It was quite moist down there...really.

Went for a solo CCT south bound tour tonight. Everyone else had better sense than I and stayed home and warm. The way out it wasn't bad light mist in the air. Some sections were really pretty dry. Got to the top of the exit for Gambrill road off 7100. The way back wasn't too bad till I got down off Hunter Village Dr. Then the sprinkle/misting picked up to a light rain I guess. By the time I hit the lake I was pretty wet on top but dry underneath. After the long grind back up Queensbury to Wakefield Parking lot I was really moist, thru most of my top layer. The endura's kept me mostly dry along with the pearl over pants.

It was kind of a light weight test run for rain/water management for Bakers Dozen. I think I'll be in okay shape but i have to bring some extra junky towels along. Time for a trip to homewarez depot for cheap dirt brown towels.

No gps route again as I thought I forgot it but it was just buried in my clean cloths. Oh well a similar route looked to be about 15 miles.

tuBLESS? tuBLISS!

Sitting at work counting my penny's today I thought about a conversation I had earlier in the week with Christopher and the guys at the bike lane, in burke post LH ride. And I realized that while converting the whole bike to tubeless is a bit costly, converting just the rear wheel costs half as much! Hurrah! Viola! Eureka!

This was spurred on knowing that in just over 2 weeks I'll be facing my arch-tube-nemesis, Douthat State Park where I once had 3 pinch flats in 1 day till I went to almost 45lbs in my rear tire!

Not very fun that! Plus I should be able to get this in and installed in-time for Bakers Mudfest, err Dozen. While yes I'm being a bit alarmist, the pattern seems to indicate we may be in for a rainy day that Saturday. I've had I guess one other flat than that also so I'm hoping that the conversion alleviates the flat problem before and it's a blissful long weekend of riding at Douthat.

It is not looking to good for a ride tonight as of right now. Though we are seeing a GAP in the weather I'm tempted to do a messy CCT ride right now. Just wish the backup wasn't popping gears.

Catchup

Been a weird/busy March I've realized. Between relatives passing away, work, trips and bad weather my riding this month has been in the crapper. And I've got a major enduro race thats 10 days away. Lovely. I had a good start to the month but where I rode in like a Lion with some big rides (Even just paved trail). I've gone out like a lamb really. I've logged 30 miles in the last calendar week (Tues -> Tuesday) with 15 miles on the WO&D last thurs and 15'ish out at LH last night.

So I rode the 3rd at Wakefield/Accotink (Preride). the 4th thru the the 16th I was totally slack in Whor-lando. The 17th was the first accotink evening ride/St.Patty's ride. The 24th I did WOD and yesterday the 29th. Maybe the rain will end early and I'll slip in another quick ride thursday. So maybe I'm between 40 and 45 miles for the month. The last week of Feb I had 60 and the whole month I had i think 130 miles. Eeesh. I need a road bike in Orlando I think. And here honestly.

So looking forward I'm gonna try and sneak in a ride Thursday or definitely Friday after work. Then hopefully a good ride on Sunday at Schaeffer after the Ride Leadership Clinic. Then Joy! Another very wet week leading up to Bakers Dozen. Can anyone say MUD FEST! If they delay it a week I don't know what I'll do as right now I'm set to go down to douthat that weekend following.

Tired tired tire....

Damn good ride last night. We had amazing weather, trails were in moderate to good condition (Accotink was good, WF was moderate). With near 70degree starting temps and finishing in the mid-low 60's with a nearly full moon we had amazing riding. And being back in Accotink on the regular ride was excellent.

I arrived early and pre-rode Wakefield. The lower area of the bowl is a mess. The new drainage covert under 495 pushes a LOT of water in big rains apparently. The stream crossing near 495 is nearly not ridable in one direction. TONS of errosion even on the access trail. Creek trails weren't bad in any unexpected way. Powerlines were surprisingly good.

For the main ride we went over to Accotink. I separated the casual into Casual and a plus group. The plus group had some issues with flats while leaving Accotink and I think we out rode them :) Accotink's first section was great though I did slip and fall on the new trail at the tight turn on the hill. Oh well too much breaking, it was an easy fall. A ways in we picked up Howard also who was riding very easy on his recovering broken hand. He rode the rest of the night with me and JoJo. We only did the first third of accotink as we started a bit late and darkness set in pretty quick and we kept the pace pretty casual. We rolled back to WF and rode the creek trail to phase 1 to the race course to powerlines the upper half of phase 1 back out salemander and were done. We rolled 9 miles I think on GPS so probably close to 10 total. My preride was 7 measured so probably near 18 miles total yesterday.

