2018 was a pretty crazy year as I look back on it. Just like 2017 was, capped with another 6 week trip to Australia in the fall for work. Way less stressful though.
Work was pretty insane with a trip to Boston, Princeton NJ and 2 trips to Dallas plus the Australia trip. All told I think I had near 80 hours of work flying alone covering what was 37 or 38 business days on work travel. No wonder I have have only used half my vacation for 2018 so far so I've gotta burn 3 more weeks in January thru March. Major project at work started in February and looks like will push on into May/June of 2019. 2 Manager changes, and a position change coming in early 2019, to a new role. Exciting stuff hope to be in UK in 2019.
Biking.....Well it's been a rainy year and add in the travel and I lost close to 2 months due to Australia and work travel. Only biking 1x in Australia was a let down but it was the rainy spring while i was there. And I apparently brought the rains from Northern VA. :) Here on the home front it was a WET year I think in my area we are near 70 inches of rain with some spots near/over 80 inches. Normal is 40. And right now the pattern looks wet as hell over the 1st 2 weeks of 2019. So my cycling with 165 activities. My commute total was low till I considered in 1st 3 months of 2018 I only drove to work 2 or 3 times and till training in June I had more rides than drives to work. Then I add in 30 days of walking commutes and it wasn't a terrible year! :) With all the rain though MTB riding has suffered and it's going to take a while for me to get it back together. Get back to 3K of cycling at least in 2019.
Running. ON running shoes were the best find. Buying them in the summer was huge. Especially while down under I ran near 100mi since the end of September. I think I had maybe 60-70 miles total in 2017 mostly in the spring while in Australia the 1st time. At 200 miles this year it's my biggest run year since 2013 with Tough Mudder training/etc. Running with the monday TAA group is a huge boost to keep the "streaks" going. Continue running with another 200 mile year or more.
Other stuff? Concerts, saw a few with top notes on Coheed and Cambria, In this Moment and Halestorm. Tenacious D also. But was slightly underwhelmed due to huge venue and bad position. Muse is on deck for 2019 with maybe Iron Maiden this summer.
Personal Travel? Not much hoping to put a BIG trip on the map for Fall 2019 back on the other side of the world but not Australia this time. New York to see my buddy Eric is also a spring priority!
Otherwise hoping that my stupid tennis elbow from the last snow of 2018 gets better a bit more. Hauling luggage around airports and Sydney etc put it back to being crap after finally feeling mostly better in July/Aug finally. Joys of old age to come? Maybe race some MTB and CX again next year? Lots of other stuff to look forward to. Get out. See more folks and have more fun.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Australia - 2 - The Entry
I'm back in Australia, again left town at the end of last week and well I'll be here till late October.
I'm bummed to be missing fall though it seems like it's staying rainy so far so the weather isn't awesome.
In Sydney it's early spring with again lots of rain in forecast and generally cool at 50 to 70'ish degrees most days.
Got in at 715AM local time in Sydney and was able to drop my gear at the Hotel at 830. I traveled back into the CBD and wandered a lot of my old haunts from my previous trip going down to Chinatown and then out thru a lot of Darling Harbor. Did my regular visit to the Chinese Gardens, it was very different in Spring versus when I visited it in the fall on my first day in 2017. Finally had brunch at Taste around 11AM. Soo good, ended up talking to the bar staff lady about beer places and got a few recommendations and had 2 beers. Then ended up making a failed decision check and ended up getting another beer at the Pumphouse. OOOPS. Oh well. Wandered my way back thru town and stuff was opening up a bit more finally getting to my hotel to checking at 2:15PM.
After unpacking I crapped out intending to only NAP but stayed in bed till about 3AM when I woke up near 10 hours later. I read and did a bit more napping till I rolled out at 730 to the office. Had an awesome breakfast at Bunker in North Sydney and then boom work. Got Destination Roll on for lunch, hell yah. Dinner I was Rag and Famish for a Guiness Beef Pie, Chips and a Akasha Freshwater IPA. Slept out till 4 or 5 then next morning. Fell back asleep at 630 till 830. OOPS.
After waking back up late I rushed in and had a busy morning at office getting access and such sorted finally. Got lunch with a coworker and it was all good. Then it was time for my first visit to one of my favorite bars: The SG (Spooning Goats) - The star wars bar.
The SG was having it's monthly event of William Shakespeares Star Wars. This time it was Act 1 of The Jedi doth Return. It was hillarious, eventually I'm going to upload and link a short clip to the youtube's here. Drank wayyyyyyy to much beer. 2 IPA's and 1 stout.
Hit up my favorite burger bar in the CBD after Grill'd for a most excellent Wagyu Truffle burger. Hell yah!
Also did my first run, across the Sydney Harbor Bridge was bummed I didn't bring phone so I missed a couple awesome photo's of the moonrise. It was HUGE!
Wednesday - No idea may run if the rain stays away again.
I'm bummed to be missing fall though it seems like it's staying rainy so far so the weather isn't awesome.
In Sydney it's early spring with again lots of rain in forecast and generally cool at 50 to 70'ish degrees most days.
Got in at 715AM local time in Sydney and was able to drop my gear at the Hotel at 830. I traveled back into the CBD and wandered a lot of my old haunts from my previous trip going down to Chinatown and then out thru a lot of Darling Harbor. Did my regular visit to the Chinese Gardens, it was very different in Spring versus when I visited it in the fall on my first day in 2017. Finally had brunch at Taste around 11AM. Soo good, ended up talking to the bar staff lady about beer places and got a few recommendations and had 2 beers. Then ended up making a failed decision check and ended up getting another beer at the Pumphouse. OOOPS. Oh well. Wandered my way back thru town and stuff was opening up a bit more finally getting to my hotel to checking at 2:15PM.
After unpacking I crapped out intending to only NAP but stayed in bed till about 3AM when I woke up near 10 hours later. I read and did a bit more napping till I rolled out at 730 to the office. Had an awesome breakfast at Bunker in North Sydney and then boom work. Got Destination Roll on for lunch, hell yah. Dinner I was Rag and Famish for a Guiness Beef Pie, Chips and a Akasha Freshwater IPA. Slept out till 4 or 5 then next morning. Fell back asleep at 630 till 830. OOPS.
After waking back up late I rushed in and had a busy morning at office getting access and such sorted finally. Got lunch with a coworker and it was all good. Then it was time for my first visit to one of my favorite bars: The SG (Spooning Goats) - The star wars bar.
The SG was having it's monthly event of William Shakespeares Star Wars. This time it was Act 1 of The Jedi doth Return. It was hillarious, eventually I'm going to upload and link a short clip to the youtube's here. Drank wayyyyyyy to much beer. 2 IPA's and 1 stout.
Hit up my favorite burger bar in the CBD after Grill'd for a most excellent Wagyu Truffle burger. Hell yah!
Also did my first run, across the Sydney Harbor Bridge was bummed I didn't bring phone so I missed a couple awesome photo's of the moonrise. It was HUGE!
Wednesday - No idea may run if the rain stays away again.
Thursday, June 07, 2018
Week 22 - A bit of a "plateau", called b33r.
Week 22 - A bit of a "plateau" week. Lots of bad behavior end of last week.
Too much b33r. Though it wasn't like I got S-Faced in a major way it's just been a beer or two a night on weeknights and 2 or 3 a day on the weekend. Probably 10-11 beer week last week where I really want to be a 7-8. Then add in a TAD bit of eating not awesome and not being as active as normal in riding and no running last week. So I stayed off the scale till today after some more recent penance on Monday and Yesterday. 204.8. Not bad. Now though I am going to re-focus and start trying to move to the next goal of 200.
200 is doable. If I can float 197-203 I will be happy as a...Clown?
Anyways a busy few weeks ahead.
Trailwork at WF this saturday.
Training Class All Next Week
Possible Travel 15-17th.
Product Work 18-22st.
Family Reunion the 23rd
Friends Housewarming the night of the 23rd
Dallas the 25th-26th.
Then things calm down a little bit.
Can the CAPS do it tonight. I think so! GO CAPS! Regardless we better win this series!
Awesome weather this week was the payoff for all the rain, lows in the 50's and 60's and barely hitting the 80's so far this week! It's awesome!
Saw Kit for Trimming...friends trees is almost RTG.
Saw - Stihl 261cm
Boots - Redwing Loggers 9" Steel Toe
Chaps - Husqvarna - Technical Apron (Meets 1897 which now satisifies non fireline FS 6170-4G (2016 Rev).
Gloves - Stihl Promark Leather
Helmet - Stihl Promark w/faceshield and hearing protection.
Wedges - 3
Trauma Kit - Yep w/Israeli Bandage.
Pack - Dakine Builder 40L
Bottles - Yep 16 or 32oz for Fuel Mix, 8 Oz for Bar Oil.
Axe/hammer - TBD, may have dad bring up my family hatchet.
32 Hours of Activity in Strava in May. So far 119 Activites and 1340'ish miles for the year.
Too much b33r. Though it wasn't like I got S-Faced in a major way it's just been a beer or two a night on weeknights and 2 or 3 a day on the weekend. Probably 10-11 beer week last week where I really want to be a 7-8. Then add in a TAD bit of eating not awesome and not being as active as normal in riding and no running last week. So I stayed off the scale till today after some more recent penance on Monday and Yesterday. 204.8. Not bad. Now though I am going to re-focus and start trying to move to the next goal of 200.
200 is doable. If I can float 197-203 I will be happy as a...Clown?
Anyways a busy few weeks ahead.
Trailwork at WF this saturday.
Training Class All Next Week
Possible Travel 15-17th.
Product Work 18-22st.
Family Reunion the 23rd
Friends Housewarming the night of the 23rd
Dallas the 25th-26th.
Then things calm down a little bit.
Can the CAPS do it tonight. I think so! GO CAPS! Regardless we better win this series!
Awesome weather this week was the payoff for all the rain, lows in the 50's and 60's and barely hitting the 80's so far this week! It's awesome!
Saw Kit for Trimming...friends trees is almost RTG.
Saw - Stihl 261cm
Boots - Redwing Loggers 9" Steel Toe
Chaps - Husqvarna - Technical Apron (Meets 1897 which now satisifies non fireline FS 6170-4G (2016 Rev).
Gloves - Stihl Promark Leather
Helmet - Stihl Promark w/faceshield and hearing protection.
Wedges - 3
Trauma Kit - Yep w/Israeli Bandage.
