Jeez - its almost November.

Crud. Where does time go? I dunno. My riding has been pretty eratic here in the last few months, between extreme Overtime, and commute delays leaving me stuck in traffic. The final straw is that my damn shifting setup is giving me a migraine. I think I could use to replace my rear derailleur but its just not in the cards. The other thing that would serve me well is learning to actually adjust it by myself. Add in a few trips, in Aug, Sept and Oct.....And wow...its been busy.

Winter and night rides bring some new challenges to me in the form a suitable riding cloths. I'm right now considering what kind of windbreaker is going to be optimal. A new pair of clear safety glasses for all riding is also on my list.

I did finally hit a new park for me, Fountain Head in Fairfax Co, Va. Nice with some semi technical descents and a few climbs that broke me utterly. I also made like humpty-dumpty and took a small fall off the 2nd Teeter-totter, due to a lack of that all important momentum. It was a challenging ride plus dark was creeping up on my and I lost my map pretty early on so I had not a great idea of where I was on the ride. Gonna try and ride it one or two more times before it closes for the season.

I need a nap but alas I've got another 4 hours of fun here at work.

So cheers and have a drink for me!

Fatcyclist Gear

Got my new Fat Cyclist jersey and t-shirt on Monday. Sweet, though the Twin Six XXL is just a hair smaller than the primal XL. If I order from T-6 again, I'm gonna have to go mega-sized XXXXXXXXL. Or 3XL. Eeesh. Skinny-arsed bikers. As it is I may have to cut the sleeves slightly if I bulk up in my upper arms anymore.

Should be posting a pic of the new kit soon. Maybe tommorow I'll try and grab one.

Repairs and Replacements

Last week I did the Little Bennett Night ride again. During the ride once again my rear brake lever pushrod came loose again (this controls how far towards the bar you have to pull to get brakes.). I'd had it with it and decided to replace it. It then started to not full return to normal position. Okay sign from above... Then on the way out coming off browning run towards clarksville rd. my rear tire went Hisssssssssssssssssss. And flatted. I caught up and pumped up on the other side. The slime tube got me another half mile before it reflatted mostly up the last hill. A mile push back was all that was left. Argh. Not worth the time/effort to change out in the forest in the dark with bugs and wet ground. Push work out back.

So I replaced the tube Saturday and went and picked up a Juicy 7 to replace my rear Hayes So1e. Very cool, had them install the disc. I got home and went to install the brake....oops. Wrong adapter...203 not 160...argh. Also while at the shop they noticed my seat was looking "a bit" off. The rails were fully crushed and the bolt on the post was rubbing into the seat bottom. I did research that night and a bit sunday. I finally ended up picking up a Terry Fly Ti. I also got the correct adapter and went on. I installed it the brake. Then the new saddle. Man, that thing felt like a frickin brick at first. Had to change my seating position a bit and if felt much better. The new brake ROCKS! One finger all the way, good modulation. And easy install. I just need to drop it off and have the line shortened. Probably wait and have that done after I do the front later this month or maybe next.

Ran at the gym last night. Only moderately cooler than outdoors. Ugh. Here's hoping for a good thursday this week.

Whoops!

Well it had to happen. On a ride yesterday I took my first "REAL" fall due to my clipless and my bungling self. It was a mixture of loss of momentum and bad steering and over onto my close side i went. Admittedly it wasn't a bad fall but it hurt my pride a bit. Sure I got a nice bruise on my hip and my offside ankle but it's really just my pride. I'm also trying to avoid over-fearing/thinking my riding. I do need to work on both my positioning and my vision/line stuff.

So yesterday I took the wyf out for her first ride at Schaeffer and she liked it much better than cabin john and she will ride there again definitely. What I need to do is get her out for a few RLAG rides to build her skills. Tonight I'm gonna do the Wakefield Night Ride since Thursday is looking rainy. Not sure if I'm going to hit the Friday Night Lights ride or not Friday.

