Friday, June 29, 2012

The Dusty Trail

Dusty-field should be the new name for Wakefield.   After a relatively dry and VERY dusty 2 weeks wakefield's trails are ALL very dustry especially the ones in the open.  Powerlines was super dusty I kept coughing from all the crap.  Can't imagine how bad it was during the race.

This week I did another race lap to start off with after a quick spin around the lower fields/courts.  Somehow turned a 19:58 lap which is pretty damn good in my books.  Way faster than last week and felt like I still could have been even a bit faster, wasn't pushing it in some area's at all. 

The main ride went well other than finding out the gentleman who crashed horribly off the infamous Tree-Zilla Log-Over was on my ride.  He tried to pull a manual off it apparently and had a bad fall ending up paralyzed for about 2 months after hitting head first.  And that was the end of Tree-Zilla.  Oh well.  He was struggling a bit and seemed unsteady when trying to get out of the saddle and hammer up hills/etc.  He bailed at the far end of Accotink to ride out.

On the way back down Danbury Forest I gate it a good hard spin and hit 33.4 MPH.  Zoom.

Riding will be limited this weekend between working all weekend and the insane heat today and tomorrow with temps at 100+.

If you are out riding, stay safe, keep hydrated and wear your sunscreen. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Amazing day of weather

Truly awesome weather today other than the 15mph wind when headed into it.  Sub 80's!

Did a quick 12 mile spin in the hood to stretch the legs out from the running punishment the day before.  Legs were sore and not up to full power but felt okay by the end.  The timed mile was a bit quicker than before so thats good but due to pedestrian traffic on the trails I let up a bit more than I should have and missed a chance for 2:40 mile or less. Oh well next time. 

Heats coming in BIG time with temps hitting near 100 by the weekend.  fck.  At least I'm working and not sitting at home in the crap weather. 

Had a new beer today at Whole Foods, DuClaw's Serum a 9% IPA.  Pretty damn good.  Tried a taste of Re-PENT at 14% barley wine.  Maybe as a 8oz sipping/dessert beer.  Off to bed it's been a long day.  Tomorrow I think I'm gonna see about dropping the Volpe off for a tune up after work.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Meep Meep....

Well I did it again.  Oops.  Nope I didn't run into Ms.Spears but I did go jogging for the first time in 3+ years.  My out door running/jogging days are long past and I was never very serious.  In my 2nd college stint I got up to doing a fair amount of indoor track running (Too hot in FL for outdoor) and had a love/hate relationship with many treadmills on and off till I quit my gym 3.5 years ago.  Best $50 I've saved a month in a long time I still think. 

Today I went with a really slow pace and alternated slow jogging (walking) with slow running  (jogging).  A total of 35 minutes with about 17 in running.  I'm sure my legs will enter full rebellion tomorrow or will leave me looking like Vader post volcanic beauty treatment.  But it wasn't terrible.  The tech shirt was very nice to have and new shoes made a huge difference over my old ones.  I see getting a few pairs of running shorts in the future also, as my old gym shorts spandex has died.  When I put them on I heard more Snap, Crackle and Pop then a bowl of Rice Crispies. 

Just Gmap Pedometer calculated my route and it is just about 1.5 miles per lap and I did 2 plus a bit.  Wow, probably ran the equivalent of a whole lap. 

My new bibs for cycling still aren't in it appears the address may have been slightly borked but I figure they should have had a human eventually look at it and fix it.  ugh.

Bikes need cleaning but I'm pretty wiped.  Trying to figure out tomorrow's ride plan but that may be a bit aggressive knowing how my legs are feeling at the moment.  We shall see! 

Great weather tomorrow but then the heat of hell is back starting Thur and rocketing to 100'ish over the weekend again.  At least I'm stuck at work.  Maybe I'll do some after dark rides. 

Friday, June 22, 2012

Hotter than a .....

It was simply HOT last night.  A bit more humid than yesterday. 

Got to Wakefield around 5pm.  Took a while to get ready and I wasn't rushing.  Had to lube the damn chain and clean the bike a bit.  About 5:35 I headed out and ended up doing a modified 1st race course lap then a normal 2nd lap.  The times were unimpressive.  I wasn't feeling super strong.  My measured pace was 9.2 MPH on both my laps meaning probably 9.5. Looking back in Connect I see the last time I logged an Official W@W lap in Jully 2008 I was a tenth faster but my AVG heart rate was WAY higher. 

On my 2nd lap my Race Strap gave up and all my @#$@ went fling off the back of the bike (tube, levers, and CO2 cart).  Ugh.  Finding the 2nd lever was a bit of work, then stuffing all the crap in my jersey pockets due to stupid zippers. 

Only had 20 signed in riders this week versus 40 last week due to the race, the movie and the heat I suspect, still it was a good group.  On casual we had a ride start on heat exhaustion/stroke so I took her back on the CCT and she felt better after getting off the punishing hills in Accotink so we spun up to 236 and back.  I ended up with 16 and change logged meaning probably 17.5, which means I'm at 65 miles again for the week.  Not bad , just under 200 miles this month and 242 miles in the last 30 days.

