Fail. Fail. Fail.

Started off strong this morning, my brother and I were on the road, pretty early for him at 9:30 and we were at Ocala right around 10:45. Tons of people in town for their big Spring Break Fat Tire fest, looks like a ton of Bike Mfg's and others were in town already and setup. Trails were really well marked. Headed out around 11:15, taking Pine Tree around and south to the main entrance to the Vortex area.

My brother made the entry gate ride no problem, hell I freaked a bit on them last year. So we rode some of the basic stuff in the easy side of the vortex, almost pump track like but not fully. We looked at some of the big drops in the quary pit that were all closed due to the rain coming later today. So back we went. Not thinking I went along a elevated boardwalk that drops at foot halfway thru to a lower section. A few seconds later I hear HUFF, crash, WHUFF. Crap.

My brother had tried to follow and gone off right before the drop from the 4ft high section. He was rolling onto his back when I got back. Wheezing. I got his bike out of the way and told him to relax and just breath. Not gonna repeat his response here. Eventually after 10 minutes he sat up and got up but still very sore. Took of his helmet. Good mark on this forehead where the helmet really did it's job.

Other riders came by, apparently I left my bike in the near middle of the trail. Oops. Moved it and came back, now he can speak a bit so I ask him where it hurts. Head, neck, back, stomach, ribs. Another 10 minutes and we go thru the basics. No concussion, arm lift check, collarbone and ribs are mostly okay. Bruised probably. We hang at the picnic tables another 15 minutes and we head back. Sore but riding we take the road and get back to the shop just as it starts to POUR rain! I return the bikes he's trying to get relaxed in the car but really can't.

Long drive back to Orlando.

I fail as a beginning ride instructor is my only conclusion after similar failures with the Wyf and now the Bro-ham. He's resting.

I will ride there again, but I doubt with him again. We'll see, maybe he is made of tougher stuff. Hope this doesn't put him off the bike forever though.

Road Bike-Tard

That's my self determined name as of now involving spinning on skinny tires on pavement.

Ability to ride straight - Negative
Ability to self pace - Negative
Ability to hold a steady pace - Negative
Ability to ride till I puke - Negative
Ability to avoid indicated potholes - Negative
Ability to deal with speed - Negative
Ability to friction shift in group - Negative

Results - Somehow I finished the ride and was only a bit off the main pace, but if you look at my gps data my hr stayed pretty steady. Maybe because I was off the group and working more often to pull myself than if I'd been in the pack.

Riding a classic 1983 (The year my little brother was delivered unto this world) bike with Friction Shifting and the whole 9 yards was interesting. It had a majorly down slopped stem so in the hoods I felt more bent over than at my last annual review at work. A flat stem or slight riser would help, but hey it was a loaner and it worked. I can see how the difference between a road tire and a CX and Semi-CX tire could make a difference also trying to do that.

Total milage was probably around 27.5 or so for yesterday with 20 on the road section and 7 and change on the CCT/Accotink loop.

Accotink was drying out quickly and the 2 sections I checked were nearly dry including Boy Scout which had 2 bad puddles where some berming/cupping is happening and a wee bit o trail work would fix it up in a hurry.

Tried a new RYE IPA from Widmer last night, pretty good but not as good as He'brew's DIPA Rye.

The Search for Spock CX continues....

In my now never ending quest for CX bike action I went to The Bike Lane Reston and tried out a 58CM steed, a Trek ION CX Pro. Nice looking bike, VERY light. They adjusted it up and off I went into the night of Reston Town Center. Couldn't really push it like I did the bikes out on the Silver Spring gravel trail. But it rode nicely in town. Felt like the carbon fork on this did better than the others absorbing stuff, but still not used to the harshness of riding high pressure tires on the road. Even those 34c tires on it. Maybe I can see about arranging a longer test or getting it moved up to TBL Burke where I can take it out to Accotink/CCT and ride it more. A strong contender.

1 Point of Hate - The fucking bars piss me off, those weird humped-assed bars KB cooked up for use that aren't the traditional bull horns. They felt short at the far end of the drops (Closest to saddle). And the hump hurt my hands at least without gloves, and I don't think it's a matter of padding. Also riding "in town" I realized that I really would LIKE to have a cheater. At least for the front. Also due to the "humps" it felt like the reach for the brake levers was REALLY long.

Position wise the bike felt like a good fit. Wouldn't know whether to use clipless or clips on this bike. Noticed it less on this than the others the loss of "power" The gearing felt HUGE. It's running a 36/48 and 11-28 in the rear. I guess maybe it was the "HILLS" me thinks I'm in for some suffering on my first few rides when I start trying to ride shit I road on my beater bmx as a kid. Sigh.

Still on the list to try is hit Bikenetic and see what they have and I also want to try and hit spokes as I'd like to try some Salsa rides out.

Winter Party - Survived.

The MORE 2012 Winter Party was survived by all attendee's/participants/etc.

I was WAY late to the setup due to unfortunate issues with a big frickin screw in my rear passenger tire. I did help re-allign the tables so that row 4 didn't have room to drive a car in anymore and row 2 would have to sit on row 1 and 3's laps. IE. Row 1 had 4 paces from wall to far side of the chairs. Row/Table 2 had 2. Row 3 had 3. Row 4 had 7 paces of width.

Tons of food, I saw several people make it out with 5lbs of mixed brisket, chicken and potatoes.

Band was awesome.

20 Year Video - MORE Than Enough: 20 years of the Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts.

MC wasn't very drunk till the near end.

Links to come to vid's and pictures.

Gave away my grand prize of ride leading to of all people Larry.
Quarterly winners were Debbie, Eric C, Joel K, and Debbie (Again).
Big cheers to all my leaders who get their paperwork in. Big shaking of finger at several who epic fail including JoeP (who gets a partial pass for organizing the winter party), Eric B, Pat M, Anne M, and a few others. GET YOUR WAIVERS IN!

Big thanks to our Beer Sponsor, Sierra Nevada for providing 2 kegs.

Now I'm going to process the first 2 months of 2012 ride entries.

Sunday I got to ride 3 cx bikes, the cross check was my favorite, the CDale AL bike wasn't terrible. The giant kinda blew, bad components, and the 58 left me feeling WAY stretched out. Looking to try a cross check in 58 and try some more bikes before making a decision. Not getting into cross racing, this is more for mixed surface rides/etc.

Thursday is BACK!

And we are back after 7 weeks of being shut out at WF for trail rides, we had almost 20 riders out for great conditions yesterday. Trails were near perfect, fast. a hint of tackiness in corners. Damn. The rollers on the power line were FAST!. Did phase 4 2x. Ended up with 10+ miles with the casual group at Wakefield on a semi late start.

Did a bunch of Accotink but my gps was paused apparently for a lot of it. ugh. ugh. ugh. Felt a bit stronger over there, climbed the damn Dam climb with no real problems for the first time and made the other climb that had stumped me on 1st try for most of last season.

Probably 45 miles so far this week and I may get to do FH with the WF Krewe on Saturday since I'm off.

I'm looking forward to kicking back with a good dinner and a brew tonight.

Is it possible? A Thursday night trail ride at Wakefield?

Stay tuned on this bat channel, at this bat time!

Anyways old Batman reruns aside, I think we've got a VERY VERY good chance of having a trail ride tonight at Wakefield, the first real ride since the beginning of January due to never ending rain's on Tues thru Thursday mucking up the trails. We got a bit last night but with how warm it should be today I think we'll be fine this evening.

Cleaned the bike last night, washed a ton of bike laundry, and cleaned up my junk room a good bit.

Also completed the final MORE Ride Reckoning for 2011. Mostly.
549 Rides on the Calendar
136 Waivers, 64 Known Weather Cancellations = 200 Known Ride's for the big raffle at the Winter Party.
4 Parks account for 3/4's of the rides: Patapsco, Wakefield, Schaeffer, and Rosaryville.
8 Parks had no official rides.
10 Parks had 2 or less rides.

New Waivers printed finally also.

WMA Assault

Sounds like some sort of MMA or Wrestling event.

And it sorta was if you count wrestling my bike back up 700 feet of ascent in about half a mile. IE a 25%'ish grade. After already ascending about 150 feet of maybe worse hill. Needless to say I was pushing and pushing and pushing as evidenced by my GPS's un-logged distance and my miraculous jump of 400+ feet of elevation at one point. I did ride out the last bit of it, but it sucked.

Going down was a blast except for a bad blow down. On a big DH bike with a known clear line you could redefine FLYING. Honestly it would be a good non-technical shuttle spot. Park a car or two at the lot on the far side near 66 then drive to where we started then you get a 2.5'ish mile run descending 1300 feet. You would want a lead out with a radio or something to make sure the trail is clear of hikers and hunters and to probably take a hand saw to clear 2 of the blow downs. We were cruising down and rolled it in 17 minutes to the far side with a big detour that can be skipped. For the nutters they could really challenge/gauge their fitness trying to ride back up.

You do ride along about 50 feet or so of the AT. And one of the camping huts in nearby we rolled over to check it out and rest for the final leg.

Today I've got a MORE BOD meeting, I may try and get a bit of a ride in at Wakefield before hand.

Shed'ing Part Three

Sunday I got to do a 3rd section of the shed based around the Hamburg Rd lot including bits of Blue, VW, Rusted Bug, Knuckle Buster, Dave's Trail, Huggy Bear, Little Cannan and Bugflats. Almost 11 miles I think. Not in that order though. I was turned way around by the end. We came out where I though we wouldn't. Oops. Oh well. It worked out well, still a bit tired today. My arms were more tired than I realized.