Post ride was a good time to. Enjoyed some Black Magic's, and other fine PLB's before we went to Kilroys. Good times.

TRAILS!

WOW! I rode perfectly mostly acceptable trails yesterday. Accotink was 98% ok and Wakefield probably 95%. It was damn good. The WF portion was a bit short at 7.5 miles but the Accotink was probably around 8 with the over and back. It was really nice for accotink but by the time the sun went down and we rode wakefield it had REALLY cooled down. Brrr. Spoiled by the weather last weekend.

OOOO and my cyclepassion calendar/video just came in. Nice.

Bikes going in for replacement spoke on the rear wheel, truing, adjusting and brake check.

GPS is on the fritz. GRrrrr.

New Hauler

Had to upgrade the bike transport system due to ongoing failure of the power train. Weird bad engine sounds indicating pending failure of major component. Probably either a main bearing or something. 181k miles on the ole 1999 Altima. It was a damn good car. I got it almost 11 years ago and put 150K of those miles on it.



The new ride is a new Rogue SV. Nice. Comfy. Decent mileage. I was thinking truck (Tacoma or Frontier 4x4 with Crew Cab) but the mileage was just too bad and with gas prices going the way they are this is a good middle ground I think. Should be about the same mileage I was getting out of the Altima as I traded it.

Now I just need to scrape together some cash next payday to get a hitch and rack for it.

Rolling Around Town

Got in a great ride with a bunch of folks from LORO on Sunday. Chris and I rode from Spokes in Vienna to the East Falls Church metro station and met up with them. We then rode down to National Harbor in MD using the WO&D, 4 Mile Run Trail, and the Mt. Vernon. 42 miles for me. My legs were cooked when I was done. Random cramps last night while relaxing if I overly stretched my legs in one specific way. No night cramps though so that's cool.

Weather is looking better this week, might be able to ride trails by Thursday again. Hmmm.

I was planning on a Sunday Fountain Head Casual but it seems no joy rain in the forecast. Maybe I can slip in a morning one or the weather will shift out another day. hahahah.

Need to take some TLC on the giant tonight. its a frickin rusted mess. I feel terrible.

Toast....Milktoast.... Expanded

3 Days in a row success. 25 miles tonight. that puts me at 45 this week. Might try a commute in tomorrow or saturday. Felt good up till the last 20 mins tonight when my ass started complaining. But with 2.5 hours of saddle time I'm not surprised.

Wakefield was not in good shape for riding in most area's. Maybe Saturday. Probably Sunday.

It was a beautiful night for riding, I think the entire ride it averaged around 57 degrees. We had several sections where we had to run dark and it was a blast. Can't beat weather like this, a nice taste of spring. This next week we have a bit of a roll back towards normal of 30-50 range stuff. But still better than the crap in January/Dec of 15 to 30.

Updated - I was falling down tired when I first posted this last night. Or perhaps a better analogy was the lawn mower, my ass and grass. Regardless I was a zombie almost.

Today the legs are a bit tired, I didn't ride in as I woke up late and had to drop a friends extra key set off at his work. But with the weather on tap tonight I am going to get out and do a few miles just to loosen the legs up. And I'm hoping to commute in tomorrow morning.

Also in my Blame Rich Dillen segment I'm blaming RD for ruining America by providing me with the link to:

The Fucking Weather

Thanks Rich!

BBQ with a side of Mud

Tuesday I did another out and back on the WO&D this time managing to LOG the whole thing on the gps. We also did the single track at the area, but really shouldn't have in retrospect. Large sections of ice and mud were present. As it was all on northern facing slopes that's not too surprising. On the way back we hit Carolina Brothers BBQ and picked up some smoked goodness to go. Both the beef and pork are top notch! No sauce required.

Last night was my first MORE BOD meeting as staff. Went a bit long but we had a lot of ground to cover and got most things done. Some good points, and some points requiring thought. Accidentally semi-volunteered to co-organize the MORE Summer Party. Fortunately venue is already mostly set and organized for a great price (FREE). Some where in MD is all I will say for this year.

I need some idea's for kid friendly stuff. That seems to be one of the BIG Complaints from previous years. Some people were saying a moon bounce would be good, others were saying bike stuff for the kids, cause we might as well start brainwashing, errr reinforcing good things like cycling early. Putting together some short loops, or maybe an unofficial kids race or two were mentioned. Or skills stuff.

