Funder Thuck.

That pretty much describes work, life and the weather this week.

I wimped out early in the week on riding to work Monday and Tuesday (well Tuesday I had to as I was driving in from elsewhere)  Monday I did haul home a 30lb system for some work and it wouldn't have fit in my bag.

Pace wise I'm picking back up on the CX bike slowly.  Was sub 28 in today I believe and I hit most of the lights nearly perfectly.  I stopped briefly at Nutley/Couthouse and 123/Courthouse but rolled every other light I actually made.  Good think considering how late I left!

The ride in was nice but super humid, glasses were super fogged up by the time I hit Sunset Hills I had them way down on my nose to see.

Yesterdays ride home I dogged the storm by leaving work late, 4:30 or so.  It was disgusting on the ride home.  I did a tuneup ride working on adjusting my new pedals/shoes around 6 and it was much better.  Not sure about the Pearl road shoes, they may be a tad narrow for me in the main foot, though the heel is almost perfect.  Will play with adjustments a bit more.  Right cleat needs to move inwards to move my foot outwards a bit so I can add a bit more heel in angle back on the cleat.  As of now its too far out by a tiny bit to keep my heel from hitting the chain stay.

Tonights WF ride is not looking great weather wise once again.  My plan is currently to ride, but who knows maybe it won't storm in WF land, like yesterday.  I suspect W@W is using up our good weather luck for the year.

Got in new breakpads for the MTB but I won't put em on till next week especially under the threat of shitty, err I mean gritty conditions.  Nothing like ruining new pads due to grinding the grit of the CCT/Etc.

Mileage has fallen back off.  Since the Birthday Epic Week, really to be a better rider I've got to get a 2nd day off a week and put in 1 longer ride, my Sundays just aren't regular enough.  Or I need to commit to a ride every Sunday be it a 6AM early bird or a forced march later in the day.

Weighed in yesterday at a shocking 196.  Holy crap!  Talk about un-expected especially after the Garbage In and Out weekend that last weekend was.

Well the hot fudge and brownie ice cream sunday I just ate helped that I'm sure, especially after eating salads for lunch 2 days in a row.

And to raise the level of awesomeness of this post I offer this for your viewing pleasure:

 TheBadPiper covering AC/DC's Thunderstruck.

100 Miles of Nowhere.

I crossed the 39th barrier recently.  Several notable stars on IMDB have their birthday listed on the same day.  And apparently the kard-ass-ian spawn arrived around then also.  Sigh.  There goes the neighborhood. 

I also believe I have come up with the most impossible classification for my #100MoN:

100MoN Workus Intrerruptus 2 Day Ride - You must make your commute to work, do at least 4 hours of work, Then go out and do at least 60+ additional miles.  Then the next day you must do any remaining mileage on the route you originally took.

My plan was to ride the WHOLE W&OD, but since I couldn't  get all day Saturday off I had to make it a 2 day since I had a 7PM dinner commitment. So on Saturday I blasted off to work at about 6:35 and did the 8 mile ride in.  Worked till almost noon then headed back out on the warpath out to Purcelville VA at the trails end.  An 8 to 10 mph headwind on the way out really wasn't bad.  My book on MP3 kept me rolling along instead of bored out of my mind.  At the trails end I stopped, at half a chocolate peanut butter sandwich and headed back.  In s'Leesburg I stopped to refill water and have some Coke.  It was damn good.  Making VERY good time back so far.  I thought wow I might have a slight opportunity to actually do this in one day.

Then real life caught up to me.  About 5 miles out of Leesburg my left leg cramped a bit.  I pedaled slower and lightly and eventually it cleared.  But it cost me.  I must have been pedaling a bit strangely as my left foot then decided to throw a fit just outside of Herndon.  Couldn't put any real weight/power into it.  My MTB shoes also contributed I think.  Not really meant for 4 or more hours in the saddle and at 5 years old they are pretty worn out.  Finally made it back  to my office in Reston for Advil, half a Taylor Gourmet Deli Sandwich and more Coke.  After checking on things and checking time I realized with my slower speed on the 2nd half back I had ended up with the same time out and back between work.  When it should have been 20 minutes shorter or more.  Foot felt a bit better but I still couldn't put full power into it or stand for long.  Time to call part 1 a day.  And back to starbase Vienna for a shower change and off to dinner.  But still I must note, my longest cycling set and day 76 for the day and 68 for the main ride.  That was my longest recorded total ride by 20 miles.  With a 16.2 average.  I've been commuting to work and back at about 15.6 lately with some faster days in the 16 range.

WAY too much dinner and drinks that night lead to the morning ride plan abandonment.  So I had to wait to finish till yesterday afternoon.

Part Deux was upon me and my motivation was failing slightly.  I went out to finish off the W&OD.  I had added a bit extra in Vienna the day before to  push my total up past 75 as I new Vienna was at MM 12'ish and I wanted to not have to go way further to complete my 100.  So off I went, foot wasn't bad, legs were a  bit slow.  Got down to Falls Church with some on and off rain sprinkles.  Stopped in at Bikenetic to chat on shoes and phone cases.  I need new shoes.

Then back off down to Mile 0.  It's a nice ride down from that point.  Fly down Glebe and I hopped on the road.  Found where Phoenix Bikes is and looked at their stock for a friend.  Nothing like what he needs alas.  And on I went.  I was craving a beer so I rolled into Shirlington but no where really safe to leave my bike unlocked where I could watch it and I wanted to head back as it was already 4:30.  Quick stop for another partial coke and back up the trail I went.  2 climbs sucked but the rest wasn't bad.  Way easier than the @#$@# Custis trail for sure.  Lots of runners and walkers out in both directions so I wasn't pushing speed very often.


And it was done.  105 miles in 6 hours 42 minutes over 2 days.  With 4 hours of work in part during the 1st.  Next year I'll do the whole damn thing in one shot.  In fact my goal is to do my first full century in the next month or two.  I've been pretty much a 50 mile a week guy..  This week I hit 140 and wasn't "dead" though I made 1 mistake yesterday.  On saturday I went for a 2.5 mile walk post ride (after a snack and 20 minute rest).  Yesterday I just vegged then went to dinner with no walk.  And today I'm paying my knees woke me up at around 4am.  2 advil later I feel almost human but they were sore, no ride to work today alas.  And I suspect no run.  May have to do a short ride on the CCT or something. 


My SIDI eagle 6's from 5 years ago are just worn out.  Now I must begin searching for a new shoe in ernest.  I want something cheaper for road and I think I will go SIDI again for mtb. 

F Spring.

You know what else Spring brings besides cooler temps.

It brings rain.  GOBS of F'n rain.

Since June 1st - Between 4.5 and 6.5 depending on where you are in NVA.  MD has gotten more I think.  Today we may add an inch or more again.  And once again it's looking like no TNR.  Though I did get some pre-ride pre-rain action last week.  And it's almost the same forecast, clears for a bit this afternoon then turns to rainy/t-storm central starting at 5 PM for the next 4 or 5 hours.  Ugh.  I might have to commit to that ultimate sin after work.  A run.

Desolation and other things are setting in I fear. 

Yesterday I did bike to work, then opted to drive over to Fresh Bikes at Mosiac District and do the Wed ride in Vienna with Pete.  It was a blast, pretty informal.  Low key I suspect also.  I averaged 15.6.  In all 3 of my last 3 rides this week.  I definitely wasn't pushing last night so I know I could hold faster and this was after 16 miles in commuting also.  But it wasn't like I was Pete who had done 111 miles earlier in the day.  But we all know Pete ain't all there, in the best possible way.

Also met up with Mike R, Vince A, and Sean C who I haven't seen in a while either.  It was a lot of fun and I plan to be back next week with the course actually loaded.

Strava continues to be a tool of mostly good in driving me to push myself in distances and time and a bit  in speed.  I simply also realize that I'm not going to be strong enough for a while to challenge in some of the very regular segments out there.

This weekend I have flagged for my 100MoN for Fatcyclist.com.  If I get Saturday off it will be awesome.  Sunday won't be quiet as nice.  Oh well we will see.  It may have to be a 2 day split also.  Who knows.  I'd like to do it as 1 but life has a way of interrupting.  At the least it will be 100KM of Nowhere.  Out and back to P-ville will be 100KM+  I estimate actually that would be near, uh 109KM/68 miles. What will really suck is after I do whatever I do I will need to spend 20 minutes walking per 2 hours of riding to keep my legs from revolting for the next 3 to 10 days.  I may even just build it into the ride and walk a few sections to keep the legs looser. 

Spring! Redux!

Wow, I didn't think it would happen but Spring has returned after what was Summer weather last week.  60's this morning and the previous morning and highs for the next 10 days in the low 80's and lows in mid 60's.  It's a beautiful time to ride your bike in DC.  Or really do anything outdoors.  I've run 2x times in the last 2 weeks and thats a LOT since March for me.  Trying to get back to 2 to 3 runs a week alternating maybe.  Need to start building for 10 miles by mid summer then start making the terrain harder.  I'm solidly in the 10 minute area right now and that should improve into the low 9's fairly easily.  Beyond that I'm not going to push that hard.

Did a bit of surprise gravel road riding Saturday on the way out to the half marathon J was doing in VA.  It was a blast, plus it's somewhere I was familiar with as I grew up in the area.  The big changes is some BIG damn houses. 

