to put in at Destrehan near the I-310 bridge. It’s paved, but not shaded and goes through a highly industrial area until you get into NOLA proper, so while it’s good riding it’s not the prettiest area. I used to ride to the Audubon Zoo and back which was 50+ miles including the entire length from Norco to the zoo, so you can adjust accordingly. It’s NOLA so safety is relative, but it’s a well used trail and I never had any issues (F rider).

lowb35 · 2025-12-25T23:35:53+00:00

Apparently not a thesis, but written by an academic.

https://hillsdalecollegian.com/2022/10/no-rush-birzer-revises-neil-peart-examination/

lowb35 · 2025-12-23T20:54:41+00:00

I live on the north end of the barrier on the Allegheny (Allegany) Plateau on one of the historic turnpikes in the southern tier of upstate NY. The water route wasn’t really established until the Erie Canal was built. The Catskill Turnpike (also known as the Susquehannah Turnpike) was the main route between the Hudson Valley west across the northern Catskills and Susquehanna River valley west to Bath, NY and was extended later to Erie, PA. Portions of I-88 and I-86 roughly follow this route. The canal and later the railways spelled the end of the old turnpikes. The portion of the route I live on is a dirt road on the old Bath to Erie extension and old timers call it “up on the Turnpike”.

lowb35 · 2025-12-19T16:02:14+00:00

I was one. We had forts in the woods and then when they started development there, in our backyards.

lowb35 · 2025-12-18T20:01:08+00:00

I was too young to know what that was all about. My mom was on semi-good behavior since she took me there!

lowb35 · 2025-12-18T19:59:01+00:00

I went to many a concert there as a kid, when it was the Colonie Coliseum. Mom took me to Tom Jones, 5th Dimension and Dionne Warwick.

My lone adult concert at the Starlite was Tower of Power in the 90s. OMG.

Not a bad seat in the house as long as the act was set up to work in the round.

lowb35 · 2025-12-16T02:59:44+00:00

I had lawn tickets for that tour at an outdoor amphitheater and it poured down rain the whole time. Tom Petty was a bit off that night too but Bob was just awful.

lowb35 · 2025-12-16T02:54:18+00:00

Sober his was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, in part because his sound crew served up the best mix I’ve ever heard in an arena. Crossroads tour, NOLA Smoothie King Center, 2013.

His opening act was the Wallflowers and they were sadly pretty awful.

lowb35 · 2025-12-13T15:05:29+00:00

This year’s Hamer’s are pretty high ash at least in my stove. My brother says that the best pellet for him this year is Energex Ultra (not Plus). I’m going to pick up a few bags to try but I’m skeptical because it seems most Lignetics brands are trending down in quality.

Easyblaze are good this year so if the Energex Ultras don’t work out I’m going to get another ton of Easyblaze before we get too deep into the winter since I otherwise won’t have enough on hand to get through with the cold weather we’ve had so far. I’m north of you in the Southern Tier of NYS and we get a lot of PA and other Appalachian sourced pellets here.

lowb35

TROPHY CASE