Big weekend on the plans again, Beer Fest in sLeesburg tomorrow afternoon, and more bike buying work with J on Sunday probably.  I'd like to get in a good 30 to 40 but dunno if that will be possible. 

Tonight I may finally try going for my first jog in years and I have to clean out the Rogue.  The amount of crap I've let pile-up is a bit shocking. 

Had Southern Tier's Iniquity Black IPA - Nice and malty with a decent hop load, a maltier less hoppy version than say 21st Amendment's Black IPA. 

In foody news the owner of Volt up in Frederick MD is opening a diner serving traditional diner food modernized and it will probably be excellent but a fair hit pricey.  It's on my to-do list next time I'm up in Fred-neck and not sweaty, dirty and such.  It's name is Family Meal on N. East Street.  Yep another wonderfully confusing Frederick street name. North East Street.  sigh. 

Monday, June 18, 2012

Another week of Blah!

Got in a couple rides last week, thursday night was a bit low mileage but hey I did clip/trim back near a mile and a half of race course single track in case I do any of the W@W series this year.  Right now based on how hot Wednesday may be I plan on skipping week 1 for sure.  MId 90's would suck. 

Thursday this week has been lowered from 100/99 to only 96!  Phew.  I was wondering who was going to show up for a ride again along with the devil.  Maybe I'll bring popsicle's instead of beer.  Regardless it's going to be a warm middle of the week. 

Yesterday I only got 24 miles so tonight I'm planning on riding down into DC for another 20'ish.  Last 3 week's I've been avg 65 miles or so a week, and that feels pretty awesome.  Changed my seat position about a quarter of an inch higher on the CX bike for a "change" to see if that helped improve power/ease up.  What I noticed today is the soreness is in my VERY low quads so not sure. 

My Sunday ride was more of a touring/road riding test to see how the ride to Whole Foods in Lk Fairfax would be.  Not bad excluding 2 parts that would be a bit sketchy in traffic.  Not pushing made it over in about 30 minutes and back 26 or so. 

So as the Jester typically says, "Stay Frosty".

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Riding more is fun!

I will say since getting the cross bike a month ago my riding has really shot up, I've done about 50 miles a week extra on average since getting it as my currently mileage this month up till today is around 210 on that bike, which to me is pretty mind blowing, for me really thats 2 GOOD months of MTB.  I enjoy being able to get out and spin out a quick 10-15 miles of distance in an hour from the house or in 3 hours be able to lay down 40 or 50.  Not quite ready to say it's making me a stronger rider yet but I feel like I'm advancing my always keep pedaling mentality a bit away from MTB of coast and pedal that I've lived in.

I still love my MTB and railing Accotink last week was a blast.  The first really dry week in a while, trails were lots of fun to just zoom on.  Also trying to brake less.  Now that seems harder than not pedaling.  I waste a lot of speed/momentum as I brake way too much according to a pretty trusted friend. 

Crap weather is really killing the ability to MTB more or I would have ridden last night or tonight but it was threatening storms last night and raining today.  ugh.  ugh.  ugh. 

Jen was complaining about my car smelling like dirty gym clothes due to biking stuff. So I sniffed out the culprit.  My shoes, the clothes I had in were clean, not dirty.  It's the damn shoes.  Maybe a shoe bag is in order to keep the stink down after I air it out soon.  But I love having the shoes always in the car it prevents forgetting them at home.  Maybe some of that sport febreeze is in order on the shoes.  ugh. 

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Stormy Times

It's been pretty hecticc over the last week and change between the epic holiday parties for Memorial Day (2 BBQ's and 1 street festival), storms on and off and getting a few good rides in.

Unfortunately my plans for a big ride last weekend went up in BBQ Smoke, but a good time was had regardless.  The Sowebo festival in B-more was a good time, saw some good bands, drank a fair amount of beers, bought some t-shirts and relaxed. 

I got my rear mtb tire back on Thursday from the shop, having it re-tensioned after whatever went wrong with it and caused it to de-tension almost half way apparently.  I could have done the ride on the cross bike again, but this was funner for sure doing the bigger stuff in the 2nd half of Accotink. 

Had a HUGE turn out for the ride due to one of the regular's birthday being that day.  I think we had 36 or 37 riders in 5 groups.  Trails were in better shape in general than the last 2 weeks for sure. 

The next morning though I hurt, shoulders and abs in a way I don't usually feel from mtb.  Must have been from being off it for 2 weeks really.

Also had a self fitness sprint out the WO&D on wednesday doing about 28 miles in a bit over 90 minutes.  Forgot to start the gps at first.  D'oh.  The street crossings really suck as I wasn't in a group so I usually fully stopped or almost did to cross roads.  Didn't get passed the whole way out or back which felt good, passed a fair amount of people at various paces.  18 mph is a gas. 

Finally bottling the Choco-PeanutButter-Milk Stout tonight.  Bottling sucks but it's gotta be done and I want to get the IPA under way soon.  It's a Rogue clone.