On my 2nd ride into work for the week.  Yesterday was great, today was a bit slower and I was over dressed, it ended up being a degree warmer I think today than yesterday yet I wore full kit.  D'oh!

Strava is pushing me to push myself and try and go faster/do better in shorter stuff, now I just need to add distance.  Debating doing a post ride from work out the WOD a bit and back or just going home first then going east.  Depends on the winds.  Whichever I do I want to head into the winds first. 

Beer wise I've had a few things but nothing super new or unusual.  Working down stock in the b33r fridge.  The last unusual/rarity was a DFH 75 with maple, that I couldn't really taste the maple in at all, versus say Crown Royal Maple which is like pancake syrup with whiskey.  I am gearing up for a brewing run soon, going to order a La Choufe Houblon clone from Northwest Brewer and get it going very soon.  And once it's in secondary I want to get a fall beer also in by the end of June.  Basement should stay nice an cool enough for good fermentation. 

As of yesterday's morning weight in I was 200 flat.  Not bad considering I ate like a horse all weekend including one of the largest pieces of carrot cake ever.  Should be back to sub 200 by end of week, I'd like to solidly set at 190 again.  But if pigs had wings....we'd have no pulled pork.

And I just found the most awesomely disgusting youtube food channel.  EpicMealTime.  Bacon is your god...bow down before it.

Development Arresting

Clip and Walk was what happened Monday.  Sure I rode my bike into the area and in between work area's but riding isn't really a valid description.  I did get most of the outside perimeter trail trimmed.  Also cleared the north entrance (but not the trail) and the southern entrance.   Also made a good dent into clearing the little used trail behind the lower ballfield.  It's a safer exit than the southern entrance for sure, you don't have to make the hard right or end up in traffic.   Or you may end up being on the recieving end of the next Emma Way of Norwich England who just hit the cyclist knocking him off the road into a shrubbery.  Hopefully the Knights of Ni go and deal with that uppity wench forthwith.

Hitting the trails today then I'll ride in again on Friday on the road I hope.  143 Miles'ish into May so far, this should put me near 170 before the weekend. 

And in the cosmic jokes of the week, a friend sent J flowers since our elder cat Merlin was put to sleep last week.  Well it included Lily's.  Lily's are VERY poisonous to cats.  Stupid remaining cat decided to chow down on some fallen leaves/etc.  He is now enjoying a 3 day stay at the vets.  At a cost of a small country's daily GDP.  Sigh.  I think in the last 2 months cat bills/etc are going to have topped the cost of a VERY nice mountain bike. 

They do say the average American household is now spending 15K per pet over it's lifetime in food and care. 

For now this is my weekend plan.

Humidty is Hell

Got a good ride in on Sunday AM.  Definitely not feeling full awesome yet, but doing better.  Still have a fair amount of chest congestion/crud.  Nothing like coughing while your getting up and seeing a green phlegm ball land on your nice white comforter. 

So I rolled outa bed a bit before 8 and after consulting multiple weather sites I dressed for damp/light right/slight cool with my 3/4 length cycling shorts, bibs, short sleeved jersey and my high vis wind/water shell.  By 8:30'ish I was rolling out.  Hit Vienna and promptly ran into a big 5k run/walk on the WOD heading west.  Sigh.  Cleared that and raced off to Hunters Mill.  At HM I opted to jump of the WOD and try Hunter Station Rd.  ZOMG BFH!  That hill is SERIOUS and I wasn't mentally or physically prepped/rolling fast to start with and it was a slow 3 minute slog.  Up the rest of the way and over on Twin Brooks.  No speed records for sure.  Then back down to the WOD near work.  And out I went, rain had stopped but I didn't want to.  I rode almost to Leesburg.  Really debated going the whole way but the morning was passing and I knew if I kept going partially I might be tempted to go all the way to P-ville and that would be bad.  So I turned around and headed back.  At Smith's Switch I stopped to use the facilities.  And opted to pack the jacket into a jersey pocket.  Sorta.   A bit big.  Back to Vienna was not bad even almost PR'd one section.  Saw several MORE friends on the trail on the way back.  

Only had 2 Lance Waffles on the course of the day so far, so I was starved when I was done.  A PB and honey sandwhich got me thru my shower and setting the washer to wash the nasty cycle wash.  Then it was left over chicken tenders.  I spent the afternoon dragging due to lack of caffeine, so I eventually got one at the store when getting the weekly necessaries.  I also found out Mr.Clean Magic Erasers are awesome at removing random tire scuffs/etc on house walls.   I've been starving since the ride though. 

I also pulled all my winter gear for storage and re-oganizer my closet, much easier to find/get to stuff for now for sure.  I realized I now have near 13 cycle jerseys.  Oops I think I'm off a few as at least 1 maybe 2 are in the basement.  Damn.  Oh well. 

Tonight I've got clip and ride or more like clip and walk trailwork at Wakefield.  I'll be happy if one other helper shows up.  I hope 10 don't as I don't have that many pruners!  :P

Down with a Sickness and a cat and a finger.

Last weeks free-meal-o-rama from work led to no less than 3 fellow co-workers being anywhere from sorta sick to sick as hell with a cold/flu/cough thing that punched my ticket over the weekend.  The last few days I've been operating by the graces of liquid Mucinex cough and cold.  It's helped me mostly sleep at night without too much drainage and coughing.  Though I did have one good fit at bedtime or just after.  But the 2 previous nights i did get at least 6 hours of good sleep before waking to cough/etc. 

Otherwise the suckiness has continued from last weekend un-detered.  Cat had a bad day last thursday again, J said he was in bad shape which he was, Friday was spent on cat watch.  He was doing a bit better but the old guy was just not doing as well as 2 weeks ago before the last dip.  Saturday I went to work for a bit then came home.  J was waffling on taking the guy to the vet to be put to sleep, I convinced her not to since we had mobile vet coming Monday afternoon.  

Monday cat's still not much better and in someways worse he's being a bit more "hidey" spending more time in the basement then out.  But not fully hiding.  Vets come and after 30 minutes of discussion or so we decide enough is enough.  The cancer and the diabetes are just too hard on the guy.  He's not walking well and his  jaw is cracking when eating.  We put him to sleep.  Just after the 1st injection J is feeding him some turkey when he bites her index finger on the right hand at the big joint.  They wash it out and we continue and in a bit the guy is gone.  He was a great cat for sure.  2 years on the big D survival for a 14+ year old cat is pretty impressive.  He was actually at least 15 1/2 by the end, I suspect it could be up to a year more however.  The vet was awesome and handled things really well.  Then informed us J should go to the ER or the minute clinic for antibiotics due to cat bite infections being bad especially in hands.  And off we went. 

2 hours later we were done at the Minute Clinic.  J with a scrip for Kflex.  We ate, came back and got the scrip and went home.  Next morning I went back to work and J woke up sore err and more swelled and went to the ER.  ER gave her IV antibiotics, put it in a cast type thing and had her keep it elevated and return wednesday for a check.  Back yesterday we both went.  Not too busy at 8 but still almost 10 before we saw the PA.  Meanwhile crazy homeless lady in the hospital comes up and rips a bandaid right off J's hand!  We later hear her telling nurse her height is 7 foot 5!  hahaha.  Full on crazy!

J's hand is now in a finger splint only but she is to keep it elevated and soak it in warm water 2x per day.  Tomorrow she has a follow up with a plastic surgeon (huh will it scar that bad?!?!). 

Tonight is Wakefield TNR we have a mod chance of a storm but I think we're going to edge it out again.  Then Friday is Bike to Work Day.  Finally gonna get my tshirt after 7 years!  Well I only road for about 4  years of days.  2 years I mtb'd in thru the mud!  It was nuts.  last year I road the roads.  This year I could hit 2 stops if I wanted Vienna and Reston.  We'll see how time goes.

Hopefully by Sunday I'll feel good enough to lay down a 40-45.  In the next month I've gotta do my 100 miles to no where.  I may have to 2 day it not sure at this point as I have a LOT of commitments and not much time in the next month.

For now I'm off to check on ole one hand (what I call J in reference to Jaime Lanister in Game of Thrones).

Iron Thone Game Man Vikings 3.1256

I don't often comment on my media habits but I do have to give big props for Iron Man 3 as being way better than 2, and almost catching 1 for being enjoyable entertainment and how well it came together.  Further on that note I'm also enjoying the heck out of Game of Thrones and watching Jamie Lannister, The Kingslayer, trying and cut a steak with only 1 hand.  Vikings has also been surprisingly good.  Imagine game of thrones on semi-basic cable.  Almost.  Still really enjoyable.  The fights can be brutal. 

Otherwise my regular media habits amount to books on tape when driving and occasionally
when riding. 

Otherwise it's music like this:

Or Red Fang or such. 

Riding my bike otherwise a bit, rain kept me off Monday and Tuesday but I'm back today.  Think I shaved a full minute of my best time this AM even on the Volpe with my commuting pack on.  Might try it again on Saturday packlessly and see what happens when I do it on the Fuji Carbon.  I've also named my bikes now that I've gone dark side and joined Strava. 

Paragon is Miss Daisy....
Volpe is uh Volpe Vengefull
Fuji Team Carbon is now Kamehameha. 

I think I was a bit drunk mentally when I was naming them but hey whatever. 

Photo's from MC 2013 are now online surprisingly from me.  I expected it to take into 2014 for me to find the cable.