Heading out to Thompson WMA out 66 today after work for a bit of explority riding.

Lots of drama at work recently just somewhat wrapped up yesterday with a person departing. Now we only have a shit ton more to deal with before the re-org on April 1.

I'll be glad when this is all done, especially if I get my promised Saturday's off back. I've been looking at that longingly since I was made shift lead 2 years ago, and instead gave up my 2nd day off, even if it was Monday.

I'll link up Denis's photo of me from the shed later. Pretty cool.

Newness of Note, rain never ending.

Got to ride the new NEW stuff out at FH on Wednesday after working doing the first 2 loop sections (ending at pick nick tables). That's now almost 6 miles. Compared to just shy of 3.75 miles 2 years ago before the first project started and now that the RTP grant work is nearing completion. I think it will be near 6.5 by the time they finish.

The new stuff leading up to and after Jackrabbit Run is going to be sick as it compresses down and gets FAST. The berms are REALLY nicely done.

There does need to be some re-work done especially on PTD's stuff on the Shockabily lead up and a bit of the bypass.

Rained enough yesterday I wasn't down for another CCT ride and didn't want to try chasing Larry around on his vintage '83 Canondale. My legs were tired and I got a LOT of work done on finishing up the 2011 Ride Lists. Hoping to finish the 1st half one today and start normalizing tonight/tomorrow.

Did get to try another CoCoNut Porter, still digging it. Also tried the DFH Pearl Jam beer, a nice mild Belgian ale, the currants were really not noticeable to my palate. Well done beer. Very approachable for Belgian style.

Snow inbound on Sunday the question is to stay local, semi-local or go farther afield and try some skiing. Not sure yet.

Oy who loves their bike?

Well I got a chance to love mine yesterday. I blew off the Rosey ride as honestly 100 extra miles of driving round trip was going to lead to someone ending up on the 11 o'clock news. And not in a good way.

So I did a near work ride and got in 11 or so miles. Even did some 1 mile sprints. God I suck. I have no REAL power and my sustained ability sucks. 3:25 and 3:34 were my times. Admittedly a mtn bike ain't no road bike, but still thats slow to me. I never did timed miles back when i used to ride Baylands a lot but I did do shorter sprints and I know I used to crack speeds for short term of 25+. I see near 23 as best. Ugh. More "ROAD" work ahead.

It was a good ride, I felt about 75% calmer and less like doing unspeakable acts upon certain people.

In geek news I got to play the new Mass Effect 3 demo last night after the ride and was very impressed. Good buy cruel March rides, I shall see you again in April...or May.

Gotta finalize my Fla trip today for March. Hoping to Santos with my Bro and see what other trouble we can get into. Gator Nationals that Sunday then who knows?

Great bit from Bike 198.

Thursday Sucks. Honestly.

Mother nature has made the Thursday Night Ride her B@#$@. Another night not on trails this week and last week was also. Next week isn't looking spiffy with rain/snow coming in again next Tuesday. This earns a giant WTF.

So we did the CCT south last night, but it was a comedy of issues. Dead Lights, Flat Tires, Group Drops, just to name a few. OH and REALLY wet low water crossings. ON the way out once you get past 7100 you have like 5 or 6 low water crossings. 5 were not that bad, if you rode slow you didn't get wet. Last one was a BIT DEEPER. As in about 6 inches deeper. Almost to my bottom bracket deep. AS in soaked my lakes almost. UGh. On the way back I wimped and used the steps carrying my bike, but my socks were already soaked. Wool is awesome as it did manage to stay mostly warm till the end. Damn things are still wet on the drying rack this morning. After that I gate up on staying mostly dry and did the 5 other crossings getting from wet to damn wet. 21 Miles I believe someone said, my gps had 20 so that makes sense.

Michaux on Sunday if I can get up on time. Jen's having a birthday party Saturday evening. We'll see how it goes. Might have a bit of snow on the ground. Won't be hugely disappointed if it gets rescheduled somewhat honestly. Next week I may run a lead ride at LH. Or maybe I'll try and hit Fairland.

Sun to Snow to Sun to Snow

That's the pattern this time of year, Tuesday last week (1/31) we had a high of 68 degrees. I rode in shorts and a shirt up until after dark, when I added a tech layer under the shirt. (Accotink and Wakefield).

Thursday it felt cold and I rode in mod weight winter gear on the CCT.

Sunday I rode the shed again. In the snow. In heavier winter gear but was a bit warm. It was pretty wet and most trails were not snow covered directly. We did Salamander to the Overlook then ridge and then ended up going all the way down Vandal to near the res. The climb up sucked. Sucked. Sucked. Or rather I sucked. Back up we went eventually I caught the main slower group and a few of us did Kinks back to the Sandflats lot. It was pretty good and I cleared most of it, skipping 2 sections.

Afterwards we enjoyed excellent homemade salsa and chips and PLB's. HeBrew's RIPA is pretty damn good. MAD Elf is still nyquil. Skipped super bowl as I was tired and I was actually in bed and sleeping by 10 I think.

Last night was J's birthday so I got no riding in, instead I'm hoping to get in another Snow Ride here in the lowlands of VA today. 1-2 inches. Yesterday it was 55 and felt closer to 65 in the sun, had my windows down in the car even!

Maybe some sledding if I can find a hill with enough snow!

Of course it's going to melt overnight/during Thursday so that means no snow/trail riding yet again for Wakefield Thursday Night. GRR.

Support this.

I love Ride the Divide, I watch it probably once every 3 or 4 months. Throw it on as background when having social gathering. This new film sounds like another great production. So help em out if you can and lets break the 10K mark!

Reveal the Path!

Working on nailing down ride waivers for the last half of 2011 first, which I seem to have more of for the club. The amount of cancelations due to weather this fall is really kinda sad. Lots and lots of the C word.

Speaking of that tonights Wakefield ride is not looking good, we've had on and off rains and semi-continual misting. Ugh. Not looking foward to another Plan C ride.

The Shed.....

Well it finally happened.

Chris burned out almost everyone's retina's at the ride yesterday with his Stig inspired bike outfit. I won't subject your eyes to the trama directly but it's out there on flickr. I believe Denis C ruined at least one camera taking photo's.

I also got my first Fredrick Watershed ride in. Me likey. I opted out of the optional early climb to the shuttle point and instead caught a ride up with Chris and Marco before his outfit of doom was applied.

We then rode Skink, Salemander, Iceberg, F2, Viper, and Pit. I bailed on the last part (Vandal). I was feeling it with the lack of riding lately. And nothing like that since the fall at Rattling Creek.

Had some good sections where I was very happy with my rock handling, then a few I should have tried or done better on and a few where due to the group it just wasn't worth trying. And plenty of things I couldn't figure out how to do for my life.

Going back next week is the plan, but who knows if that will or won't happen. Tried ot really pay attention to the trails so I can go back and ride some of it again even by myself, though I dunno if I would do iceberg or F2 by myself. The built stuff at Capital Hill is amazing.

Great to see a bunch of familiar faces up there including Chris, Todd, Darius, Adam, Marco and anyone else I forgot and any of the new guys I met, I'm terrible with names. D'oh.

Michaux jaunt possible 2 weeks from now that I REALLY want to do.

Beers, Bikes and Broncos

Congrats to that Nutter up in Denver and his buddies for sending the Steelers home for the rest of the season. But don't get your hopes up Bronco's fan. It was close and a better running team will beat them. Will it be New England? Maybe.

Had some excellent beer this weekend of note, but no pictures.
Widmer's Galaxy Hopped Barleywine - On Draft - Wow it was good and smooth, excellent balance for a 10%. Good malt flavor not overly alcohol forward.
Legend Barleywine - on Draft - Only had a taste but it was super impressive, but at 15% ABV it's an asskicker. That puts it in wine range, meaning a pint is like drinking about 3 glasses of wine aka - legally sloshed. Even a snifter is pushing it.
Founder's Porter - On Draft - The coffee notes seem bigger on draft, more roasty, but still my favorite porter.
Founder Imperial Stout - Bottled - This was just crazy awesome, I'm glad I picked up 2 4 packs so as to stretch out my supply into summer along with Breakfast Stout, however I think that the Imperial is better. Breakfast is almost too complex to drink at all but breakfast honestly.

On the homebrew front tonight I'll try and roast the peanuts for my PB Choco Stout. I've got plenty of supplies so I should be able to make a mistake or two. Green peanuts are NASTY! Honestly waiting for Snow for doing the next beer. 2nd gen Snow Day IPA. Gonna half and half it I think half normal, half raspberry.

Biking wise I didn't do as well as I wanted this week but I did get in 2 rides, a bit longer one at Wakefield running near 2 hours total with pre-ride on Thursday. The trails were pretty good. Then Sunday it was a Laurel Hill day, got in a full loop with return via Giles Meadow in just over an hour for near 12 miles.

Riding this week is looking Paved. Possible rain today, possible rain on Wednesday. Ugh. Double UGH even. Busy week at work and around the area this week. Though I am successfully managing my current nerd addiction pretty well (SW The Old Republic).

Trail work 1 of 2, Riding 0 of 2. Oh yah.

