A few extra miles

Yesterday as I was riding home from work I remembered Wednesdays are Greenbelt Training series race days. I don't really think much about the GTS races much since I decided 3 seasons ago road racing maybe wasn't my thing after getting crashed out of one of the Greenbelt B races when a rider went down in the middle of the pack. But, I've been talking to a few people here and there lately and with it being 2 miles from my front door I figured I kind of had to get out and race it at least a few times this year, if nothing else then just for the hard efforts and the extra miles.

So, I stopped by, not expecting to get in last night since I was late and had no cash or license. They took an IOU though and with 5 minutes to spare I was standing on the line in the 6pm C race (no license, no B race and no I'm really not sandbagging here anyway).

I rode somewhat aggressively from the start hoping to keep the pace somewhat high and see what would happen. Didn't really do much though other then wear my already tired legs out. Felt like I was moving around easily in the pack but on the final ramp up to the finish I lost my nerve a couple times while trying to move up gave up a lot of spots well before the park exit road and seeing I was well out of contention soft pedaled in to the finish line. No sense in being the guy sprinting for 15th.

It was definitely fun to be out there and really aside from one especially squirrelly rider it was a pretty good group out there. One guy named Rob on a single speed was especially impressive I thought. Should be pretty strong when he gets his hands on a geared bike.

So, now that I've got the first one under the belt for the year I plan to try and get out as often as possible to my neighborhood crit. As usual a big thank you to Route 1 Velo for putting on such a cool and laid back series.

BTWD 2010

Great day for riding and lots of people on the roads. Met a few cool folks and forced myself to actually go to work in the end. Should have grabbed a pic before I left when the freedom plaza crowds had grown but this one is from about 7:30 when I first got there.

Goals and Milestones

The other week with my regular, easy run down the mall, around the Lincoln Memorial and back, I cracked 600 miles on the year running. It's not a very big number for a year of running; its downright minuscule when compared to the typical ultra runner but for me it seems like a big milestone.

My weekly running mileage chart here shows my lack of consistency. The last 6 or so months has shown some improvement there.

In 2008 I just cracked 400 miles; beginning my training log in late March and not really running with any focus or races in mind. Consistency was no where to be found and my miles just basically came in small heaps throughout the year. Over the last few months, basically since I decided I wanted to attempt an Ultra and began running trails in June, my mileage has ticked up and my consistency has as well. I still have large variations in my weekly mileage but overall I've managed in the 15 to 20 miles per week on average. While this is still far from "Ultra" mileage, for me, it's a start.

Literally, not a single run in January of this year and less then 20 miles in the entire month of May!

For 2010 I've got my eyes fixed on the Bull Run Run 50 Miler, one of the VHTRC main event races. This means I'll need to keep my mileage up as the new year begins and really start to build into the month of April. I'd like to run a strong race and finish feeling better then I did after the PHT 50k so a solid winter mileage base is a must.

I'll be very happy if I can average a solid 20 to 30 for the first couple of months of the year. For 2010 as a whole I think I should expect to break 1000 miles, with hopefully a couple of Ultras under my belt.

As for my cycling, I'm somewhat stagnant, kicking around 1800 miles for the year. In 2008 I hit 1500 or so, probably mostly invested in my tri training, especially the 1/2 IM. This year my miles consisted more of dirt riding with some pretty limited road mileage. I've just found so much more enjoyment in the dirt all around this year. That, I don't expect to change necessarily for next year.

My cycling goals for next year will revolve around a similar principal as this year's racing with one major addition. I want to make my first attempt at the Shenandoah Mountain 100 (SM 100). This alone will require a large boost in my overall mileage and hopefully I'll be able to work in some much longer dirt rides and some long road rides with my DCMTB teammates this year to make it happen.

Call 2010 the year of the Ultra's for me if you will; thats just where I'm at right now. Short course speed races are fun, but I find myself drawn to the long course absolute tests of endurance that go with Ultra distance racing. There is something rewarding in and of itself when finishing long distance races; something that for me is lacking in the short courses.

At this point I'd say I should be doubling my cycling mileage if I want to have even a remote chance of finishing the SM100 and probably quite a bit more if I expect to perform well. Of course if the weather keeps up this amped winter we've already seen my riding may take a back seat to trail/snow running and shoveling!