Dinner tonight with the co-slaves, then ride home.  I suspect a probable b33r stop either at WF or VI.

Camped Out 2013 - Forescore and Seven

The drive back sucked.  It was rainy and extremely foggy at times, around 6 I pulled off to gas up and took a 45 minute power nap as I was falling asleep at the wheel almost.  I rolled out hard then and made good time the rest of the way back to Woodstock VA where I arrived about 11 pm.  I checked myself into my own room and when parking only saw Brett's van in the lot.  I didn't care enough to even bring my bike in out of the on and off rain.  I turned on the TV for about 10 minutes and was wiped out.  I slept till 8 the next morning.  Got up showered and hit the breakfast line.  Lo and behold half the missing campers were they.  Apparently the nutters hit Carvins Cove at night on the way back and didn't hit the hotel till 1 AM or so!

We all watched the weather and patterns as we ate crappy eggs, cinnamon buns, and such.  It looked like we would be in just the right place and have a mostly dry day.

By 9 most folks were up and functional and we loaded up to go to Dunkin for some good coffee and donuts pre-ride.  We took off and everyone drove past the DD but me which was right around the corner. I about died laughing.    By 9:40 we were on our way to Camp Roosevelt.

We hit CR around 10:45 or so I think and prepped and loaded up.  Started with a 2 mile'ish dirt road climb.  Foggy as hell amazing overlook I'm sure.  My one good photo is of everyone looking like were about to take off down the overlook.  Then we crossed the road and climbed the rest of the way up on some nice but techy singletrack.  Had to hike a bit more than I wanted but it was good.  Amazing view at the top and then a pretty impressive descent.  Not huge like Saturday but still pretty good.  Nice ride with mix of conditions, much more in my capability matrix.

Near the end I was catching the back of the pack and had just waived them onwards when I hear CREEK/Crack! 

FCK!  Chain break.  The last rider had just went around the hill and my swearing loudly had drawn no one back.  An examination of the chain showed one bad link, an outer so I would loose no length.  Dig out the big multi tool.  Dig out the spare QL10.  Dig out the kitchen sink.  Got the bad section out, got the link ready.  Noticed chain is VERY dry from rain on drive/overnight even though I lubed the hell out of it the afternoon before leaving the cabin.  Uhg.  And the rear D is having issues not shifting down to high gear!  a few hits of a rock and shifting fixes it eventually.  Reconnect it and flip the bike back over.  And start repacking when HO comes back looking for me.  I tell the story and we laugh.  And it's .8 miles to the car at this point.  A quick grind out very carefully and we're back.  We start to change and have a beer when in rolls the local forest rep.  State or Fed I can't remember but DK is trading war stories and we all want a beer.  She leaves after 15/20 minutes.  And it's beer  time.  We enjoy a few last official beers of man camp and head off.  We all hit Jalisco in Strausberg VA for some tasty texmex.  Damn good and we're on the road at 5pm on the way home. 

And home a bit before 7.  Unload most of the crap, a load of laundry in the wash and I'm done and passed out at about 9pm, with dreams of cougars, unicorns, tar heels and all the other hijinks of MC 2013. 

Camped Out 2013 - Part Threesome

When we last left our intrepid hero's, the Man Camp 2013 Appetizer battle had begun.  Some of us brought our A games, and well some slackers just brought their appetite. 

Knowing my recipe had some complexity and 2 slower parts I rushed in upon our return to claim a pan on the stove and to get my other part into the oven first.

My recipe of choice was:  Hipster BLT's. 
8 Slices of Crispy Fried Bacon  (I used Applewood Smoked). Diced into nice chunks.  Next time I use 12 slices, more bacon please!
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese - I used Monterrey Jack.
1/3 Cup Mayo - I used an A-1 Spicy Mayo from Helmans or such - Plus 2 table spoons of horseradish mayo/sauce from Safeway. 
Mix Ingredients together in bowl.
10-12 Grands Honey Biscuits.
1 large very ripe tomato  sliced in half down middle and de-cored to give 1/2 tomato slices. 
1/2 large tub of Mach lettuce. 

Split biscuits, put nice layer of Mach lettuce down.  Put tablespoon+ of cheese/bacon/mayo mix on lettuce and a slice of tomato. 

Everyone seemed to love it, they were VERY tasty I think.  But it still wasn't enough.  I got beaten by Thai chicken skewers with a humus and siracha sauce in 2nd, and 1st was Brett's homemade sausage mushroom on dainty crackers with fresh thin slices of manchego.  I love manchego and I REALLY did like both other dishes but I don't feel they were better.  Oh well I still placed.  Karl did tasty quesadilla's.  Darius did a salad that was good, but I understand his lack of effort, pulling the whole trip together is a HUGE deal.  Someone else had something but it wasn't even in the running. 

Then we had steaks.  I had a small steak that I think someone switched on me.  It was unimpressive if it wasn't.  Oh well next time I supervise my own steak.  :)  Darius did a great job cooking it even if the steak itself was CRAP!

We had a grand ole time.  Enjoyed lots of great wine, then a few beers after also.  We hot-tubbed for near an hour and by 2AM everyone was sacking out.   I was actually one of the last too be tired and in bed for a change.   Plenty of water kept us from being hung over. 

Rain of a serious magnitude was the order for Sunday.  No ride so after breakfast we opted to hike Linville gorge/falls in the rain.  We hiked 3 miles'ish and saw some great views of the falls.  Several times I went trail nuts and cut/fixed drains were the rain was pooling badly.  They needed a scout troop for a weekend and I could have the whole place mostly fixed.  2 Area's needed a drain put in.

So after the hike we detoured back to where the ride started the single track the day before.  Apparently Darius had lost his gps early on.  They head out we chill in the cars.  30 minutes later they are back and have it.  It wasn't very far in and they found it on the way back. 

A quick stop for coffee turns into the slowest coffee ever.  The guy could only take 1 order/make 1 drink at a time. Oy no starbucks in his future.  I managed to spill half my hot chocolate everywhere and cleaned it up myself so he wouldn't slow down more.

Back at the house and we change and pack up.  I volunteer to stay as no one started the dishwasher before the hike and it has to be emptied before we can leave.  Everyone else headed out around 3.  Dishes finished at about 4:30 I dried em and headed out after a quick stop at Wendy's.  5 Hours of driving a head.  And boy was it rainy, foggy and getting dark early.  My favorite drive!

PTI - Just one of those mornings.

Pardon the MC 2013 interruption but I have a few anecdotes to share from yesterday this morning. 

If you are excited for your first bike to work day in a while you inevitibly forget to set the extra early alarm you need.

While grumbling about missing out on the ride you forget to grab your keys, only realizing it when you have walked out the door shutting it.  And checking the stupid lock realizing the knob is locked and you have to call someone out of bed to let you back in. 

My mtb still had water in it yesterday when I near fully disassembled it, blew it out with compressed air, re-greased everything, and stuff.

Before a ride where the bike has been in the rain over night you must re-lube the chain even if you put a ton of lube on the night before or it will break. 

My derailleur was VERY loose on at least Monday's ride.

Beware of Cougar Mountain, in addition to Cougars it may have Tar Heels and also the rarely observed Flying Honey Badger.  I think one bounced off my helmet luckily at one point.  I was able to escape down the mountain before it woke up.

I need more hike-a-bike cross training.

More to come later I'm sure.

Camped Out 2013 - Part Duece

No alarm clocks necessary on day 2 of Man Camp.  The earliest to bed folks were the earliest to arise and from my position on the main floor couch everything is happening near by including 2 different people making coffee 2 different ways.  The plan is currently our guide should arrive around 9:30 so we have 2 hours to get ready.  Not long considering 11 campers need to eat mass quantities of breakfast.  Frank fires the potatoes to start with.  A bit later sausage hits the skillets.  I go and prep my pack and gear.  Back up and I steal a PB&raisin&honey sandwich from Darius and I'm about ready.    One big breakfast later and we are mostly ready.  Then it comes in that we are shuttling.  Shit.  Out to the car to try and get a gear/change bag ready.  The sky is threatening the rain in the forecast. 

Guide shows up a bit before 10 and explains the plan.  Base ride should be around 18 miles (cough 22/23).  And 2 possible extensions.  Main ride should take 3 hours.  Maybe for him!  Lots of Descending!  We will start near 4800 feet and end up at 1600.  Mention of a few creek crossings.   And we are off a bit after 10.  4 vehicles of bikers on the road.  I'm rolling with Brett W in the VW battle van.  We drive up the mountain and eventually stop just on the other side of the parkway off 221 I think it was.  They now have to shuttle 1 car to the early stop and 2 more to the final end point. 

And we wait.  And Wait.  And Wait.  We are passed by a cougar in her Jaguar after her hike.  She's scarily friendly and eyeing us all up and down. 

The trip becomes officially known as Man Camp 2013 - Escape from Cougar Mountain!

Kegley works on his new rap songs for his new career.

We laugh and bullshit.  Todd B finds a random part on the side of the road and smartly saves it. 

An hour later the lone return car is back.  2 of the shuttle drivers report there cars in various states of fuel shortage from running on empty to possible on "Fumes".  The shuttlers prep and we are off.  On a 1.5 mile climb.  Up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Several mechanical adjustments on the way and we finally hit the single track with a burly rock section doing a quick descent.  Then we roll a bit and start a bigger and slightly less techy descent.  Then it's a bit of up to the next big descent.  We are now down to 1700' from 4800'.  Damm. Now we climb back up to about 2400 feet and descend some rooty mess for a bit down to another screeming fireroad.

