A near perfect weekend

What a great weekend! While I didn’t ride as much as I would have liked, I did get out for a decent 30 mile steady state ride Saturday late morning after a relaxing morning. On Friday I made a specific point of getting both my fixed gear and Cannondale home as I’d driven in to Hains Point and spun over from there in morning. Unfortunately today I am wishing I’d just left the fixed gear here at the office since I wussed out on riding in or even bringing it in because of the rain/mix being called for today. Now of course it is absolutely drop dead stunning outside and all I want to do is blow off the rest of the day and go cruise around the city. Ah well, I’m taking off early so I’ll head home and get out for a nice fixed spin around the ag center this afternoon instead.

The ride on Saturday was fantastic; just a nice double layer of gear and some reasonable gloves and I was doing great. I went out to Powder Mill and looped back around to Baltimore Ave and back to Edmonston before heading up Sunnyside to Rhode Island and stopping in Proteus bikes for a bit to check out their selection of 29’ers (I’ll talk more about that in a minute). From there I spun down RI and across the ped bridge to Lake Accotink and then down Cherryhill Lane back to Edmonston and back for another loop around the ag center land and up Research back home.

It felt great to be out on the bike and aside from being a little lonely at times on my own it was a perfect morning. I rode a very nice and steady speed and average a bit faster then I’d expected which was nice as well but really it was a sweet little zone 2/zone 3 spin. Unfortunately I never got out on the fixie like I’d planned so really there was no reason for me to bother bringing it home. Oh well.

Sunday I went on a great 2 hour hike in the woods across the street from my house with Sara, her dog and a dog she is watching for some relatives. It was perfect weather for a hike; a bit of a chill in the air but reasonable, although the ground was a bit wet for my taste. I’m always amazed though at how many different little trails there are back in the section of woods between my place and the Ag Center land. While we were probably no more then a mile or two from my house at any given time, we managed to spend a solid 2 hours straight on the trails, never hitting the same trail twice aside from one small section which I intentionally crossed back on just so we could get out to a big green field area (isn’t it supposed to be winter right now???).

I’ve figured out a good portion of the trails out there though it seems like every time I make it out there I find a new section of trails and spend at least a half hour wondering where the hell I am. Yesterday When I thought we’d over hiked the section that would spit us out right across from my place we still managed to pop out at one of the streets well ahead of that section. I could spend a full day in there and probably still not cover all of the trails it has to offer. I love Greenbelt!

After the hike I made my way over to REI to see about getting a rel pair of hiking boots and at least to get fitted for the pack I've been eyeing up for the past 4 years. I ended finding a great pair of backpacking boots by Merrel and actually ended up walking out with the pack and boots and a few pairs of smartwool socks to boot. Oops. The pack fit perfectly and since it was the last one of my size in stock I decided I may as well just go ahead and get it. So, I am now the proud new owner of an Osprey Atmos 50 pack and will hopefully being using said pack very soon. This weekend is looking somewhat perfect for a mild winter hike/camping trip though I think the logistics just aren't going to quite come together for it just yet.

While at REI the lady that helped me with my boots actually turned out to be a neighbor and invited me along with some other REI folks on a new years camping trip out to West Virginia. I so badly wish I could go! Maybe next year.