Damn, I need a nap. Gotta prep the bikes, power snooze and hit the road!

Monday Monday....

Busy day today with picking the wyf up from the airport at 11, lunch, then a physical at 2. We even worked in a short mtb ride from 6-6:45 up at cabin john doing about 5 miles. I did almost eat it 2 or 3 times but managed to unclip or in 1 case grab a tree and pulled myself on up to ground. We almost made it from the Tuckerman area down to Democracy but one section was buried in dead fall. Other than that it was a good ride, though J was hating on a few parts but she made 2 tough climbs. She wants to change to the clipless also. May we'll work on finding her some shoes this week, I already have a set of shimano 505's for her from my bike's original days. I just took the cheap plastic platform off.

Biking Week!

Busy week for biking, I didn't end up hitting my thursday ride due to being tired from taking the wife to the airport early and storms coming in that evening. I did ride friday doing the monthly Little Bennett night ride. We rode almost 15 miles though my gps log only shows 12 due to me forgetting to turn it back on once we went out for a last lap up the first big climb and back down loggers. I did crash and burn on a small stump. Around then I somehow lost my damn glasses! Argh. I didn't need em I shoulda left em in the car. So the next morning I rolled outa the house in the same gear at 5:30 and started riding again near 6. I covered almost all the same ground and looked around the 3 spots I figured I could have lost them in as well as possible. No sign. Oh well ended upp with another hour and fifteen minutes of ride time for 9 miles.

So not bad that made it a nice 36 miles. Today I tacked on a pair more and made it a nice 38 miles. Those 2 miles were trial miles. Trying out a new change to the bike.... I finally switched to blood clipless. Yep. I got a set of TIME Atac XE's on Saturday and tried on a number of shoes. They were all to wide and slipped off. So today I went back out on the shoe hunt. Tried on a lot of stuff and still didn't find the right fit. So I treked out to columbia to hit race pace, the nearest Sidi MTB center. I'd tried the regular dominator 5 and it was a bit to wide. The guy in here right away hits me with a 6 series Eagle. Has the new heel securing system. Tighten it right edown and wam feels good. Plus they have half sizes and the 46.5 fits the best in the front/side that I've tried. 47 felt too huge. 46 a bit tight.

So i got home, installed the new pedals. Installed the cleats. Tried on one shoe and tried cruising around the basement. Hmm not bad. Tried the other. Not bad. Off to the lawn. Tool around a bit in the lawn....not bad foot commes out okay. A few adjustments. Better. A pair of laps around the neighborhood. Good start.

Tommorow I'm gonna try and hit damn cabin john. After picking J up at the airport and a physical...hmmm well see..

Red Elvises

The wife and i and a friend from work went and saw the Red Elvises down at the Iota club in Arlington last night. Awesome show, even the opening Soul band was good, Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves. The Elvises rocked and put on a hella good show in 2 sets that must have totaled an 2 hours and more. Excellent show for $15. My wife even got up with a bunch of girls and rocked the stage during I wanna see you belly dance, by belly dancing. It was great!

At least 2 big rides left this week and my legs need to finish recovering from MOnday! Argh!

First Ride at Wakefield

Yesterday I went out and rode wakefield for the first time. It was hotter than a frickin blast oven but it wasn't unbearable as a LOT of it was shaded. Boy it was a fun ride. Nice pump track section, managable climbs, and a lot of nice trail. My one bitch point was how bad the armor'd/rock'd section before you re enter the woods after the big descent from the powerline etc is. God I was wishing for magic f/s by my third lap.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3056791

Creek trail is pretty nice and shaded and is pretty well managed. From all the confusion on our boards (www.more-mtb.org) another good future project could be a trail/map system like we have on Schaeffer. Though the blazes are quite good especially with the added race markers.

Felt pretty good until my final lap, ran outa gas a bit but more I think as a function of lack of energy. Need to make sure i get a good meal in a bit before I ride. Also a clean/dry/cool post-ride shirt would be smart.