And the creek crossings start.  Shallow little things at first but eventually crossing 50-100 foot knee deep or more crossings on foot.  Lots of hike-a-bike also to go over insane rock piles etc.  7 or 8 big crossings.  And we stop for a more substantial break.  Or rather everyone else has waiting for me.  I stop and eat 3 bites of sandwich heaven.  And we are off and climbing again.  Back from 1650'ish to 2200.  And more creek crossings.  7 or 8 more of the same with some CRAZY hike-a-bike sections.  Did manage some stuff, but I wasn't beast enough for a lot of it.  Another big quick descent. 

6 hours later we finish with 18+ gps miles and what must be really 22/23 miles total.  I'm cooked and so are 3 or 4 others.  We opt to drive the shuttle to the next point.  BIG frickin climb up the mountain we pass everyone between half way and 3/4 of the way.  The lead group ops to do a quick last trail hit for the Sinkhole/Mine trail.  The others coming screaming down the mountain to the final meetup.  Last of the riders rolled in at 7:40 from the trail group.

We load up after some celebration and talking shit and we are off back up the mountain and praying that the fuel supply holds.  Which it does.  We eventually find a gas station with old school pumps and all 3 vehicles gas up.  The guide is behind a bit and doesn't need gas.  Back to the house about 8:30.  And Man Camp Appetizer Battle is ON!

Camped Out 2013 - Part 1

I need a vacation.  From my last vacation.   Man Camp is always more adventure than I remember from the previous times, the good memories and time really dull the annoyances, that at times leave many individuals ready to pull out our hair.  Regardless it was a great weekend of riding, hiking, living, and in general behaving badly. 

I left early opting to skip Sherando on Friday by scooting out early Thursday morning.  But I was late leaving, and 10,000 bathroom breaks put in me in Pisgah at 3PM'ish.  After a brief consult of the guide book I opted for a shorter ride of Gumstead Gap.  It was a great ride even with a missed turn down an old out of use trail section.  Ran into a local named Rick who guided me to a great overlook of an amazing waterfall.  Finished up the ride, hit the local Holiday Inn Express (tons of bikers) and then went to Jordan Street Cafe.  Ran into Rick and his lady Heather and a bunch of other biking locals.  Great pasta dinner and beer.  Sacked out by about 10/10:30. 

Up at 8 and out to Dupont by 9:30.  Rode a bunch of the Northside trails I hadn't fully explored on my last visit.  What a workout and ride.  Back down to The Hub for some beers, some maps and a jersey.  Hit arby's at 3 and back to Asheville for a visit to The Wedge brewery.  Enjoyed a fabulous Porter and an Iron Rail IPA.  Damn.  Now it was about 5 and I took the Northern route back up 26 and east on some country roads to Banner Elk. 

Meanwhile Team Man Campers were just hitting Roanoke after Sherando.  Oy.  3+ hours behind.

Eventually I hit Boone a bit before 8.  Walked around and called the campers they were between Roanoke and Wythesville I think and had eaten dinner.  I went off in search of food.   Some good looking places but I didn't feel like anything bar'ish and I didn't want fancy or Pizza so I hit Our Daily Bread and had a great sandwhich and beer.  Messed around a bit more and decided to move up close to the route the Campers were coming in on near 105 off 421.  At the Lowes Market (grocery not HW!)

2 Hours later the Campers arrive and we spend 45 minutes raiding the store for food and b33r.  Eventually after a missed turn we hit the cabin at about 11:45PM.  Oy.  And it's near 2 before we're all settled and ready'ish for bed.  A few hit the hot tub.  I think it was 3 before I sacked out.  Ahead of use we had a EPIC ride awaiting. 

Moving along the trail

Back on the trusty volpe for the first time in 2 weeks and it feels different, a good different.  A steel CX bike is a different pony than a CF roadie.  2 Totally different arrows in the same quiver.  Flat Blade versus a point tip.  I can easily see the difference in the ride the 2 have, though the carbon bike is impressive in how well it does soak up road roughage. 

Getting on the MTB after the roadie is always a huge change, it felt positively.....lumbering?  Slow?  I dunno at first.  But as the night rode on, the fun returned, the quick hard turns, the power slide to trick around a bend, the bounce and push over a tree pile or two or three.    The swooping fun.  The horrid sucking climbs.  It was all good as the temps dropped.  The chill of your sweat on a fast downhill.  I eeked out probably 14'ish miles with 11 miles with the group.  Lots of fun.  20 plus riders out in the whole group, our small group of 2 made it a blast.  Even did the shitty end climb back from the damn of Accotink.

One more big ride this weekend and then Tuesday I'll bike in and that's all she wrote for pre-trip riding.

Saturday was an errands day since I worked late.  Sunday I did more chores/cleaning in the AM and hit CJ in the evening followed with a visit to Hard Times for chili, wings and beer post ride.  Damn good!

Monday morning it was sooo damn cold, 35 when I left the house!  I was way tooo tired and it was way to cold to ride in.  Now I'm left with a conundrum:  Tuesday.

Opt 1 - Ride to work 15 casual miles round trip
Opt 2 - Ride WF/Accotink after work - 10 or so semi-casual MTB miles
Opt 3 - Xterra Training ride at WF and 3 mile run. 
Opt 4 - 1&2
Opt 5 - Fuck it, go drinking.

I'm leaning towards Opt 6 for sure.

Rolling in the Hills

Went out yesterday on 16 miler and had a nice ride with J.  We rolled up MacAurthur Blvd from Glen Echo to Falls Rd in Poto-mac, then explored one of the huge uber-rich hoods.  Damn!  Big money for sure.  We rolled back on Oaklyn to Persimmon Tree Rd.  On the way we picked up a straggler and he rolled with us that entire section.  54 year old dude who had ridden out from NE DC on Rhode Island ave area.  We split while he took a break at the PT/McA Blvd intersection. 

The rolling hills in the hood were a blast on the bike and I wasn't even trying to power thru.  I did pop on the big climb up from Old Anglers to the end of the first big hill but I recovered quickly but J was struggling so I rolled slow.  So slow my gps thought I wasn't moving except about 14.6 miles vs 16.4 sigh.

Mancamp is 2 week so or less out and I'm not where I want to be fitness wise, but I am better off than I was I suppose a month ago, going to finish strong this next 7 days then back off till the trip.

No Pantera huh.  I wonder about Apocalyptica, I present instead:  Inquisition Symphony. 


Mellow jams aside I'm looking forward to a long weekend the hell outa dodge. 

Gonna try and either run 5 or bike 30 tonight.  Not sure which yet.  May have to work late. 

Trying to also make a decision on the pointless fundraise ride of the year - 100 Miles to No Where.  A 100 mile rd up and down a section of the WOD or  30/40 loops of the neighborhood.  Not sure what I can do and stand before loosing it.  Or is is it already a lost cause??

Carbon in the Now.

We're carbon based life forms.  It's a fact.  There is a dune buggy on mars trying to determine if there is other C based life or perhaps something really different. 

Early April became a bust for riding, though I did do my first trailwork in a LONG time at Accotink last sunday helping with a BIG rock armoring project that we doubled the planned length of.  Turned out super nice after riding it last night, really fun to descend.  A wee bit of a challenge. 

But did 2 days of bike commuting this week and that was good, might ride in tomorrow morning not sure for 3.  Plus I did work from home 1 day so 2 days of driving is not bad.  When I consider I was doing 6 days of near 30 miles thats 180 miles a week versus about 30 miles now.  That could drop 7K off my annual mileage a year. 

FYI - In breaking news the Vuvuzelu is apparently a dangerous weapon in South Africa.

Darius apparently managed to yank the entire seat tube came out of the frame.  The pictures are pretty wild.   I will try and link em here later. 

This weekend I have to do TAXES and pickup a shipment at UPS.  Ugh.  Think I will try UPS after work directly then try and maybe do taxes tonight.  Should get a fed refund.  VA is a mess due to issues with address changes not taking till last march/april versus 2 years ago so I still have to reclaim 3/4 months of md taxes.  I should end up with a bit back from that also.

Riding a  bit more this week, next week needs to be pretty epic then taper into the trip week.  I'm not ready but fuck it.  I'm gonna try and make up for my lack of fitness by loosing a few more lbs.  I'm fluctuating around 200-205 on work scale so I think 195 may be possible with being a good little boy for the next 2 weeks.  I hope. 

Other than the insane 3 days of near 90 degree or more heat I'm ready for spring!

Son of a Lich

Well we all survived day of the Lich aka Easter.  Who doesn't think a guy rising from the un-dead isn't quite kosher.  Bring me a bacon sarnie for sure when that happenes...Again? 

March was a bust for me activity wise.  Weather.  Parents.  Lack of personal motivation.  Weather.  It all came together in a giant conflagration of inactivity.  Maybe February was too much catchup.  I enter April only 3 activities behind pace for 180.  Maybe I'm focusing too much on that.  Shrug. 

