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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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".

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. 

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.

God I hate lawn work.

A complete first for me yesterday. 

NO ONE turned out for my trailwork day.  I admit I didn't publicize it like I wished but I still usually get a few late arrivals or a few kids who need volunteer hours.  This year I got 0.  Not that I was really disappointed.  It meant less thinking and some self time out to reflect as I murdered plant life up and down the CJ Trail.  So I started with cleaning up the Tuckerman RD to Goya section entrance.  Trimmed that way back.  Hopefully soon it will have a REAL sign.  Then cleared the corridor a bit up the hill, this section isn't ever to bad and only the entrance area will need a follow up before the fall/winter.    Then I drove up to the shopping center and started from the double bridge area first I worked my way back up the trail toward the entrance to pick off 2 bad spots I noticed then I cleared a bridge of debris and a creek also.  Then it was the long march.  I then worked all the way up till the next bridge.  Some area's I REALLY cleared heavily some were more minimal and will require follow up at the end of June for sure.  This was now a bit before 1pm and I wasn't quite done.  I drove over to the Bradley Rd trail intersections and cleared the big bridge entrance WAY back then crossed back over bradley and worked about half way up that section also.  1 or 2 more evenings in the next few weeks should have the basics in good shape. 

The re-route i wanted to do had to be postponed for major inspections/etc.  Looks like it may also involve more sections and end up on an old roadbed possible,  Good in that it will be high up and will dry off quick, bad in that it won't be as fun or flowy as some of the low area's stuff.    We have flagged a temporary line to move the tread up onto to make it okay but with only myself that didn't happen. 

And now it's raining again, looks like another wet early week and drying out a bit towards the end, though this week it's scattered or smothered or covered T-storms (Sorry have a bit of waffle house on the brain this morning it seems).  Hoping it lets up enough for a quick 10 miles or so at least this afternoon.

Big kudo's out to Rich D for winning the Single Speed class at the Pisgah 111k.  I can't imagine riding 69 miles of pisgah in one day.  I've done a fair chunk of the race.  Across 3 seperate days.  oy.

Off to find some slow moving lunch.

Oh Wakefield my friend.

Was feeling a bit tired in the legs last night so I did a pretty mimimal 4 mile'ish pre-ride staying in Wakefield.  Based on my power of the pre-ride I opted to keep the casual group in Wakefield and it was a nice change.  We've been riding mostly Accotink pretty regularly since mid March. 

Had 4 groups out with 32 signed riders and I think .  Most went to Accotink exlcluding us.  So we only saw a few bikers near the end like the fast guys who were coming up thru the bowl on their way back at 10 till 8.  Damn.

By the end my legs were pretty tired with probably about 14 miles total and 10 miles with the casual group.

Good times hanging out in the parking lot post ride and shooting the breeze. 

So far I haven't missed having my big ring much at all at Wake-o-Tink.  The rear wheel is going in on Sunday for spoke fix/retension after bashing a spoke up in PA 2 weeks ago.  I consider that not really the wheels fault but my own so I'm not putting that towards replacement. 

Urban Assault on Arlington.

Great ride with some REAL nutters last night.  These guys have apparently been doing UA rides together in DC for 12 years or more.  Currently they leave out of the Sangamore Safeway.  Since they new some of us joining for this weeks ride wouldn't be on MTB's but road bikes and such a couple of them were also on roadbikes. 

We took off on time and hauled ass back down the hill to MacArthur Blvd and made our way down some goat paths to cross at Chain Bridge.  CRAZY!  Up 123 we went and then the back way leaving 123 up the hill.  ARGH it sucked I made it most of the way but crapped out up the hill.  Then down a bunch of back roads I used to use in REALLY bad beltway traffic, till I realized the Beltway was quicker.  ugh.  Some nice hills.  We eventually made it to the WO&D and I was trying to hang on.  Had a scary crossing on the way. WOW.  We eventually hit Columbia Pike and we motored on for the Arlington Drafthouse and Cinema.

We then saw a screening of 24 Hour Solo from 2006 with the director Jason Berry and the star, Chris Eat-off.  :P

Damn compelling movie, well done showing just how crazy you must be to ride your MTB on some insane course for up to 25 hours straight.  The guy who actually won that specific event ended up pushing himself way to hard and in the hospital for 3 days facing potential kidney failure.  And he didn't re-enter the 24 hour worlds again until 2010.  He did do some 24 hour events in AUS but admitted the traveling made it very hard to have a good crew. 