Or, maybe its finally time to invest in a trainer and actually start using it...

How do you title a day?

Who knows, but I wanted to write anyway. My pictures do not match my words; just my day.

Today's Gamjams Review was for bar tape. I tend to buy whatever is available. I'm just not too specific about it. Maybe some are more comfortable then others but I find basic cork tape works just fine for me and doesn't get slippery on the hot and sweaty summer riding around the soggy DC Metro area.

Cassie must be one of the happiest (and happiest looking) dogs in the world!

Did the noon ride at Haines again today, this time with a much larger group of riders. I hadn't seen Chris G in a long time so we spent the majority of the ride sitting on the back just chatting. The pace was decent and I once again felt pretty good just sitting in. Also like yesterday I probably wouldn't have been able to do too much more, though after some vehicle issues and some fairly large seperations I was able to drill hard and long enough to bring myself back onto the back of the group. In the past I know I've struggled, maybe just mentally with the group seeming to be just barely out of reach.

She got a little play time in over at a park in Capital Hill today after work.

Now to one of the biggest issues with cycling and training. I STILL don't have enough gear for all this riding! Cold weather riding is especially bad; I have to wear so many layers that after a couple of rides I am out of clean riding clothes. Today I wore shorts under the fleece tights simply because I wanted to keep the tights relatively clean so I could get out again tomorrow. That's kind of gross considering I did the same thing yesterday and I tend to sweat pretty heavily no matter what.

Homer got some park time as well though the small children who he is a afraid of kept him on his leash at all times.

I think this method will work up to a point though at some time I'm going to need to think about getting another pair of fleece lined winter tights. The second under armour shirt helped a ton so if I can continually use the jacket over and over I'm probably golden. It's tough being a cycliste, there's always more stuff to NEED (want)...

Welcoming a new era

I don't really need to say anything for any readers to know how I feel right now; for the time being I can just point to the big smile on my face. In relation to biking; it looks like there is a pretty solid chance for cyclists to gain some ground over the next few years...

Secretary of Transportation: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.); Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.)

Two of our favorite Senators listed (solely) as the possible candidates for DoT Secretary... A far cry from the last 8 years.

On another note I think we can all take part in the pride surrounding our country's growth. To many this was a deciding factor (maybe even both ways), but I think to a lot of people it is simply a tremendous bonus to come along with this election (win or lose). It says something about our country that makes me proud to say I'm a part of it that we, as a whole, can finally get past our prejudices, if not fully at least enough to make it obvious that in the grand scheme of things race doesn't matter!

For that, I think we can ALL be thankful.

Congratulations President Obama and family and congratulations America, the true melting pot of the world.

Been a while since I've posted a car bike rant

This morning as I rode in to work a BMW came around me, entirely in the opposing lane of traffic over on D St, NE. Generally no big deal and maybe it'd even kind of the guy (albeit stupid) for the guy to give me so much space. Not this time. I was riding with traffic, cruising at speed behind a large pick up truck as a car would do (in reality probably even tailgating a little, also similar to how cars drive). The BMW had no where to go and I threw my arms up and let him know.

So, he drove along next to me for the rest of the block. The truck turned and the lane ahead was open so the guy took off... to the next light. Apparently though he didn't really notice it very quickly since he had to slam on the brakes and scared the shit out of a half a dozen pedestrians in the crosswalk.

I congratulated him on his ability to scare anyone and everyone; figured it was an early Halloween prank.

I'm feeling pretty good about the tri next weekend. Everything appears to be coming together well training wise and so long as I don't destroy myself too much the day before at the Leesburg Bakers Dozen I should put in a decent showing. My hope is to be competitive in my age group for the Lake Moomaw Sprint Tri in Mid/late June so this will be a test of how likely that will be. I of course am hopeful of mustering up some high level performance for the Kinetic next weekend but I'm certainly not holding my breath on that one.

