300 and a ride

Had a nice mellow CCT/Light Trail ride last night. Things at WF were a bit damp in some area's at first, so we did the CCT out to the tunnel and back, then rode the creek trail to phase 4, to upper phase 1 then creek back to the rec center. It was pretty nice. Not that cold. Used the moose mitts with a new pair of gloves. Very nice, my hands were perfect.

The bike is a MESS. Gotta clean it up tonight and get it ready for Sunday's Kumbya Trail Ride at Greenbriar.

New helmet is nice. It's nice not to have old stinky helmet head. Got a great deal on a very nice 2009 Bell Volt. Hopefully the anti-microbial stuff will help keep it less stinky.

Surprisingly this is my 300th blog post here. I think my livejournal account which I've had for almost 10 years only has 400.

Merry Bike-mas to all!

Have a merry Bike-mas and may all your biking (and well non biking) desires come true!

I'm off to toddle around the hood on my neighbors old cruiser.

Santos is pretty cool, Vortex Park is WOW!

Rode the Santos Trail system today in Ocala FL. Mainly the main park. I did venture in and do the pump track, and large parts of the Vortex Red Loop (But not the actual free ride hits, I did roll past them both high and low.). Pretty sweet. I got some good photos of some of the skills stuff. They build some really narrow elevated stuff. I'm talking some stuff was 8-10 inches maybe. None of that wussy 2 foot crap everywhere thats flat.

14 Miles of Logged Riding (I expect 15 to 20% loss due to twistiness of trails/cover) had drum roll please.......470 feet of climbing. Thats around 1/2half a percent of a percent grade on average. 33 Feet Per Mile.

The DJ section was insane.

MORE later. Off to ache in the shower.

Beer - OH YAH!

Went down to the liquor store near my parents to pick up a 6 pack of something.

I ended up with 2 six's. One of Terrapin Hopsecutioner and Rogue Mocha Porter. While talking to the beer guy he told me about a new place that was on the other side of the shopping center.

World of Beers. 40 on Tap. 400 bottles. CHEAP! compared to DC. I ended up with a Barnardius Christmas Ale. $7 bucks! HOLY Moly! about a 1/3rd or less cheaper than DC. I'm gonna hit it a few times for sure this week.

W-o-B

Dr.Phillips Current Draft List

Snow, hell yah!

Awesome snow ride tonight. Great people, great fun. I'll post more thoughts and pics tomorrow. The motionbased is up and should be linked in the side bar.

Traffic to there was really pretty good!

Ho Ho HO!

Imagine my surprise to turn on the TV and see the Snow/School closing status bars of Fox 5 this morning. A quick look out the window to see a light dusting of the fluffy white stuff. Roads were fine, work didn't even seem to have any versus I saw a bit on the way in here and there.

Yesterday was a not bad day for Trailwork, the rain stopped by 9 or so. At 10 me and my other helper Ben went out and cleared the small section of rerouting where the creek was starting to washout a spot of the trail. That actually took an hour or more. We then planted 2 more trees on the slope we are re-claiming. We built up the primary water stop berm at the top and built 1 intermediate berm to slow the water more also. The reroute is bedding in great and handling water very well.

Then we went up north and did a bit of trimming and such. The rain picked up. I photographed where at least 1 more bridge needs to go in, really 2. Not a bad 4 hours out on the trail.

Hopefully we'll be able to ride trails on Thursday. Have to see how the water flows off.

Can you dig it???

Damn, winter time is a real mixed bag for riding for me. I love the frozen, hard fast speed of trails. Places like Wakefield feel quicker, and at something like the rose, you can REALLY fly. I also enjoy night riding a lot. I think I'm going to commit to more night riding in the spring and fall and maybe some summer trips to places I can night ride also. But the cold sucks. It sucks mightly. 24 and change degrees when we finishes last night.

Ooo and we have a good chance for SNOW next weekend. Damn!

ON the plus size, I have to say Moose Mitts kick ass. Mostly. The fall off my bars a bit, so i'm going to have to sew on some sort of loop/hook to hold onto the bar and and maybe something to make them a wee bit less floppy.

The big plus is once I got a bit warm, I was fine in them just wearing my normal full finger summer gloves!

Got some cool pre-ride photo's and a few shots of the Ice on my bike after wards. GPS track should be cool also. Group rolled about 10 miles in an hour and a half. Not bad for hacking a lung out while riding.

Down with a Sickness

FCK! Woke up Saturday am with a cough and sore throat. By today it had fully moved into my chest. So I am hydrating, drinking tea, and eating soup, it gets me clear for a bit but then blech it's back. Hoping to kick this thing by Tuesday but I'm not counting on it. Just hope to be fully back on track by Thursday.

Got to enjoy the new TV a bit, LOST on blue ray is awesome. Starting from the beginning. Oh well relaxing ain't such a terrible way to spend a down Sunday.

Next Sunday it's Trail Work @CJ. Supplementary work and a short re-route.

Hopefully a better week of work and a better week of Riding.