So I'm wrapping up numbers for MORE today for Rides we had listed for 2011. Here are a few highlights:

525 Calendar Listed Rides
Unknown Actual Rides (est 330).
62 - June # of Rides, Most of Year.
21 - Feb, Month with Fewest Rides.
44 - Avg # of Rides a Month Rounded Up.
Parks with Most Rides - Pataspco and Wakefield.
Parks with No Love - Too many.

So if I do end up remaining Ride Co-ordinator, my big push this year will be for every park to have a lead ride at least 2x per year. Probably over reaching but who knows?

77 Rides in Garmin this year for 880 miles logged. But I was missing my GPS for almost 2 months so I'd figure add another 200 miles as I was riding a good bit during that part of the summer as stress relief. So with 10% loss avg I'm going to tag that I had say 90 rides for 1200 miles. Not bad, but I do want to do more, but right now that means I need to go to the road at least somewhat. Ugh.

Did a minor build project by myself on Cabin John yesterday near River Road, doing a cleanup/fix of a incomplete reroute near a bad washout from the fall. Had to move some big rock, fill some major holes and move a lot of loam and dirt. Ended up pretty decent. Pictures to come.

Back to work.

CJ at Night

Finally got up and did the CJ Night ride with Michael W (no James) last night. It was a damn good ride really. Started from the group picnic lot on Tuckerman Lane and rode to the Goya Drive end first. One area in there really need a reroute as the stream edge is really close.

Then we went south. 1st 2 sections weren't in bad shape, pretty damn dry in fact. But then we got towards near the end of The 7 Bradley rd to River Road section and there are 2 big washouts. 1 already has a decent bypass. The other is in need of some real work. Might be time to consider a full re-route of that section.

12.9 miles according to Mike's cycle computer, my GPS came up 11.8.

A spoke gave out early on or maybe Saturday at FH so thats another thing to be handled when I drop the bike off tonight. Gotta clean it up a bit for sure before then or they will flip on me.

I have to note again how impressed I am with the new Gemini XERA lighthead I got a few weeks ago. It's great, solid light and good life on the battery. I was re-reading on the GeomanGear page about the 1600 I have, apparently the red status occurs at the 50% battery mark, not 25% like I thought so maybe it would run almost 2 hours on high and 2.5 on 3. I'll have to push it soon on another ride. I will say on high it is incredibly bright and the next step down is still Very Bridge.

Wakefield Festivus on Thursday night, not looking like a trail ride at this time, more of a CCT or such.

Ouch. Never trust a Trail Liason.

Damn busy week last week while off, the weekend before was busy with stuff. Monday became a day of house cleaning, and passing out forgetting about a MORE BOD meeting. oops. Tuesday was a relaxation day. Wednesday I went to Fountain Head and rode. Thursday was a 2x ride with a stop at TBL. Friday I don't recall but I think it involved b33r. Saturday was trail work and ride at Fountain Head. Good to see a bunch of folks I haven't seen in a while including Paul H from Rosaryville. We moved a LOT of lumber again. Probably a couple tons. Then we moved a couple of tons of rocks a short distance building a wall.

Then we got to ride the new stuff, the new entrance loop is AWESOME! Then we only did the blue loop and rode the new SOB alternate. Very cool, better than it was on Thursday. Then we tried the new exit loop. It will be really cool once it's done and compacted down.

Sunday I was too sore to do the Shed Ride, which had 70+ riders in 7 groups. Thats awesome. So instead I lounged, helped at the old house, and TCB'd.

Now I'm back at work. Back on the self fitness chain gang, though I'm still sore from Saturday. Trying to decide if I want to ride tonight or not, the rest of the week is looking pretty shitty.

Tuesday the Paragon goes in for new chain, new (already owned) cogset, and a rebuild of the fork (seals and fluid). Didn't know it was supposed to be done once a season, it's been a year and a half.

DC Bar-si Ride

Riding with DC Tony is always an adventure. On MTB Rides you know what the score will be. A broken chain and maybe a flat. Ok. On an urban ride it's different but the same.

Traffic Lights? Ignore Em!

Stop Signs? Suggestions!

Lane Marks? What a Joke!

Directions? For Spaniards, Not Italians.

If nothing else it was entertaining risking life in limb in the heart of DC thumbing our noses at the collective multitudes of DC.

I met the group at Haines Point and did a lap before by myself to warm up. DC Tony was at the Club House and warned me they might close gates before we got back. So I moved my car to the Tennis Courts. The group arrived a bit late, a bit after 7 and we waited a bit for Larry and Liz to catch up. Then we were off, finishing across the 14th st bridge I think and up to the Capitol to meet with Joelski who had Metro'd down with his shiny nused Dawes road bike, he bought for $35 bucks earlier in the day. What a great find.

We then took pictures at the Tree and of the nuts protesting at the Capitol. Then we were off to our first bar (2nd technically, the club house bar was closed). Ended up at the Capitol Lounge. They looked at the 13 of us like we were nuts. We had beers and rolled out a bit after 8. Off to the Argonaut on H street. Damn good we had a bunch of pitches of Bells Double Cream Stout there and DC Brau and some Long Hammer IPA. I had an awesome Cubano. We took off from there to misc rowdy cheers as we headed up I and headed towards The Big Hunt in Dupont Circle. Some scary ass riding later and we arrived, shaken but not stirred.

The Big Hunt was also busy but we got a table in back and beer pretty quick. Unfortunately I fell prey to one of the big issues at the Hunt, my beer was soured. I didn't even finish it or feel like arguing. We rolled out of there a bit after 10:40. Back down past the Cap.

I split from the group and went down to Haines Point at Ohio. Ended up doing another lap, but I was pooped and couldn't push it as hard as I wanted. Barely averaged 15. Maxed at 22. LAME!

Still not bad night probably 19-20 miles of riding for me. 4 Beers, 1 Cubano. Good times with good people. Can't wait to do it again. With someone else leading. :P

Last weeks Wakefield ride was nice to be out on the dirt. Trails weren't optimal but it had been to long. Most stuff was dry enough a few area's were still wet.

I'm off this next week and hoping to get in some rides in new places to try and finish Trail Rat 2010. We'll see.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Shameless Pimpage

Part 1 - The Pimpage - Easy money for MORE



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.

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.

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.

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.

And the curse rolls on.

Well it rained most of Thursday again, so I went off for a MORE/IMBA pre-meeting before the fall .GOV ride out at LH today, that I'll get to a bit late. Unfortunately the IMBA group had to bail early as a team member apparently fainted while out to go to dinner from not eating enough. So Jason and I were left with a free beers and no one else so we headed off to Whole Foods for some better beer and food.

Bells Hopsolution is Delicious. Very well balanced for a 9% beer. Stoner and I killed the Keg as Ben B showed up later found out when he tried to order one and about 3 ounces came out and the keg was kicked! I went for sushi which was pretty damn good and Stoner got a plate of indian type stuff. We hung out and shot the shit about riding and dogs till a bit past 9. Then we were off. I crashed out at home by 10, and slept till basically 7. Ugh.

This weekend was supposed to be the Bliss but lack of participants caused it to be canceled, now we are facing rain/snow on Sat. The Gambril/shed area may get 5 to 8 inches! Not sure if I wanna deal with that or not on Sunday.

So I may try and shoot out to LH right after work today to get in a part of a ride with IMBA .GOV ride.

It was a good ride.

So finally on Sunday I was able to pull the bike out and try and figure out what the hell was going on with my "ghost shifting" issue. Had to wash a good bit of mud off the bike. Wiped it down and inspecting the rear d I found the issue, the shift cable was about 3/4 frayed/snapped. Oy!

Over to TBL Springfield I went and the guys got me fixed up real quick. Though the shop guy did note my chain is getting close to warn out and that my rear gear set is pretty chewed up. Not unexpected. Fortunately I have a new rear gear set that I won at the MORE Winter party for 20-20-25 trail work. And it's a WAY nicer one that came with the bike. Tempted to also go ahead and replace the triple at that time, but I really would like to go to a 2x instead of the 3x but that requires a new front derailleur and shifter also in addition to the crankset and it's just not in the budget I guess.

So after getting the bike back to rideable I headed out for a quick tour of good ole Laurel Hill. Nice fun to zip around the place. Didn't feel great at first, couldn't generate power and was tired at the end. Argh, gotta ride more. The washouts were HUGE. The one at the big bridge on Giles was shocking as was the one in the field. The crossing at the bridge one sucked. The weather/temps were amazing. It was SOOOO nice. Though with some of the brambles I would have like to have had my enduro's on.

Hoping to hit Schaeffer tomorrow night but the weather is not looking super happy. With rain possibly tonight and then Thursday is looking like another non riding night. ugh. STOP IT MA NATURE!

GRilled up some steak and sausage when I got home and enjoyed a SixPoint Sweet Action, a tasty brew in can. Check em out.

Down with the wetness

It was still pretty wet in most area's of WF last night, about the only stuff in GOOD shape was one area of the creek trail and the powerlines stuff where the wind worked well to dry out stuff. The trails under the trees are holding a water still in part due to all the wonderful leaf cover, that is starting to come down. By Saturday I think WF will be decent. So we ground the CCT mostly. Visited 495 and did the powerlines and parts of the creek trail. ugh.

495 is in for issues, looks like the construction company is starting the stormwater drainage work in the area and with the size of the pipe going in some lines/stuff there is probably going to get taken out. The building there also seems a bit haphazard currently, some stuff is huge now but it blows out the lines, and the beginner line stuff isn't being maintained really at all.