Yesterday morning I drove to hains and did a few laps before heading into work, beating the tourists and crowds of lunch time. On Sunday while waiting for my bro-in-law to purchase his new Felt F85 (SWEET!) I happened across a set of FSA VisionTech clip-on aero bars on sale for half off. Of course I had to get them. I mounted them tentatively on the Cannondale and really tested them out for the first time yesterday morning. I figured I'd be too cramped but as it turns out my position feels amazing! It may not be as aggressive as it could be but it is very comfortable and I was able to produce plenty of power.

Over lunch I took a Mall run with a coworker I happened to bump into on the way out. The legs and body felt really good and I think I could have put in some serious miles and or speed work but we kept it pretty easy and stuck to the 4/4.5 mile mall loop.

Then finally after work I headed out to Falls Church to pick up the rented wetsuit from Bonzai Sports then headed home to my pool to try it out. After initially putting it on backwards and then swimming a lap (God that was weird and uncomfortable) I got it on correctly and got a good swim in. I timed myself for the 17 lap approximate 750 m swim and came in right around 14 minutes, though that included some brief breaks in between on my turns and was a bit long for the actual race distance. My hope is to be able to come in under 13 minutes for the race. I just have to remain focused on efficiency and not get caught up in the high stroke rates that tend to kill me. I also seem to glide so much easier and quicker really with limited leg kick which is good since I want to use my legs as little as possible during the swim anyway.

So, that's where I stand; the second half of next week I'll hopefully scale things way down and try to save some energy for the crazy weekend ahead. The Monday following I'm taking the day off to recover. My goal for now with the triathlon is to be puking as I cross the finish line, or at least as close as possible to that. I've never been able to physically push hard enough to get there so it will be a tough thing to accomplish.

Tired paws

This weather has been great this weekend; I know Cassie is enjoying it. We went for a hike yesterday and today to enjoy it (and wear her out a bit). Right now she is passed out on her bed downstairs.





While we were walking back home along Research Rd between Ridge and Beaver Dam which is closed to traffic on the weekends a car cam e flying down the hill from the direction of Ridge. On side of the road has been open lately on weekends for guys working at the Ag Center facility and so occasionally there will be traffic along the road. I grabbed the pup and threw a hand up at the guy. So he slows down and then comes to a stop rolling down his window to talk. He started telling me how it's a good idea to keep my dog on a leash (she stays off leash when we're hiking). I let into him about the fact that the road is closed to vehicles on the weekends and that he was traveling 50 + miles an hour down a 25 mile an hour road. He then went on to repeat that it's a good idea to keep my dog on a leash so I said thanks and walked away. For whatever reason this just pissed me off.



Not sure if it was because the ass-hat was trying to tell me how to handle my dog or what, though I always get a bit fired up when people are speeding like that on back roads and the residential streets around my place. But anyway, I just had to share that story.



Yesterday after Cass and I went hiking I get out for about a 20 mile ride out Beaver Dam out around to 197 and back in on Powder Mill, looping down into the Wildlife Preserve for a couple of additional miles as well. The ride was great and the weather was decent except for the wind gusts of up to 42 mph according to the news. I could feel it as I headed into at least 30 + mph winds, going downhill from 28 mph down to 13 in a matter of seconds from the wind. Luckily today's ride with Brian (bro-in-law) won't be like that. I believe it's almost short sleeve weather today...

Bday spinnin'

Today, as a bit of a bday present to myself I slept in and didn’t even get to work until around 11am. Then, despite the crap of a cold I’ve developed due to this beautiful but erratic weather, I went out to Hains Point on the Fuji for an “easy” spin. The greatest part about it was that I was in shorts and a short sleeve jersey. That and finally getting to check out Chris’s new single speed/fixed gear IRO. Wow! What a beautiful bike! Tear drop tubes, FSA solid chain ring, just an overall smooth and clean looking bike. While my Fuji brings in the flash facter, his IRO goes more along the slick route. What a beauty! (Don’t worry I haven’t decided I need a new fixed gear because of it… yet…)

This week so far has been my first reasonable week training wise of the season. Monday morning Chris, Michael R-P and I did some LT riding at hains, yesterday Scott and I finally got back to the gym for lifting and today an “easy” recover spin day. Unfortunately I say easy with quotation due to the massive headwind coming up the point again so recover riding was limited to the down side of the point, and said recover was more recover from the efforts of getting up the other side. Sadly this likely means my legs will still be shot (and more so due to delayed muscle fatigue after the first gym session in months) so I may take tomorrow off and enjoy with weather with a co-worker who has been talking about getting out for lunch for weeks now.