Check out the new Trail Rat achievement for MORE 2011 - HERE.

Mixed Modes and Options

Let me start off and say I've been laughing my head off at this since Thursday morning, and if you ask me a question involving MTB right now, it's probably going to start off with something about Options:

We have Options!

Trails at WF were still a bit wet, but better than I thought we would be. I got in a pretty good preride of what was almost 5 miles on the gps. Then we rallied what turned out to probably be near 20 riders in the lot and after a slight mis-start we were off. We did Rusted Truck out to the CCThing out to 50. Going under the road in the tunnel under Pickett Rd (I think) was a bit of an adventure. 12 Miles on the CCThing then about 3 more at WF doing the creek trail to sewer line, back along phase 2 to phase 4. Then the upper half of phase 1, ascent hill and berms, back to Salemander and up and out the hell hill. 15 Miles almost on GPS.

Damn nice ride for what may have been really crappy. Good to hang out and chat on the ride and in the lot afterward.

Not sure where I'm gonna ride this weekend. Laurel Hill is a possibility though I might try offering a casual group ride at Fountain Hell on Sunday. Decisions.

Fountain of frustration

I admit, I'm suffering from minor frustration at fountain head. I think the best fix would be to ride it more often. I felt like on the 2nd lap I was taking better lines and riding the place better. But I was cold and tired by the 2/3rds way through the 2nd lap. I will try to get out there more than 1 time a month is my new goal or 1 time every 2 months.

Had a Farmhouse ale for Thanksgiving from a somewhat new brewery, unfortunately the name has slipped my mind. Nice balance of hop and malt, but with the definite flavor from the belgian yeast strain. One big boy of it almost did me in.

This weeks weather is looking like crud for rides, today and Thursday. Or if anything Thursday may be the next edition of the Counter Clockwise Thing. Joy :)

Rocky Rockland Farm

Hit Rockland Farm last night for the first time. You may know it as that place that Plum Grove holds those crazy bike races like SnotCycle and Bakers Dozen, etc.

It's a neat place, not much elevation, but a fun place to ride. The pine tree section along the front and back towards Whites Ferry is a BLAST! I did this section 3 times as I got separated from my group helping a few people and then didn't know I just needed to turn right at the fence and head up across the farm. Oh well, I enjoyed working on the "Stunts" in the beginning.

Once I found a group that knew it's way around I rode with them the rest of the way. Was behind a woman for a while, and trying to be helpful but I think being behind her was making her nervous so eventually I took the hint and passed her. Some nice rock piles and stuff out there and working your speed could be real fun.

The course in some area's was a bit slick due to the light rain. Keep thinking I should order up some Nokians. Just in case for SnotCycle.

After wards enjoyed some brews and talked a ton with people. Very cool. I opted against the donuts as only 1 or 2 were left and a few people were still finishing. Might have to pick up some of those for the long weekend here at work.

Black Rock Mill Trail

Did a quick pre-ride with Neil of a bit of Schaeffer before we went and toiled on the BRM Trail. It was nice to be back out at Schaeffer. I think that was my first trip this year honestly, with the snows staying till late and how crazy the spring and summer was I never made it up there. I'm hoping to hit it at least 1 more time after the first managed hunt but before it closes for the year.

The Black Rock Mill trail is going to offer some great views in the winter! It covers some REALLY rolling ground. We found an old house foundation the park was at least partially unaware of while examining an old car. Cool stuff. We benched and clear a quarter mile in one direction up to an old wooden bridge. Then we went the other way and did a major bench up off an old trail bed getting a nice 4 foot wide tread that required in some spots near 2 feet of material removed. We then went on further and helped cut another hundred yards of trail of low to moderate bench.

Felt good to get out and work. A bit sore today but nothing like after my previous trail day. No hauling big ass rocks I think is the main reason why.

Rolling On!

Nice night for riding last night. Lots of sticks down and 3 trees I found between Accotink and Wakefield. Trails were moderately dry if they were at all elevated. And stuff out in the sun/wind was even pretty dry like most of the powerline trails.

It was a nice 15 Miles or so altogether. A few trees down in Wakefield. Didn't see any in Accotink but I didn't quite ride the FULL set of trails.

DC Fatty's

While at Laurel Hill yesterday I saw a fellow Fat Cyclist in an Orange Jersey, I was sporting the stylish Classic Pink, 1st Ed.

I think we may need to start up a local Fat Cyclist chapter. I'm tired of just hearing about these Philly's or San Joser's, etc.

What a week

The last week's weather has been just on the high side of un-seasonably warm. And very very nice, caping out yesterday with near 70 at Laurel Hill.

I did 24 and change on the GPS. My calculations show there that it's only about 10% lossy on those trails, so about 26 miles. 2 Very nice 11 mile laps. Though on the last lap near the end I did a section of dairy farm trail loop I hadn't done in a while and got whacked by a damn thorn bush. 4 or 5 nice scratches. It's on my list for death now. Then in a fit of brilliance I decided to check out the overlook trail. Worse, tons of thorns and brambles and almost go through one face first. The pipeline work kept me from riding fully out to the overlook so I dismounted and walked over. Neat view, got a few camera phone pictures, we'll see how they turned out tonight.