Pack - Dakine Builder 40L
Bottles - Yep 16 or 32oz for Fuel Mix, 8 Oz for Bar Oil.
Axe/hammer - TBD, may have dad bring up my family hatchet.
32 Hours of Activity in Strava in May. So far 119 Activites and 1340'ish miles for the year.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Week 21 - Shred to Shed
Wow, was really good to actually look at this today, 15 Weeks ago I noted I'd hit 214.4 officially. Today's weigh in was 204.7. I'm stoked, I hit my initial goal of 205 by end of May with a week to spare. I'm now looking down the line and that by the end of June I want to be 200 SOLIDLY. I fluctuate a bit and can very by 2 even 3 lbs at times. This means I want to occasionally see 198 or so.
I was trending down into April but had a BAD weekend and other stuff and had gotten on a real plateau at 210. In fact 1 point i spiked up to 218.8 briefly.
But I really cracked down, cut back on VitB(eer) and started really enforcing portion control and trying to eat a tad earlier on evenings. And it's working. 211.6 down to 204.7 in last 4 weeks.
The other side of it is I've been running and riding my butt off. I looked back at 2017 for up thru May and while a bunch of my walking in Australia wasn't logged it was a pathetic spring in 2017 and early this year was not.... 75 Hours logged by end of May 2017 (though probably 50-60 hours of walking in Australia wasn't logged). As of today? 120 Hours. And I think by end of month it will be more like 135'ish.
So regardless I'm stoked on my progress.
Riding area wise I'm a bit down on the stoke, but I have checked out Schaeffer this year with the new trail sections/redo work which is super nice! And Cabin John's new stuff. But no shed. No travel. No plans for an MTB trip. Thought about Stoke-ville this weekend but between various issues and inbound shitty weather it's a no go. Maybe PA or Richmond soon.
Long term? I'm thinking Japan. Last year Hawaii was beast for J-Dog's and KM's wedding. So I'm long term planning against Japan in 2019 currently.
And I think my right elbow issue is slowly working out finally since the last heavy/wet snow in March I think. Oy tennis elbow SUCKS.
I was trending down into April but had a BAD weekend and other stuff and had gotten on a real plateau at 210. In fact 1 point i spiked up to 218.8 briefly.
But I really cracked down, cut back on VitB(eer) and started really enforcing portion control and trying to eat a tad earlier on evenings. And it's working. 211.6 down to 204.7 in last 4 weeks.
The other side of it is I've been running and riding my butt off. I looked back at 2017 for up thru May and while a bunch of my walking in Australia wasn't logged it was a pathetic spring in 2017 and early this year was not.... 75 Hours logged by end of May 2017 (though probably 50-60 hours of walking in Australia wasn't logged). As of today? 120 Hours. And I think by end of month it will be more like 135'ish.
So regardless I'm stoked on my progress.
Riding area wise I'm a bit down on the stoke, but I have checked out Schaeffer this year with the new trail sections/redo work which is super nice! And Cabin John's new stuff. But no shed. No travel. No plans for an MTB trip. Thought about Stoke-ville this weekend but between various issues and inbound shitty weather it's a no go. Maybe PA or Richmond soon.
Long term? I'm thinking Japan. Last year Hawaii was beast for J-Dog's and KM's wedding. So I'm long term planning against Japan in 2019 currently.
And I think my right elbow issue is slowly working out finally since the last heavy/wet snow in March I think. Oy tennis elbow SUCKS.
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Week6 - Tuesday - EotWAWKI
So it's time to pay the piper for the last several months.
My activity level has been low since October, though Strava does not cover things like Trail Work and Volunteer hours at MoCo where I put in near 30 hours in 4 days of running around.
2018 has been hot and cold...More Cold.
So with the lack of regular commuting to work on bike, general winter bad behavior (Stuper Bowl, Hibernation Eating, etc), it has led to something...bad.
The last few years I've been weighting in at work on a decent scale there. And in the fall prior to holidays I was hovering around 210'ish. Over the holidays I opted to get a Garmin Vivosport for tracking/steps/activity/etc. So last week I weighted in for the 1st time at work and saw a moderately horrible number. 214.
So I knew it was time to get serious. So I've now acquired a Garmin Index Scale. It tells me just how @@##$ fat I really am. MORE winter party and superbowl party were I suspect big negatives.
214.4 LBS this morning. Sigh. It's going to be a long grumpy spring. Goal for by end of May? 205. 10 LBS in 4 months? Should be doable.
Plan this week and in General.
Run - Tuesday
Ride - Wednesday
Ride 2x - Thursday
Run or Ride - Friday
Ride - Saturday
Run - Sunday
Techno - Part 2 -
Several weeks ago I borrowed a ShockWiz from Bikenetic and have been tuning against it a bit.
My rear airpressure at 225 was way low. I"m now at 245'ish and it still thinks I"m low. But if I'm ridng at 230 then 255 might not be terrible. So up it goes.
Session 3 - Last Week Feb 1 2018
245 - More Air - 15-20%!, argh it didn't save.
My activity level has been low since October, though Strava does not cover things like Trail Work and Volunteer hours at MoCo where I put in near 30 hours in 4 days of running around.
2018 has been hot and cold...More Cold.
So with the lack of regular commuting to work on bike, general winter bad behavior (Stuper Bowl, Hibernation Eating, etc), it has led to something...bad.
The last few years I've been weighting in at work on a decent scale there. And in the fall prior to holidays I was hovering around 210'ish. Over the holidays I opted to get a Garmin Vivosport for tracking/steps/activity/etc. So last week I weighted in for the 1st time at work and saw a moderately horrible number. 214.
So I knew it was time to get serious. So I've now acquired a Garmin Index Scale. It tells me just how @@##$ fat I really am. MORE winter party and superbowl party were I suspect big negatives.
214.4 LBS this morning. Sigh. It's going to be a long grumpy spring. Goal for by end of May? 205. 10 LBS in 4 months? Should be doable.
Plan this week and in General.
Run - Tuesday
Ride - Wednesday
Ride 2x - Thursday
Run or Ride - Friday
Ride - Saturday
Run - Sunday
Techno - Part 2 -
Several weeks ago I borrowed a ShockWiz from Bikenetic and have been tuning against it a bit.
My rear airpressure at 225 was way low. I"m now at 245'ish and it still thinks I"m low. But if I'm ridng at 230 then 255 might not be terrible. So up it goes.
Session 3 - Last Week Feb 1 2018
245 - More Air - 15-20%!, argh it didn't save.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Week 38 - Post Camping Wrap
Week 38 of 2017.
It's been a hell of year. Today marked my 37th bike commute of the year. On the face of things thats a shade less than 1x per week. By the end of the week I should hit 38 or 39. But also take between Australia and HI I spent 8 weeks basically out of the country. So if I hit 39 on 30 weeks basic thats not too bad. Then you add in work, other stuff and random crap trap I'd say 26 weeks vs 39 rides would be 1.5 rides per week average. And I'm definitely working from home an average of 1x per week plus all the other above crap. So as I look at it between travel and bike and working from home 117 days of not driving the car to work out of 190 ain't too terrible. Sure, if I maintain 2 a week I"ll be near 65 or so, but the reality is I'll have probably 2 weeks of vacation where I won't commute, except to the bar. And probably loose 1 week or 2 to weather.
Last year's commute count 58 and that ended in....November! Ugh.
But onwards and upwards!
The MORE Fall Camp 2017 Edition was EXCELLENT!
Amazing Weather
Amazing Trails
Amazing People
Amazing Food
Amazing Dogs
Ama....fuckit. It was the best year in Davis since year the 1st time 3 years ago. It was most excellent, the trails were in great shape excluding the Black connector. Rolled some big stuff, rode tons of rocks, did more of the Crack Trail this year than ever before, including most of the CRACK. Sick. Fun. About the only negative was it was so warm, we didn't really need campfires much. Sitting around the fire was way too hot for this young buck!
Pictures to come.
Friday - Black to Dam to Yellow to Swamp West Black 2 To Swamp East to Blue
Saturday - Jumps to Voodoo to Black to Crack to Yellow to Black to the Big X upto Pine Spur to Yellow to Gene's to Swamp East to Blue.
Sunday - Black to Swamp East to Yellow to Black to Mother of Crack to Fern to Yellow to Chunder Mountain to Yellow Down (So bad now!) to Black.
Trails to Hit - Fern (Down), Gene's (Down), Mother of Crack (Down), Pine Spur (CCW), Crack, More Crack (maybe), Chunder Mountain (Down), Little Canaan
Trail to Skip - Voodoo (Not worth the effort). I'd rather add do More Crack trail.
Next on the horizon. MoCo Epic 55. Oh yeah, really frickin bright on my part! :)
It's been a hell of year. Today marked my 37th bike commute of the year. On the face of things thats a shade less than 1x per week. By the end of the week I should hit 38 or 39. But also take between Australia and HI I spent 8 weeks basically out of the country. So if I hit 39 on 30 weeks basic thats not too bad. Then you add in work, other stuff and random crap trap I'd say 26 weeks vs 39 rides would be 1.5 rides per week average. And I'm definitely working from home an average of 1x per week plus all the other above crap. So as I look at it between travel and bike and working from home 117 days of not driving the car to work out of 190 ain't too terrible. Sure, if I maintain 2 a week I"ll be near 65 or so, but the reality is I'll have probably 2 weeks of vacation where I won't commute, except to the bar. And probably loose 1 week or 2 to weather.
Last year's commute count 58 and that ended in....November! Ugh.
But onwards and upwards!
The MORE Fall Camp 2017 Edition was EXCELLENT!
Amazing Weather
Amazing Trails
Amazing People
Amazing Food
Amazing Dogs
Ama....fuckit. It was the best year in Davis since year the 1st time 3 years ago. It was most excellent, the trails were in great shape excluding the Black connector. Rolled some big stuff, rode tons of rocks, did more of the Crack Trail this year than ever before, including most of the CRACK. Sick. Fun. About the only negative was it was so warm, we didn't really need campfires much. Sitting around the fire was way too hot for this young buck!
Pictures to come.
Friday - Black to Dam to Yellow to Swamp West Black 2 To Swamp East to Blue
Saturday - Jumps to Voodoo to Black to Crack to Yellow to Black to the Big X upto Pine Spur to Yellow to Gene's to Swamp East to Blue.