And my shifting went to SHIT last night about half way thru. Ghost shifting plagued me in many gears on and off the rest of the night,first really shifting issues I've had with the bike. It was pretty damn grubby and I didn't really inspect it in detail in the lot afterwards. We went pretty much to some PLB's after getting back and changing. Then right to 'Roy's. Nice having a small group we got to hang out and really shoot the shit. Good times.

Tonight I may go pick up ANOTHER brew kit and some brewing gear. Not sure. Part of me wants to F'off, clean the bike and take it easy. But another part KNOWS I need to get the secondary ready for the brew, get ready for the next brew and pick up the new HOPNOG 2011 kit. The 2009 was my basis for my Snow Day IPA that everyone loved.

Return to Little Bennett

Last night I got a chance to return to one of my favorite stomping grounds for night rides, probably the 2nd place I ever did a night ride, Little Bennett Park. It was a fabulous night for riding temperature wise. Looking back at my GPS logs, I see this as my 10th logged ride at LB, since May 2007 and my first in over 3 years! I think there may have been one or two un-logged ones, but I'm sure it's been about 2 years at least since I'd ridden there. Crazy!

The new trails Trail Conservancy has put in will be a BLAST once they bed in and dry up fully, even on a few of the dry sections we started to really pick up some speed! Kinda like Rosaryville but a bit more rolling at least on the Browning Run reroute so far. The final climb back up Kingsley towards Purdum sucks! Nothing like a 15 degree pitch or two to make you suck wind. Parking at the Burnt Hill lot makes it a fairly interesting and somewhat different ride. Flying down from the top of Tobacco Barn is still a BLAST! And Pine Grove is still a nice challenging climb. Good times. LB doesn't get the props it should, when it's dry its a real blast, when it's moist/wet in low area's like last night it's a real work out.

Also got in a quick pre-ride at Schaeffer, doing 2 laps of the whoops, the first was terrible the 2nd was better, need to spend some time learning the slight changes in the lines and the difference in momentum my 29'r requires versus the old Giant. Did white down to the orange whoops cut off, then at the merge I rode white down to the stream and took the green bypass over to yellow and did the sections of yellow I hate back to the lot, not bad. Saw Joel, Sharron and Mark getting ready to head out with the Tuesday Night group.

With the rain today I'm surprised both rides didn't have a WAY bigger turn out as I suspect tomorrow's rides will be canceled, the trails were still all on the marginal side. Maybe a CCT or a Bar Ride for Wakefieldians.

Boards Beers and Rides

Busy Busy week continues from the Brewing on Friday, Sunday's brunch/planting/etc blitz, yesterday I got in a good ride at Schaeffer Farm smoking my best previously recorded avg pace by .8 miles an hour. When I adjust the rate to the true distance it puts me at 9.4 mph. That's flying for me, no wonder the legs are feeling a bit gassed. Did the full white loop, then did the other side. Was running out of daylight at the end, that kinda sucked.

Then we had a MORE Board meeting. It was good, covered a lot of stuff including MOCO Epic related, tasks, strategic vision, and info on the new site. Looks really good.

The beer is fermenting well, surprisingly it hasn't overflowed into the drainage bucket. Who knows maybe today?

Tonight I'm into DC for the Pearl Jam 20-20 movie with a buddy who's a big PJ fan. Thursday we should have some sort of ride baring storms. And I'm hoping for a Friday Night Lights ride, but that depends on just how much rain we get over the next few days. This weekend I may be working a double in prep for having the following Saturday off.

A Brewing Headache.

Brewed some stout finally last night, but it's a long drawn out tale of misery, annoyance, shattered life and sweet completion.

I intended to kick off promptly when I got home with the water just a bit after 4. I get chanced into ratty warm weather clothes and head down start getting stuff together when I realize I only have my empty'ish small tank and the old taken from the old grill. I hook up the old tank and see what happens. The gas is not flowing well. I suspect the valve is going/gone bad. Grrrr. Oww to the nearest Blue Rhino exchange. By the time I'm back and ready it's nearly 5:30. In we go. Using a kit from Northwestern Brewery Supply for Choco Stout. Steap some grains, enjoy some Troegs fall Perpetual IPA. Damn good. Eat some pizza, time to add malts and other things. Add malt and 1 container of PB2 - powdered peanut butter (De-oiled also). Start gathering things for racking to the fermenter including sanitizing my 6.5 gal glass carboy. Water and iodine in, let it sit. Bring it into the garage before dumping it in the sink in the house. I set the thing down. Carefully as usual, but on concrete. Crack! Out pops a piece and out goes the water! Well at least it wasn't in the house. Mop all the water I can out into the driveway. New plan. Use the secondary for now and either use blow-off hose or normal valve till I can get a new primary and re-rack the beer. ugh. Off to the HW store. Get some new transfer tubing as my current one is a bit nasty. Pick up some hopefully right hose and back to base.

Oops only 15 minutes left and I'm late adding the final hop addition. Oh well. In go hops, final bit of PB2 and the wort chiller. Start prepping other things. Time's up and I'm cooling the wort. Ugh sanitize the secondary. Get everything set. Start the transfer.

Trub city with all the PB2 in the mix. ugh! Terrible. Almost 4 cups in just racking the beer almost took an hour. I need a new pot, with a simple drain. Oh well. Gravity kept changing, started off near 8, but an hour later I rechecked the meter/reading and got 5.2 Oh well we'll see. Clean up. Damn. I like having my own brews and doing stuff like this PB Chocolate Stout is very cool (if it comes out alright).

But damn stuff like this sucks. Bottling Sucks. Cleaning Sucks. Oh well back to work and dreams of rich peanut buttery chocolate stout.

New Hydration Bladder

Got the new hydration bladder I ordered only on Wednesday! Damn. Love the new quick connect on the hose at where it hooks to the bladder, makes draining/drying easier for sure. No more funk-i-fied bladder usage that I've been ingesting who knows what little germs/critters, for the last few months.

New set of pads should be in for the rear brakes in the next few days.

BOD Meeting this Monday up in G-Berg. Hoping to get out of work a bit early and hit the Schaeffer pre-ride.

Weathers looking crappy for next Thursday. Enough with the rain! GO AWAY!

Also took advantage of the Back Country Research deal on 2 straps and a Tuhl-Bag for fall riding. I love being able to ride without the hydration pack, at least in area's where I know I'm close to the parking lot like Wakefield or Accotink if I park up near there. Rides where I'm liable to get further out I still carry a pack usually if riding alone. In a group I may try and cheat out of it and have others carry a spare tube. I'm lazy. Almost time to remount the flask carrier also.

And I think tonight I shall brew. Not sure if I'll do the Raspberry IPA or kick of the stout finally.

Cold Crisp - Yep OCT Wakefield TNR

Got out nice and early to Wake, and was nearly ready to roll with a few quick tasks.

The new gear bag is super nice, keeps the clean clothes for post ride away from the dirty bike gear. Dynastar Cargo Bag - Post ride I can put the wet/nasty/dirty post ride clothes in a couple different area's to keep them from contaminating extra clothes or picking up more nasty mud crap. Another great steepandcheap find, getting it shipped for $100 bucks.

I blasted over to Accotink with Doug Vinson, we had a blast riding Gas Plant to the new trail section and down the way and came back Boyscout. I pushed a bit more than casual pace for sure. Sorry Doug!


Then it was time for the night ride, at this point only the fast guys had a chance to ride Accotink very briefly and they took off at 6:40. We may have a 6:30 group next week if people want to ride the big A. Otherwise it's pre-ride only now.

Wakefield was drying up nicely, only some wet spots that tend to hold water in corners/low area's. But the damage done by the rains is shocking. Started of with 9 followers in casual but by 7:45 we had dropped 5 due to lights/cold/etc. By 8 it was just me and another guy, we got in another good loop doing a bunch of stuff in reverse order. Rides started out around 70 degrees, by the end of the ride it was near 50! Had good layers/setup, have to remember it.

Good times in the lot post ride, then nachos and good food at Kilroy's.

Wet and Wild

Got out to Wakefield with moderately high hopes of riding single track. The first section I did of Rusted Truck was okay, and then I hit lower phase 1, not good, then creek trails, not good, phase 4 lower half, under water. The bowl, upper area's were dry, but by halfway down things went from moist to very wet. Terrible, walked back out. CCT around WF was a mess honestly also.

No one out for a ride, everyone apparently saw Neil's late post but me :( Fail me. Ended up doing CCT North and getting very wet and dirty. Ugh. Saw a few random riders around, tried to talk 2 late arrivals out of riding but they weren't listening. I hope they enjoyed sliding down hills in the mud.

Probably late today or Saturday before WF is actually good to ride.

This weekend I've got a lot of options for stuff to do on Sunday. Lake Fairfax trail work, Pump Track Grand Opening at Rockburn, a couple ride options. So much to do, so little time!

And I get to wash my bike again, in just recon WF last night it got muddier than in 20 miles of riding the week before.

Primus, Beer, and Tech

Saw Primus at the nearly brand new Filmore in Silver Spring, sooo much nicer than the one on Geary in SF, but doesn't have the history. Nice facilities and food. Drinks were pricey of course with draft Sam Adams running $10 and same for a shot of Tequilla.