On the way back I dropped the bike off for a service/checkup and Jay at TBL burke was all over me for not having both the front and rear skewers not tightened enough. Oops and that the rear wheel cups were loose, and I hadn't brought it in. Only needs a rebuild due to contamination. Also finally picked up a new 2.25 Ardent to swap on to replace the bulging AC-X junker in the rear. Should be done today but I dunno if I'm going to head out. Tuesday we are supposedly getting rain also. UGh. Depends on when I get done with work. Shit though I didn't charge the batteries so I don't think I'll be night riding tonight. ahhh well. While looking at stuff yesterday I also realized I'm right around 350 or so miles on the new bike in 2 months. Thats about half a years worth of riding or so normally.

Beers of Note

Had a good urthel last night at Quary house. Nice and dark with a flemish hint.

Last weekend's beer, the Kapuziner was top notch. A very solid and standard Hefe Weizen. Very smooth, and the yeast flavor was minimal (I didn't swirl it).

The SAM 48 Deg IPA is really nicely hopped, decent nose and nice finish.

Warm and COLD!

Good week for riding so far, I got out of work nice and ontime'ish Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday I hit accotink first and was riding by 4:30'ish. Thursday I was wheels rolling at 4:15. Made a good ride out and to the damn in just under 20 minutes on thursday. Then did a slightly longer route back in about the same. Then did the Gas Station loop and finished. Tuesday was not as good. :)

Tuesdays WF loop with the OBW crew was rough for me, I felt played out a lot of the ride and slow! Punched a tree in phase 4 ugh, hurt like hell. We finished by 8 so it was a pretty short ride.

Thursday was better but by the end I was tired as hell and in my little ring. Not fun. Did cover probably about 9-10 miles on the ride. With around 17 total for the day.

What was weird was both days at the start I was only wearing minimal kit on the Accotink section (with Endura Knickers), but as soon as the sun drops out I'm frickin freezing. Added a tech layer, and a fleece at WF.

I always question my sanity this time of year.

Hoping to do some distance at Laurel Hill on Sunday, since I haven't gotten a good long ride in a while. Then I'll drop the Paragon off at TBL for a very needed tune up and some other stuff.

Also picked up some Lat 48's from Sam Adams - Very nice.

Another TrailWork Done

Had a big project yesterday with a rather burly re-route of the CJ trail entrance off Democracy. Should have some pictures soon. But it was a lot of work and I only had 4 others show up versus the original 16 that became 10 that were supposed to be there.

The bigger brush/old logs were supposed to have been pre-cleared by the parks dept but weren't so that took a lot of wrestling, cutting and extra work.
Also we didn't have a ton of hill to work with and so we had to build some water bars and hauling those big rocks down and up the hill sucked. Also hauling tools sucked, may try and get a bob trailer eventually. Turned out pretty well but the exit to the bridge will require more work in the spring I suspect and there is a lot more reclaiming work to be done on the old trail. I stayed after the group left and planted a tree and bermed up the top so water hopefully won't run down the trail. We'll see. I may take a weekday off and go work on it in a few weeks. Riders like it in some ways, others missed the fun old descent. Shades of Fountain hell.

Photo's by Neil of Trailwork

Today is my first non-riding Sunday but the flesh is simply too sore for doing something llke the EF figure 8 of hate. Maybe I'll go look for a digital camera today. I'm tired of not having my own photo's.

Had an awesome german hefe with dinner last night. Review to come!

Rainy Day

Damn once it started last night I don't think it's really stopped raining all night.

Discharge on Accotink Creek is up 5x over mean, and the water level is 1.5 times higher and I bet it gets more later. (2ft vs 3ft right now)

Accotink Creek

Ordered a set of Moose Mits yesterday they'll be here in a week or two, hopefully they do the trick this winter so I don't end up like Chef Tony and have 9 fingers.

Rosey get your Guns

Went to Rosaryville and road with Pete and Sean on Sunday turning in 3.6 laps (1/3 lap then turned around). It was a ton of riding for me and on 2 of the laps we were pushing pretty hard, but due to flubs with start/stop on the garmin I didn't log the full laps. Only my third lap was fully logged and I was already half cooked on it, and still turned in a 63 minute lap with stopping for walkers/other riders and talking to a few of them.

Strange day weather wise, i ended up being WAY overdressed and was cooking half way thru the first lap and ended up just wearing my jersey, having removed my vest and fleece. It's always weird to see STEAM coming off you.

Was cooked after all that and had a few nice cramps in the afternoon/evening.

Weathers looking crap-tacular for Thursday so I'm planning on hitting WF on Tuesday. With 35'ish yesterday I'm right around 200 or so for the month of October. Pretty frickin epic for me. I know some guys out there are turning that in a week or weekend, but for a guy who previously had been lucky to lock 60-80 a month that's a ton.