NoMoCo Epic 2026 - XXL Edition

Weather is going to weather.  While the Fall Camping Trip got good weather for the first time in YEARS, MoCo Epic got pushed to next weekend (17-18).  And I'm outa town and others weren't gonna be around so XXL had the NoMoCoEpic on Saturday, doing the MoCo North Route.  

We were BLAZING Fast after a slow start due to a few minor things like wrong shoes, wrong clothes, and such.   We then had a quick confab with Todd at SGBP who had suffered a face/concrete interface issue on Friday night and had a doozy of a mark on his forehead.  Not riding.  Carrying tools.  Nothing permanent.  Then we were off.  Zoom!  We booked honestly for Hoyes, Black Hills and most of 10MC with the Danger Noodle.  But coming back Hoyles towards the Diabase cut off to follow/do the last 7.5 miles my legs were headed towards done.  I opted to bail.  Larry checked weather and we had a strong indicator of rain in 30 mins.  Everyone else opted out also.  

 

NoMoEpic with XXL - 2026 252 | Ride | Strava

 

And joy of joys....Bumps on the wrist.  MF'ing PI.  GDMFSB.    Sigh.   

 

But it was an awesome ride.    Avg speed of 7 to 7.8 MPH but moving avg of 8.5 MPH over about 28 miles?  Smoke show.   

 

Fred is still in need of love, need to clean and wax chains, I did pickup a new Teravail tire but I think I'm gonna try and glue a patch on the current tire then re-seal tomorrow while WFH.  Still annoyed that the puncture/tear happened right after I'd just re-sealed the tire with Stans/etc.   

 

And it's time to do chainzors..... WAX ON, WAX OFF.   Wax on the commuter bike is awesome, especially fresh wax?  so quiet.  Other than my hubs, but pedaling?  It feels like I'm in stealth mode.

 

Fred Part 3 - I'm almost positive my issues have to do with seat being too far forward.  Fitting probably in Nov...Only 11 months later.

 

72nd day of commuting, I figure something like 80 days is my goal by mid-December.   

 And whoops - Weight in recent 207.1 only a half pound off my last one in early September.   

 

 

 

 

 

Flats and Flats

 Monday Morning.  Post junk transferal.   

No Coffee.

No Breakfast.

Tired, Sore and a tad Cold.

 PhsssSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs.

 

Nothing beats a front tire puncture when your already a bit late to work.  Especially when it's a newly refreshed toobless tire.  Getting sprayed with Stans.  I almost went home and got the CX Rig.  But I opted to just man up and tube it.   Nasty with stans still in it, but not fooling with cleaning out.   Getting out the toobless valve, requires a screwdriver to rotate it a few times, it's seated so well in the rim.  Pumping.  Pumping.  Pumping.  A battery pump is now on the list.  Not quite firm enough.   

Down the CCT I go.  Bethesda Pump near Bethesda Bike and Ski - No joy, its fuxored, lose some air.  Ride to River RD at the Storage Wars, no luck, pump head is also fuxored.  More lost air.  Pumping.  Pumping.  Pumping.  Text work I'm running late.

 915 in the office, 45 mins late, 1 hour 20mins total time.  53 minutes due to slow rolls at times.   Should be 45 mins.  Argh.  Oh well.   

Just under 1500 miles on the front tire and ironically, it had started a faster leak 10-12 days before and on Wed/Thursday last week I'd added Stans and done the ole Shake n Bake method.  Tire was holding pressure really well.  And then spoosh.  Stans in the face.

 

Now the pressure is set, time to replace the front tire.   I ride a LOT of urban.   I've honestly never had a toobless hit like that, usually i've burped tires on MTB doing jumps/dumb crap at too low pressure.  

 

On tonights menu?  Battling Verizon to get the fios up.

 

What kind of Idiot decides to.....

 Move....

 This kind?   

 

 

Lots of Movement though in life and I guess that is the win.  I happened to look back at my stats in the StravaLord this morning and what I noticed is:

Commutes, 73 days of commuting last year.  So far I'm on  62 as of today and by end of this month I'll probably be at 70 or so.  Will i hit 100 this year?  nah.   100 is 2x with only 2 weeks/4 commutes missed and while I ride in some nasty weather, between time off, holidays, school holidays etc.  I'd say 45 weeks of commutes at 90 is a  stellar goal.  Maybe I'll hit by December.  Maybe I'll go look at my goal at start of year.   

 Total Activities,  247.  I'm at 220 right now, generally with commutes being 2x per day and 1 wakefield and at least 1 other hike/mtb/etc at 6 a week?  I might get to 300 activities, from my current 220.   

Moves.  Hopefully the last for a while.  I've moved in my life, in MAJOR ways 18 times.  If I added some minor moves (not usually a house full of crap), it's actually close to 22 times.  With near a 50/50 split on my 30 or older.  Jeez.  Hopefully this next move does NOT lead me down the hoarder path with a bit  more stability.  Tools are hard though...Sigh.   Soo many tools.   

The Home Bar is wild so much stuff, I think it will be 2 trips to move.

The Bikes.  Oh yes.  So many bikes.  So many steps.  :P

Bike maintenance on the docket:

• Fred needs it's chain waxed maybe Thursday evening, prolly fri-yeah 
• Fred's front tire needs a Stan's Refresh - Friday for sure
• Grim needs a chain clean and lube, probably post ride Friday
• Grim time to Mount the Big Light on the MTB
• Fred also needs a saddle change
• Bike Fit for Fred - This month ideally 

Hiking this weekend again, prep for Lost River in October.  Wheee!  

