Thursday, November 17, 2011

Rock and Roll is Goot for the Soul

Busy week with a complete lack of biking so far. Still a bit bummed I missed out on the big Elizabeth's Furnace ride Sunday but stuff had to get done. Sigh.

Monday had a board meeting that I forgot about due to being stuck at work till 7. Oops.

Tuesday was beer racking and prep for today's feast at work.

And last night was Kid Rock. Hell yah! Damn good show at The Filmore in Silver Spring. No strippers though. He did have 2 nice looking backup singers. Maybe not on this sort of tour. New about half the songs. Kinda surprising in that I own 0 Kid Rock albums and I think I have 2 mp3's. Crowd was good and into it. No mosh pits was somewhat surprising.

Feeling it a bit this morning also, had 5 beers and a shot last night between 6 and 11. Peg Leg Stout, Old Jock Wee Heavy, Troegs Javahead Stout, Smuttynose Brown Ale, then a Sam Adams actually at the filmore and the shot of Tequila.

Off to finish prepping for the feast at work.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Weekend Fail

This weekend ended up as a cycling epic fail. Saturday wasn't bad but I had to go to a performance of my wife's up in College park. And she was feeling sick so I spent the rest of the weekend helping her a bit around the house. We threw out a ton of expired food (2+ or more years in some cases). We cleaned out a bunch of stuff and got the house caught up so she can have the maid service in this week for a full cleaning before she is out of town for the launch next week of the Mars Science Lab.

We did watch a really cool special on Spirit and Opportunity rovers from NOVA, Mars, Dead or Alive. VEry cool.

Missed out on EF. Kinda bummed but the extra rest was nice.

Had another awesome brunch also at 8407 Kitchen in Silver Spring. Tasty. Even had a Flying Dog Imperial Pumpkin. Pretty tasty. Not overly pumpkin flavored, but lots of spice.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Uh yah it's not the beer....really.

4th Ride of the week was a bar ride down in Shirlington since we got too much rain to ride trails at Wakefield.

Getting down there sucked, I should have just parked up at Madfox and road down. But that would have turned at 12 mile ride into a 20+ and honestly my legs don't have much left in them.

We hit 3 bars on the ride. Hitting Freddies first, then we hit Galaxy, then finished at Lost Dog. Met up with a ton of folks at Lost Dog and enjoyed a couple good beers and an excellent Pizza.

Also on the way over I accidentally Snot Rocketed someone....oops, I thought I'd moved far enough to the side and angled away enough.

Kept up pretty well except for one point between Freddies and Galaxy Hut where my legs got tired. The final down hill before turning back onto the trail was a blast.

EF on Sunday. Am I excited? A bit. Nervous? My legs just sent me a text complaining about over use. Oh well. For now I'm relaxing till Sunday. Maybe a very short spin to loosen up Saturday. And the weather for next week is looking up!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

No...... No ..... No.....

No .... today. No .... today.

Big riding week so far, after today I will have 4 rides in 5 days. By Sunday I will have racked almost 10 hours on the bike this week.

Unfortunately the standard maxim is holding true. We are in for 3 days of XXXX next week on Monday thru Wednesday at least. UGH.

Got a quick spin in Centerville after work so as to enjoy the last of the light and great temps again yesterday. Found the remains of the Manassas Gap Railroad that I've heard of before here are some photo's of the marker and a pair of what I assume are bridge foundations.





Wasn't really planning on riding nearly 10 miles yesterday but it was too nice to stop after only 3 or 4 to turn around so I just kept spinning. Started cooling down noticeably again at the end. Yep it went from 71 to 53 by the end of the ride last night.

Tuesday's ride was logged as dropping from 55 to 41. Yeoch! No wonder I felt frickin freezing when I was done, as soggy/sweaty as I was.

Got a real nice semi-sunset shot. Gotta see if the high res is useful as a new header here.

Now if only I can get in a good ride tonight at WF. Not looking for huge length but a good spin, as I've got a BIG ride on Sunday out at Elizabeth Furnace.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Tired in the Light

Jeez. I'm pooped as I sit here slacking at work this morning. My legs are sending complaints via IM almost. If they could work my phone I think they would for real. The long drive back from Rosy is a real killer. I had to snooze a bunch this morning.

Got out to Rosy in pretty good time considering I took a long'ish detour to avoid a car fire on 66 east bound. Then a slowdown on the way to the Wilson bridge. Got there around 5pm. Got my stuff together and got out for my first lap a bit before 5:30. The sun was sinking rapidly along with the temperature from near 70 to what the weather channel says was 45 by 9PM.

Memo to Self - Add vest back to kit ASAP!

My legs were a bit lazy at first but by halfway thru I felt pretty good. Did the interior loop after a quick detour down a horse trail. Good stuff. Felt a bit tired near the 1st loop end but still good. The lot was pretty full when I got back. The 20 minute wait probably didn't help a lot. 14 riders total went out to ride. I was in the middle to start but the first good climb ended that really quickly, I couldn't put the power down anymore and was forced to my little ring. ugh. I swept for a bit and recovered some, but never could get back on pace. The regulars are just DAMN FAST! By the time we hit the split we were 2 definite groups, the casualties skipped the interior and as the tail of the group I hit the lot a few minutes after they did. The fast guys came in 3 or 4 minutes behind me! Flying!

Couple good (Bad) wrecks with no injuries. Eric decided he need some Taco action and taco'd his wheel at the blown out bridge crossing. He got it mostly bent back and finished the ride. 1 guy had a double endo-flip after catching a root. Another guy safely completed the superman maneuver at some point.