Sunday - Black to Swamp East to Yellow to Black to Mother of Crack to Fern to Yellow to Chunder Mountain to Yellow Down (So bad now!) to Black.
Trails to Hit - Fern (Down), Gene's (Down), Mother of Crack (Down), Pine Spur (CCW), Crack, More Crack (maybe), Chunder Mountain (Down), Little Canaan
Trail to Skip - Voodoo (Not worth the effort). I'd rather add do More Crack trail.
Next on the horizon. MoCo Epic 55. Oh yeah, really frickin bright on my part! :)
Monday, September 18, 2017
Summer's a Wrap - 2017 Ed.
Well it's near the end of Summer here in the Nations Capital. CX is in the air and so are some hints of fall for really the last few weeks. The end of summer has been very very mild so far. Though we are looking at a spike back to high 80's on frickin Thursday. Argh.
Other than Wake-o-tink this summer my MTB has been way more pedestrian this year than in the past. Sure I rode a ton in July and Aug of total mileage but it was mostly road. (Near 500 mile in Aug or more probably). Sure I did a 40 miler up around schaeffer and I hit up CJ recently to find some awesome re-routes in place. A mild but hard hit at the shed, reminding me why tech skills are a continuing objective. But over all MTB was sorta, MEH. No VT, no NC, etc.
MEH ended on Saturday, at the PVSP Trail Fest 2017.
I did the 27mi. It was hard. And Fun. And Wet. I haven't even had the energy or time to download the GPS yet so I only have vague memories of totals, etc. But it took a tad over 4 hours moving time with total time being near 5.5 hours. Though 30 minutes of that was letting the enduro brah's get it on so I wouldn't slow anyone down. It was a good call. That first section had some sick stuff.
The first 6 miles were brutally hard as I wasn't well warmed up and hadn't felt optimal all morning. The sweeps were chasing me till the 1st rest station. 2nd Section was much much better and I felt good most of the way. Did some technical rock stuff. Rode well. I think i built near a 15 minute lead that I completely blew at the 2nd rest station. Argh. Off again and pushed hard from Daniels to Woodstock though by the way to Woodstock Inn I started to feel I was burning a bit hard. But never saw the sweeps again. In fact for a while i was ahead of a large group of riders who had started at the main start time meaning in total time I had BOOKED! Lots of pushing heading out of 3 then riding got hard, really hard. Mile 21 my left leg had mild tinges of crampiness but I spun it out and with some sports legs and extra food it seemed ok. By the final descent around 24 my forearms became the big problem. Too much braking. Sigh. That last climb into the park both legs cramped at about 50% but I spun on and kept going.
Ernie beer'd me as soon as I rolled into the finish zone. Awesome! So good. Hung out, ate, talked to tons of guys I don't get to see very often. About an hour later I was done and as I was heading out the sweeps came in pushing the final group.
Hard but Fun. Patapsco has some awesome riding. Yes the creek crossings....sucked sorta. And I wouldn't do this ride in the winter. But it was a good day. And part of me is already planning how to do this again this fall. Maybe in late October a few weeks after MoCo.
And as a barometer it was about what I expected though I forgot HOW techy PVSP is in area's. The interesting part was 27 mile there took me as long as 40 in MoCo. Oy.
Next up! Big Bear for the MORE Fall 2017 Campout this weekend! Woot! Awesome riding ahoy!
Other than Wake-o-tink this summer my MTB has been way more pedestrian this year than in the past. Sure I rode a ton in July and Aug of total mileage but it was mostly road. (Near 500 mile in Aug or more probably). Sure I did a 40 miler up around schaeffer and I hit up CJ recently to find some awesome re-routes in place. A mild but hard hit at the shed, reminding me why tech skills are a continuing objective. But over all MTB was sorta, MEH. No VT, no NC, etc.
MEH ended on Saturday, at the PVSP Trail Fest 2017.
I did the 27mi. It was hard. And Fun. And Wet. I haven't even had the energy or time to download the GPS yet so I only have vague memories of totals, etc. But it took a tad over 4 hours moving time with total time being near 5.5 hours. Though 30 minutes of that was letting the enduro brah's get it on so I wouldn't slow anyone down. It was a good call. That first section had some sick stuff.
The first 6 miles were brutally hard as I wasn't well warmed up and hadn't felt optimal all morning. The sweeps were chasing me till the 1st rest station. 2nd Section was much much better and I felt good most of the way. Did some technical rock stuff. Rode well. I think i built near a 15 minute lead that I completely blew at the 2nd rest station. Argh. Off again and pushed hard from Daniels to Woodstock though by the way to Woodstock Inn I started to feel I was burning a bit hard. But never saw the sweeps again. In fact for a while i was ahead of a large group of riders who had started at the main start time meaning in total time I had BOOKED! Lots of pushing heading out of 3 then riding got hard, really hard. Mile 21 my left leg had mild tinges of crampiness but I spun it out and with some sports legs and extra food it seemed ok. By the final descent around 24 my forearms became the big problem. Too much braking. Sigh. That last climb into the park both legs cramped at about 50% but I spun on and kept going.
Ernie beer'd me as soon as I rolled into the finish zone. Awesome! So good. Hung out, ate, talked to tons of guys I don't get to see very often. About an hour later I was done and as I was heading out the sweeps came in pushing the final group.
Hard but Fun. Patapsco has some awesome riding. Yes the creek crossings....sucked sorta. And I wouldn't do this ride in the winter. But it was a good day. And part of me is already planning how to do this again this fall. Maybe in late October a few weeks after MoCo.
And as a barometer it was about what I expected though I forgot HOW techy PVSP is in area's. The interesting part was 27 mile there took me as long as 40 in MoCo. Oy.
Next up! Big Bear for the MORE Fall 2017 Campout this weekend! Woot! Awesome riding ahoy!
MORE Fall Camping Trip - #23
This weekend was the 23rd Annual MORE Fall Camping Trip. The third year in a row to Big Bear Lake WV (Bruceton Mills, WV).
And damn it was good.
Friday was a fairly warm day and a late start due to never ending work meant I didn't leave the house till 11:45. By the time my shopping was done it was 12:30. Oh well. The drive out wasn't bad after getting thru the usual BS on I270. Made it in just after 330. A quick setup of tent and stuff and I was out for a ride with E-dog, MOBL and Germ. We hit a nice set of ....mostly....chill trails. 10 miles and we were back for b33r and relaxation. Team XXL was the party hub as usual and with it being Joel's b-day we had a hell of a night. Good food, tons of Tequila, Bourbon, and Beer. The camp had Hop Nosh and an Amber on draft. They survived thru the night some how. Many people came in late or on Saturday AM it seemed. The night was warm but once I sacked out I slept well. Nice to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep!
Saturday became a HUGE day. Breakfast was catered and awesome this year! Then it was time to prep and stuff and we were off a bit past 10:30. We hit the burly shit. The first 10 miles took near 2 hours. By that time I was tired and not being in the 1st bail out I lead out the 2nd group. We got an awesome gravel and paved road set of descents that were mind blowingly fast. Picked up bits of trail and ended with 14+ miles. Got in a nice long shower as we were in a slow time and then had snacks and beer. Cranked up the homemade grill and cooked 2 AWESOME flank steaks. Asian bombs of flavor. Then it was off to the potluck. Somehow I didn't make top 10, I think my label got lost! Oh well it was all gone and I got tons of complements.
Then we got a drive-by golf cart parade from the locals. Throwing out candy. In retrospect I think it might have been leftover from last Halloween after looking at the skittles! But like 50-60 golf carts! Music, Lights, and Laughter. Hung out but as usual Saturday sent me to bed early and by 9 I was chilling and reading. Loud groups kept me up till about 12, but it was all good. Relaxed and reading is fine. Slept till about 7:30 then read again.
Morning was finally cool and pants paid off for the 1st bit. Cocoa and Oatmeal for breakfast. Yah. Packed up everything mostly and was out to ride by 10:45 solo. Went out and knocked down 10+ miles on my own running into several groups. It was a great day. Done at 12:30. Hung out till 1:30 and then headed home. A lazy drive back, then unpacked and am now 90% done packing/etc.
Trails
Friday - Jump line, purple, black, yellow, grey, green, roadside.
Saturday - Red, purple, black, red, red, yellow, blue, ???, pines, road back.
Sunday - Jump Line, Road, Green-West, Yellow, Orange, Fern, Yellow, Blue Kids course, Yellow, Little Canann, Roadside.
And damn it was good.
Friday was a fairly warm day and a late start due to never ending work meant I didn't leave the house till 11:45. By the time my shopping was done it was 12:30. Oh well. The drive out wasn't bad after getting thru the usual BS on I270. Made it in just after 330. A quick setup of tent and stuff and I was out for a ride with E-dog, MOBL and Germ. We hit a nice set of ....mostly....chill trails. 10 miles and we were back for b33r and relaxation. Team XXL was the party hub as usual and with it being Joel's b-day we had a hell of a night. Good food, tons of Tequila, Bourbon, and Beer. The camp had Hop Nosh and an Amber on draft. They survived thru the night some how. Many people came in late or on Saturday AM it seemed. The night was warm but once I sacked out I slept well. Nice to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep!
Saturday became a HUGE day. Breakfast was catered and awesome this year! Then it was time to prep and stuff and we were off a bit past 10:30. We hit the burly shit. The first 10 miles took near 2 hours. By that time I was tired and not being in the 1st bail out I lead out the 2nd group. We got an awesome gravel and paved road set of descents that were mind blowingly fast. Picked up bits of trail and ended with 14+ miles. Got in a nice long shower as we were in a slow time and then had snacks and beer. Cranked up the homemade grill and cooked 2 AWESOME flank steaks. Asian bombs of flavor. Then it was off to the potluck. Somehow I didn't make top 10, I think my label got lost! Oh well it was all gone and I got tons of complements.
Then we got a drive-by golf cart parade from the locals. Throwing out candy. In retrospect I think it might have been leftover from last Halloween after looking at the skittles! But like 50-60 golf carts! Music, Lights, and Laughter. Hung out but as usual Saturday sent me to bed early and by 9 I was chilling and reading. Loud groups kept me up till about 12, but it was all good. Relaxed and reading is fine. Slept till about 7:30 then read again.
Morning was finally cool and pants paid off for the 1st bit. Cocoa and Oatmeal for breakfast. Yah. Packed up everything mostly and was out to ride by 10:45 solo. Went out and knocked down 10+ miles on my own running into several groups. It was a great day. Done at 12:30. Hung out till 1:30 and then headed home. A lazy drive back, then unpacked and am now 90% done packing/etc.