Happy Trails!

Face of the Earth

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth or anything. I've just been stupidly busy between excessively bad commutes, home projects, and occasionally biking I've been busy. I was pretty sick from Stokesville on for about 10 days my cough got bad enough I was only getting 4 hours of sleep and such. Last week I finally got to the docs, got reproscribed Zyrtec and an advair inhaler for morning/night usage. And it has been working pretty well.

Last thursday, i went on the usual Schaeffer Farm ride and was dieing do to being outa shape and not able to get enough o2....vs this week I was much better off and could have pushed harder than I did. Part of it was our pace was slower but in general I just felt better. Technically it was a better ride for me also, no trees and better line choice. I got over thru some stuff that is always troublesome and was worse due to the damp/slick roots.

Next week should be a good riding week, Monday I am going to try and do Wakefield, Thursday Evening is the Thursday Ride, Friday we have a night ride, then Sunday I may try and do an epic ride for 2 or 3 parks.

Ride Hard and stay cool.

Busy Busy Bee

Another busy week in the books.

The ride on Thursday was good and bad, the ride leader took a MASSIVE spill in a last little rut after avoiding all the huge ones involving at least 2 bounces. He ended up bailing out somewhat early. The rest of the group spun out for the whoop-de-doos on white. After making the hella nasty climb up the fire road we ran into a woman and 2 dogs. We greeted and moved on. At the next intersection we realized she was with us without the dogs. We questioned and she said she thought they were with us, and we thought they were with her. UGh. 2 riders took off to try and track the dogs down to bring them back. I was sweeper on the ride and frustrated, then the rest of the group wanted to get going as it was darkening. So I said I'd wait a few more minutes i waited 5 and no sign of em so I marked the trail direction I took as best I could and took off. I caught up to the group a bit later and so did the husband of the dog hunting pair who thought his wife would be a long....no sign. We rode out at near dark and found no sign of her at the lot. so I told the ride boss who said she'd just been here. So i strapped on the new light (its awesome) and headed out to the main intersection with the husband in tow. Eventually I asked if she had a cell phone with her and had husband call her and tell her to come back. She did make it back7 or 8 minutes after the call. We headed out to dogfish head for brew and sandwhich. Damn good.

Monday I rode up at Little bennet. The first climb up loggers trail is hell. A couple other climbs also sucked a bit but still a damn neat place to ride, got to rail some nice downhills and flet that my line choice was pretty good. Excluding a couple hidden piles of horse crap.

Today I'm gonna try and hit the gym but we'll see...Also moving a mirror home today. UGH!

Thursday I may skip Schaeffer as i"m doing Little bennett on friday with lights. Unless rain is more threatening as of thursday 5pm ish.

Saturday we head up in the afternoon to Stokesville for the VIMBA epic weekend. Just got a new tent and stuff so I'm stoked!

Too Bike or Not to Bike

No biking Monday due to having to go to work for meetings and having one of the cats put to sleep. Yuck.

Tuesday - No biking but J and I got to the gym and had good runs. But alas no biking again.

Wednesday - I finally did some good maintenance to the ride yesterday including adjusting both the front and rear brake's, fixing the front tire (it was on backwards!), cleaning it, re greasing one of the outside bits of the bracket, replaced my grips, and added the new bracket for the light system. Oh and gave the chain a good cleaning and lubing. Cleaned and lubed the entire drive train really. I spray a bit of silicon lube on the rings after cleaning. Seems to help it run even smoother. But boy was it a ton of work! Damn grips! :) Windex is you friend during installs. After trying these new WTB Dual compounds for a while I want to try some of the new ergon grips coming out in june. Sweet.

Thursday at Schaeffer tonight if the weather cooperates again. Right now I'm feeling good that it will. Then a run to dogfish hopefully afterwards.....hmmm gotta print directions.