Finally some miles back on the MTB in March.  Accotink is back in seaason and we've been riding it the last 3 weeks of the month.  Well 2 for me as I missed the 1st week while in FL.  Using the old giant for even  bar/junk commuting was painful the front fork is so blown out I look at it from 50 paces and it compresses a third.  Getting on the sag is about 50% if I'm careful.  Full body weight isn't good.  And the rear brake has 0 modulation.  Though if I need to stop I can glare at it also and lay down some impressive skids!

April is going to be gonzo.  Commuting to work (1st day tomorrow, I hope) the big trip at the end of the month.  And taxes.

FML.

Well I"m off to finish preping for the ride tomorrow.  My goatee is trimmed at least. 

Top Fuel Madness

Down in Orlando for a few days, hanging with the family.  Finished semi-fixing the old Giant and have ridden around a few times on some short errands to the bar and for food.  It kinda sucks as the fork is shot I look at it and it compresses from 20 ft away.  I also realize that I need a shorter stem to.  It's also re-inforcing that I've bought my bikes to large, there is a reason why I love my 56cm cross bike.  I think my next mtb will be a large.

Went to Gatornationals today with pops and some friends, damn good races.  Got a bit of sun.  Walked about 4.5 miles around looking at cars, checking out stuff for sale, looking at the skanky race girls trying to sell cars, RC cars, etc.   Good racing, nitro in the air. Zoom!  Top speed I saw today was 326 and change.  Not bad for 1000 ft.

Been hitting WOB a bit.  Had some good stouts yesterday, lead by Evil Twin's Yin.  Damn good.  Also Widmers Russian Imperial Chocolate Stout.

Snow-what?

The big snow of 2012-2013 turned out to be a big flub.  Sure out in Chantilly area I think we got 8 inches but by the time I left due to the damp/rain I think we were down to 4, and with 55 degrees the next day we are down to piles in parking lots mostly. 

The CCT North last night was wet but not as bad as I thought.  Accotink creek was definitely flowing strong though. 3 of us did a quick ride up and back.  Enjoyed a pitcher of beer and chips.  Good ride for sure, but not very exciting. 

Going to shoot for a big ride on Sunday. Maybe a mountain bike ride on Monday since I'm off and we'll have 3 days of 60+ weather, hoping for dry trails!

Here comes #4

This is only my 4th blogpost this year so far, not really a big deal either way, but compared to last year, I find I have not as much free time.  I'm definitely WAY more active in 2013 then 2012.  I've got a couple big things on the horizon this year:

Big Ride Week in late April for Man Camp 2013 in NC.
Half Marathon in June
Tough Mudder in October. 

So I've been pushing myself to get out and be more active.  And it hasn't been hard in many ways, but it also hasn't always been fun.  Doing those 11 miles on Monday sucked.  Last night my legs were not at power either, till near the end.  Though with my schedule this week, it's no wonder I'm a bit down, I'm at 43 hours as of right now and by the end of Saturday I should hit 60 hours.  Getting up at 3:35 the last 3 days has been hell.

February 2013 I hit 16 activities for 222 miles, up  from 13 and 155 miles in January.  Versus last year I had 16 activities for 176 miles in January and Febuary vs 29 for 374.  I'd like to hit 250 in March but it may be hard with going home for a week.  Though I now have my old beater Giant down there.  I will get SOME riding in. 

Tommorow brings me lots of options - Sleep in and eat a big ole breakfast, get up early and go ride the Shjed/Gambril loop from Sand Flats, or go do some trailwork at Meadowood with Doug V.

New MORE Event for April 4 (Thursday).  We are doing screening/fundraiser at Arlington Draft House for Reveal the Path.  Mike Dion's film from 2012 following some great riders in some amazing locations.  I've already purchased my tickets (1 for me, and 1 for someone else).

Still thinking about a BIG mtb trip this summer in June/July.  

This weather

Been staying  busy and active this 2013 so far.  I have an GPS logged activity for 20 of the last 45 days, covering 263 logged miles.  I think I did miss recording at least 1 run so far, and thats at 24'ish miles, and now that I'm up to doing 5 at a time that will keep climbing.

Have a big goal to be ready for a big trip down to Boone NC in late April.  2.5 Months out and I've gotta get in some distance rides and climbs. 

That brings me to my first dilemna, to do a moderate 30-40 mile gravel ride on the CX bike with moderate climbing this weekend or to go to Rosaryville and put a solid 30 miles on the MTB.  Sure it doesn't have a ton of climbing but it is a more constant work-out than other places.  Or I guess I could go to the Shjed and pound myself into idiocy.  While the climbs up are a good workout, doing it right away doesn't sound fun.

The weather is killing the WF TNR for the last 3-4 weeks and next week looks no better.  Ugh F@#$. 

Snow and more snow  Saturday and Sunday's current forecast, though only at 30-40%.  Hmmm. 

Back to work.

Jet Plane Ride

Gonna get on a Jet Plane....in June.  For somewhere.

2 Years ago almost I did the big Pisgah Week trip for my birthday in June.  It was a blast, though doing it by myself was a  bit of a downer, I like my me time, but going with others would have been cool too, pushing myself a bit honestly. 

So the last week I've been thinking of what I wanted to do.  My first thought was another trip South to that area.  Maybe a week, maybe shorter.  Now I'm thinking of doing something else longer for the birthday and maybe doing NC again in May or Maybe July.  Not sure. 

What I am thinking of is hitting somewhere like BC, Sun Valley or a bunch of other area's that were just listed in a Bike/Mountain Bike article.  Not really the big places, but smaller ones where I can do a mix of things.  I want to do a 3-5 day trip then have a few days somewhere else to just do trip things.  Maybe hit a park for some hiking.  Shrug.  Some of the places have signifigant altitude 6 to 9k feet!  Some do 10+k of climbing though that should be a real test. 

Hoping today gets warm enough to melt a lot of the Rails to Trails stuff.  I really need to get in a long ride tomorrow. 

Snow Baby!

Got a nice 1 to 2 inch dusting of snow last night, we will be having a BITCHIN snow ride tonight!  Hell ya!

The 45 North boots have been most excellent so far.  Wore them up at the shed last weekend in temps ranging from 46 to 56 and my feet were comfortable the whole time.  Tonight will be a real cold test, but I expect no issues.  I have had them out in the high 20's but tonight should be low 20's. 

Shed last weekend was rough, hadn't been out there in almost 9 months.  Thank god I didn't decide to pedal up from the maintenance yard.  We rode from hamburg and did Big Sucky Down, then Long Sucky UP out to Gambrill, then yellow to the connector.  Did the Big Gay DH trail down about halfway and turned around, then went down Grass Mower and over and back some other trail.  Took forever. WAY outa climbing shape. 

Last night I went to lube chain for today and my front tire was flat.  Suspect a very slow leak.  The new D is super nice and shortening the chain also reduced the chain slap a LOT.  New rear pads also helped stopping. 

Ian and I discussed my sizing issues after I messed up my elbow during a descent from locking it.  Ouch.  Think my next ride may be a large not XL.  Tough choice. 

Southern Tier's Un-earthly IPA - Big win!  Oak aged, very malty, nice hops.  Excellent.

Lake vs 45NRTH Wolverhammer

Boots are one of those things as a cyclist you don't think toooo much about unless your in the great white north.  Hell DC doesn't really count.  I'm talking PA  and north of there.

But hell DC gets cold and so do my poor little feet.  Between dumb stuff like sledding in socks and other things my feet are a bit cold sensitive.  Call it a 3 out of 5 with 5 being the worst.  My hands are probably a 4. 

Well my Lake boots have their issues.  A snapped cable since last spring.  One boots neoprene has holes.  The soles/sewing of them are showing signs of failure a bit also.  I also need to re-wax them for water proofness. And finally they really don't keep my feet all that toasty even with a heavy wool treking sock.  Plenty of room in them for sure as size 48,  maybe too much.  They've served me well over the last 4 years.  And I got them for $160 bucks.  Not too shabby.  Last night I finally did replace the broken BOA lace.  It wasn't easy but it really wasn't bad.  I have enough spare cable that if I wanted I could redo the otherside.  However that won't be necessary for now.

Why you ask?

I finally got a pair of these:

Wow.  That about sums up these boots on first inspection. In fact I will post some pictures of them in detail later to flickr.  It's uh never mind.  Very well made.  Seams are well sown.  Sole is well attached. The zipper on the outer shell is heavy duty and Velcro's into place.  The laces inside are strong as hell the cincher is well made also and holds the laces tight.  Very comfortable on the foot, the faux fur interior is nice.  No pressure points when pulled VERY tight lacing.  Even walking around was pretty comfortable.  Hell with a pair of gators they would make fine snow boots for shoveling or just getting around.  Based on the over all quality and everything I can see these boots lasting 5+ years, which makes their $325 price tag less oppressive.  This is the 2nd most expensive pair of shoes I've even owned.  Right behind my 5+ year old pair of Sidi's. 

Tonight I mount the cleats and get them adjusted.  Can't wait to ride in em.  Toasty toes, here I come!

The running disease continues, did 2.7'ish in 25 minutes last night.  Going to start pushing to 4 miles soon.  Maybe Sunday, if I don't ride. 

Spent a while cleaning the MTB last night tonight I pick some lube and give the chain a good cleaning.  But I may also shorten the chain as it's still the old length for supporting the triple rings up front. 

Stretchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'm still around doing my thing.  Not biking as much lately due to other commitments, still getting setup at the new place.  Finally got a bedside table setup yesterday and tonight I setup the desk.  The room is approaching "done-ness".  After that it's some more cleanup, junk disposal and sorting the ton of crap of mine in the basement. 