Trails
Friday - Jump line, purple, black, yellow, grey, green, roadside.
Saturday - Red, purple, black, red, red, yellow, blue, ???, pines, road back.
Sunday - Jump Line, Road, Green-West, Yellow, Orange, Fern, Yellow, Blue Kids course, Yellow, Little Canann, Roadside.
Friday, June 23, 2017
2017 Cat-chup.
It's been a LONG time.
In a Galaxy Far Far Away.
I've been around the world and life is beautiful.
:P
So tonight I was running late to come home. It was getting dark. And I had no lights. So I went on the Highway to the Danger Zone and cranked out an epic ride home. Huge pace.
27 Minutes. Perhaps my fastest ride home. And it could have been faster, by the time I got to Courthouse on the south east side of 123, it was getting dim. By the time I entered Nottoway park, it was pretty dark almost at 9::05 especially under the tree's. Had to really take it a tad easy up the path to Vaden.
If I'd held my pace all the way into vienna then pushed harder up Courthouse and then thru the park, I think 25 would have been possible. Typically my ride home is the slower part. 31 minutes. Sub 30 I consider pretty good. And the moving time versus total time? 32 mins total. That's bonkers, it's usually 45 minutes nearly with stops/lights/etc.
Total Ride - 58.15. And my lazy 31 in could have cut 4 minutes off. Easy.
2013 - 54:07 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/324916846
2013-2 - 57:13 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/412845125 - Dec 2013
2014 - 59:31 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/472470681 - April 2014
2015 - 58:54 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/749098180 - April 2015
2016 - 1:00:32 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1187058047 - May 2016
2017 - 58:15 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1813423305 - June 2017 - 27 Home
What sucks? I was at 20 rides to work by early APR 2016. 2015 I'm only 4 or 5 off pace. Sure I was on the road for err.... 7 weeks, so say 14 commutes. Hmmm. 34 in 2016 still put me at June 1. argh. 97 hours and just under 1K miles.
Stats from Strava - So doesn't have "Everything" like trailwork and such.
Year - Activities - Miles
2016 - 314 - 3451
2015 - 317 - 3591
2014 - 204 - 2157
2013 - Partial - 184 - 2124
Cool places I've ridden:
Manly Dam, NSW Australia
Sydney,NSW Australia
The Big Island HI - Just a tiny bit, more hiking and running. VNP, Greensand Beach, etc.
Beer I've Drunk - 2 much. Highlights include tons of Australian, KBS 2016, and Doom 2017.
In a Galaxy Far Far Away.
I've been around the world and life is beautiful.
:P
So tonight I was running late to come home. It was getting dark. And I had no lights. So I went on the Highway to the Danger Zone and cranked out an epic ride home. Huge pace.
27 Minutes. Perhaps my fastest ride home. And it could have been faster, by the time I got to Courthouse on the south east side of 123, it was getting dim. By the time I entered Nottoway park, it was pretty dark almost at 9::05 especially under the tree's. Had to really take it a tad easy up the path to Vaden.
If I'd held my pace all the way into vienna then pushed harder up Courthouse and then thru the park, I think 25 would have been possible. Typically my ride home is the slower part. 31 minutes. Sub 30 I consider pretty good. And the moving time versus total time? 32 mins total. That's bonkers, it's usually 45 minutes nearly with stops/lights/etc.
Total Ride - 58.15. And my lazy 31 in could have cut 4 minutes off. Easy.
2013 - 54:07 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/324916846
2013-2 - 57:13 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/412845125 - Dec 2013
2014 - 59:31 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/472470681 - April 2014
2015 - 58:54 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/749098180 - April 2015
2016 - 1:00:32 - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1187058047 - May 2016
2017 - 58:15 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1813423305 - June 2017 - 27 Home
What sucks? I was at 20 rides to work by early APR 2016. 2015 I'm only 4 or 5 off pace. Sure I was on the road for err.... 7 weeks, so say 14 commutes. Hmmm. 34 in 2016 still put me at June 1. argh. 97 hours and just under 1K miles.
Stats from Strava - So doesn't have "Everything" like trailwork and such.
Year - Activities - Miles
2016 - 314 - 3451
2015 - 317 - 3591
2014 - 204 - 2157
2013 - Partial - 184 - 2124
Cool places I've ridden:
Manly Dam, NSW Australia
Sydney,NSW Australia
The Big Island HI - Just a tiny bit, more hiking and running. VNP, Greensand Beach, etc.
Beer I've Drunk - 2 much. Highlights include tons of Australian, KBS 2016, and Doom 2017.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Vermont is SHARP!
Back from a 6 day trip to Vermont. Hell of a drive but we did well and never had any REALLY bad traffic. We left DC around 1130'ish after a food stop but due to food and other detours/scenic routes got in at around 11PM after a LATE dinner of beer and chips and salsa.
We got a garage apartment outside of Waitsfield VT.
Next morning we woke up early and we hit The Sweet Spot in Waitsfield for awesome coffee, pastries and food. Damn good!
Then we got ready and headed off for Perry Hill Trails. We rode up the huge frickin hill to the top of Joe's trail, then descended it, crazy stuff. Some beyond me for sure. Then back up to Burning Spear and down to Rastaman then down Rastaman and back to the car for 10 hard miles.
Will link to the ride HERE later.
Back to town starving. We hit the brewer by Prohibition Pig and had awesome taco's then rolled out. We ended up finding out about a demo of Yeti at Saxon Hill trail. We rolled onto that after a quick stop at the house. Hit that at a bit before 5. Tons of people. Took out a SUPER SWEET Yeti 5.5c X01 setup. BAD ASS bike, but damn $7k!!!!
Saxon Hills was generally more buff singletrack though there were some big ride features up at the far end. Rode tons of crazy stuff on the bike with no issue where my HT wouldn't. It was super plush and pedaled almost like a hardtail once my legs warmed back up. The way back was super flowy and twisty and a riot. Tons of boardwalks. Even some crazy skinny and turning ones. Just blasted it out.
And we were DONE. Time for dinner. We drove back over to Mad River area and up a CRAZY mountain to hit Mad River Barn. Good food and awesome beer. Still think we were both food defecited from no dinner the previous night.
Rolled back to the pad and waited for Teresa to show up. She got in around 10:30 and we chatted till 1230 and planned to shuttle the next day at Tucker Hill just outside Waitsfield.
T rented a Yeti 4.5c from the local shop and up we went we drove my car to the top as it had the rack. Then the adventure began with another 500 feet of climbing. Then more on and off climbing. We ended up back in a HUGE syrup collection field and apparently rode some abandoned/closed trail. Ooops. Finally got onto the fire road and finished down cyclone. 1800 feet of descending and 1100 climbing on a shuttled ride is still pretty epic. I think like 10 miles again.
Ride Linked Here.
Off to Prohobition Pig for an amazing dinner and more beer buying.
More Later.
We got a garage apartment outside of Waitsfield VT.
Next morning we woke up early and we hit The Sweet Spot in Waitsfield for awesome coffee, pastries and food. Damn good!
Then we got ready and headed off for Perry Hill Trails. We rode up the huge frickin hill to the top of Joe's trail, then descended it, crazy stuff. Some beyond me for sure. Then back up to Burning Spear and down to Rastaman then down Rastaman and back to the car for 10 hard miles.
Will link to the ride HERE later.
Back to town starving. We hit the brewer by Prohibition Pig and had awesome taco's then rolled out. We ended up finding out about a demo of Yeti at Saxon Hill trail. We rolled onto that after a quick stop at the house. Hit that at a bit before 5. Tons of people. Took out a SUPER SWEET Yeti 5.5c X01 setup. BAD ASS bike, but damn $7k!!!!
Saxon Hills was generally more buff singletrack though there were some big ride features up at the far end. Rode tons of crazy stuff on the bike with no issue where my HT wouldn't. It was super plush and pedaled almost like a hardtail once my legs warmed back up. The way back was super flowy and twisty and a riot. Tons of boardwalks. Even some crazy skinny and turning ones. Just blasted it out.
And we were DONE. Time for dinner. We drove back over to Mad River area and up a CRAZY mountain to hit Mad River Barn. Good food and awesome beer. Still think we were both food defecited from no dinner the previous night.
Rolled back to the pad and waited for Teresa to show up. She got in around 10:30 and we chatted till 1230 and planned to shuttle the next day at Tucker Hill just outside Waitsfield.
T rented a Yeti 4.5c from the local shop and up we went we drove my car to the top as it had the rack. Then the adventure began with another 500 feet of climbing. Then more on and off climbing. We ended up back in a HUGE syrup collection field and apparently rode some abandoned/closed trail. Ooops. Finally got onto the fire road and finished down cyclone. 1800 feet of descending and 1100 climbing on a shuttled ride is still pretty epic. I think like 10 miles again.
Ride Linked Here.
Off to Prohobition Pig for an amazing dinner and more beer buying.
More Later.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Sunny Day's and Muddy Buddies
Saturday we had an awesomely warm day, though overcast till 3pm. I did the airport loop that I hadn't done in a while and it took me probably an additional 30-40 minutes due to how often I had to slowdown/stop/yield/etc for people.
Hordes of people. Like walking dead hordes. Just not dead. Well not all of them. Even with all the slowassedness I still cut a few achievements including 3rd best time up the Custis.
Sunday was funday. We rode from the shop down to the C-anal and rode out to Great Fallzor. It was an epic battle of mud and people. We nearly got taken out by a group of crazy Chinese tourists that we wandering all over taking photos. So dirty. I was definitely feeling the tired. Then we did 41st street. And I made it! 20% grade at point, but more typically 8%. By the time you hit the top of the neighborhood your at near 300ft of climbing in 1.5 miles.
February has been a bit slack for me. My big week off was a mix of sitting, sleeping and eating. But very relaxing. I was definitely over trained in January. Hoping to get up to 20 hours this month. Today will get me to 16 or so but unless I rain ride.... Sigh. Though tomorrow is an off day riding in was so fucking tiring. Slooooow.
March....Cloudy with a chance of rain. It's looking like a very wet spring. Which is better I guess than a very snowy winter. MTB is going to be rare I think till April at this rate. In the next 15 days I think it's calling for rain on 7. Ugh.