Primus put on amazing show, 3 hours long counting a 30 minute intermission. Les and co played amazing music, just rocked it out. Great stage setup and lights, sound was very good, could have used a bit more on the vocals but whatever.

The pit went crazy a couple times for sure. During the intermission, they showed old B/W popeye cartoons. It was great.

Before hand I met up with Joel and Sharron at The Firehouse. Tried 3 beers, the IPA, Red and Stout. The stout was probably my favorite. The Cuban sandwich was excellent. My companions found the calamari appatizer un-inspiring, but the fish sandwich was good.

After wards we met up with Frank and Lynn and hit Quarry House, but I crapped out after 1 more beer, 5 hours sleep, then an 18 hour rocking day with a fair amount of beer did me in.

Slept in on Sunday and didn't end up riding, had a brunch to go to that didn't finish till near 1, then it was time to get a new phone. I've moved into the future with a Droid Bionic. Nice. Gotta setup the wifi here at work now.

Had carne asada from Trader Joe's, rice, grilled Veg, and a nice Monmart from Savannah Chanelle Winery, went really well with the spicy flavor of the beef.

In the Dark, sometimes it's easier to fall.

In a fit of coordination not to be exceeded by a blind drunk monkey I fell into the bushes of doom on the Berm Ascent Hill of Wakefield, not a bad fall but a very dumb one after a hurried restart attempt. UGH. Talk about lame. Well actually lets all forget about it and hope that gets my Falls in Fall out of my system.

It was still a good ride, 18 miles logged on the GPS, so probably about 20 miles in 2:22. Wakefield was a bit damp, the soil occasionally hiding some nasty slick spots, the creek trail was a sandy mess. The washouts are still amazing, the entrance to the bowl via the tunnel is unbelievable. Really. Water is an amazing force, I really hope we don't get the amount of rain they are predicting for today.

Next week we might slip in some trails by Thursday if the rain on Tuesday isn't bad, but otherwise if I'm gonna ride on Tuesday it's going to not be Single Track.

It's really amazing to me still how much it helps to get out and ride in lowering my stress levels. I feel much calmer today. Versus Wednesday I was starting to crack out.

Primus concert tomorrow. I'm stoked over that, haven't seen Primus before, but I've always been a fan. Time to look for Winona's BBB.

RCST Last Bash, but not The End?!?!?!

Good news that I saw on RCST Blog that while they are done with the RCST Bash, that another group, VMB another bike group is going to take over the event hopefully for next year. Right now I could see myself alternating years between their and the MORE Douthat trip.

The Last Bash, was a blast. Got in friday afternoon, setup camp and rolled out with Double G for a short ride, ended up meeting most of Camp Monkey up on the ridge and rode with them on Matter, ended up with 9 miles.

Partied pretty good that night but crashed out early around 12:30. Woke up at 6:30 moderately hung over as hell. Oy. A long slow breakfast helped. I opted to skip the big group ride and rode out with Joe C and Sarah R.

We went back up Iron Mine, Schaeffler Rd, Rattling Creek Trail, Fawn Kill, Preserve Line, and back down Iron Mine. Zoom, solid 15 miles, though I was bonking at the end, the last stream crossing on Preserve Line really sucked the last of my energy.

Was feeling pretty mellow/tired already before festivities cranked up, probably was dehydrated already more than I thought. Something about the chicken dinner put me off, other people also complained the cajun was kinda dry. Had a big beer and went to watch the metal cover band. Pretty good first set. A bit of moshing and headbanging. Went back to camp, hung out with Sarah and Joe and Big Dave. Was mellow, after a bit I felt a bit sick/headaching and layed down to try a powernap. Napped in and out but due to noise changed over to ipod on a book on tape, ended up getting sucked in and not going to sleep till 4. Mr.Sun came out full force Sunday morning and I couldn't sleep past 8:30'ish.

Got up with all the other slobs and ate breakfast, started breaking camp, rolled out a bit after 11. Ended up taking another way home and missed riding Schaeffer, which was fine as my shoulder was partially dead and my knee was a bit sore.

Back I think is now 95% recovered. GPS Tracks are up. Did take 1 cool vid of Sarah R riding rocks on Fawn Kill that I'll try and post this week. We will see.

Cabin John - Goya to Tuckerman

Finally spent a bit of time up on CJ between the Goya Drive terminus and the Tuckerman Ln Area. Did a LOT of trimming on the trail, opening up some tight area's and overhanging annoyances, clearing a fair amount of FOD also off the trail. Cut out some small down limbs that were in unfortunate area's. 2 small sets of trees in the first half mile need to come out. Ugh, but it may be a while.

The middle crossing needs to be fixed permanently, I cleaned it up a bit as it was not stable with a bunch of shit/rocks debris piled up.

Also there are 2 or 3 sections that are probably within 6 months of being fully eroded out where re-routes need to be under taken. 2 are easy rake/grub and rides, 1 is going to require a fairly major set of work to cut away growth in and out.

I'm sure the other area's need work also, hope to make inspections/ride and clips on them maybe next week.

Debating trying wake-o-tink tonight or a short ride in the hood, probably the hood ride as I have a MORE BOD meeting/concall tonight. JOY!

So it was a little wet last night?

So people always ask hey Rob, why did you cancel last nights ride? It was only lightly raining at Wakefield last night. Well it was a bit more than a little rainy at Wakefield last night. Larry C aka MOBL on the more-mtb.org forums posted these pictures up. Take a look, they are crazy. Wakefield was more like WakeRiver last night.

Wakefield Sept 8 Storm Pictures

Had to drop the ride off at the Datsun err Nissan dealership today for it's current maintenance. Watched Top Gear UK and they tend to still call Nissan's Datsuns. My mom and dad both had datsun's when I was a kid and my mom's station wagon we had for 125K miles, my dad traded his pickup for a Isuzu that got better mileage. Later of course I had the Altima that I ended up with 150K miles I put on it in 10 years for 180K total.

Hoping to get out onto the WO&D saturday after work, and maybe some CCT or something sunday, if it's dried out a bit. Not holding my breath though.

Go AWAY RAIN!

Ugh the rain seems never ending already, and it's only been a bit over a day. Rain actually woke me up at one point last night, after I had only been asleep an hour. Now its just a very light/gentle rain, but boy are the trails taking a soaking.

So for now I must limit myself to bike entertainment via the WEB:
Danny MacAskill is back at it with some friends.

GPS should be in Thursday but I dunno if I'm going to be riding. Grrrr.

May have to pull out the rain jacket and take a walk or something tonight. Or maybe I'll go the mall and walk around for an hour or so.

Back to Michaux!

Got up a bit late and a few wrong turns and I missed the group ride for the 25 miler Pre-ride for Terror of Teaberry at Michaux. I ended up doing about 3 hours of exploring on my own, good times, rode some tuff stuff, had to push a few things also that I'm not proud of. This chest congestion is making a mess of me a bit still.

Good week of riding though I figure around 6 hours or more of riding, feel the best mentally I think I have in a while.

Crap week for riding I suspect I'll be doing some paved trail crap if anything looks like a rainy week this week in punishment for really nice weather last week.

New More Jersey

The new jersey looks super sharp. Green ain't my best color, but I'm not too disappointed. I just have to remember to suck in my gut and pull the thing down a bit in any future photo's. Guess that means no racing in it!

I guess the lesson is here is pactimo is 1 to 2 sizes smaller in race cut then most others including sugoi and twin 6. I can wear a sugoi large fine. twin 6 I usually order xl. Maybe next time I'll go century cut instead or maybe I'll go dirtbag and order a BMX jersey. Still I'm stoked to ride in the thing, especially when traveling. No knock on the wooly, it's usually either too warm or cold enough I need another layer or a vest.

Ride last night was good, did a solid pre-ride with Tony. His bike survived that easily. Then I had a pretty casual group with a crazy dude (Cough ranger Cough) who was on a hybrid but made solid efforts. Dude's gonna be a monster once he gets the right MTB.

Still dunno what I'm doing this weekend, thinking about doing the Terror at Teaberry pre-ride sunday though being up in Ghetto'sburg by 9 may suck ass.

Also need to clean the cranks again sounds like I have some dirt in the bearing area.

WTF is wrong with TN?

Besides being a state that appears to have an Orange disorder, after reading this article I can only go WTF?!?!?!

I biked to school thru half of 5th, all of 6th and 8th grade. Also occasionally biked in 11th. My ride in 5th and 6th was a 1.1 mile ride each way in the burbs on Scottsdale AZ. I started off with only a few friends riding, but by the time I moved away, we often had 10 kids riding out from my house, with another 2 or 3 passengers. Usually girls :). Ahhh those were the days, being a paper boy, flush with my own cash. Damn. We crossed 1 major road where there was a light and usually a crossing guard. Depending on how far away it was 10 might be a bit young, but hell kids within a half mile I think had to walk or ride, as they didn't provide bus service.

My question is if it was against the law/neglect full to let her ride to school, what would have happened if it was after school and the girl was going over to a friends? I ranged long and far in those days, often 3 or 4 miles or more. Hell several times we skated home from Paradise Valley Mall. A bit longer haul of I think 5 miles. Crazy. People need to calm the hell down.

Rode Lake Fairfax yesterday and it was a damn good workout the first half. Took a half hour phone call after an hour and never got back into a good grind. Legs felt better than Monday for sure. Cleared some minor debris piles but it appeared everything else had been cleared. Lots of fun playing on the rocky sections too.