Cake etc

Wow, we saw Cake last night at Pier 6 in Baltimore. Good show. Too bad it wasn't a double set or longer. My wife and I came up with at least 8 or 9 songs between us that we both would have liked to have heard. Oh well. Interesting bit of news from the show is they are out of their old record deal, back on their own label and have a new album out/on the way. And that now that they are on their own label they won't ever be doing anymore Radio or TV stuff. Only place we'll hear about em is on their site or email list. Pretty cool.

Thursday night I went out to Schaeffer again and boy did I suck. It was really a triple threat of sucky things that kept me down:
1 No fuel in the Afternoon = No Fuel for Riding in the evening. I have to eat something around 4pm or so in order to have good energy for the ride.
2 Front Tires mounted in Wrong Way - I suspected it last week and confirmed it this week, my front tire is mounted in the reverse/wrong direction. I'll fix that today.
3 Saddle Blues - I started playing with my seat the week before. Didn't notice it really on the ride Monday but by the end of Thursday night my seat felt way outa whack. I may have crackd it or something. But I did see how I need to adjust it a bit to be further forward a bit and tilted just a bit down.
4 - Hey! - My brakes are in need of adjustment. HA! Got the new pads in from AEBike yesterday and now I'll replace the old and see if that helps a bit. Right now they are really all or nothing and that was after I adjusted em as before to get em to work at all I had to pull em back almost to the damn bar!

Large group at schaeffer, we started out with no casual ride and a 10-12 person 'tweener led by Dave. We started on white and looped clockwise, then took the loopdy loop cut off and then went into yellow. 2/3'rd of the way thru 4 of us in the back broke off and road out at casual pace. Damn good ride, another month and I"ll be riding the tweener regularly.

Time's Flying

Wow, time's been flying this month.

Lots of reasons, really pretty busy in general. I got 3 rides in last week including Cabin John tuesday and then Thursday I hooked up for the MORE Thursday ride at Schaeffer Farms and rode with the casual group. It was a good ride. Give me a month or more and I hope to be riding sometimes with the intermediate. Got back up there this monday and rode the white then yellow trails in an hour and twenty five minutes. I was pretty stoked, as it was with very little resting while riding.

Last week was a bit frustrating as I had both tires get leaks after my Tuesday at CJ. Boy was I suprised on Wednesday evening when I went down to prep for Thursday and saw the flats. The rear was slow enough I just waited to fix it till Friday. The front tire wasn't so good. So a quick stop by German Town cycles and Adam hooked me up by boring out the stem hole to fit schraeder valves which is all he had the big tubes I needed in. I also finally picked up a sweet floor pump and a new pair of gloves. All good purchases.

And I love my new HOSS shorts for style and general comfort. Still need to get the strapping/closure system a bit better adjusted but they are very cool and fit great.

Hoss Shorts Review

Last week I got a pair of Hoss Technical Gear - Ponderosa Camo print. My wife commented while modeling them for her that they looked "Sexy" on me. Well anytime bike shorts get that and not, "Your wearing a diaper under there!" I'm pleased. I took them out Sunday for a brief ride into downtown bethesda for brunch. Very comfortable is my initial thought. The closure system is pretty cool and the pocket setup is VERY nice. I like the zippered ones a LOT! The chamois needs a bit of conditioning so I treated it and hopefully this afternoon I'll be able to put another ride on it, then really beat it up Thursday out at Schaeffer.

Overall I'm very happy with them and I think there an excellent value.

More on these in the next couple weeks.

Ultra-crazo-ness.

Perhaps one of the best Ultrarun/marathon stories I've read:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/why-we-compete/2007/04/curiosity_1.html

Truly it makes considering that next loop a little extra painless....

Didn't get around to riding this weekend due to the never ending allergy hell and various things needed to be done, so as soon as I get home from work I'm going to Cabin John.