But near 600 miles for the year? Can't complain as at the end of March 2015 I was at 500 miles and 46 hours.
Tonight's project? Tear down and clean MTB. Might even do cables if I go nuts.
Hordes of people. Like walking dead hordes. Just not dead. Well not all of them. Even with all the slowassedness I still cut a few achievements including 3rd best time up the Custis.
Sunday was funday. We rode from the shop down to the C-anal and rode out to Great Fallzor. It was an epic battle of mud and people. We nearly got taken out by a group of crazy Chinese tourists that we wandering all over taking photos. So dirty. I was definitely feeling the tired. Then we did 41st street. And I made it! 20% grade at point, but more typically 8%. By the time you hit the top of the neighborhood your at near 300ft of climbing in 1.5 miles.
February has been a bit slack for me. My big week off was a mix of sitting, sleeping and eating. But very relaxing. I was definitely over trained in January. Hoping to get up to 20 hours this month. Today will get me to 16 or so but unless I rain ride.... Sigh. Though tomorrow is an off day riding in was so fucking tiring. Slooooow.
March....Cloudy with a chance of rain. It's looking like a very wet spring. Which is better I guess than a very snowy winter. MTB is going to be rare I think till April at this rate. In the next 15 days I think it's calling for rain on 7. Ugh.
But near 600 miles for the year? Can't complain as at the end of March 2015 I was at 500 miles and 46 hours.
Tonight's project? Tear down and clean MTB. Might even do cables if I go nuts.
Monday, February 01, 2016
Goodbye January!
Hello February.
The end of the month with the massive snowstorm made January a bit less epic than I hoped, but a solid early part of the month and some dumb stuff kept me solid.
32 Total Activities, 450 Miles of Cycling, 48 Hours of Activity. Hiking, Trailwork, Running, Sledding and Shoveling of course rounded out the activities. Though I did almost CRUSH my entire Jan-Feb-Mar 2015 totals in just January. That's got me stoked for sure.
Not a lot of LONG rides but lots of riding was good. Was honestly probably in over trained status by the middle of the month leading up to the storm. Then the storm and tweaking my back on day 2 of shovel hell left last week pretty light Monday thru Thursday - minus sledding Thursday night.
My back on and off hurts anywhere from barely to moderately. This getting old crap sucks. My arm/shoulder still hurts at time from the crash at CCCX in December. Definitely fractured crap I suspect. Should have stayed off the bike a bit more but the travel also didn't help. Strength work at the gym is slowly starting to help a bit also.
Studded tires finally on the CX rig but no where to ride till really today as the WOD wasn't well plowed/melted up this way. It may finally be passable tomorrow, but I may work from home tomorrow due to never ending meetings/etc starting at 8am. Can't be late and that would mean leaving house at like 630. Ain't gonna happen since I'm off to see Muse for at the 5th time I think. Always an awesome show.
Gotta figure out my team level this year, they raised each level by 5 events. With MORE stuff and work stuff I may drop back down to Lazy Level or just lead some Monday CX rides at Wakefield-Accotink this spring. We shall see.
Vacation next week is looking pretty damn good. No really nasty weather in the next 15 days.
Also got some Black Ops 3 in this weekend and spent some time grinding up from level suck to level less suck (21). So I could unlock my next SMG of choice. Pretty fun game once I get my head into it a bit. I'm still to old/slow to be awesome.
The end of the month with the massive snowstorm made January a bit less epic than I hoped, but a solid early part of the month and some dumb stuff kept me solid.
32 Total Activities, 450 Miles of Cycling, 48 Hours of Activity. Hiking, Trailwork, Running, Sledding and Shoveling of course rounded out the activities. Though I did almost CRUSH my entire Jan-Feb-Mar 2015 totals in just January. That's got me stoked for sure.
Not a lot of LONG rides but lots of riding was good. Was honestly probably in over trained status by the middle of the month leading up to the storm. Then the storm and tweaking my back on day 2 of shovel hell left last week pretty light Monday thru Thursday - minus sledding Thursday night.
My back on and off hurts anywhere from barely to moderately. This getting old crap sucks. My arm/shoulder still hurts at time from the crash at CCCX in December. Definitely fractured crap I suspect. Should have stayed off the bike a bit more but the travel also didn't help. Strength work at the gym is slowly starting to help a bit also.
Studded tires finally on the CX rig but no where to ride till really today as the WOD wasn't well plowed/melted up this way. It may finally be passable tomorrow, but I may work from home tomorrow due to never ending meetings/etc starting at 8am. Can't be late and that would mean leaving house at like 630. Ain't gonna happen since I'm off to see Muse for at the 5th time I think. Always an awesome show.
Gotta figure out my team level this year, they raised each level by 5 events. With MORE stuff and work stuff I may drop back down to Lazy Level or just lead some Monday CX rides at Wakefield-Accotink this spring. We shall see.
Vacation next week is looking pretty damn good. No really nasty weather in the next 15 days.
Also got some Black Ops 3 in this weekend and spent some time grinding up from level suck to level less suck (21). So I could unlock my next SMG of choice. Pretty fun game once I get my head into it a bit. I'm still to old/slow to be awesome.
Monday, December 07, 2015
CX Double Header - End of the Season
Work.
That dirty nasty worst of all 4 letter words. Work is ending my CX Season 1 week early it appears. I'm being shipped out to Eastern Points across The Pond on Saturday evening and going to miss the BikenetiCX Race 2015 ed. I am hoping to spend a bit of time setting up Saturday AM but that means I have to be FULLY prepped Friday evening.
Regardless for me, CX season is over. It was better than last year. I'm still not fast but I was faster in general. I learned a bit about myself and what training I need to do to improve next year.
2015 Races
DCCX Day 1
Taccino CX
South Germantown CX
Apple CX Winch-Vegas
Red Shedman CX
Cap Cross CX
They were all fun in different ways. SG was my best but I pushed WAY hard on that course. I think I had the most FUN at Apple CX. DCCX was a blast as I was one of the small group that got to ride the flyover as we raced 1st on Saturday. Taccino was hard and I wasn't focused at all that day. Red Shedman was tough, very climby with a good tech section. Cap Cross may be the best mix overall.
For RSCX I was on the front row with the 01 bib and I KILLED myself on the start sprint. I had a HUGE gap apparently into the first turn and down a good ways till near the barriers before I was passed. Then the huge climb back up to the woods killed me. No issues with the small logs. Big looping hill wasn't bad but the finish hill absolutely killed me for some reason. Just no energy in the tank at that point. 3 Very slow and painful laps. Big smile though and a great venue/event. Near 60's temp wise by mid-day. Hanging out with all the regular MD suspects and enjoying beer.
CCCX was an earlier and even colder morning but I arrived in time for a good warm-up lap after registering, then got in another half lap. Course was faster than the previous year even before considering how wet it was. The frost was a bit sketchy but no issues. Legs were not feeling full power and the start method surprised me. I was in the middle of resetting my gps log! I got blown by another 30 or so guys in the start from being 22'nd'ish. Ugh. First lap was a parade lap really for the first half up till the top of the stair climb, stuff spaced out a bit better there. The steep run-up was hard! The chute this year was awesome. 2nd lap was slowly getting better I was switching spots with people and finally started pulling away on the big climb after the chute. 3rd lap my engine finally got going and I started chasing people down, caught up to a teammate at the top of the stairs and started to chase. Down most of the chute. CRASH. Setting up for the stupid root of doom I went down hard on my right shoulder.. Front wheel slipped out. Sloppy bike handling. Argh. UP and off course, done racing. Another teammate checks me out and nothing is broken, just sore. Find an official and make DNF official. Sucks. After the race I saw I was within 3 or 4 places of moving back into the top 50. Sigh, Another great day of hanging out and watching racing. The Single Speed race will live in infamy for a number of seasons I suspect with Bill S back in and Ian's epic ride on the Pugsley fat bike with pizza, beer, barrier hops, self beering, etc.
Next season I'm looking forward to making a bigger commitment right now to racing more and earlier. Sept was just busy with work and other stuff, October was a mess with being sick in Mid October. Then there is MORE. I think my news will be official tomorrow on that front. But it's already unofficially official. I'm going to be...something.
It's been a pretty solid year of biking so far, Oct was a bit of a down and with travel next week I will be a bit more down. Hoping to make up for it with regular rides while down at the Old Folks Home the week after.
Here's hoping to an even more crazy fun 2016.
That dirty nasty worst of all 4 letter words. Work is ending my CX Season 1 week early it appears. I'm being shipped out to Eastern Points across The Pond on Saturday evening and going to miss the BikenetiCX Race 2015 ed. I am hoping to spend a bit of time setting up Saturday AM but that means I have to be FULLY prepped Friday evening.
Regardless for me, CX season is over. It was better than last year. I'm still not fast but I was faster in general. I learned a bit about myself and what training I need to do to improve next year.
2015 Races
DCCX Day 1
Taccino CX
South Germantown CX
Apple CX Winch-Vegas
Red Shedman CX
Cap Cross CX
They were all fun in different ways. SG was my best but I pushed WAY hard on that course. I think I had the most FUN at Apple CX. DCCX was a blast as I was one of the small group that got to ride the flyover as we raced 1st on Saturday. Taccino was hard and I wasn't focused at all that day. Red Shedman was tough, very climby with a good tech section. Cap Cross may be the best mix overall.
For RSCX I was on the front row with the 01 bib and I KILLED myself on the start sprint. I had a HUGE gap apparently into the first turn and down a good ways till near the barriers before I was passed. Then the huge climb back up to the woods killed me. No issues with the small logs. Big looping hill wasn't bad but the finish hill absolutely killed me for some reason. Just no energy in the tank at that point. 3 Very slow and painful laps. Big smile though and a great venue/event. Near 60's temp wise by mid-day. Hanging out with all the regular MD suspects and enjoying beer.