Had to pick up new brake pads for my front as they were very weak/soft and visual inspection showed barely any pad left.

Might go up and police CJ today after work, depends on how I'm feeling.

Irene is a bad bad girl

Power stayed on for me and mine mostly in the face of hurricane Irene, only the inlaws in Bethesda lost power.

Got out for a short mixed surface ride I wanna say about 45-50 minutes. Didn't feel awesome either as I noticed some throbbing indicating some minor sinus crud and in general my fitness is way off. Though the only way to fix that is get out and do stuff, so that's the plan. I'm going to either go up to Cabin John today or maybe Lk FFX.

I've also come to the sad conclusion that during the last great gear bag clean out I accidentally dropped my Edge 500 into the recycle bin. Alas 2 weeks ago that recycle bin went out after I had forgotten to retrieve said GPS. UGH. I think I'm going to pony down on a Edge 800 on payday.

And in a bit of bawdy humor:
20 Worst Tramp Stamps

Also have a full PM of the bike due this weekend. Apparently I never quite correctly reinstall the cranks and I quickly end up with a creaky bottom bracket.

Another week, another Quake

Survived DC-Quake-Armageddon 2011, no issues, all is well.

Had a damn interesting ride last Thursday at Wake-o-tink. Arrived nice and early and got a quick start on riding, by 4:30. But within 10 minutes the storm started to roll in. I rode another 20 minutes and headed back, thunder was picking up as was lightning in the distance.

Jason M was in the lot and we bullshitted for a bit then it started to rain. We dodged to our respective cars. It rained lightly for a bit then hard for about 15 before slowing and stopping around 6:05.

Dan Hudson from IMBA arrived to ride with us and some trail builders in from out of town. We talked for a bit, and the storm line was slowly creeping south but still pretty clear over accotink. Larry arrived and reported at his house only minimal sprinkling of rain for 5 mins. A check of trails at wakefield showed minimal dampness, maybe just slightly tacky. So in a light shower a moderate pace group rolled over to Accotink.

I did okay for the first half of chasing the intermediates but after that I popped badly due to blowing 1 climb and missing a turn. Ugh, after that I was hosed. Blew up on one of the final climbs on the way back and had to push. That sucked. Finished out finally catching up doing all of boyscout in reverse. Not terrible.

Ended up riding with XXL at WF for another 20 minutes before we finished around 8:20. Probably a nice 13-14 miles total riding for the day.

Slow week otherwise, still run down from the last few weeks, hoping to get back into the swing in the next week or two.

And Hurricane Irene is on it's way! Hoooray hurricane!

Rockburn Branch Fundraiser

I just need to say WOW! What an amazing job the Rockburn Branch Skills Park team has done in building a top notch grassroots team to get this project rolling.

Yesterdays picnic/fundraiser turned out very well even without the big/adult rides. I ended up staying the whole time from 2 till 7 and helping a bit with clean-up. I was a bit concerned on the way there as the weather looked crap-tacular and with the main rides canceled I was a bit worried about turn out. Ends up people really care about this park getting done, I think almost 200 people came through during the main event.

The main part of the fund-raiser was the raffle of 2 bikes and a trip to Moab. They only offered 300 tickets for the chance, but sold them for $25. That kicked them off to a start of $7500. Pat Miller then rustled up a ton of bike gear for a $4 ticket raffle. I bought 5 and I think a LOT of people did. I'm gonna guess another $1000 raised there, though it might be a bit more. Meals were $5 and tons of waters were sold also they had a snow cone machine running constantly at $2 a pop. Say another $1000 bucks raised there. Then Jay brought a donated Keg of Clipper City beer and I think that raised about $250 bucks in donations for cups of beer. 2 Corney Kegs were acquired of Troegs Beer and I bet that was another $250. I'd say the picnic itself there raised an additional 2500 bucks or so. Putting them at 10k. Then Pat announced a local family has donated $10K in support. Amazing. There almost at the half-way mark. They also have now 2 more bikes there going to be able to raffle in the near future that were donated in the last day or two. Tshirt sales were rocking also. An excellent event.

I know they also have some grants out that could push them into the 30K range with a bit of luck.

On the down side I've ridden my bike 1 time in the last 2.5 weeks. UGh. Blows. Anyways I'm out. First short day of work in a week. Yah!

Face of the World. It's where I fall off!

I fell of the face of the world I think with how crazy July has been at work. My work schedule has been bouncing around every other week and my schedule changes during the week with mid-day shift on Mon-Wed, mornings on Thursday, afternoons on Friday, and morning on Saturday. Last week was 57 hours, this week will be near the same. Ugh.

I have been riding a bit but really only once a week between other stuff going on also, exlcuding last Sunday when I led a ride up at Gambrill then snuck in a solo ride at the new pump track in Germantown. Fun! Ran into DKEG afterwards at G-town Cycles.

Bike needed some emergency work also this week. Realized when I had changed out the bottom bracket a few weeks ago I forgot a spacer on the drive side, no wonder I was having "Shifting Issues" D'OH! So cleaned it up and put it back in correctly, and shifting on the stand seems much better.

Also replaced the pads in my rear elixir's! DAMN EASY! Not sure how long I'll stay on the metal pads probably until next payday when I'll order a couple more sets of organic compound ones. Unless they are horribly noisy then who knows.

Final week and change of this left at work before my boss is back, but then other stuff will change too.

Big stuff coming up bike wise, we have the MORE summer picnic on July 30 at Rosaryville State Park, and then in mid August we have the first Rockburn Branch Skills park fundraiser!

Also registered for RCST Bash in September.

At whole foods last night enjoyed a very nice aged Old Curmudgeon from 09 on draft. Yum.

I Shall Prevail!

I shall prevail and eventually finish my posts of my trip and finish posting my pictures. Today I will upgrade to Flickr(HO) status with a paid account. And I will find time at somepoint this weekend to finish posting up.

Had a damn good night up till the last 20 minutes or so at Wake-O-Tink. Jason M and I did a solid 8 mile'ish preride then I led a fairly large casual group to accotink, we did the gas plant, went along the railroad tracks for a ways, dropped back out on the cinder trail went up to the last entrance before the road and worked our way back. Ricky and Jo split off then, but we met up with Delmar and Sarah who arrived late. Just as we start the new section we put in last fall I hear the dreaded call - FLAT!

Turns out our singlespeed rider had punctured his tire during the emergency stop on the previous climb where I blew the climb and nearly crashed. Poor Neil did crash. After several attempts to fix I sent the others on, we ended up trying 2 tubes, tehe 2nd a road tube that got us another half mile back out before it snake bit and flatted also. So I pushed on with him. Near the Accotink exist I phoned Neil for a pickup for the guy, Neil called back 5 minutes later and the pickup was set. I hauled ass back to the car. They pulled into the lot as I finished changing.

I then got to share the Awesome Awesome Green Man porter from Asheville, NC. Damn good, smooth, and simple. No complex flavors. Damn tasty, I managed 2 cups myself. Also have and Anderson Valley Brewing Summer beer, weird and malty and good. Kinda different.

Day 3 - Slate Rock Creek Trail to Pilots Cove

Monday was supposed to be another day of big riding, planned on doing 2 rides of about 7 miles. I woke up a bit later than originally intended, but as a vacation, an extended lie-in in my comfy cot was approved by me.

Good breakfast later I gathered my gear loaded the car up and headed up the mountain. The ride down FS 1206 was a bit longer than I realized but after going to far I found a suitable parking spot and headed out back down the road.

Making the right I started the next 4 miles ascending, most of it very ridable except for down trees. Even made several tricky climbs that I was pleasantly surprised about. Crossed 2 amazing waterfalls. And then I went North. Missing a left turn, up some VERY steep trails. Pushing again. Lovely. Eventually after 2 miles of pushing on and off I got back on rideable trails heading south. Taking some cool photo's. Descending some wicked stuff. Stop to take more pictures, huh. No camera. Camera bag is upside down and unzipped. Back up the trail I go on foot so as to not miss the damn thing. 1/2 a mile back I find it laying sadly on the trail. Descending a bit further I hit Slate Rock.

Slate Rock and the views descending from there are truly impressive and the switchbacks scary. The first few have cliffs on the outside. Rolled a REALLY nice granite outcrop that you hit by skipping 1 switchback. Then down and down I go. 14 Switchbacks. Somehow ended up off the trail again after that adding another mile back west. After a slight misroute going the wrong way up the forest road I was super happy to see my car. A slow drive back out and I was cooked. Was going to hit Sliding Rock on 276 heading back down but my arms were scratched up and I was tired. Back to camp, change into my suite and I rode up to the river. Cold water and anti-poison ivy soap and a beer. Ahhh. Relaxation.

Finished the day with not so great bagged dinner, just add water. Points for easy, but A LOT of salt and not so great flavor. Oh well. Live and learn. Enjoyed some more beer, the Old Leghumper Porter was still under impressive. The Old Speakeasy IPA was still my favorite.

Photo's for Day 3 thru 5 now up

Photo's from Day's 3, 4 and 5 are now up on flickr.

HERE!

Day 3 - Slate Rock Creek-Pilot Cove Trails in Pisgah
Day 4 - Dupont State Forest Self Epic
Day 5 - Dupont SF - Return for the rock and new trail.

Day Blog to come.