Monday Ride

So after fighting on parts and stuff I re-greased my jockey/chainwheels and finally hit the road around 2 yesterday. I ended up only going up to Schaeffer Farm but still had a good and enjoyable ride. I did 9 miles out there in a bit over an hour. Not a great pace but not horrid. I spent a lot of time figuring out lines and what features I could handle and what I couldn't. Normally I'd be pushing to get outagain to even just Cabin John but we've got a pile or three of things going on this week, and I need to set my schedule, so we'll see.

Schaeffer is a rolling slightly winding stretch of singletrack in Germantown MD and its a good series of trails. Their are 2 or 3 loops, though the main trail (yellow) has a loop at the end of an out and back that can be varied by taking side trails (ORange and Blue). Kudos to MORE for providing an excellent riding spot. I hope to be able to contribute some trail work sometime this spring.

Bike Maintanence

Oh the other hand my free year of support from my bike shop is now over and I've got to do it or pay the $$. So on my ride home yesterday I heard a LOT of chain/gear noise and new that it was high time for a good cleaning.

My chain and Jockey Wheels were disgusting. The cassette and front sprockets were varying stages of gross. So off came the chain. Got it good and clean but used up the last of my finishline de-greaser and my jockey wheels were gross and all. So out they came and they were bad. I'm gonna either have to re-grease them or replace em. A lot of grit and stuff inside the metal covers on em. So I'm gonna go by City Bikes on the way home for some advice.

Monday I'm off to either Greenbriar (Checked out the race course) or to Shaeffer - Just ride like hell. :)

See ya'll on the trails!

Woot for Nice Weather!

Thank the weather god for nice weather returning to DC. I was going stircrazy in general, and especially in wanting to hit some trails on my Sunday/Monday days off. Well the weather was nice, traffic wasn't too bad and so I've officially opened my cycling season (EastCoastStyle) as of Friday April 20.

I got home re-kitted out the bike, my car and myself and drove to my launch point a mile or so away from teh WOD Trail. I bombed the steps down from McAuthur Blvd near the bridge down to the trail only having to walk the 3 worst steps (GRRR!). A few adjustments later I was off down the trail. My pace at first was a nice and solid 17 or so till almost little falls. I let up a bit then and averaged down to 15 slowly by the time I hit George Town. A quick stretch break and I was headed back. I dropped down to the capital cresent and hauled ass back up the trail following some roadies, holding 17-18 for a while. A detour to Little Falls went for about 10-15 minutes of wheelie practice. Some of my better wheelies. Still can't go as far/fast as I want. But it was better. I need to work on my 1/4 crank and balance drills a bit. A quick rest stop and it was back up the rest of the way. 16.5 miles round trip in about an hour 10. Nice ride and felt pretty good.

Soon I will start loading my rides from the GPS data to Motion Based but the basic tool from Garmin isn't bad I just wish it's mapping was better (Overlay onto perhaps googlemaps instead of its own). My heart rate was solidly in zone 4 for most of the ride so I'm pleased again. (Vs when I went spinning for the first time Wednesday and was in oh zone 5 the whole frickin time).
Being able to watch my cadence/hr when riding especially on flats is very good for my training goals currently.

With the shit weather here in DC the last few weeks I"ve been either running or hitting the exercise bike at the gym. I'm working on my cadence but I'm just not solid, so instead I'm trying to just maintain a solid 90-100 most of the time except on the hell climb sections. It looks like my first op for a nice ride will be either Saturday afternoon, Sunday (hmmm probably not) or Monday.

2 weeks from Sunday marks the Greenbriar challenge that I had wanted to race, and if I go ride it and find myself acceptable on MOnday then so much the better...we'll see.

D'oh....I missed the date/punchline....April Fools on me, 4 days late. ugh.


As also posted to my LJ, I offer this.
http://www.fatcyclist.com/2007/03/31/pileup/

I feel bad for all the guys, but honestly, I'm probably like the idiot on the otherside laughing.