Wait report?  Nope.  I currently am not in a relationship with my Scail.    Over due for sure, last one was towards the end of june.  Jeez.

Mid-sommer Chain Fun for Fred

 

Chain - 3 - Time to come off, 1141.7 Miles.  

• Originally on at 650 Miles - May 13
• Secret applied at 805 - June 5 - 150 Initial, Post 350 - 
• Limited wet/rain rides really does extend life 
• Removed for Clean/Re-wax - 1141.7 - July 29  - 492.6 Miles
• Chain wear at less than .20 still based on Gauge. 

Chain 1 - 550 Miles on it, re-waxed after cleaning on May 13.

• Put back on at 1142 Miles.
• Chain wear at less than .20 - nice!   

Need to Order Chain 4 to have 3 in rotation.   Sigh.    

 

Grimace is getting better, the old bars were a HUGE fix for my old man wrists.   Need to replace the bars this fall though.   Do i miss electronic shifting?  Not a ton, other than my thumbo.   

 

Fred still has fitment issues.  I may need...major changes, I'm about 1 inch/2.5cm/22mm short on reach compared to the ole CX/Cross bike Ichigo.   And thats with Fred also having a much lower seat to stem drop.

 

The rear tire need a HOT date with Stans.   After a bad commute loosing lots of air I pulled the tire on Monday and found barely any toobless juice.  (It was clear??!?!?!).  Wiped out, checked for major punctures with the finger and found none.  2.5 oz of Stans.  Shake and Bake.  I'd say loosing less than 1 psi a day.   Testing over next few days where it's travel and MTB.

Front tire next week.  

 1500'ish miles for the year so far, 1325 in last 6 months.  Not bad.  July numbers are down due to other commitments honest.   I'm sub 200 from missing a few commute chances due to days off and other work commitments offsite.   Oh well, re commit and push in August.   

 

Chain Maint - 807 on Fred.

 Fred got re-waxed with a quick treatment.  807 miles, so about 160 miles since it was freshly waxed.  It was pretty gnarly and I got a serious raining 2 weeks ago on riding.  And 2 long and dusty rides....

Maybe it's overkill, maybe it's Maybelline.   

Lots of riding, I was over 90 miles as of thursday in last 8 days.   Hoping to get 1 more good ride in this weekend.

Lots of Canal.  So nice riding upwards from just about anywhere above Lock 21 or at least Great Falls.

Call me the Movie Critic

 Solid Start of Year.   

 For 2026 so far:

 

A decent start, with June and vacation upon me I do wonder how many hours I'll get.   Do have a few things planned so hopefully a few good rides will push up numbers.

Fred is now at 762 miles on the Strava-dometer.   Once I get the saddle dealt with I think it is hugely more comfortable on long rides.  While the Saturday ride was 3 hours moving it was more like 330 total with some waiting for my partner.   Looking forward to a few legit 4-5 hour rides over the next several months.

Now with Betty disassembled and done and Grimace in place, I've really gotta sort and store all the spares I pulled from Betty.  After I finish my membership cleanup tonight, I may even take a partial day off this week to work on my storage area at home.   2 years and a LOT of the crap hasn't been touched/used since moving.   Old Shoes, Cloths, Tools, etc.   Gotta go.  Char even said that my house is more of a bike garage in the main room right now.  If my comics weren't hogging space I might move 2 bikes into where they are but, oh well.   

Herding Cats for organizing rides?  2 Thumbs Down.:)   

Mando and Grogu Movie?  2 Thumbs Up :P  - Fun, Adventure, Action, and a few deeper ideas.   

Send Help - Funny and gory and a great Sam Raimi flick!    

MTB Bars with 5/6Deg Sweep -  2 Thumbs Down,  old man wrists dislike. 

 Wait?  No idea, maybe a waiting on Wednesday.    

Chains Chains Chains

 I wanna break this rusty ca...err chain?

Been a bit, lots going on in life.  Lots of riding.  Lots of travel.   Lots of stuff.  Trailwork - 2x in last 3 weeks.   

For Tracking I've now officially put Chain 3 (New) on Fred.   Chain 1 since put back on at end of March had about 240'ish miles on it's original wax application.  But the rain on Monday wiped it out.  I debated cleaning and just applying Chain Secret to see how long it kept it going, but opted to just swap in a new and freshly waxed chain.  I guess if you have 2 chains that's what you do.  My actual plan is to get Fred up to 3 chains then I can probably go 4 months before processing and secret can be for quick waxes.

• Chain 1 - Used is at and the chain is at call it 550 miles.  240 Miles on Mar wax.
• Re-Waxed 13-May-2026
• Chain 3 - New - 0 Miles - Waxed after cleaning in April 2026
• Chain 4 - To be Bought in June

Fred is at 650'ish miles.  Felt like it should be more but mostly commutes and long rides home a few times.  

While in Orlando for things at the end of April I rode the HELL out of the ole Volpe.  Took it in for repairs to the bikeshop in Winter Garden.

Highly recommend the West Orange Trail, especially the Winter Garden area (slow due to tons of stops), the more northern end you can get going for longer sets for sure.  Also really dig The Backyard in Ocoee.  Fun outdoor food and beer hall!  Great food trucks.   Think I rode near 90 miles.

The volpe went in for new chain, rear shifting, cables and all the goodies.  With near 3K logged miles in 14 years it's due.  2 or 3 gears were skipping like CRAZY.   Never realized it was a 10 speed!  :)

So far Betty is holding up but creaking in the BB is the reality until I can replace it I guess.  So far it hasn't blown out/fallen out.  But so far only 1 weak WF ride.