Pisgah 2011 - Day 1 and 2

Day 1 was as previously noted driving from the DC area down towards lovely Asheville, NC. A late start and rain on I-66 and too much soda kept me from making it fully to Asheville this night. I blame the cornucopia of crap available at Sheetz. I'm a sucker for make your own shakes. And coffee drinks. Almost got some great sunset pics just was a bit late and they didn't turn out, but I did get a fewhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif good ones at various stopping points and a few while driving. Not a terrible drive at all. The hotel (my high school job alma matter, Days Inn) kinda blew but at that point I didn't care. I was run down.

Day 1 Photo's HERE!.

Day 2 - Get up, eat a minimal craptacular free breakfast of cereal and head back out. With minimal fuss and muss I make it safely and sane around Asheville around 9 AM and head south to Pisgah Forest and follow my GPS directly to the Davidson Recreation Area/Campground. My home base till Friday. A quick check in and I'm rolling to my new home, spot #103 on Poplar Loop. No generators on this loop! Good thing I left mine at home, oh well no compressor then either to air up mattresses and tyres.

Open the back of the truck up and start unloading. A quick dance of weirdness and I manage to setup the tent again by myself, thanks to El Hefe (Stoner) for warning me that it takes practice. It's technically a 2 person job to setup and is much easier with 4 hands for sure. Get everything snugged down and time to haul in gear.

New camp bed is awesome but takes up ton of room! Wow! Gear does fit nicely underneath though! +1 Setup cooler and cooking area and it's time to be off. A quick change into gear, water in camelback, tires checked, book packed (Off the Beaten Path, Western NC, Pisgah!) and I'm off. Decide to roll from the campground as I'm planning on doing shorter/easier loop of Pressley Gap, 9.3 Miles total from campground entrance.

I blast away and start the climb up 477 towards the Horse Stables towards Clawhammer Rd. At the horse stables I miss that the turn off it hidden in the back of the parking lot and continue about a mile to far up 477. WHOOPS! Book confirms I've done something wrong, back down I go to the horse stables! Wheee, that was fast as hell!

A quick look shows my error and I'm off to grinding again. 1.1 Miles now till the turn off for Maxwell Cove Rd. 3 Miles later I realize, oops another mistake, guess I'll stick with it and end up doing Clawhammer, a 10 miler from the Horse Stables! Jeez this 5-6 mile climb BLOWS! I BLOW! BIKING BLOWS! Argh. Level out and meet a rider that passed me a while back, he's smartly resting. We chat a bit and he points out a few neat areas to check out and says the trail ahead is pretty good but technical.

By technical he must have meant everyone pushes it with it's repetitive foot to two foot high water bars and hairpin turns along with some down trees. UGH. PUSHING BLOWS! And to make things perfect, thats thunder I now hear in the distance. PUSH FASTER DAMN IT!
in
Eventually I reach the first summit and I've a beautiful view to the north and see the storm is off at the next range. Probably 10-20 miles away. I've got some time, but not a ton. Start riding again, challenging but not impossible. ARGH who put this rock here a nice scramble up about 8 feet of rock face and I finally make the final peak! YAH! Awesome view to south but storm is coming in/getting louder now damn it and I'm on the wrong side of the mountain. Didn't even stop there for pictures, honeshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftly it was a super HAZY day as you can see from the photo's I'll link to below.

Start rolling DOWN. Some serious downs. Time to drop the saddle downs. No QR on the seatpost clamp blows. Tools out, seat lowered. Rumbles in the background - DOWN We GO! Wheee! OH SHIT!!!! Wheee! Maybe FS makes sense here, the other guy had a nice Santa Cruz! Whee! And I'm back on the REAL south side of the mountain heading south, some burly descents thru some very eroded trails. Lots of growth too, my legs are already itchy/stinging. Ugh. Hit a crazy intersection. Book time! AHHH this is Maxwell Cove RD! More Rd/Trail down, WHEE!!!! Gotta really watch your speed. Left on Clawhammer and continue on! Wheee! Just Over 2 hours back to the Horse Pen! That makes me an advanced Pusher! WOW!

And back on down and back to camp. 17 Miles, 2:05 Moving, 3:13 Total Time. 2600 FT estimated climbing. Garmin Connect Link HERE!

And to the creek to rinse of itchy bad stuff, ahh the joys of 55 degree water after crazy hard riding. For me thats epic, 1000 ft in a day is a big days, sometimes in 3 hours at Wake-o-Tink I end with 800 feet. In 20 miles.

An awesome dinner, a couple good beers (Bells Porter and Old Speakeasy IPA!) and I'm sacked out at 9:30 or 10PM. Tomorrow's gonna be another great day!

Day 2 Photo's HERE!

The Trip-Timeline - Who needs a TARDIS?

So more almost for my own notes, I present my timeline for my trip in rough outline form so when I write each days worth of notes, my beer dulled memory can fill in the gaps with most excellent made up tales! Hooray BEER!

Saturday 11th - Late start almost 4pm by the time the truck was loaded, beer was iced, and gas was filled. Horrendous rainstorm as I drove thru Man-ass-ass. Due to hunger and pitstops I ended up stopping just before midnight near Mars Hill, NC, north of Asheville.

Sunday 12th - Drove the rest of the way and setup Camp at the Davidson River Campground, rolled out a bit after noon for the first ride, intending to do an easier one ended up doing Clawhammer. 17 miles total.

Monday 13th - Pilot Cove and Slate Rock - Ended up with 10 miles. Not sure how on a 7 mile loop.

Tuesday 14th - Dupont Epic - 22+ Miles of fun and waterfalls.

Wednesday 15th - Dupont Part Duex - Rerode Cedar Rock and New Trail plus a few others - 10 Miles.

Thursday 16th - Asheville and Biltmore - Very cool town, friendly people, good beer at the Wedge!

Friday 17th - Blue Ridge Parkway Drive - Camp Breakdown - Green Lantern - Back to Mars Hill in prep for Big Ivy/Coleman Boundary Ride

Saturday - Big Ivy Ride - Mainly Fireroad as I had no map :( GPS also finally had battery death - Near 10 miles.

Will be adding to the Flickr stream tonight a few good ones up for now that should be visible in the side bar.

Asheville is Good, Pisgah is Awesome, DSF is Awesome

Title says it all. The area is in general really cool, with damn friendly people and some AMAZING Riding. Those are some mountains there. 10K climbing in 1 week. 3X my previous best week. Accounting for GPS distance loss probably 75 miles of riding.

Pisgah is challenging as hell, dupont has some amazing trails and the length of ride you can put together makes it challenging as hell! Next time I am gonna hit Tsali which is supposed to be like Dupont but less service/fireroad.

A Full Suspension bike might be advisable. Even with 4-5 inches of travel. Of the few riders I saw out I only saw 1 other hardtail and no single speeds.

More on the trails/etc as I decompress and process photo's.

A LOT of pushing for me also, less next time is a major goal.

Asheville is a great town with awesome people and amazing Beer Culture.

Tapering...sorta

Tapering a bit in prep for the big week next week down at Pisgah/Western NC.

Currently plan is to leave Saturday after work and drive till I'm tired. Hoping to make it most of the way so I can hit an early epic on Sunday doing probably Big Ivy that day I think. MOnday will be 2 shorter rides or 1 maybe then a bit ride on Tuesday and so forth.

Rode Lake Fairfax last week and it was good till the tubeless upfront blew on a piddle rock.

Wakefield and Accotink with casual barely gets my heart rate up anymore. In 2 hours i burned 2/3'rds of what 40 minutes of chasing Jason and Camp at Lk Fairfax.

Good day at Cabin John yesterday me and 3 helpers built a new bridge on the Tuckerman Rd to Goya section leaving 1 final crossing to fix, however due to its potential length we can't build the bridge due to county rules, so in the near future we are going to do some armoring/shaping I suppose.

Today I practice tent setup work.

Then maybe bottle beer tomorrow. Got new bottles just need to run them in the dishwasher on the sanitize setting. New b33r kits should be here today!

IPA Notes

Mt. Hood Bittering
AA 6.1%
1 Oz

Mt. Hood Aroma
AA 6.1%
1/2 oz

Cascade Dry
AA 5.0%
2 Oz

Not sure if I posted this before so I am now.

Okay, Enough is Enough

I'm sure the Transylvania Epic Riders would agree with me in saying "Enough is Enough Ma Nature, take this heat back to where it belongs....Tex-ass."

My car registered 103 yesterday in traffic at one point and is low as 96 in the shade/low traffic area's. So thats my official reading for the high. We'll see how today goes. Ended up riding Rosaryville in the dead of the heat, but as it wasn't humid and is 90 to 95 percent shaded it was awesome, felt maybe 10 degrees or more cooler when moving. Being stopped sucked but when you rolled again it was almost chilly as the sweat evaporated away. Nice casual pace, as Jen doesn't ride MTB much so the first half she was struggling to handle the hills/climbing/pedals but the 2nd half she kept up much better.

So instead of staying in the nice AC today I've determined I shall go ride again today. Maybe not a ton, but I will try and rack up another 90 minutes. Trying to ride more regularly in prep for the trip south. It looks like more and more that's where I'm going. In another 4 days I should have the long range forecast in hand, and after that I'll make a call to go there or re-plan to go north.