Last week was Wakefield Festivus Part 1 of 2012.  Due to commitments of various people we are holding a 2nd week this week.  I led a MONSTER group to start with of 20+ people.  Ended up with about 10 by the end.  Lotta fun.  Well excluding the peanut gallery behind me complaining about everything.  Thanks Ricky and Adam :P 

Ran on last Tuesday and ran again yesterday.  Boy my running sucks.  Actually if it wasn't for that costco hotdog I mighta been okay yesterday to run more/better but I need 3 to 4 hours after a meal before running. 

Drank a ton of good beer this last week including:

Terrapin Dark Side Stout - Side Project # 9  - Belgian Imperial Stout - I'd been saving this last bottle for over a year maybe 2.  Excellent. 
Brooklyn - Blast - 2x IPA - Yah it was very nice and well balanced.
Brooklyn - Maple Porter - Also nice,  minor maple hints.  Went really well with pork and fries.  Could be good with breakfast also
Magic Hat - The Heart of Darkness Stout - Very toasty, well balanced.

Stayed up way tooo late reading last night.  Stupid books, being all interesting and stuff.  I will say Hyperion so far has been one strange book!

Not quite as cold as

It wasn't quite as cold this week as last week at WF thanks to a lack of a breeze. 

After some very successful cleanup at the new place I rolled out a bit after 5:30 and made to WF just before 6.  Didn't get to pre-ride but that was fine.  Stayed warm, prepped everything, and shot the breeze with everyone already there.  We had I think over 20 people on this very cold night and it was great riding, the trails were in good shape and casual blasted out a VERY fast pace, pushing 9 and 10 mph avgs for a lot, in 56 mins we were at 7 miles gps'd and over 8 I would say if not 8.5.  Went out for a short addition in the bowl and pushed to 8.5 putting me near 10 I fgiure in 1:10.  Not too shabby. 

Post ride I enjoyed a couple of PLB's including a Founders Breakfast Stout.  Woot, big thanks to Julie Ann for that.  Yum.  Then we were off to Roy's and we packed one corner, must have been 15 of us I think in total.  We got done pretty early and I was home around 10:30 even with a bit of construction traffic on 66. 

I got home and stashed stuff and checked my laundry, and it had just finished drying and was toasty warm!  Hell yah my cold hands were happy I can say.  Put a bunch away quickly (pants and socks) the rest is left for today.  Have about 2 more loads of laundry to catch up on to get rid of smoke stink. 

New comforter on the bed kicked ass.  Still not used to a foot board on the bed, it's taking some getting used to as I normally hang off the end a bit with pillows piled at the top.  Ended up sprawled across the bed diagonally.  But was toasty warm and slept very well. 

Tonight we get a couch and table.  The house is moving well along. 

It's December? Whooo knew?

Visions of ......wait never mind.

It's been a pretty hectic last month and change.  My absentee land lord returned at the end of October from her 3 year deployment in Belgium.  Within days me and JD had realized we had to move out and stat.  We turned in notice to vacate on Nov 6th.  My last bike ride was on the 8th and then stuff got busy at work and then I was traveling the next week thru the next Monday.  Got back and promptly rolled into Thanksgiving, so no ride that night either.  House stuff sucked up the rest of the time but we had settled on a new place and I paid final part of the deposit on Thanksgiving weekend and since then I've been schlepping stuff over at load or two a day most days.  Amazing how much shit I have.  Homebrewing gear and beer was almost 2 loads.  Cloths were a load.  Electronics were a load.  Bike stuff 2 loads.  Tools/misc/car care/etc was another load.  The final push started last Sunday and basically wraps up this weekend.  We've secured a pretty decent couch and table via craigslist for $550 and are picking it up Friday after work. 

Activity wise I got a run in also last Tuesday for about 25 minutes in the cold evening with Jen.  It was good but running around Silver Spring is a bit hilly! Tonights WF TNR promises to be a cold day in HELL!  Well it may be a bit warmer than last week with temp of 32 to 28. Gotta find my bar mitts for tonight.  Stupid hands were a mess for most of last week till about 20 minutes till the end.  ugh.

Lots of beer drunk lately including:

Goose Island BCBS
Evo #7, #6, #3, Primal Pale, Rise UP Stout, and Menagerie #8
Firestone Wookie Jack
and I'm sure others I've forgotten. 

Off to ride in a bit.

A Cold Wind Blowing

Is it already Winter?  I feel like either Jack Frost or The Winter Queen has arrived early.  It was damn cold last night getting ready in the parking lot, the wind just cut right through me.  Once we got riding it was good.  Wasn't a very epic night with a group of near 10 riders and I wasn't feeling my fastest either. 

I was actually shocked we had a full 3 page of riders, 24 out in the silly cold.  I was expecting maybe 12 or 16.  For not being fast it was pretty fun, the leaves are just enough to form a nice carpet and make things a bit interesting with hidden roots and sticks.  Lots of stick debris was down from the storms still but all logs were cleared.  We spent some time scouting new log-over potential and that was fun. 

My right foot lake boot's boa cord is still busted and that REALLY puts a limit on somethings I can do with the bike towards jumping/hoping/etc.  Post ride it was a single beer for me and rolling out to sleep.  I had about 14 hours of sleep over the last 3 days due to working early.  It blew.

Getting a solid 8 hours in however was awesome.  Another 7 tonight will help too.

Doing some appt/townhouse/etc hunting moving away from C-ville up to V!3nn@ or so.  Closer to the new office location come mid-January.  Our smoking landlord was the last straw now that she is back.  Ugh.

DAMN!  Missed out on Mumford and Sons.  MIssed the presale yesterday, then they open a whole new show today and both are now sold out less than 4 hours later!  WTF!@#!@#!!~!!#$!!!!!

Zombie.....Time

Wow, time flew this last week and yesterday was the big Zombie Event, Run for Your Lives north of Baltimore.  Up near the md/DE/PA border. 

Left VA around 8:30 and got up there at around 10:30, due to waiting for people we got on buses around 11 and made the 5 mile trek to the event via Cheese Wagon.  Parking in the lot took a long while and I was glad I had a SUV/non small car some of the ruts/etc were pretty deep.

Got to the event and got signed in quick and easy, though I wish they did the ID check at the same time for drinking but at that time the line was long.  Met up with a bunch of Jeff's friends and we had a group of about 8 I think.  We got in the bag check line pronto and made it out by about 11:55.  We opted to stay in our 12:30 heat and waited for 12:10 during that time my buddy from work Tim rolled in and got everything square.  He queued up with us also.  2 fast guys went into the fast chute and were 2 of the first out on course apparently.  The rest of us were halfway in the main course chute.  A couple hundred people.  And the slow people shoot was almost full too I think. 

Out we went at 12:30, though I think it was a minute in before we crossed the timing line.  Right off you dropped a bit and went down into a small flat spot where the first zombies were, a quick sprint and you were past them into a BIG field full of zombies, I made it thru without loosing a flag.  Down and around some more hills to the pipeline crawl where i lost my first flags.  Way too many zombies hanging right at the entrance. 

Then run through some soupy mud and up a hill through another zombie patch where I worked with my flagless side to protect my 2 last flags.  More obstacles including barriers to climb over then 2 more crawling ones (Barb Wire and a V thing.)  Down and around a big hill to a pond.  @#$@$ with a rope across.  Oh well into the water.  Walk and swim across but waited a few mins to pop out the water with the rope.  More Ropes on both sides would help.  UP and out and force myself to start jogging to warm up.  Here's where I lost the last of my group with 2 ahead and a bunch behind.  Climb up then a split I went right and down a very steep section with a powerline climb back up wow.  Missed a good view from the top apparently.  Pushed on down to my last flag now about 5 or 6 obsticles in, end up taking a wrong turn to a dead end with a big group.  FURK! 

Last flag gone and more obstacles now including logs, mudpits and such.  More climbing up and down terrain.  I'm splashing like a bastard feeling okay from the swim finally.  And up out onto the main field.  Time for the smokehouse.   A shocking experience though I managed to steer clear.  Others got hit multiple times and a few went down briefly.  OUt the doors dodging zombies.  Blocking for folks since I've lost my flags.  Up and down through more barriers and it's the climb up to the slide, down the slide into the pool and out.  Then slide under a chainlink fence section and done. 

46 minutes for 3.5 miles of zombies and obstacles.  Not bad in my book.  With more pushing by me I could see myself down in the 30's.  The fastest guy in our group went about 29 minutes, Jeff did 36 and I was 3rd.  Only 1 of 9 of use finished alive and she had a dedicated blocker/partner. 

Afterwards we showered a bit before changing but I was still full of mud.  When I got home it took 20 minutes with a hose to get cloths and shoes mostly clean.  Shoes may need another wash. 

WE got ID'd and grabbed our free beers.  Bands seeemed pretty cool including surf rock Buzzchopper.  We all then decided we wanted real food and rolled out for home.  We hit Frisco Taphouse and Brewery in Columbia MD.  Good food and good beers.  I had a very tasty Flying Dog Chocolate Scare -  a chocolate pumpkin stout from Cask.  Damn good if a tad sweet but one of my favorite pumpkin beers.  Then I had Oskar Blues Bobby Brown Cask also.  Damn nice super smooth and a bit hoppy as you would expect from OB.