CCCX was an earlier and even colder morning but I arrived in time for a good warm-up lap after registering, then got in another half lap. Course was faster than the previous year even before considering how wet it was. The frost was a bit sketchy but no issues. Legs were not feeling full power and the start method surprised me. I was in the middle of resetting my gps log! I got blown by another 30 or so guys in the start from being 22'nd'ish. Ugh. First lap was a parade lap really for the first half up till the top of the stair climb, stuff spaced out a bit better there. The steep run-up was hard! The chute this year was awesome. 2nd lap was slowly getting better I was switching spots with people and finally started pulling away on the big climb after the chute. 3rd lap my engine finally got going and I started chasing people down, caught up to a teammate at the top of the stairs and started to chase. Down most of the chute. CRASH. Setting up for the stupid root of doom I went down hard on my right shoulder.. Front wheel slipped out. Sloppy bike handling. Argh. UP and off course, done racing. Another teammate checks me out and nothing is broken, just sore. Find an official and make DNF official. Sucks. After the race I saw I was within 3 or 4 places of moving back into the top 50. Sigh, Another great day of hanging out and watching racing. The Single Speed race will live in infamy for a number of seasons I suspect with Bill S back in and Ian's epic ride on the Pugsley fat bike with pizza, beer, barrier hops, self beering, etc.
Next season I'm looking forward to making a bigger commitment right now to racing more and earlier. Sept was just busy with work and other stuff, October was a mess with being sick in Mid October. Then there is MORE. I think my news will be official tomorrow on that front. But it's already unofficially official. I'm going to be...something.
It's been a pretty solid year of biking so far, Oct was a bit of a down and with travel next week I will be a bit more down. Hoping to make up for it with regular rides while down at the Old Folks Home the week after.
Here's hoping to an even more crazy fun 2016.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Hello Fall! Nice to sneeze you.
Fall has definitely arrived into the Northern VA area in the last week or two. Heralded by cooler temps and fall allergies. Nothing like random sneezing, runny noses at night, sore throat and watery eyes.
Cross season is here but not sure what my first race of the season will be. I've been fully tied up with Wakefield Trailday prep for this weekend.
I also think I'm getting faster with the trimmer. The other day I did all the berms, part of powerlines near the rock ladder and the trail to the rollers and down the rollers in 3 hours and change, then another day I did the ascent hill, cleaned up a few other area's and did the berms down the phase 1 trail in about 2 hours total time. For the rest of the powerlines I plan to use the mower maybe. Gotta discuss/look with Ernie tonight. Not sure the mower is REALLY necessary at this point.
Last week was fall vacation week. Left late the friday before last for the Fall MORE Camping trip in Big Bear. Sadly I didn't ride Friday even though it was beautiful. Setup camp and started the relaxation method. Sigh. Relaxed real hard Friday. Then the rain started with a bit overnight and the on and off sprinkles in the AM. About 10 of us headed out anyways late morning and we rode the Crack Trail, More Crack Trail, Yellow, CDaleshortcut, Yellow, Pines, Pine Loop, Gene's trail both sections, green and back. Unfortunately halfway back on Gene's my saddle broke a rail and the rest of the ride was very slow standing grind. Ran into Bob and Todd on the way back and watched Bob go down hard on a very slick wooden bridge on green. Kids motored just fine but us big kids just have to high a center of gravity. I walked and it was slicker than ice really. Back to camp. After a shower and awesome chicken salad sandwhich (Thanks M!) I ran off with a friend to hit a store in Deep Creek for a new saddle. It ended up being a comfort saddle monstrosity. Got back and the sadz wouldn't let me put it on. So went to help with potluck setup.
The PotLuck competition was awesome this year, some of the best food I think maybe since the 1st year in Davis! Lots of great food ate I think 3 plates. Sooo full. On and off rain though the super tarp one family had was a huge help. Along with most of the camps 5 or 6 popups.
Much more chill and chilly night, sat by the fire, talked about riding different places, had a few brews. Went to bed pretty early between being in a food coma and tired and cold. Didn't sleep as well as the night before due to on and off rainstorms of note. Sunday dawned still pretty ugly. Got up. Ate breakfast, dried out and warmed up in the car. Used the car to dry out my jacket and riding pants. Helped a bunch of people pack up. Went out to breakfast with folks in a nearby town at Water St Cafe. It was awesome. Went back, mounted the saddle while watching most people depart. Went out for another ride as things were drying out a bit and sun was occasionally peeking out.
Rode out the road to the far end fo the area and did some of yellow up to the airport then the rest of yellow to Little Cannan/Purple trail. That was hard but awesome defintely walked stuff. Then blue along the road (Crazy fun) then back the connector/black trail. Nice day in the saddle.
Last groups then rolled out including Todd and Larry and co and MW. Lonely camp now empty with me solo. A bit creepy for sure. The sun finally came otu and I went and got awesome photo's around the campground/sites near the lake. Wow.
Monday I got up a bit late and did a good ride out black to yellow to green and all of green then yellow then black to jumpline out did the green at the entrance area behidn the bandstand/etc.
Then headed out to Morgantown to get a real saddle. Ended up with a Specialized saddle I don't love, in fact if I can fidn the receipt I should ship it back to them to return it. :P But I doubt I can. Hit up a burrito place with great beer right on WVU Campus then hit a nearby brewery. Picked up some beer and food to cook. Not a bad day over all. Back to camp. Went and took more photos of another great sunset at the lake riding around. Had a beer. Really nice and relaxing. 2 Groups came into camp while I was out. A few guys my age up partying up at one of the farther cabins and a older couple with a trailer 2 down. Not so creepy/empty. Cooked dinner. Chilled out with a good beer (Stone 19th anniversary). Went to bed pretty early in thought of another day of big riding.
And then the food poisoning set it in. Slept like crud and woke up sick as hell. No riding. No feeling good. Started to pack up. Took near 3 hours. Dried out stuff very well. Ate half a bowl of oatmeal and felt a bit better. A crappy end to a pretty awesome weekend otherwise. Stayed with afriend in MD. Felt sick a bit on the drive. Ugh. Home on wednesday and had everything cleaned and unpacked by midafternoon Wed. Gaming the rest of the day.
Rest of the week was pretty chill, no huge rides except for Friday. Got to do the most awesome wine and cheese gravel hooky ride. 40 miles, 2 wineries, 1 distillery. Cheese, Crackers, Meat, Etc. Woot!
Today was the final sign of fall 55 Degree morning. Everyone wearing long sleeves/arm warmers on the way in. Coffee was most excellent at Cafe Amouri. Ahhh. Fall.
Cross season is here but not sure what my first race of the season will be. I've been fully tied up with Wakefield Trailday prep for this weekend.
I also think I'm getting faster with the trimmer. The other day I did all the berms, part of powerlines near the rock ladder and the trail to the rollers and down the rollers in 3 hours and change, then another day I did the ascent hill, cleaned up a few other area's and did the berms down the phase 1 trail in about 2 hours total time. For the rest of the powerlines I plan to use the mower maybe. Gotta discuss/look with Ernie tonight. Not sure the mower is REALLY necessary at this point.
Last week was fall vacation week. Left late the friday before last for the Fall MORE Camping trip in Big Bear. Sadly I didn't ride Friday even though it was beautiful. Setup camp and started the relaxation method. Sigh. Relaxed real hard Friday. Then the rain started with a bit overnight and the on and off sprinkles in the AM. About 10 of us headed out anyways late morning and we rode the Crack Trail, More Crack Trail, Yellow, CDaleshortcut, Yellow, Pines, Pine Loop, Gene's trail both sections, green and back. Unfortunately halfway back on Gene's my saddle broke a rail and the rest of the ride was very slow standing grind. Ran into Bob and Todd on the way back and watched Bob go down hard on a very slick wooden bridge on green. Kids motored just fine but us big kids just have to high a center of gravity. I walked and it was slicker than ice really. Back to camp. After a shower and awesome chicken salad sandwhich (Thanks M!) I ran off with a friend to hit a store in Deep Creek for a new saddle. It ended up being a comfort saddle monstrosity. Got back and the sadz wouldn't let me put it on. So went to help with potluck setup.
The PotLuck competition was awesome this year, some of the best food I think maybe since the 1st year in Davis! Lots of great food ate I think 3 plates. Sooo full. On and off rain though the super tarp one family had was a huge help. Along with most of the camps 5 or 6 popups.
Much more chill and chilly night, sat by the fire, talked about riding different places, had a few brews. Went to bed pretty early between being in a food coma and tired and cold. Didn't sleep as well as the night before due to on and off rainstorms of note. Sunday dawned still pretty ugly. Got up. Ate breakfast, dried out and warmed up in the car. Used the car to dry out my jacket and riding pants. Helped a bunch of people pack up. Went out to breakfast with folks in a nearby town at Water St Cafe. It was awesome. Went back, mounted the saddle while watching most people depart. Went out for another ride as things were drying out a bit and sun was occasionally peeking out.
Rode out the road to the far end fo the area and did some of yellow up to the airport then the rest of yellow to Little Cannan/Purple trail. That was hard but awesome defintely walked stuff. Then blue along the road (Crazy fun) then back the connector/black trail. Nice day in the saddle.
Last groups then rolled out including Todd and Larry and co and MW. Lonely camp now empty with me solo. A bit creepy for sure. The sun finally came otu and I went and got awesome photo's around the campground/sites near the lake. Wow.
Monday I got up a bit late and did a good ride out black to yellow to green and all of green then yellow then black to jumpline out did the green at the entrance area behidn the bandstand/etc.
Then headed out to Morgantown to get a real saddle. Ended up with a Specialized saddle I don't love, in fact if I can fidn the receipt I should ship it back to them to return it. :P But I doubt I can. Hit up a burrito place with great beer right on WVU Campus then hit a nearby brewery. Picked up some beer and food to cook. Not a bad day over all. Back to camp. Went and took more photos of another great sunset at the lake riding around. Had a beer. Really nice and relaxing. 2 Groups came into camp while I was out. A few guys my age up partying up at one of the farther cabins and a older couple with a trailer 2 down. Not so creepy/empty. Cooked dinner. Chilled out with a good beer (Stone 19th anniversary). Went to bed pretty early in thought of another day of big riding.
And then the food poisoning set it in. Slept like crud and woke up sick as hell. No riding. No feeling good. Started to pack up. Took near 3 hours. Dried out stuff very well. Ate half a bowl of oatmeal and felt a bit better. A crappy end to a pretty awesome weekend otherwise. Stayed with afriend in MD. Felt sick a bit on the drive. Ugh. Home on wednesday and had everything cleaned and unpacked by midafternoon Wed. Gaming the rest of the day.
Rest of the week was pretty chill, no huge rides except for Friday. Got to do the most awesome wine and cheese gravel hooky ride. 40 miles, 2 wineries, 1 distillery. Cheese, Crackers, Meat, Etc. Woot!