The weekend is shaping up pretty nicely at this point with the most exciting prospect being hitting up Patapsco for some Mt Biking on Sunday morning. Saturday morning I’m going to check out a free Pilates class at Greenbelt Center and see if it’s worth doing on a regular basis for some core and flexibility work. One thing yesterday’s gym session showed me was that I NEED to do some serious stretching. The rest of the weekend will hopefully include some road miles out around the Ag Center, some hiking and dinner with the family.

Goals: Wave One

A blog can sometimes be a pretty good self motivation tool; really, in a number of ways. First by reading other rider’s posts about all the hard training and suffering they’ve been enduring I can motivate myself to get out and do some work. On that same note, I am motivated to train and suffer so that I can write about it as well. More importantly though is the follow through pressure that goes along with posting goals and intentions. See Kyle at Pedal’n Around for example. That fool’s gonna have a lot of people to give him a hard time if he doesn’t bust his ass this season! Oh, and of course should he arrive to a group ride or race on a new bike or sporting some new fancy gear, there will be an audible tsk, tsk from the pack around him for the obvious disregard for goal number 2 ;) (This is also a personal goal of mine for the year and I will hopefully be welcoming at least one new ride to my stable this year…)

While things don’t always work out the way we intend despite this extra motivator it is at least one more little thing that just may help us to get off the couch on that cold rainy Saturday morning and complete the 4 hour base ride we’ve talked about all week. Some of the things I’ve done in the past using this blog have been my goals for races. A lot of the ones I mentioned (and often proclaimed loudly my intentions of completing) often fell through for one reason or another, but in the end the blog mixed with my desire and quite possibly stupidity tend to lead to a completion of my goals.

Without further ado, I set forth my first and second goals for the 2008 season:

Compete in the 24 Hours of Big Bear mountain bike race in West Virginia: I’m already signed up on a team of four, though we’ve currently only got three of us. (Anyone want to join) Nothing to serious here as we’re signed up as just for fun and none of us knows exactly what to expect, but it’s still a 24 hour race and if nothing else should be loads of fun.

The other is to complete the Leesburg Baker’s Dozen mountain bike race: Also, already signed up (I think) on a tem of three. Also should be a blast.

The rest of the season and year’s goals have yet to be established but I do have plans to race a good number of times. I don’t have any illusions of catting up this season as I’ve got too much other stuff I want to do this year, but experience and more importantly I plan to have fun and hopefully help propel some teammates to strong finishes where possible. Chris in particular is aiming straight at a very solid season with probably the best pure training mindset on the team at the moment.

I do plan to race as much of the Greenbelt series as possible since it is just down the road from my place, so maybe a B race win will enter into the fray at some point, but I won’t hold my breath at this point.

Personally, I need to finish paying off some unnecessary debt and then get started on house stuff. I’m itchin’ to get to work on the kitchen but I want to clear out the other debt before I put myself even deeper in debt with a home improvement loan. I’d also like to finally get away for a real vacation; even if it’s just a week hiking the Appalachian Trail, I need to get away for an extended period of time.

Anyway, I know I said I don’t resolute, and so I claim these are not resolutions; year goals yes but not resolutions. Resolutions are made to be broken and these goals are meant to be kept. Here’s to a solid year of fun and excitement, both on the bike and off it.

Frigid riding

I have never been happier with myself for being lazy. Yesterday morning I decided to not ride the bike to work but instead drive to hains point and ride over from there. When I got to the garage on my bike I felt like I’d been outside for an hour already, even though it was just a quick 2 mile spin that took maybe 10 or 15 minutes. I could feel my breath freezing in my beard, though for that matter I’m glad I’ve got the big bushy beard right now…

Did the noon ride at hains with Gibbons, Gould and R-P which was decent aside from the ridiculous headwind coming back up from the point. We had a pretty solid rotation going on and once I got used to riding in a pack again I felt like I did alright. There was some squirrelly riding though the wind what it was I don’t think it was much of a surprise. I felt pretty good through the majority of the ride and was having no trouble not only staying in the pack but also working through the rotation the whole way through, though I got a nice little jolt back to reality in the last lap. The pace just kept picking up on the non-wind side and the two guys in front of me as well as myself were each sort of dangling off the back of our respective wheels. The rest of the riders behind us came up and around and when I failed to catch the last rider’s wheel I finally just dropped off and packed it in. All in all though not too bad I’d say, the numbness in my toes didn’t go away until it was time to head home but hey, it’s supposed to be back up in the 60’s next week...