The new lights are awesome. I can run both on low and feel pretty good about lighting. I got a solid 3 hours I think total out of both lights (counting post ride parking lot sitting). For shorter rides I should be able to run a mix of high/med high on the Magic Shine with no issues and high on the XERA and have insane light. The magicshine's width/brightness is truly nuts. I do think I will change the XERA to a reflector beam when it's available to have a bit more spot. I ran sections using one or the other just for comparison. I can even safely run the XERA on low and be alright in non-techy area's.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Shameless Pimpage

Part 1 - The Pimpage - Easy money for MORE

Give To The Max Day - Greater Washington Fundraising


Part Duex -
New light mounted and lightly tested - Check
New tire mounted with stan's - Check
Ready for a whole lot of Rosy - Check (\M/)

Also in another strange coincidence my new flashlight ALSO came in yesterday a Fenix light I got off SaC. Pulled out my untouched batteries from last winter for the knock off version that sucked, put in and left on for 2+ hours with no problems. I'm rotating all the batteries thru the charger. I do note one side of the charger is broke-ass. With it's reflector at short distanced the damn thing is BRIGHT!

The new tire was almost painless to mount, I think I spent about 10 getting it on one side, getting the bead aligned then getting the other side 2/3'rds on. Added a ton of Stans and then a few minutes to wrestle on that final third of the bead. Then I hooked up my wimpy floor pump and was able to easily inflate it to 60 lbs setting the beads. Then a few hours of shake and set. I'd say by this morning it hadn't lost any air! That's awesome. Even when new on there the ardent had some minor bead leaks/etc. The power of running a REAL toobless tire. Can't wait to try it out at the Rose tonight.

Also trying to layout a Falls Church based Bar Ride so far I have:
DFH
4 P's
Mad Fox
Dogwood Tavern
Public House #7
Clare and Don's Beach Shack
JV's

Now I just have to figure out a starting point. Maybe Vienna.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Flat as a pancake compressor.

While out searching high and low in storage for a ice scrapper this morning I decided to check my rear tire on a lark. Surprise!

It was flat as a pancake. It's been slowly leaking a while. Over the last few weeks it's been getting faster. At the end of the first lap yesterday the pump said it was down to 20. I pumped up to 33 or so and did the next lap, I think it was in the high 20's by when I finished. The ardent was a good tire but I don't think it lasted well and being non-toobless it didn't hold air as well as a toobless specific tire.

Guess it's time to mount the Specialized Purgatory I've been hanging onto since June. No biggie. See if I can get it to mount up myself this time. If not, I know what I'm ordering for Christmas!

Got some other stuff I need to fix around the house so hopefully I have time.

Yawn. I got to bed pretty early last night i thought but I'm still tired. Even though I woke up at 5:30 pretty much fully awake. ugh.

Gemini XERA came in and wow it is TINY! About the size around of soda top (20 oz) and about as long as 4. Pics on Flickr. The new MS still impresses with how damn powerful it is. Though the lack of spot in it sorta sucks. I think the Gemini will give a solid balance to that issue.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

Fall Fountain Head Report

Fountain Head in the fall is a different beast during the summer, it rolls by easier, the trail seems better. The cool weather makes the experience not suck. Sure its hard but all good things are. The sound of a crew event from the reservoir hits you unexpectedly, the blanket of leaves carpets the ground with the preferred line always appearing to run in all the best spots. Less guessing, less thought I think.

Tons of people out today. Even the trail guys were hard at work (Brock's crew I think). The entrance loop changes look amazing and some of the new stuff farther out looks much more enjoyable then sucky old climbs like Possum Hill.

Talked to a TON of people out today. Ran into the trail liason Tom and his brother Rob. We discussed the need to put a warning up saying in big words/graphics (IE A BLACK DIAMOND) that this isn't a beginner friendly trail. I ran into 2 groups of families out who were in WAY over there heads. I was in the entrance loop I suggested they bail out near the construction and try Laurel Hill they were very appreciative. The other group had gotten lost at the 1st intersection and were pushing up Shockabilly. Yep. I got em turned around and advised them the same. Though as I was done and they decided to finish out also I was able to give them directions and a LH map I had. Talked to Brock I think it was as he was working. Also talked to a new guy in town who was looking for places to ride. Gave him the website and the 411. Also helped a semi lost walker out. She was very confused. Very very.

Did 2 laps, pretty solidly. About 1:15 moving time I think each time...Maybe a bit less on the 2nd. Way faster total time on the 2nd though as I stopped way less. OY. 2 minutes longer now that I look at the GPS. Thanks cramps! Was cramping out from the start of Possum Hill. Still made it. On the 2nd lap I cleared EVERY climb. And that's rare. I haven't done that on my 29'r yet. At least 4 attempts. I'm stoked.

Tuesday my plan is to ride Rosy. Thursdays looking rainy. Suck. Maybe a bar ride.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Get out and ride

AFter a really crazy week I got out to WF with 5 minutes before official ride start time to find only 5 or 6 people in the lot. AT first I was dismayed but then I realized that meant a small group and not as many riders to share the trail with. I ended up only having Chris in my group while the evil empire of Stoner, JoeP, Dylan and Eric went out fast. We passed each other a ton of times. At 8 Chris bailed and I opted to keep riding, got in another 4 or 5 miles. It was good to be out and spinning in the dark with my thoughts. The stress of work really flowed away over the course of the ride.

As I finished I realized where everyone was. The postponed Schaeffer Farm Halloween Ride. And boy those pictures have left me scar's I can't get over till I have insane amounts of b33r.

Mad Fox in Falls Church rules. Good food, good beer, good times.

AT kilroy's post ride last night I kept thinking how I wish we were at MF. Better food and b33r. I got stuck with Sierra. Oy.

For now I'm trying to figure out where to ride Sunday and Tuesday. Tuesday I'm leaning towards Rosaryville. Sunday, I dunno. Maybe something different. Might do James River or something NEW.