Pre meeting I worked out work frustration at Accotink. Quiet a bit was ok, but also some was walking only. Say 60 good/40 bad. El Jefe reported the bowl was not very good. I'm thinking today may be a mix of CCT/etc. I think by Saturday trails may be ok. We'll see.

Ice-Field-o-Tink

Well I got out of the slave labor camp at work at a decent time considering the full on CF that was work. I want to send out a special FU to all the script kiddies and makers of various malware.

Hit Accotink around 5pm or so, the entrance from Danbury Forrest to Boy Scout was a half inch to inch of compressed sheet ice. With a frosting of snow. No way I made it up that. Rode up a ways on a side road and entered and nearly ate it twice. After figuring out the sides of the trail were safe I scooted into Accotink trails proper. Gas CO had been out in force sawing out some trees obviously. But still tons of little shit and non main trail stuff down, just in the front half. co,ldn't make it to the 2nd half due to ice on shaded south/easterly trail side stuff. Saw flags for the new section of trail. The part put in last fall is starting to burn in a bit.

After wards went to Wakefield and slipped in a nice preride before the main ride. Late start due to a few late arrivals..cough..Steve...cough.... Small group in casual but I bet we may have covered almost as much distance as intermediate. We did 7 miles. Rocked out most of the bowl. Rusted Truck. Race Course in reverse 495 section to the ascent hill. Phase 2, Berms, top half of phase 1. Part of phase 4. Race course creek trail. Creek Trail to half way and out. And more stick removal than I've even seen. Mike pulled out 4 sticks from his drive train in 100 yards at one point.

A Wee Breeze

Got out and road with Chris after work up the WO&D for about 6 miles. Crazy mix of wind on the way out. Slogging along on the fat tires was a hard bit of work. Especially being off the bike for almost 3 weeks. UGH. The way back was fun though. We rolled back in a LOT less time. Saw a few joggers and a few commuters out. Maybe 6. Sure it wasn't single track, but you take what you can get. I wish this damn snow would finish melting.

Next time I plan to hit that BBQ place along the way for sure!

Uh...yah.. I know all about this one.

LateLateLateLate

Whats a bike?

I sure as hell don't know at this point. I really need to plan out a purchase of a road bike for times like now.

The giant has been living on the back of the car for the last week and it shows. The chain is orange. The rear rotor is showing a bit of orange. Ugh.

Damn rust.

Plenty of beer going around lately. Went to the Whole Foods Beer Class last night. Big Beers for the big game. 12 Big Beers. 5 IPA's. 2 Barley Wines, and 5 other beers. Damn good but damn I was a bit hammered by the time I got home. Realized I drank around 24 to 30 OZ. I would say 2 to 3 Oz pours. With ABV's ranging from 6 to 10 and change I calculated I drank around 2 to 2.5 7% beers which is like 4 or 5 crap beers. In about an hour and change.

Afterwords I glorped up 2 more bottles of Terrapin Side Project 13 - Big Daddy Vlady's Russian Imperial Stout, and another bottle of New Hollands Night Tripper! Hell ya!

2 Amy's Review

Went to 2 Amy's last night and had some AWESOME pizza, appetizers, and ice cream and beer!

The wait was 45 minutes when we got there around 8. We went to the bar in the back which was moderately full, but not packed. We surveyed the tasty brews on tap. I opened with Rogue Oatmeal Stout, J had Verdi Imperial Stout. The rogue was good with a nice level of bitter. The verdi was very smooth and complex. I only caught hints of the chili in it.

Verdi Imperial Stout from Birrificio Del Ducato

In about 25 minutes we got sat down up stairs and went on the food offensive. I was starving. We opened with the braised duck and polenta. The duck was a little underwhelming flavor wise. Then a goat cheese and fig jam side plate. Tasty.

We also order a bottle of Demon Hunter. Damn interesting. Smooth, very complex. Not as dark as they made it sound. But it went really well with the App's and the pizza.

Demon Hunter from Birrificio Montegioco

For Pie's we had a traditional Margherita Extra Tomato with mozzarella di bufala, cherry tomatoes and arugula on top, and a Norcia Tomato with salami, grilled peppers, fresh mozzarella, grana. Ahhhh heaven. I wish the crusts were a little firmer/but the edge was excellent.

We finished up with an excellent bowl of Honey ice cream. Super smooth and rich.

Excellent food, interesting beer, tasty small plates. I rate 2 Amy's very highly.

I'll be back!