So back we went by way of WO&D to Mt.Vernon Trail to the C&O Canal to the CCT and back.  Ended up with 29 miles total (I forgot to start my gps at the very beginning.).  Avg speed of 15.2 with a max of 33.3 and that felt blazing!  Left knee is a bit sore/stiff from sleeping sprawled. 

Another ride tonight will add probably 10 miles and friday I'll add probably ANOTHER 10 on top, to bring my weekly mileage for the week to a completely SICK 70 miles.  That is for me.  Damn garmin connect's ability to graph stuff sucks!  I'd like to see a weekly activity graph/chart.  Oh well maybe I'll make a spreadsheet. 

It's the i-Talians for the win.

Got out of work late Saturday and opted to spike Spokes and head directly down to Bikenetic in Falls Church.  Due to stupid traffic didn't make it in till 5:30'ish.  Ugh. 

Looked around a bit on my own and spotted something nice and basic on the wall.  A Bianchi Volpe.

Got the info on it (it was in my cheapo price range, and it was steel).  Had em throw a set of flats on since I was still in heavy pants from work and took it out for a quick spin at 5:45.  A couple laps of the parking area's and I took off for a bit more ended up going up the wo&d a bit before doubling back on back streets.  Was really impressed with it and the position was pretty damn good.  Later I found out why. 

Back at the shop at 6:05 feeling bad they were closed and I was a bit late they were still busy in the store.  I decided I need a longer ride to REALLY get the feel for it.  Go back tomorrow after a morning ride.

Well the morning ride didn't happen as I need to do some grooming with the caps loss, I could finally shave my ratty-ass-beard.  Then I hit the barbershop for a close date with Mrs.#1 Clipper.  I'd forgotten how REALLY short a #1 is.  Between the shave and a haircut a few people today didn't recognize me. 

Back at Noon for shop opening but there a bit late due to Bike DC.  No biggie.  They change out the flats for my clipless and I change into a riding shirt and shoes, forgoing the tights. A nice spin down and back the WO&D, taking a few detours for hills and doing some mini-trails and some gravel sections.  WOOT!

I'm SOLD!

Back at the shop I tell Yon to pack it up I'm taking it home, we look at it and realize it's not a 57 but a 55. He has me get one and while I'm a bit smooshed full in the hoods/drops when up or on the main bar I'm fine if not a bit upright.  Also this one has a layback/setback seat post and with the seat adjusted we gave it an eyeballed measurement making the top tube effective the just about the 59 And I can raise my seat a bit more.  Also if I want to stretch a bit more I can rotate the bars a hair more down. 

After a beer lunch I came home and fought off the nap demons to go out on another spin to set the bike a bit more.  Adjusted the seat a bit higher and headed out.  Another damn fun spin around the land of exile.  As I get more comfortable I'm sure I'll end up a bit faster and as I ride more too.  Also the WTB All-terrain-asorous tires are not the fastest things out there.  I do plan to pick up some gatorskin slicks in the future to try.  Whee!

Now to grill and chill.

10000 Views. All those slow days at work paying off!

Just wanted to mention this blog is about to pass the 10K view mark after 20 years in the making.  Those long days of  hitting refresh from co-workers unlocked workstation are about to pay off in a big way once all the advertisers get a load of this!  hhahaha. 

Had a damn good group of 7/8 last night at Wake-o-Tink.  We railed and road the trails of Accotink which were damp but mostly ride able. We did the whole of Accotink from Boyscout and back.  Kept rolling and had good climbs. 

Had to bail directly after the ride due to work stuff alas, so didn't get to chill much.

So far I haven't noticed not having my big ring any more but WF/Accotink isn't log over city or the flatest place on earth though me and the other Rob did sprint down Danbury Forest after the school.  Can't wait to see the GPS, felt like I was flying.  Damn glad I had my glasses dirt/mud from the tires kept flinging up and hitting my face and chest.