Today was the final sign of fall 55 Degree morning. Everyone wearing long sleeves/arm warmers on the way in. Coffee was most excellent at Cafe Amouri. Ahhh. Fall.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Fall is Coming
Big push for the ending of August 2015. And it was a crazy busy month with work, trips to see my dad in central VA along with various cousins, biking a fair amount, and limited trailwork.
The last week was really the peak of busyness. Work was insane with shipping issues:
CX Practice
Trailwork Rosaryville
Racing at Motormile Speedway (Drag Racing).
Ad-hoc trimming at Wakefield
TNR
MORE Summer Picnic
What a great event yesterday. The MORE summer picnic was EPIC worthy. Lots of fun and smiles had. Tons of people sessioning the skinny of doom of Team XXL and tons of folks riding the hell out of Todd B's skills gear! I mean if there weren't 5-10 people riding it near constantly between 11 and 4pm I'm shocked and later in the day at times there were 20+ people constantly working on skills.
The Poker Race was huge and tons of fun was had I think. It made the event way more fun than just some natty old ride in the woods. People talking good natured trash to each other. New friendships made. Bike rode. Tons of food eaten. Near perfect amount of hotdogs and hamburgers, we only thru away about 4 hotdogs and maybe 5-10 hamburgers. Took a ton of chips home for future TNR/Fall Camping Trip.
Afterwards lot of fun and games with skills competition, raffles, and general fun.
The slide of doom returned. Ribs are sore. Big smile.
Cleanup was pretty painless and we were mostly done by 5. I hung till 6 and helped a teammate finish de-marking the course for the last mile or so.
Too much fun. Can't wait for the camping trip now.
Now to only survive the next 8 days of work and get in some bike rides.
The last week was really the peak of busyness. Work was insane with shipping issues:
CX Practice
Trailwork Rosaryville
Racing at Motormile Speedway (Drag Racing).
Ad-hoc trimming at Wakefield
TNR
MORE Summer Picnic
What a great event yesterday. The MORE summer picnic was EPIC worthy. Lots of fun and smiles had. Tons of people sessioning the skinny of doom of Team XXL and tons of folks riding the hell out of Todd B's skills gear! I mean if there weren't 5-10 people riding it near constantly between 11 and 4pm I'm shocked and later in the day at times there were 20+ people constantly working on skills.
The Poker Race was huge and tons of fun was had I think. It made the event way more fun than just some natty old ride in the woods. People talking good natured trash to each other. New friendships made. Bike rode. Tons of food eaten. Near perfect amount of hotdogs and hamburgers, we only thru away about 4 hotdogs and maybe 5-10 hamburgers. Took a ton of chips home for future TNR/Fall Camping Trip.
Afterwards lot of fun and games with skills competition, raffles, and general fun.
The slide of doom returned. Ribs are sore. Big smile.
Cleanup was pretty painless and we were mostly done by 5. I hung till 6 and helped a teammate finish de-marking the course for the last mile or so.
Too much fun. Can't wait for the camping trip now.
Now to only survive the next 8 days of work and get in some bike rides.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Et tu transmission?
Not my transmission fortunately, but the big green bus tranny suffered yesterday during the Patapsco Epic apparently worse than many riders:
Other than this issue, it was a great day out at the Patapsco Epic 2015. I did course marshaling at the 35/50 mile split. Mostly successfully the yellow of the 35's was often hard to see differently than the red. The 35 sweeps were a tad late so we didn't clear out till almost 130. Then I rolled over to the start/finish at McKeldin area. I talked with a few people and opted to ride out a bit. Ended up doing the 15 loop which was awesome minus one sucky push/climb.
Got to hang out with lots of peeps afterwards and had AWESOME Taco's from a baltimore taco truck: The Jolly Pig - http://www.thejollypig.com/
DAMN Good!
Then hung out more with XXL and Wicked Wash peeps before getting into investigating issues with The Mystery Machine/Big Green Bus. Someone had taken the keys back to VA when it died. So after many conflicting reports I narrowed it to Transmission or Powersteering. I checked the transmission stick and it was dry though since it was on a slope I wasn't confident and it was some REALLY nasty dirty fluid that I thought was way to brown for transmission. Eventually I got in-touch with Yawn and Helen and they headed up. After a search for food, they arrived and we got down to checking it out. After some futsing around we found the powersteering resevoir was nearly full. uh oh. Yep transmission fluid.
Jan opted to try and move it under power but no dice in reverse or forward. Bad Sounds. We eventually rolled it forward out of the road it was blocking to a utility company service site. Ugh.
Today I skipped the ride to work so I could pickup breakfast food for the next 2 weeks and such. Gonna be a busy few weeks of work and stuff. Lots of projects pushing forward.
Almost had a moment of major weakness and almost test rode the new Trek Stache 7. Bad Ass bike by looks for sure. Really curious to try it but not in the financial cards right now. Need to do rear brakes on the MTB and see about finding a replacement frojk as Dicky would say.
Other than this issue, it was a great day out at the Patapsco Epic 2015. I did course marshaling at the 35/50 mile split. Mostly successfully the yellow of the 35's was often hard to see differently than the red. The 35 sweeps were a tad late so we didn't clear out till almost 130. Then I rolled over to the start/finish at McKeldin area. I talked with a few people and opted to ride out a bit. Ended up doing the 15 loop which was awesome minus one sucky push/climb.
Got to hang out with lots of peeps afterwards and had AWESOME Taco's from a baltimore taco truck: The Jolly Pig - http://www.thejollypig.com/
DAMN Good!
Then hung out more with XXL and Wicked Wash peeps before getting into investigating issues with The Mystery Machine/Big Green Bus. Someone had taken the keys back to VA when it died. So after many conflicting reports I narrowed it to Transmission or Powersteering. I checked the transmission stick and it was dry though since it was on a slope I wasn't confident and it was some REALLY nasty dirty fluid that I thought was way to brown for transmission. Eventually I got in-touch with Yawn and Helen and they headed up. After a search for food, they arrived and we got down to checking it out. After some futsing around we found the powersteering resevoir was nearly full. uh oh. Yep transmission fluid.
Jan opted to try and move it under power but no dice in reverse or forward. Bad Sounds. We eventually rolled it forward out of the road it was blocking to a utility company service site. Ugh.
Today I skipped the ride to work so I could pickup breakfast food for the next 2 weeks and such. Gonna be a busy few weeks of work and stuff. Lots of projects pushing forward.
Almost had a moment of major weakness and almost test rode the new Trek Stache 7. Bad Ass bike by looks for sure. Really curious to try it but not in the financial cards right now. Need to do rear brakes on the MTB and see about finding a replacement frojk as Dicky would say.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
More Rain?!?!? Go Away!
July has continued the generally rainy trend of June so far with I think over 5 inches of rain in some DC area's. Typically for May and June are right around 4 inches. That means at near 20 inches were really really really wet. And more storms on the horizon. Storms this evening and overnight and I can almost guarantee at 5-6PM tomorrow for the should be third week of W@W that will probably get pushed off again.
Shed/Gambrill ride this weekend kicked my butt. My shoulders hurt Sunday and Monday. Though some of that may have been the event on Sunday.
Early last week I started looking at some stats/idea's around Kill Bill 2015 ride and realized that without some serious water support this ride with 50-70 riders could take a bit longer than last year which finished at like 5 or 530. So I started borrowing 5Gal water coolers and planned.
So at 730AM on Sunday I went to safeway and bought 20 gallons of water and 40 lbs of ice. And off to CVS I went. The wrong CVS. Made it to the right one with 30 mins to spare for the first stop. Kathy Lewis and some others were there. Kathy had a ton of water and gatorade! And about 60 riders rolled in. 3 5 gallon coolers and tons of gallons of water went out. And in 15 mins everyone was back out on the track. I opted to restock at the giant with some more ice, soda, and cookies and chips. Back out and about 30 mins later the group hit for stop 2. Soda and snacks were a big hit and once again the group got back out on the road in about 15 minutes. Next stop we were missing the 1st pass as it was only like 7-8 miles away but we made it for the 2nd stop. Near Marymount U. More water, ice, soda and snacks went out. Things going well we were at mile 50'ish already for the riders and it was pretty early and still cool. After some bad directions/gps Kathy and I hit the next stop at the CVS at Westmoreland/N Sycamore and setup. 20 mins later in comes the group. More water, snacks etc. First few people begin to falter but the main group is still going well. Next stop is just before main Barcroft section. I go pick up a part for a rider and head on. Should have gotten more water. Next to last stop and it's finally getting warm at around 2pm. All water is done. Ride is off a few more people move to social ride cutting some of the worst out. But still not many. I go and get 14 more gallons of water, more coke, more ice and snacks for the final stop between barcroft and the return to falls church. Made it with 10 mins to spare. Riders are struggling now at 97 miles and just completing barcroft, About 10 miles left with 2 big climbs. Used tons of water and soda and snacks. Social ride ends up at about 8 people. MAin group leaves pretty quick, 2nd group leaves 10 minutes later after a longer break.
Final usage - 42 gallons of water, 110# of ice in drinking water, 30lbs for soda/pickles/etc. 4 12 packs of soda, 4 jars of pickles, 4 bags of chips, 4 sets of cookies. 5 jars of gatorade powder. Not bad for a non-supported ride :)
Almost 40 riders finished of near 60. Raised over $5k for charity. Not a bad day. Boy was I tired :)
Wimped on riding Monday but got back on today for the commute in. Legs we tired but not bad hopefully they are ready for W@W tomorrow. Though admittedly I'm debating riding in, with the thought it's gonna get cancelled again.
Shed/Gambrill ride this weekend kicked my butt. My shoulders hurt Sunday and Monday. Though some of that may have been the event on Sunday.
Early last week I started looking at some stats/idea's around Kill Bill 2015 ride and realized that without some serious water support this ride with 50-70 riders could take a bit longer than last year which finished at like 5 or 530. So I started borrowing 5Gal water coolers and planned.