Enjoyed some awesome brews this weekend, at a BBQ I unexpectedly got to try Long Trails Centennial Red, it was really good with an un-expected coffee finish! Smooth, well balanced. Last night I relaxed while playing some Black Ops with Long Trail's Imperial Porter - it was very imperial. Dark, smooth, well balanced, bitter and sweet. No noticeable burn to it, but still a whole big boy of it put me on my ass and out of the game :) Also had an Old Rasputin, and Jen has described my latest Hefeweisse as closer to Leffe. And to me thats a compliment. Leffe is one of my favorites, though I do prefer the Brune to the Blonde. Oh well.

Order kits to do the Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout and for the Mild Raspberry IPA based of Rogue Dead guy, which is actually a Maibock, not really an IPA.

Now I just need to pick up a spare fermenting bucket.

Thats Hillarious and Trip Planning continued.

Fatty put out a challenge, he had to loose 13 lbs from May 1 to June 3 or 4, or he would give away his super awesome brand new Trek Superfly. After months of struggling it's apparent he is going to meet his goal and get to keep the bike, but for a while there it was looking like someone might win a new bike.

So one of his "friends" does this:
http://www.fatcyclist.com/2011/05/27/nice-try-matt/

Nothing like trying to sink a guy trying to loose weight by sending him super awesome homemade cookies.

Okay ride at Wakefield last night but was more tired than I thought, ended up spinning small ring WAY more than usual at WF. The 15 miler with sprints really kicked my ass the day before.

Getting psyched up for the big trip. Looks like GWNF, Pisgah/Tsali/Dupont Forest, then a run down to FATS with a possible return stop at Anglers Ridge in Danville, VA,if I go south, which is the current preferred plan. Trying to work up a Northern plan but short of going to VT or Maine, I'm a bit lacking. I've done a few things in Penn already (Rothrock and Raystown). Just driving up north bums me out for some reason. South seems quick!

Somebody stop the pendulum!

That describes my general riding habits it seems.

After an epic week the previous week last week except for Sunday and a 35 miler was a BUST! Between psychotic weather changes (Sunny, Stormy, Sunny, Stormy in 1 day), Cat Issues (Diabetic cat needs to start biking I suppose), and the occasional work crisis. Crap weather is continuing to Friday I think then clearing for the next week into REALLY nice weather.

The Bottom Bracket is making some new lovely sounds after a week to rust/dry out/gunk up, etc. I'll probably do a ride on Thursday and plan to swap drive components Friday Night or Saturday afternoon.

Did some major rebuilding on the shoes last weekend finally getting new SRS pads in from Race Pace/SIDI, and then after many trials and tribulations I got the old cleats off (2 came off, 2 stripped, were dremmel cut, 1 more came off, and had to break/wrestle the other off however the head broke off to close and I had to replace both base plates). Found workable shorty plates to use till the new SIDI plates come in in a week or so. Greased the hell out of the bolts this time.

Also finally took the Bonty's tubeless. Dunno how the Maxxis Ardent in the rear is going to do. I believe there is an ongoing slow leak, I'm going to air them back up to 40 tonight, then see where they are tomorrow morning. But on the ride thru dc it did feel like improved initial acceleration. And thats a good thing on the 29'r.

More later.

Triple Shots. Thats the way!

No, I'm not talking about booze, for me 3 shots and I'd be ruined in short order. I have a low tolerance for the hard alcohol. Sure a nice hit of Tequila or Bourbon is good for the soul. But only in moderation.

No what I'm onto is 3 days of riding, back to back to back, to try and push my fitness level from that of a slightly fit office zombie to that of a semi-vigorous undead creature on non-distinct type.

For me riding even back to back used to be noticeably hard on the old legs and posterior. These days it's not super impacting. I actually had a triple shot back near the end of April with rides on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Just I didn't log the Monday one so it's semi-un-official. So now that's my goal. 3 rides a week, if possible somewhat back to back to back when doable with weather. But 3 rides a week, even if it's just the short commute to work one of the days. The weathers nice, time for the wimpy excuses to end.

So between today and yesterday I'm at about 22-23 miles I figure and if I add in Sunday I am at 33 or so. Tomorrow I'm debating riding to work and back then hitting Wakefield. Say 7 to 10 on the work loop, then another 10 at Wakefield could push me towards a super level week of 50 miles. For me that's pretty rare unless I get out and have a big Sunday ride like on the WO&D to National Harbor or such.

Today at Lake Fairfax was awesome I explored I think fully 3/4's of the trails out there with only not riding a few sections and maybe 1 other that I think is in but not on the map. Check out the connect link in the sidebar. Frank R has done amazing job with LFFx. Saw Don also out there. And a TON of riders. Probably 30+ during the 2 hours I was there.

Gotta update photo's tonight, got some neat ones I think lately.

The IPA is bubbling away, will consider secondary on Friday I think if fermentation slows a bit more.

Patapsco = Goodness, Pressfit = Dumbness

Sunday I got to do a good tour of a fair amount of the Howard Co side of Patapsco, and it was a blast. Tough climbs, a few tough rock sections, nice downhills. Yum. Felt good and strong for most of the 10 miles and i really could have done another lap of the whole thing if I had another pair of dry socks to put on but my wet socks were driving me nuts. Several crossings were at least bottom bracket deep.

Victor who was leading commented that it was at the wet-est part of the year and the deepest he had seen in a few years.

Got to hit the new location of Frisco Grille, now know as as Frisco Tap Room. Had a damn good chicken sandwhich. And a Flying Fish Exit 9 Red IPA thing. Yummy!

The a quick detour over to Race Pace in Ellicot City to see if they had the rubber replacement sole parts for my sidi's. NO luck but they are trying to order a set. Hopefully I'll be able to get the old one's off fully. Some are WAY worn down.

So the new IPA I brewed on Saturday is already fermenting pretty well but definetely hasn't peaked. I need to rough clean the secondary I guess. Maybe Friday I'll go pick up a porter or stout or both to prep for the next beer run. Also need to buy more bottles I guess, as I think I'll have the IPA's also all in 12's. I think the porter/stouts will be 50/50 bottlings of big boy's vs 12's. Really thinking the stout will be a 50/50 brew of 2.5 gal of Peanut Butter/Dark Chocolate and 50/50 brew of PB&Jelly.


So while JRA on Thursday I noticed the @#$@#$ cranks were creaking again. I was like WTF?!?!?!?! REALLY??!?!?!?!

So last night I did the deed and pulled the cranks back off, except when I pulled the crank side the pressfit bearing set on that side came with it. ARGH!

So on Saturday I bought the parts for a Make Your Own Headset press. And it worked. But I forgot these pressfits are cheap and I cracked the outside seal edge of the bearing when putting the drive side back in. So I will be ordering one of those bad boys up later this week I'm sure.

Back to work.

Blast Away!

Damn good night out on the trails yesterday after work. Got to WF just before 5, geared up and rolled out. I did a quick tour of WF then trucked over to hit Accotink quick before the main ride, and surprisingly made it back in good time! Felt pretty good that first lap. Did it somewhat in reverse for the main ride where we went to Accotink first, did only the front half, then we back-tracked to WF, and rode more trails. General most things were in pretty good shape excluding 495 after the berms and 495 before the berms due to construction. The lower entrance to Phase 4 was a mess, till you got the the 1st rock garden.

Great weather, warm and dry with a nice breeze at first, but a bit chilly when I left the lot just after 9:45. No 'roys for me I was a tired buck-a-roo. GPS logged 19.3 so I figure close to 22 actual miles.

Big ole group after wards as it was Steve-O's birthday for Cinco-de-Steve-O. We enjoyed cupcakes and a wide variety of PLB's. My wimpy dinner of Muscle MIlk and the cupcakes went very well, but having 2 cupcakes was a bit counter productive. GRRRR.

Right now the plan is to brew again tomorrow, then hopefully get in a solid ride at Patapsco on Sunday. However if it's looking rainy I may sneak of to Gambril's/The Shed and see if I can find anyone up there. If I don't brew Saturday then definetely Monday.

Beer, Glorius Beer!

Finally bottled my Hefe I brewed 2 weeks ago last night. It went super well with help from a buddy, and I think I had my most efficient EVER bottling with the least loss. I ended up with 54 bottles, and I could have done 1 more of Devil Brew with what was in the Final Gravity meter tube, the drip cup and the remains. But I was short bottles, and I was extremely stoked to get even 54. Previous best was I think 49 or 50 (or equivalent as I use 20's a LOT typically). To get my final 2 bottles I used the beer I drank while setting up and then I poured another beer for dinner that was the final bottle, that really wasn't sanitized much at all. So for now I'll call that one the DB.

Estimated ABV - 5.9% at the high end of a Hefeweisse. The yeast and temps have yeilded a more complex beer I think than my first one with a solid balance of fruit and spicy-ness.

Got it all cleaned up except the fermenter, which I need to pick up some brushes to clean fully. ugh!

Biking looks a bit iffy again this week due to the Whack Weather of DC we are suffering. 80 today with t'storms possible, rain tomorrow am, nice Thursday, rain Friday and possible.

Hopefully ride some dirt on Thursday. May try and sneak in another 'round the hood ride tonight, if the storms don't show or come in early.

Oh and following my hero, The Dark Lord of Single Speed Rich D, I've picked up some Ergon GX1's to replace my current grips that seem to think they are for motorcycle twist throttles.

Also picked up a new pair of gloves, as I seem to have lost one of my current fox gloves. Time for a trip to Cycle Powersports in Falls Church soon to get some summer gloves, etc.