Got home around  7 or so and rinsed cloths and shoes witth hose,  put in the wash and vegged out with some anime, and crashed out around 10.  Jeff somehow went out till 2:45. 

Thursday's Wakfeild ride was good we had a ton of riders with 26 or so and 4 groups out.  Casual was 6 I think and nice, we didn't cover much ground since I was saving for Saturday's run but it was good. 

Slip and Slide and .....

Damn good ride last night.  Had a small core group of casual's rolling hard all night, we did over 11 miles in pretty good time.  Ian, Neil, Tony, and now i've forgotten.  ugh.  I'm sooo bad with names these days.

The weather threatened on and off, we got minor sprinkles but it stayed nice and warm the whole ride with the clouds that came in near 4 trapping a lot of the warmth.  I was walking around air drying with my shirt off while I tore down the bike gear and put it away.  Wasn't even cold. 

Did a bit of trimming in a few area's where the thorns were just too long in the back of the berm area. 

Hold the Storms, Extra Daylight Please!

Storms coming in tonight, a bit close to ride time.  Grrr hoping to sneak one in till at least 8. 

Still a 40% chance as of 7PM tonight.  Ugh.  Must pre-ride. 

Cool video from the 2012 MoCo Epic last weekend:

Jim does awesome video's for all the clubs big events.  Eventually I think he plans to have a 5 minute version. 

Looking at new locks for JRA/Plan B Rides, etc and found a very interesting type - The Abus Bordo series from germany.  Made like a folding ruler, just a billion times tougher.  The damn things are pricey but seem like an excellent deterant and more easily transportable than a Ulock or a cable lock. 

http://www.abus-bordo.com/html_en/bikelock_bordo_granit_x_plus.html

Bikes for the People

Saw this on Yahoo today and thought it was really cool option for bikes for the poor. 

http://news.yahoo.com/cardboard-bicycle-change-world-says-israeli-inventor-090732689.html

I wish more people in the US got the "power" that bikes offer.  Fitness, outdoors, fun, less gas, etc.  I've been a biker forever.  First as transport from my house to the general store that was 1.5 miles away as a kid.  Transport and Commerce for biking to school and being a paperboy.  And taking a couple of cute girls to school on the handlebars and rack was never a bad thing.  Transport as a teen.  I regret my time away from biking but really blame it on cheap bigbox bikes.  Nothing like banging your knee on your handlebars when a chain snaps to make you hate a bike.  Now I try and commute to work at least 1 or 2 days a week and I ride another 1 or 2 times a week. I'm luck in that 80% of my grocery shopping I can walk to the store and back. 

Hoping to go for another run today but it's looking a bit rainy and the quads are still quite sore.  We shall see.

Tomorrow I might get to do the Little Bennett ride.  We will see if this rain causes it to cancel.

Failure abounds

Last night I've come close to declaring my batch of Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout a complete failure.  I tried a bottle finally but to say it tasted like shit may be generous.  Smelled okay but wow the peanuts just gave it a slightly off/green taste and it's ongoing effervescence bothers the hell out of me.

So on top of that not only do the O's fail and fall to the evil empire of baseball, the Nat's have a choke of epic proportion.  Almost Redskinian.  Maybe Dan Snyder should buy the Nats and the Whizz-ards and make a sweep of it....OH thats right what about the NHL?  I have serious doubts about an NHL season happening.  Even at half a season it's a failure.  BAH.

And now I'm betting my smoked porter thats in the fermenter has failed while I'm at it.  I don't entirely trust bucket fermenting at this point, using glass I never had problems with fermentation.  UGH.

Got a good run in last night but ran weird at first and apparently messed up my middle back again.  Sigh.  Last night and today on the heating pad is helping.

FunkMnkyz show was a semi-bust.  The space was so small the band was doing 2 and 3 man short sets and letting friends bands play.  Plus a late start, I had to leave at midnight since I turn back into Slob Rob then and had to work this morning.  Getting up wasn't as bad as I feared.

Tonight it's the parents and hopefully some better live music action.

Boy that was cold

Last nights ride started out pretty nice.  The sun was up for my tiny pre-ride, but I new it would get pretty cold pretty damn quick last night.  I just didn't realize how damn cold.  I hope this is not a sign of the winter to come.

By the end of the ride Mr.GPS reported 41 degrees.  Car in parking lot reported a slightly warmer 47 degrees.  All I know is I think it may be time to drag out the Lake boots and the heavier gloves.  The fox mid-weights just weren't warm enough and more poor fingers don't need to take anymore abuse.  In an attempt to protect my poor digits into the fall/early winter I'm buying another set of gloves.  This time I'm trying the Gore Xenon 2.  The feet were also suffering so the lakes may be coming back out on nights where we may get 50 or less.  Though admittedly I was wearing a too light sock. 

Still drooling over the 45NRTH Wolvhammer boots.  WANT! 

We had a TON of riders out enjoying the frost fall weather last night with 34 signed in and I think about 12 on each ride at least.  Huh.  Knew I missed a few chumps in the lot!  Trek had a women's group out with 8 demo'ing bikes at night and then there must have been another 10 or 15 riders in various groups.  It was a parking lot at times.  Main casual covered about 8 miles then I took the 3 fastest out for another 25 mins for 4 more miles'ish.  It was a blast.  Always good to ride with the regular's. 

Never heard as much crying though about a little bit of Mud from Ian and then later Neal!  I'm shocked!  Sure I knew that back area of the upper baseball diamonds was bad  :) 

Tonights plan includes Whole Foods, avoiding parents who are in town, and maybe a trip up to JamminJava to see local band FunkMnkyz.  Check em out

Straight outa Burke Baby!

Saturday brings dinner with the parents and hopefully seeing another buddy's band Justice Monkey at Blue Water Grille in Chantilly-ville.

Sunday brings a possible quick trip down to Charlottesville VA to look at some property with my parents. 

For now it's back to work.  Kinda.  :P

Up and down the EC

Busy weekend for a slightly long one.  Worked late on Saturday, slept like crap.  Missed Sunday ride at the Shjed.  Did make a kick ass breakfast on Sunday to make up for not riding.  Nothing like pancakes with chocolate chips and sausage to make things better.  Especially Maple Sausage.  Sunday afternoon I spent some time running bike related errands for odds and I needed and J needed.  Ended up picking up a Cygolight 400 for her for 90 bucks for night road rides out west and once she gets regularly back here.

Then it was up to MD.  Hung out up there with J for the afternoon/evening watching TV and relaxed, we did go out and get J some new fully finger slightly warmer gloves and she got another pair of shorts and some more, ROAD specific shoes....But we will see. 

And on Monday morning we woke up to on and off rain especially up on the northside where we were planning on riding around near Poolesville.  Ugh.  So after getting a late start we ended up heading into VA and riding the WO&D inwards from Spokes down to the Airport. On the way down we saw Larry and Ernie on their way back from a Hills of Arlington/Airport Loop ride.  Shot the shit for a few minutes and went on. 

14 miles from Spokes down to where the Mt Vernon meets Four Mile Run at DCA.  From there we went north up to the Custis and took that back to E. Falls Church then the WO&D back to Vienna.  We then finally hit Panera for some hot food and back to MD.  A quick powernap was in order and then it was Dinner, Fringe and more TV till 10'ish. 

In today's other fun news I see ole Jerry's got 30 to 60.  This one is for you Jerry.

Well not an epic week for the bike this last week between rain and lazyness.  Got a short 18 miler in last Sunday around the hood.  The week till Thursday was shot due to rain and other factors.  Thursday I got in a pretty good ride probably another 18 miles total.  With today's ride to work and back I should hit 50'ish miles.  Saturday will be an off day, then Sunday I'm seeing about joining a group up at the Shed if it isn't too we, but right now my attendance on that is running about 50% if it is a 9AM start. 

Monday I'm taking the day off and going biking with JS up and around Sugarloaf Mtn.  Planning a 40 to 50 ride.  Found some different loops on RidewithGPS.  I will say I do like the searching interface better than Connect. 

Forgot my gloves for the ride into work.  My hands were almost claws by the time I got to work.  Did ride it in sub 18 minutes moving time.  Not bad for no warmup 4.5 miles.  Won't be that fast on the way back.  Gotta decide if I am running today or not and how far if I am.  Honestly I just wanna take a nap. 

Picked up a 6 of Peg Leg Stout last night.  Damn good.

The mountain might get ya, but the law never will.

Yesterday went from being a partial Sh-- day to full on status by the end of the Wakefield night ride.  We had a rider on the casual group take a OTB dive and needed some help evac'ing out, he took a big red truck ride to ffx hospital.  He was sore but they emt's wanted to check everything.  I'm sure he wasn't OK to drive at the minimum. 

The new JK Rowling book started things on the downhill, a frustrating conversation with J via phone based IM sent it to the 50% mark and then that topped the day off. 

I will say Casual Vacancy seems interesting in the first 50 pages, but that it may be very depressing also.  It's not Harry Potter.  I've got an impending sense of something in the order of the Ice Storm but not really.  We'll see.

I did order the Bond 50 retrospective on Blu-ray so that will be cool, it should come in next week. 

I was going to try and ride in today but last night left me wiped out and continuing T-storms kept me up till Midnight.  Maybe I'll run tonight instead.  Legs were very tired to start with yesterday with 5 rides in the last 6 days. 