A new year, a new you?

Happy New Year!

Nothing too new this year for me. To celebrate yesterday I spent 90% of the day on the couch in front of the television watching bowl games and parades. What sloth! Actually I did manage to get out for an hour or two hiking across the street again. As if I haven’t said it before, those trails are incredible! I managed to find another entire area I had no idea was there and realized what I though was Beaver Dam Road was far from it. There is just so much space out there it blows my mind.

Monday, after cutting out of work early around noon I went home and hopped on the fixed gear for a nice 2 + hour spin. I actually started by riding the first half of my commute but instead of cutting off the Northwest Branch Trail just after the NW/NE trails meet up I stayed on it and rode it all the way to the end of the trail. I’d never been up that way so it was nice to see where it led.

I actually was quite surprised when I came out to Greenbelt Road by the Splash Park and then when I hit the end of the trail and found myself in a random neighborhood was pleasantly surprised to find New Hampshire Ave right near the beltway within a couple of blocks. Headed down to Adelphi then to Metzerot to Greenbelt Rd (which was one of the most unnerving sections of road I’ve ever ridden despite the bike lane) onto Rhode Island and finally back through the Ag Center Roads and home.

This time I road the Fuji Track and felt great. It was probably about 30 to 35 miles of moderate steady state riding similar to Saturday’s ride which is exactly what I think I should be doing right now. Over the next month or two I’ll probably spend a majority of time doing this type of riding along with some slightly faster group rides before getting into more lactate threshold and sprinting drills closer to the season.

At some point here I’ll try and figure out my season goals and get them up here for all to see (and hopefully hold me to a little bit). Kyle is inspiring me lately with all his talk of goals and what not. I will however not set any New Years resolutions as I don’t believe in them. Goals for the year? Yes, resolutions? Not so much.

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.

Rolling along... for starters at least

Alright, I’m on a roll! I’ve been on my bike now 2 days in a row. Granted, today doesn’t really count considering all I did was ride from hains point to my office, though it’s still better then nothing. This morning I finally switched the pedals on the track/fixed gear to my SPD’s so I can use it to get places again. I love riding it with the Speedplays but then I’ve always get to have an extra pair of shoes for when I get where I’m going since you can’t get Speedplay MTB shoes. Ah well.

Lunch today I’ve unfortunately made plans to eat with a co-worker so there will be no noon ride for me, but tonight I plan to bring both bikes home so I can try and get in some solid miles over the weekend. I need to build some fitness back up so I can start going out and joining the weekend group rides and start getting some real training. At this point I’d likely be dropped within the first 30 minutes of most of the rides.

This morning by the way was quite possibly the easiest drive to Hains I've ever had. 295 was slowed up a total of once and 395 I hardly hit the breaks before the exit to Hains. I may drive in Monday also just to take advantage of it while it's there!

Spinning through the rest of the season

Well despite the light headed feelings when standing up and growling of my stomach I think the dieting is going pretty well. Had a protein shake for breakfast, some pretzels for some sodium and a peanut butter sandwich for lunch (probably not the greatest diet food but it’s certainly better then a massive burrito with queso). Unfortunately tonight I’ll have to refrain from drinks with friends and the fried food that accompanies these outings. I’ll wait until tomorrow to weight myself again.

Got in a pretty solid day on the bike yesterday with somewhere around 60 miles total. Went to haines for the lunch ride but mostly just spun out the legs. Then decided instead of heading out to the final Wednesday’s at Wakefield race I’d rather head out to Greenbelt for my first race up there in a while and first B race ever. Chris and I rode out there nice and easy though my poor direction gave us about 4 or 5 miles extra on the ride. We got there with plenty of time to relax a bit before the race though I still had my doubts that I’d be able to hang for the whole race.