Also while prepping I noticed the rear d was loose and tightened that back up and that I have a massively mashed rear spoke that needs replacement.  Argh.  Maybe it's more about where I ride these days.  It's not just Wakefield/etc so I loose more spokes to damage then I'm used to.  I'll give this rear wheel another 6 months and if it's still being a pain I'm gonna switch to some sort of straight pull spoke setup. Like C29ssmax from Mavic's or Sun Ringle Black Flag's. 

Hopefully going on a big ride Sunday morning or afternoon.  Still need to see the Avengers but not sure I want to go with the hordes on the weekend.  Dark Shadows also looks excellent.

As I suspected.

I came back into work today to un-surprisingly find my 2 new BBG bash guards sitting on my desk, apparently since Friday of all things.  Surprise!   Though realizing the last time I could have checked here was at 11'ish and the mail doesn't always come by then so it was 50/50 odds that they would have been here.  Oh well.

What can I say but chain ring scars on my right leg are sexy, chicks dig scars right?

Looking at The Diesel's logs of what the group did on the other side on Sunday I was VERY glad I did my own thing, they did another 1000 feet of climbing and I would have died and not held that pace either.

Tonight I should finish cleaning my bike, yesterday became a full on recovery day of taking it pretty easy and such.

 Also I cooked my un-used MC appetizer of a Fig, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza and it was AWESOME.  I accidentally had gotten balsamic fig chutney and it worked out really well as it cut the sweetness of the figs and went well.  The mozzarella was awesome and adding bits of goat cheese really helped also.  Grilled on the gas grill it was amazingly good.  

So on to cleaning the bike and hopefully installing the bash guard tonight, then maybe hit the Avengers.  $207M is pretty sick for a movie opening on a non 3-day weekend. 

Man Camp Spring 2012 Wrap Up

Just a few highlights from Man Camp Spring 2012 Ed.

Day 3 - Descending Mt View.  Wow.  If that tree wasn't down half way it would be insane.
Day 3 - Descending Rock N Ridge (starting at 13)
Day 3 - Sitting in the CRAZY Cold creek where we parked to get the damn itchy grass spots to go away.
Day 3 - Darius making Toad's in the Hole.
Day 2 - Amazing dinner and post dinner drinks with a bunch of cool folks.
Day 2 - Death Wing at Boulevard Grill.
Day 2 - Getting the ABSOLUTELY FILTHIEST I've ever been on a MTB.  Way dirtier than the Dozen of 2011.  Riding in wet trails is BAD but it does feel a bit more real.  We did take the road where we could.
Day 2 - Making it up lots of rock garden stuff I couldn't have done last year for sure
Day 2 - Going between those big ass bolders.  Wish I could have ridden more of it without fear of grinding off a stray arm.
Day 2 - Big breakfast, and showing off my mad bacon cooking skills via the oven.  Thanks Hasaan! Though I didn't burn the bacon.
Day 1 - Starting cooking dinner at 10pm, finishing dinner at midnight with Creme Brule Ice Cream and Asparagus baked with prosciutto. 
Day 1 - Damn good beers and wings and Windbere Hotel with a bunch of cycling nutters.
Day 1 - Rode an amazing park nearly in a town with 16 miles of trail in a 1x1 mile area.
Day 1 - Meeting up with Dkeg and Darius for an unplanned lunch at Jean Bonnet Tavern.
Day 1 - Leaving on Time/almost early.

The Rough Stuff
Day 3 - Getting cut off and forced to go 35 miles in the wrong way on PA State Turnpike.
Day 3 - Rock thrown up by front wheel into ankle.  Still hurts.  Ouch.
Day 3 -  uh yah....never mind.
Day 2 - Getting Absolutely Soaked
Day 2 - No bug spray and my camp chair was in someone elses car.  D'oh.
Day 1 - Big Ring leaving me 10 new scars.


Big Thanks to:
Mike and Deb Mucker (sp) for leading, organizing, guidance!
Darius for the Invite
Craig for hanging back so I didn't feel so damn slow

Demo Day Madness

Yesterday I was out at Accotink for Spokes/Trek's demo day at the park.  I ended up taking 4 riders out for MTB rides.