Just heard from the rider and he is fine.  Maybe a minor concussion, but he was out of the hospital last night and sometime over the weekend we will hookup to get his bike back to him.

Loss on Ignition.

During the Saturday ride several times I had my map drop out of the front pocket of my enduro's.  Not that unusual with nothing more than the map in the pocket vs pedaling action.  So a few times I had to back track small sections to find the map. Joel Gwadz found it one time as I was on my way back looking for it. 

So Sunday started off with me loosing the map.  In the car full of packed gear.  I spent probably 30 minutes tearing apart my pack and the driving compartment of the car looking and looking and was about to start tearing everything out when I found it on the back seat.  From when I had grabbed my shoes to put on.  Sigh.

A quick word on the maps in the Davis area.  Colors and distances aren't always quite right it seems.  And not all intersections are well marked.  But still I do suggest getting copies of the maps. 

With the map found I was back to the nearby camping area to start my ride, the trail entrance was thru an RV campers area, though some of their direct space.  I felt a bit bad but no one was really out.  Started off heading towards the overlook below Dobbin House.  Wow, amazing trail and the overlook was spectacular.

While there I met up with Michael W and another couple who was riding together.  I joined with them for the rest of the Dobbin House outer loop.  Wow some climbs and hike-a-bikes.  Some nice views also.  They ended up splitting off after crossing back over the dam/lake area as they had to get back to town.  Later heard Michael led another group out on the same ride.  Me, I was off to the Yellow Elm trail I think.  MIssed a few of the cross campground trails so I took the road.  Skipped the first falls overlook and went to the far side.  Got this shot there:

Then I hit the yellow trail.  Wow a real mix of rocks and roots, like parts of the shed and I dunno.  Very challenging for me.  For the frednecks it would have been fun.  Got lost on a poorly signed direction change.  Ended up taking a bunch of trails and exploring all over.  Without the map I can't remember really now 4 days later.  But it was cool.  One trail was supposed to be horse only but wasn't signed so where I picked it up....OOops.  Had a blast getting lost basically in the forest.  Eventually I had to head back and blasted back along the road.  After changing and taking some more photo's from the overlook I skipped before of the falls I was back off to town for food and then to head back to Civilization of the phone.

Ran into a bunch of Team XXL at Hellbenders and so stopped and had lunch with them.  Damn good to hangout post ride.  Tried the most excellent Face Plant Burrito this time.  Very tasty. 

On the way outa town I hit Boomtown Java and bought some additional gifts for friends after getting some cool Jelly types at the Park Gift shop.

All together a damn good trip and somewhere I will go again to bike and hike.  The campground is pretty nice.  The lodge is very impressive and the cabins look good too.  Go out for a long weekend. 

2012 Davis Trip - Part 22/7'ths

The Journey Continues on Disc 9!

Sooo I was back at camp not to past 2PM on Satuday and it was time to enjoy a beer while prepping my EPICAwesome Super Secret Appetizer for the Potluck Battle Royale!  First I had to find something to skewer my food on. Found some small dowels at a general store and soaked em in water.  And the super secret ingredients are:

Bread
Pork
Cheese

Combined with fire and herbs to become Toasted Crusty Break in Olive oil with Rosemary Mozzarella chunks wrapped in Prosciutto, The Pork of the Gods.

Cut up the crusty bread, the best way is to tear it up by hand into un even chunks, but I was being VERY lazy.  Toss a bunch of olive oil and rosemary chopped up on it and let sit, shaking up occasionally.  Seperate Mozz into small pieces/balls.  Then you basically should join together in holy matri-moan-ee the cheese and bread wrapping in a piece of prosciutto then skewer for easy grilling.  Well my skewers failed and I went to simple way.  Piece of bread, piece of cheese ontop and cover with piece of prosciutto.  Grill.  To get melty reuqires too long on the grill directly so after having to reject the first few I went with a quick grill on the open fire then place on foil for finishing while covered also in foil.  Worked pretty well as long as I got the toast right.  Only ended up with 25 good pieces.  OH well. 

Finally potluck is starting a bit after 6, food is out!  Tons of food.  5 picnic tables full pretty much.  Some way amazing, some was average.  Everyone had fun while working on the 2 kegs of beer.  Voting kicked off around 6:50 and by 7:20 the vote was in.  I wasn't even nominated for the final running and here was the organizers thoughts on why several excellent things didn't get nominations.  Not enough of it.  Ran out before everyone got some and no 2nds.  so next time I have to plan for 1.2 to 1.3 times group production. 

During making my dish I opened a bottle of DuClaw's X-1 an Bourbon Barrel Aged - Imperial Chocolate Rye Porter.  Amazing.  One of the best porters I've ever had.  Well balanced, super smooth.  Damn good. 98 on Rate Beer.

After dinner I opened a bottle of Schlafly Reserve Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, that for a bourbon barrel stout was very mild interms of bourbon boy whoooo was it rocket fuel, I think 10% and change.  I chilled a bit with various groups sharing some out and eventually went back to my camp area and stoked the fire.  So I added logs, got the fire going good and relaxed.   And I was sleepy.  That nights 4 hours was catching up to me and so I decided to nap for a bit.  And I was asleep from 9:30 till about 11:30 when nature called.  And after a quick mental debate back to bed I went.  Heard the wind a bit and it was starting to chill down but I was toasty warm in the sleeping bag. 

Slept till about 7:15, that was awesome.  Wanted to sleep more but nature called and so it was up into a VERY cold pair of jeans.  Quick walk around the area to warm up a bit and when I was back the other tent's occupants were stirring or at least the wife was.  So I setup the camp stove for breakfast of oatmeal and cocoa and started emptying out the car for re-packing everything.  Car reports 41 degrees.  Joy.  By 9 I was fully packed and ready to roll out.  Quick walk around to chat with folks, help clean up the potluck area and such and I was out at 9:20'ish to park in the overflow lots as we were supposed to be out of camp by noon.  Car was reporting mid 50's at least. 

And then things got ugly.  Thats for tonight or tomorrow in Revenge of the Lost Map of Doom.
Photo stolen from Neil A.

MORE Fall 2012 - Camping trip to Davis.

Busy week last week so I didn't get to post much.  Did some riding.  Accotink season is over.  Slept like crap Thursday night before the trip.

Friday - Got started a bit late and took too long to pack/get ready.  Giant's lack of Rosemary also was a major setback.  Forgetting skewers for grilling also set back my food plan a bit.  GPS/DATA failing also set me back and I apparently went a very back way to get from 48/55 to 50.  Oh well.  Got to Davis around 3:30 and decided to skip riding, fully unpack and drink a beer.  Camp was set by 5:00 and hunger games had set in.  I was off to battle at Hellbender Burrito's.  Damn good.  Enjoyed a Mountain State IPA and the Hellbender Burrito.  Saw a bunch of folks intown and stopped to shoot the breeze, perhaps my favorite part of this trip was running into people around Davis and Thomas hanging out. 

Back to camp and the drinking games were on.  Lots of beer later and chatting with everyone went to bed around 11:30 I think.  Too much beer and water apparently, I'm up every hour or two to increase the flow of the river.  And then the Winds of Hell start.  Trees shaking furiously and Bikenetic decides to getup at 2 to 4 and have a wind party.  ugh.  Finally ended up getting some sleep maybe 4 hours.  It did warm up though as the winds brought in a small cloud system. 

Up early at 8 and ready to go for the day with oatmeal and cocoa already fueling the insanity.  Went up to check out the breakfast pizza's from Siranni's and it was awesome!  At least the meat-za's were.  Yum.  2 Slices later I go and chat with others till the 10'am photo call.  Gotta check the headband for proper positioning and such. 

And we were off to Blackwater Bikes to meet up and get the rides together.  Well the issue was supply and demand.  Everyone almost wanted to do the moderate ride, I think they had 40 people riding at least.  Sue Haywood's faster ride had a fair number also I think 15 or so people also.  The kids ride had 3 or 4 adults and probably 10 kids so that was a great group. 

We took off and hit a traffic jam waiting to enter the single track and this was after about half the group got going.

So by the first major intersection it was obvious we needed 2 groups.  Hell we really needed 3, we just didn't have leaders.  So I volunteered to run with a pair of ladies who wanted a more casual pace and we went off to explore.  We went up and hit the Trials Rd trails, then Jo's Shunt I think then we hit Rock Shox Red.  Damn fun, till you hit what was labeled purple on the map.  Then it was a suck fest for the 2 ladies, some shed worth rocks for sure.  Did ok.  Not awesome myself. 

At the end of that we met up with the original group.  Teresa the leader was just coming up the trail from Hoodoo/etc as I waited.  Got to ask everyone what took them so long....hahaha. 

Got a few photo's myself along the way but none with people turned out.  Oh well.  My camera is not made for action shots.  We eventually opted to reverse our route, do a section of Trials we hadn't done then take white back.  Ended up with about 14 gps miles back to the campground.   Strange weather day started of overcast.  Then bits of rain.  Then sun.  Then MORE rain.  Then sun most of the rest of the way back. 

Then it was on to prep'ing for the potluck but thats going to be in part 2.  I want to upload my photo's now.

The above photo's come from a mix of Todd B, Joel G and Jason Miller.  This shot from Todd Bauer though sums up my Saturday.

Gallery Links - So Far
Neil
Todd
Gwadz
Jason
Mine