I surprisingly did manage to hang in, though at times it was just barely. Coming into the final hill on I actually stood up and felt pretty strong as the A race started pulling up on us again. I started to try to go with the big guys up front but it was quickly apparent I would not be finishing with them and I sat in to finish with the main pack. All in all I feel great about the ride and it definitely helped in the confidence arena after my worst week yet of cycling.

Hopefully I’ll manage to do the rest of the Greenbelt series this season and actually with one more race I’ll have my 10 race starts for the upgrade from V to IV. I think no matter what though I’ll wait until the season is over to do so since I don’t think now is a great time to try to break into the ranks of Cat IV racing. I’ve still got a long way to go before I can really do much good in a Cat IV race. This off season, with a clearer cycling goal in mind I’m going to try to log some serious miles out there and maybe even start hitting the hills a bit as well.

Bike Works for the 4th

This morning as I was reading an article in the Washington Post this morning about the stepped up security following the terrorist recent activity in London. The following quote (though having nothing to do with security or terrorism caught my attention:

With help from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, the Park Service is
expanding its free bicycle valet service. The service, to operate from 2 p.m.
tomorrow until 30 minutes after the fireworks display, provides two secure areas
for bike parking: 15th Street between Independence Avenue and Jefferson Drive,
just east of the Washington Monument, and on the south side of the Lincoln Memorial near Daniel French Drive.

Now I've known about this serviceand have heard about it at previous events as well but the thing that really caught my attention was the ending time for the valet parking. 30 Minutes after the end of the fireworks??? In all my years (alright bare with me here) of attending fireworks displays, especially large scale festivities, never once have I even made it to the car in less then 30 minutes, much less gotten the car moving out of the lots. What makes getting a bike out easier? Is this based on the small number of cyclists actually using this service? Or do they really just think they can get through the bikes and folks picking them up that quickly?

What about the people who don't make it back to their bikes in time? Will they lock them up somewhere? Send them to the bike barn opperated by the city where they take recovered bikes?

Don't get me wrong here, I think this is a fantastic idea but I think a time frame of 30 minutes is a bit unreasonable. Checking out WABA's site for additional information I am feeling a little better about the situation, though I'm still a bit curious about the rest of the details. According to Waba.org the service will run until 10:30, and assuming the fireworks start at 9:10 and go for 20 minutes, bike riders will have an hour to pick up their bikes. This may still be a tight squeeze depending on how crowded everything gets, but it is certainly better. What remains to be told is what will be done with bikes that are not picked up by the 10:30 cut off.

It'd be interesting also to find out how many people actually use this service. I personally will be staying away from downtown tomorrow due to my aversion to large crowds of people who have no idea what they are doing or where they are going. The cattle herding atmosphere has never really suited me either.

Hopefully there will be none of this going on tomorrow with the valet parked bikes...

New Routes

What a beautiful weekend for riding! I got out this weekend fro about 100 miles of total riding and figured out a route to my sisters house in Laurel which is very bikable and produces a very nice approximately 25 mile one way trip. Even better is the fact that I could hop on the metro to greenbelt and cut the ride down to around 10 miles if necessary. The route follows the beginning on the Baltimore to Washington trail which I am also looking into using for getting to my folks house in Columbia, MD. It seems like it could be pretty doable and would produce a ride somewhere around 40 or 50 miles one way; great for a weekend at their place.

Anyway, the ride Saturday included just the route to Laurel while Sunday I did the same route with an extra 30 or so miles in the middle along the route that is from Greenbelt to the Bay via Annapolis. All in all it seems like it should be a pretty nice route, though I think there may be a bit too many turns and non-country roads to use for a regular team ride. Eventually I’d like to get a group ride organized that we can call the Union ride and invite teammates, friends and prospective members out on; hopefully soon I’ll get something that’ll work.

It’s so nice having a camera again and I took a few lessons from some of the blogs I read in my photography during the ride. I like having a reason to stop and enjoy my surroundings for a little bit instead of just pushing on the whole way through. I also spend more time paying attention to the things around me when I’m looking for picture opportunities. I’ll just need to make sure I don’t let the picture taking take over the bike riding.