1 guy was cool guy down visiting from Minnesota who does a lot of MTB up there and reports this was definetely the year of the Fat Bike.  He said one race he was at had 40 guys in their own Fat Bike class.  Crazy!  But up there it sounds more usefully/necessary.  Still not sure why RickyD has one.  2.4's would be almost the same between him and me :P

Waiting for my BBG Bashguards to come in so I can try then and see if I want the 34 or 32.

It's always sweet to ride on a newly tuned ride.  The speed of the shifts, the general quietness of the gears and chain meshing well.  It's really nice. 

And then you hit a branch/stick of minimal size that decides to dance in your chainline.  You pull it out and ride on but shifting is OFF.  Eventually  you stop and give it the evil eye.  OH!  The rear D is up at about 60 degrees above normal.  A swift kick and it's back in place.  A bit of grinding and an occasional ghost shift/pop now.  GRRRR.  Back to the lab tonight I guess. 

The bash guard I ordered yesterday is apparently out of stock, so I'm SOL on that for the moment.  Going to post up on the forums and see if anyone has a 34 or 36 T 104 BCD bash guard. 

Good ride though ended up with 15.5 miles logged so I figure close to 17 miles total.

Bad choice in clothes taking only the woolie.  It was WAY to warm and didn't cool down until later last night.  Trails were damp but not muddy at all.  Should be good by today.  Most of the mud I picked up was on the CCT and riding a construction path near the tennis courts at Wakefield. 

A little bit of shopping, and a few more fixes.

Went out after work to get the vehicle a wash and wax. Damn thing was soooo clean I couldn't believe it. The front window was soooo clean it really didn't seem to be there almost, excluding the lack of wind on my face. Wow. I wish I could get the windows THAT clean. Off to Spokes then to pick up some parts and see what they had laying around. First I grabbed a new set of cleats and a new bottle of RnR Extreme lube for the bike. I prefer Gold in the bedroom personally, the ladies like it better! Then I started looking at bikes. Strangely enough they carry Trek and Specialized. I thought that was like carrying Chevy and Ford or Toyota and Honda. Hmmm. So after some browsing I notice they have 2 sets of CX Stuff in, Surly and Specialized. The Specialized was kinda neat as it was setup more for commuting but could handle up to 35's and had disc brakes (BB7). The Surly CC was the wrong size. I played around a bit with the high end Aluminum specialized but it was a harsh mistress I could tell. So then I noticed they had an LHT in 58 so I took that out. Whee! It was a blast. I do believe 58 is the right size for me on CX'ish style frames, though I still need to try the CC in 58. No joy on bash guards and they didn't have the specialized shoe I wanted to try on in my size in stock. So off I went again. Next stop. Performance. Initially I planned for a quick in and out, but in the end I tried out a Fuji CX Pro in 58 and REALLY liked it. It was running SRAM double tap and not bad. The carbon fork up front handled the bumps REALLY well, better than any other carbon front ended bike I'd ridden yet. Did feel a bit too in the race position. A guy there suggested the Fuji CX 2.0 instead as it has a more upright geometry and it has an ultegra rear derailleur. Didn't ride it as it was getting a bit late and I had some other stuff to do. On the way back I stoped at my home supply store and got a set of star drive bits for removing the outer chain ring to eventually put on a bash guard and some super insane glue to try and fix my spinning bottle cage things. I glued the hell out of the one that is out last night, hopefully it's well set and solid today. Otherwise I'll be ziptieing the water bottle cage outa the way. Weather tonight is looking like a mess with a chance of rain at 4 and 5 then t-storms after. Enjoyed a Bells Porter last night. Well done, very smooth and tasty porter that went down with an awesome Willards BBQ burrito with Pulled Pork. Damn good. I did also replace my very worn front break pads are now replaced, unfortunately I couldn't find organics locally so for now its metal scintillated. Noisier. Grrr. Also been working on the ride calendar on the MORE website getting some of the regular rides back on the listing that hadn't yet including 2 Tuesday Rides and 1 Alternating Saturday ride. Also the new map for FH is pimpin. Can't wait for it's official release. Weather is clearing up, looks like the ride is ON!