So at 730AM on Sunday I went to safeway and bought 20 gallons of water and 40 lbs of ice. And off to CVS I went. The wrong CVS. Made it to the right one with 30 mins to spare for the first stop. Kathy Lewis and some others were there. Kathy had a ton of water and gatorade! And about 60 riders rolled in. 3 5 gallon coolers and tons of gallons of water went out. And in 15 mins everyone was back out on the track. I opted to restock at the giant with some more ice, soda, and cookies and chips. Back out and about 30 mins later the group hit for stop 2. Soda and snacks were a big hit and once again the group got back out on the road in about 15 minutes. Next stop we were missing the 1st pass as it was only like 7-8 miles away but we made it for the 2nd stop. Near Marymount U. More water, ice, soda and snacks went out. Things going well we were at mile 50'ish already for the riders and it was pretty early and still cool. After some bad directions/gps Kathy and I hit the next stop at the CVS at Westmoreland/N Sycamore and setup. 20 mins later in comes the group. More water, snacks etc. First few people begin to falter but the main group is still going well. Next stop is just before main Barcroft section. I go pick up a part for a rider and head on. Should have gotten more water. Next to last stop and it's finally getting warm at around 2pm. All water is done. Ride is off a few more people move to social ride cutting some of the worst out. But still not many. I go and get 14 more gallons of water, more coke, more ice and snacks for the final stop between barcroft and the return to falls church. Made it with 10 mins to spare. Riders are struggling now at 97 miles and just completing barcroft, About 10 miles left with 2 big climbs. Used tons of water and soda and snacks. Social ride ends up at about 8 people. MAin group leaves pretty quick, 2nd group leaves 10 minutes later after a longer break.
Final usage - 42 gallons of water, 110# of ice in drinking water, 30lbs for soda/pickles/etc. 4 12 packs of soda, 4 jars of pickles, 4 bags of chips, 4 sets of cookies. 5 jars of gatorade powder. Not bad for a non-supported ride :)
Almost 40 riders finished of near 60. Raised over $5k for charity. Not a bad day. Boy was I tired :)
Wimped on riding Monday but got back on today for the commute in. Legs we tired but not bad hopefully they are ready for W@W tomorrow. Though admittedly I'm debating riding in, with the thought it's gonna get cancelled again.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Where did June go?
If someone finds June please return it to me so I can enjoy it again.
Not a bad month and in actuality it didn't pass super fast. It was just busy between trailwork, racing, riding and helping people move. I think thats what made the 1st half really blow by.
New position at work is still kicking my butt in someways, between that and final push to migrate our customers from our legacy system to the new one. I'll be very glad once this is done. Probably September though.
June was not a super high mileage month till last week when I had a 160+ miles, most of early june was spent moving people and mid June I was focused on Wakefield Trailwork.
Super stoked for another not too hot W@W this wednesday and then Thursday we've got WF TNR and Friday is an off day so I finally get to do an observance ride, a Gravel Grinder out in LoCo.
Made myself do a pile of errands on bike that I've been doing in car lately and it was fine and got in about 6 extra miles of riding.
Weather this month was crazy hot up till this last weekend when the storms cooled stuff down. Yesterday and Sunday were beautiful, in the high 60's in the AM. Today is a tad warmer but still not bad. Hoping we stay cooler in July, and a tad drier. Rainy Rainy month also.
Not a bad month and in actuality it didn't pass super fast. It was just busy between trailwork, racing, riding and helping people move. I think thats what made the 1st half really blow by.
New position at work is still kicking my butt in someways, between that and final push to migrate our customers from our legacy system to the new one. I'll be very glad once this is done. Probably September though.
June was not a super high mileage month till last week when I had a 160+ miles, most of early june was spent moving people and mid June I was focused on Wakefield Trailwork.
Super stoked for another not too hot W@W this wednesday and then Thursday we've got WF TNR and Friday is an off day so I finally get to do an observance ride, a Gravel Grinder out in LoCo.
Made myself do a pile of errands on bike that I've been doing in car lately and it was fine and got in about 6 extra miles of riding.
Weather this month was crazy hot up till this last weekend when the storms cooled stuff down. Yesterday and Sunday were beautiful, in the high 60's in the AM. Today is a tad warmer but still not bad. Hoping we stay cooler in July, and a tad drier. Rainy Rainy month also.
Monday, June 15, 2015
A week after, A Year After, 5 Years and Friendship
Well a week after the run of doom, I'm glad to report by Friday I was back to full normal. Thursday the legs were 90% better, enough that I dropped a TON of people on the Accotink section of TNR. Ooops.
Did an awesome ride on Sunday and went from Falls Church to Potomac to Bethesda to Georgetown and back to FC. 42 Miles with some nice hills and some pushing of pace. I'm crap at pace lining and couldn't hold onto the fast group so I took a tad easier and hung back with the girls up until Bethesda. I'm still not comfortable blasting descents at 35+ mph either, but slowly improving my confidence.
Helped my roommate of 5 years move out to his new place he's sharing with his girl. Weird to have 2 new roommates in less than 6 months. But I'm stoked he and the SLF are doing as well as they are. Moved tons of stuff and felt it in my back a bit again today. Not lifting with my legs....naughty naughty. Beyond my ex-wife and one other friend who I'm still in with, he'll be one of my longest friends and he'll always be one.
We grilled out and watched GoT S5 finale last night. Damn. Still processing that for sure. May need to re-watch it. Felt bad for Cersi for maybe the 2nd/3rd time. Reminded myself why humanity sorta sucks. Then watched the Silicon Valley S2 finale and that was crazy. Think I had server fire meets white walker dreams.
Last time this year my x-roomie and I talked about where we wanted to be in the next year and we've both definitely changed a few things. Both of us changed positions in our org. Both of us are doing better financially. He's got a sirius SLF. I'm still basically enjoying being single in many ways with a complete lack of general responsibility to another human. I'm a bit less involved in the bike club but have idea's and drives for the future. Gotta plan and execute a bit more this fall and see what I want to do next year. Job stuff is improving. Riding more with 132 gps'd/logged activities so far in under 180 days. And that's huge considering I was at like 50 events in 90 days. I'm on track to hit like 90+ in the last 90 days by end of June. 145? 150? Fitness is increasing. Looking forward to suffering in Kill Bill 2015 in mid july. Would love to finish the century+ but even finishing metric distance would be HUGE.
Ommegong's Take the Black Stout last night was the PERFECT beer for that episode by the way. Dark, bitter, and strong. Really liked this 2nd bottle much better than the 1st I drank last year. May have to try and find a bottle of this years red and have it at the end of next season.
The redone bike rack looks awesome. Gotta get some photo's up. And give props/reviews on the shop that did the cleaning and powder coating.
And maybe I'll jog tonight after I get home from work. Maybe.
Did an awesome ride on Sunday and went from Falls Church to Potomac to Bethesda to Georgetown and back to FC. 42 Miles with some nice hills and some pushing of pace. I'm crap at pace lining and couldn't hold onto the fast group so I took a tad easier and hung back with the girls up until Bethesda. I'm still not comfortable blasting descents at 35+ mph either, but slowly improving my confidence.
Helped my roommate of 5 years move out to his new place he's sharing with his girl. Weird to have 2 new roommates in less than 6 months. But I'm stoked he and the SLF are doing as well as they are. Moved tons of stuff and felt it in my back a bit again today. Not lifting with my legs....naughty naughty. Beyond my ex-wife and one other friend who I'm still in with, he'll be one of my longest friends and he'll always be one.
We grilled out and watched GoT S5 finale last night. Damn. Still processing that for sure. May need to re-watch it. Felt bad for Cersi for maybe the 2nd/3rd time. Reminded myself why humanity sorta sucks. Then watched the Silicon Valley S2 finale and that was crazy. Think I had server fire meets white walker dreams.
Last time this year my x-roomie and I talked about where we wanted to be in the next year and we've both definitely changed a few things. Both of us changed positions in our org. Both of us are doing better financially. He's got a sirius SLF. I'm still basically enjoying being single in many ways with a complete lack of general responsibility to another human. I'm a bit less involved in the bike club but have idea's and drives for the future. Gotta plan and execute a bit more this fall and see what I want to do next year. Job stuff is improving. Riding more with 132 gps'd/logged activities so far in under 180 days. And that's huge considering I was at like 50 events in 90 days. I'm on track to hit like 90+ in the last 90 days by end of June. 145? 150? Fitness is increasing. Looking forward to suffering in Kill Bill 2015 in mid july. Would love to finish the century+ but even finishing metric distance would be HUGE.
Ommegong's Take the Black Stout last night was the PERFECT beer for that episode by the way. Dark, bitter, and strong. Really liked this 2nd bottle much better than the 1st I drank last year. May have to try and find a bottle of this years red and have it at the end of next season.
The redone bike rack looks awesome. Gotta get some photo's up. And give props/reviews on the shop that did the cleaning and powder coating.
And maybe I'll jog tonight after I get home from work. Maybe.
Monday, June 08, 2015
Running is a bad idea
Run, Running, 5k, 10k.
It's all a bad idea. Especially if any of these items are on the list:
It's all a bad idea. Especially if any of these items are on the list:
- Haven't done any training runs in 3 months or really any running.
- 4 Hours of Trailwork the day before
- Planning to help someone move an hour or two after a run/race
- A 5k Run = a 5K Race. duh
- You can't help but pushing to a comfortable pace
- You PR 3 times on a run with item 1 in effect
- You forget to take advil after the run
- Your heart rate spiked over your maximum
- Running when your really a cyclist
- You wimped out and walked for 3 minutes during the race instead of HTFU
Well so here's the deal. I agreed/wanted to help a BikenetiCX teammate who had heart surgery to support the group who did the work as it is now something addressed typically in kids, not adults.
5K - Big Whoop, I've finished a Tough Mudder - 13 MILES. Sure I didn't train at ALL for this but it's like 5K, I'll take it easy.
Nope 28:18 for 3.1 miles. 3 PR's and if I had not walked a few spots I could have finished down in the 25's. I was 97th but 9th in my age group. At 25 I would have only been in the 50's overall and 7th in age group. Oh well. Fastest guy did it in less than 18 mins. Oy.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.racebx.com/transfer/gen/5/5/7/5574545b-e1d0-41de-9c0c-777cc0a86526/2015-Starkid-5k-Overall.htm# 1M
Legs are wicked sore. I need to jog occasionally. 1x per week even 2-3 miles. Oh well.
CX bike is back home and in rolling shape finally since Friday. Got a 10 miler in Friday. Might try and get a late ride in tonight to try and spin out legs so I can ride to work tomorrow.
On the flip side the road bike blew a spoke last week on the way home (1/10th of a mile out) and it's now taking a break after a month and change of relative high mileage. But it really needs a new BB and possibly a new crankset. le Sigh.
Hoping to get back into commuting and some mileage building this week. Going to set a goal of 120. Huzzah!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)