My sister picked up their new puppy this past Friday and being the dog person I am I naturally stopped by three times this weekend. (I probably won’t even do all that when they have their kids)… I took a bunch of pictures of her too and boy is she a cute little pup. A bit shy and scared at first, she is quickly warming up and I can tell she’s going to be a great little dog. They’re being very vigilant with the crate training and following the “rules” of their dog adoption books now so I’m sure she’ll be through that bit pretty quickly here. It’s good to be an uncle…

The mental hill ride

Lately while riding with Chris and Bryan on for me somewhat longer rides I’ve come to the conclusion that what I’m lacking is good hard long miles and even more so hills. So, I decided that while I’ve got some time in between big races I’d like to get as much riding in as possible, both hilly and long. In that mindset I joined the lunch time hill ride out in Arlington; the post ride mindset is significantly different, though mostly because the current mindset is blank.

Scott told me earlier that he was planning on attacking early and often and doing as much damage to himself and others as he could and attack he did. I basically got shelled up the first hill and only managed to catch up after a couple of traffic lights stopped the group ahead. They let down a bit after that and I managed to hang on for a while until my chain fell off and I never saw them again. I did join up with two other guys for the majority of the rest of the ride, though I ended up going the wrong way and chasing them for a while and afterwards was dangling on and off the back of the remainder.

I’d wanted to head out Glebe to Chain Bridge so I could stop by my house and switch bikes so as not to have the Cannondale out with me for softball tonight on the mall, but I went the wrong way on Glebe and ended up catching 50 back through Clarendon. Probably for the best since I think the way to my house from Chain Bridge is a bit of a tough ride. All in all I think I got in a good 25 or 30 miles so I’m happy with that.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) while reviewing my heart rate data I noted that I was well below my max levels meaning I had a lot more I should have been able to give. I know that mentally when I first went off the back I got defeated, though when I got back in I started to feel a little better and rode a little harder. I can see now that I’ve got some work to do on the mental aspect of my riding as well as the physical.

Not saying I could have hung with those guys up front, but I think I can ride harder then I allow myself to believe during rides.

Live like an amateur pro

I just read this awesome post over at Belgium Knee Warmers and had to share. While I'm still new to the cycling world in general, I completely agree with this sentiment and even in my limited cat 5 racing experience I can tell you my respect for the pros who go out and do this as a living is immense. Better yet though, the fact that I get the opportunity to get out there and have a go at it (even at such a low comparative level) is amazing and I will enjoy every minute of it.

Self Induced Suffering

I've been feeling a bit like I'm not getting nearly enough miles in on the bike lately and now with the new ride I've been even more anxious to get out and ride. Today I decided was the perfect time to log a few miles and get some good moderate and steady riding in. I think that may have been a bad idea.

Not really sure what the temp got up to today and I probably don't want to but with just under 70 miles at a good tempo for most of them I'm feeling more drained then I've felt in a while. What's worse is that my first mountain bike race is tomorrow so now I'll definitely suck it up. Oh well, as long as it doesn't kill me for Sunday's Reston Grand Prix.

The lunch time haines point ride was rerouted once again due to the sprinklers, though this time we went up to the Clara Barton Parkway and out a ways into MD and back. The majority of riders split off somewhere along the way and so it ended up being myself and Jose Nunez chasing a group of four further up the road for a while. It was a good moderately hard ride and was basically exactly what I was looking for today. The two hour lunch and 30 miles was a little more then I was thinking however.

After work I joined Chris and we rode out to meet Bryan for his commute out to Vienna. Bryan, who said he needed an easy ride took off like right away and I knew I was going to be in a bit of trouble. The ride was not fast but certainly not slow and I struggled to keep my legs turning over. I also made the mistake of not filling my bottles after the noon ride so by the time we got to Vienna I was just about bonked. Luckily when I really started to die out there Chris and Bryan slowed up for me and I was able to get some water out in Vienna.

The ride back was much better with some water in me and Chris and I cruised back through the city. I'll probably think twice the next time I want to try this kind of riding on a day like today; at least I'll make sure I have more water and food. I doubt the small chicken salad and small bag of trail mix was enough recovery food after the old heart rate monitor said I'd burned 1300+ calories during lunch.