Spring Rebuilding and Rainy Days

Wow. It's been a while. Last few weeks have been really busy between extra work, going to the old house, and riding a bit. Bike's been showing some signs of un-happiness so last week I order a few major parts to fix a bunch of the crud. Including a new SLX crankset and a few other things. Last night I started the clean up and rebuild. I pulled the old crankset and the bb-30 PITA and cleaned the who set, before re-installing the BB30 and then installing the new SLX cranks. Felt a bit lighter, but I will say the arms while being HollowTech do feel more durable. The interesting bits I noticed is my m550 I pulled off is the same as whats on the SLX, just better spindle/arms I think. Also cleaned and lubed the cables, pulling the housings out and cleaning all the good bits of gunk out. Nasty. A new rear d-hanger was also on the menu, but that meant playing with shifting. Today I'm going to try and pickup a Bash Guard and some other stuff, and maybe a new chain setup specifically for 2x10. That means I've gotta pull the 42, install the BG, possible do the chain, and also need to replace the front disc pads. Again. They are nearly done I noticed. Stupid organics burn quick! Last week I had a good ride on Tuesday at Cabin John doing trailwork recon and Thursday had a decent ride at Wake-o-tink. Oh wait, no it sorta sucked. I was off my game and fell down 1x and nearly wiped out 3 others. My brain was either to active or the eyes/body/mind weren't connecting right. The groups pace was a mess and we had 3 mechanicals. I was done as of hitting the lot at 8:10. Usually I would have pushed on to 8:30. Had a Deviant Dales from Oskar Blues. Awesome. Had a couple others. Then this week I hit a few bars and enjoyed in addition Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat, Oskar Blues G'Knight Red on Draft, Mooseriver Porter, and an Oyster Stout from Ireland that was a bit too Oyster heavy. The porter was excellent. Pictures to come. Also I don't rave about food very often, but hot damn. Went to 8407 Kitchen bar the other night and had Duck Proscuitto wrapped Dates, stuffed with goat cheese. Yum. Yum. Yum. Off to pickup parts/etc.

Cool Ridings

Great night out on the trail last night, got out a bit late and spent a while shooting the breeze with Mark Cox in the parking lot before starting my ride so I only got in 5 or 6 miles before not the 10 or so I wanted. But it's all good. Had a huge ton of riders out I think near 30! Crazy! 4 Groups, a Casual Minus, the Casual (Plus'ish), Moderate, and a Mix Kids Ride.

Damn good.

Intermediate was huge with 14 riders, casual started with 6 but dropped to 5 after 1 member jumped ship to Intermediate.

The main ride covered almost 11 miles. So total I got near 16/17 I think. Weather was perfect at first, I was able to wear just a jersey on my top, but as sun went down I was very glad I added the tech-layer under. After the ride everyone was freezing and it wasn't quite 50. A lot of us forgot to take into account that it was cooler.

Joel K won the grand prize for turning a fleece blanket into a super warm cape. I should have taken a picture. It was hilarious. Especially with him in shorts and flip flops. If he had long hair he could have been the Super Lebowski!

Also scored one of my FAVORITE beers at Giant last night, Leffe Brune. I like it way better than the regular Leffe Blonde. More malty, less yeasty. Hoping to see some non-chilled so I can archive another 6 of it at least.

2 Shows at The Filmore that I want to see. The Cult on June 12 and The Big Faux 4 on June 8. A bunch of mostly chick bands covering metal bands. Supposed to be pretty damn cool.

Sore and Tired

I felt all beat up yesterday, at first I thought from riding Fountainhead. But then I had an epiphany. Fountainhead isn't that rough anymore excluding 2 spots really. So why was I sore? I pondered this for many hours till my light bulb went on. Viola!

I spent about an hour and a half on Tuesday wrestling with our 2 big projects and trying to change the lamps in them. This involves human contortion-ism to climb under the screens, under the projects and then laying on the beams/supports at a VERY uncomfortable angle and then undoing the back plate, fans, and such. Due to issues with bulbs I got to do it 4 times. Argh. If I assume the standing version of the position I was in my body starts complaining loudly.

Fountainhead from where we parked was 11.03 miles. My gps only came up with 8.74. On the cyclecomputer I averaged just above 7.1 miles per hour. Not stunningly fast but not slow either.

Wake-o-Tink again today. Looking forward on trying to push maybe 20+ miles today but we'll see.

Gotta start getting ready for the Big PA trip in May.