Snow Ride Fail - Sled Ride Win

The snow at WF last night was just still to deep with a semi-hard crust to make riding possible (even with an endomorph up front). So after some mild grumbling by the assembled misfit cyclists we proceeded from the regular parking lot to the high side of the ball field lots. After getting the rear of the big red truck set as our Weigh Station for Warming Beverages, we started sledding down the short but steep hill. I think the last time I went actually sledding may have been either 1990 or 1991. unless you count sliding down a hill with a snowboard on your feet on your butt.

After some warm up runs we started going for distance. This required navigating a moderately difficult path between the big red truck, a water fountain and a parking lot divider to maximize your distance. I put on the first record run not trying very hard. Dumb luck. Liz soon beat me, then Larry surpassed that. Eventually Scud stepped up and put in a MUCH longer distance and things got more serious. People started trying. Unfortunately the track was starting to wear and it took solid control to not end up on the divider or hitting the truck. Eventually after a couple back and forth lead changes El Jefe put in the biggest run getting almost to the street. Next year we bring a tape measure! And more shovels to build a ramp.

Hopefully we are done with the semi-annual MORE Sled Ride at Wakefield for the year. I keep hearing SNOW in the forecasts though.

Ordered a SWEET Ahearne flask and holder today.

And some evil genius at Plum Grove/Rockland MTB has added 1.2 miles to tomorrow's snot cycle course to re-route around a downed tree. Fun for racing in Saturday's hell.

Time to go medicate my aching body.

More BEER than Bike and more Work than ever

What a weekend. An all call for something led to a long busy weekend of work and missing the first MORE board meeting. Sure I'm only staff but I wanted to be there but work owes me big now. Oh well. Not that I'm feeling sad for not riding in the hella-cold that was Sunday.

Lots of beer enjoyed recently, notables include

Sierra Nevada 2008 Wet Hop - very nice and smooth adn super well balanced. I wouldn't call it an IPA, it's more of an amber ale almost. Very nice regardless.

New Holland - Night Tripper Imperial Stout - Super nice and smooth a bunch of the fellas enjoyed Friday at work with Deep Fried Turkey. Almost as good as Terrapin Side Project - Dark Side Stout. Maybe one step down on complexity but very rich, malty and tasty.

Exit 4 - Not sure the brewery but a very nice IPA.

Mudfest

Wakefield was soaked and like peanut butter in a lot of area's so we did the CCT which was pretty wet and muddy too.

I'll link up some pictures later.

It was a good ride of chatting with folks like Jason, Sarah, Todd and the others. We had 14 riders out.

We finsihed pretty early and were done a roy's by a bit after 10.

Snow Party 2011

We actually had a REAL good ride last night with about 20 some riders out grinding around Wakefield in a real thin coat of crunchy snow remains from Tuesdays snow. I thought it would be icy underneath but it was actually fine. The only bad ICE was the creek crossing on the bowl near the entrance road, it was frozen nearly solid and 3 of the 5 of us fell down. I warned em. Rolled a solid 9 miles maybe 10 with the group, then did 4 by myself before hand.

When that wind hit you though, damn it was KILLER!

Afterwards I enjoyed a REALLY good beer that I've gotta hit Jason up for.

Also the other day I had a River Horse Amber - REALLY good I'm going to pick up a few River Horse 6's at Total Wine this weekend.

Fun and Freezin Rain!

After getting done late today I scooted directly over to the Cub Run Rec Area and noodled around on the trails. It's a bit of paved, a bit of single track, and mostly double track. But it's quick and close and fun. At least this time I didn't prat fall on a stupid tiny rock, like in the summer. Tried to get a bit of video but that didn't work out it appears my glove was all over it and it ended too soon. Oh well. Got a few fun pictures. A few big flakes visible falling.

Near the end it start raining/snowing a bit. Then it went serious. Freezing rain. I carefully rode my way home along the paved trails. By the time I was getting to the house the sidewalks were also getting slick. My fleece and helmet had a coat of ice :) Pics to follow.

Slackin

You know when your still in your ride kit after 3 hours at work your:
A) Busy, B) Slack, C) Both

Today I can legitimately claim C.

The early commute in was actually pretty nice with less cars. I made it in about 20 minutes total time and 15:45 rolling. Felt better in general and was able to push in the big ring the whole way. Hopefully a snow ride thru Cub Run on the way back. Debated heading down to Wake-o-tink but I don't want to mess with prime snow traffic. Snow ride my way home and relax with a beer and a big bowl of chili.

Watched Scott Pilgrim vs the world last night - FUNNY AS HELL!