The right dose

Its official, the perfect weekend is a three day weekend. One day to get stuff done around the house, one day to get out and have fun and do something you really want to do (thats maybe not exactly relaxing) and one day to just relax and recover from a busy weekend (best served by a Monday off, Friday off just doesn't quite measure up). That was my long weekend to a T.

Saturday I spent the day working on the house, replacing molding in the upstairs hallway and bedroom. Satisfying work that immediately adds to the decor but is still tough to find the time for amongst the usual daily grind and short but stacked weekends.

Sunday, I rode the famed Sky-Mass loop with Wheaton and Leland for the first time. Quite the ride. logging both my and Leland's longest rides mileage wise and probably logging the most vertical I've even hit before on a single ride as well. Better yet, I had enough left in the legs afterwards to kick out a couple of (very) brief sprints in the last mile or so of the ride. Encouraging to say the least and it has me feeling pretty decent going into next weekends' Stoopid 50 race up near State College, PA.

Monday was, in my eyes the perfect holiday Monday. Aimee and I got up late and drove out to Markham, VA to meet up with Matthew for a relaxing day at some local wineries. We stopped by Philip Carter first, were not that impressed and went on to Rappahannock Cellars where we spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting at a picnic table in the shade drinking 2 bottles of white wine, eating cheese and crackers and some pulled pork sandwiches. So perfect. After that, back at Matthew's place, we spent an hour or two sitting on the dock, toes dangling in the pond, just enjoying the evening breeze as the light slowly began to fade. Incredible.

Still hard to come back to work today, but knowing how amazing the weekend was certainly helps to dampen the blow.

Another local 5k and some fun riding.

Another fun filled weekend. Friday, Aimee and I had massages scheduled for 5pm though Aimee was rear ended by an older couple from NJ on 495 who proceeded to continue driving and ignoring Aimee who was following/flashing lights/etc... at them for the next few miles. Information written down and police called reporting the hit and run and 5:01 she walks into the massage shop. Ah well, a guess thats a decent way to follow up a minor car accident... Right?

Aimee's stiff neck the next morning kept her home while I went and ran in a local 5k being held down around Greenbelt Lake. Unfortunately I found out the Turkey Trot course was not quite 5k distance, missing maybe one or two tenths, so my sub-twenty minute 5k still eludes me! This race on the other hand was a USATF certified 5k course. I ran in my Montrail Mountain Masochists, since they were pretty much the only option I had around and definitely felt like I was running in some clunkers. Could also feel some lingering hot spots from the BRR race, namely my heal and pinky on my right foot.

Other then that I felt alright; not super speedy or fresh but not necessarily sluggish. I started out around 6th or 7th after one guy went out hard for his spectating daughter and wife to see him lead the way to the lake followed by some other front runners. I managed to keep my cool early there and run a more comfortable pace to the lake where I quickly caught and passed the folks who jumped the start. Worked into 4th which I held up until about a mile to go when I caught a fellow Runner's World Forum guy, Josh who was running in his VFF's! I really only caught him because his legs were starting to wear down, this being his longest VFF run to date.

From there I held on to the finish in 3rd for a 20:15 finishing time. Amazingly, this small race had nice tech shirts for all participants AND top 3 + age group prizes! I won a free personal trainer session for my third though we were all jealous of the overall winner who earned a free pair of shoes for his efforts! Wow! I really hope these guys managed to make a little money of their fundraiser for the Greenbelt Nursery School!

After the race I headed down to Rosaryville for a couple hours of trail work followed by a post work ride with Eric B during which I found myself pretty spent. I barely ate anything during the day so when 7pm rolled around Aimee and I began an emergency dinner prep as I was crashing hard.

Sunday I met Darren, Pooch, Tyler and Jamie for some spirited laps at Fountainhead as preparatory riding for the 12 Hours of Lodi Farms in 2 weeks. First lap I rode 32x18 (mostly because I showed up late) and swapped out to a 32x20 for the second. Thinking I'll probably at least start Lodi with a 32x18 since I felt like I spun out too much at FH on the 20 and climbed everything just fine on the 18. Considering FH has much tougher hills then the Lodi course I should be good to go on the 18, though we'll see if I find myself needing to spin up faster out of the tight turns found throughout Lodi.

1000 Words or more... Why my Smoky Ride was Epic

Since I waited so long to write this, it will likely be much shorter then if it was fresh in my mind. That's probably a good thing for my rambling post style.

Because of all the rain, what was supposed to be two days of big and long trail rides in the mountains of Tennessee turned into one long gravel road mountain ride on Friday. I took the following description from some guide online that I found after the planned trail ride ideas were washed out.

Rich Mountain and Parson Branch Bike Trails - Access this trail from US321 west of Townsend by turning south onto the road to Tuckaleechee Caverns, drive up Rich Mountain Rd (Old Cades Cove Rd) to Rich Mountain Gap and park at Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundary. From Rich Mountain Gap ride up the gravel Rich Mountain Road south 3.3 miles to a view of Cades Coves, descend 3.4 miles to the Cades Coves loop road, proceed west on the pavement to the Visitor Center at the southwest corner of the loop. Take the gravel road south to the Parson Branch gate ('bout 2 miles). Parson Branch road is closed til 2007. Climb the gravel Parson Branch Road through the rhododendron tunnels to the Gregory Bald trail head (3.3 miles), then descend to 129 (another 5 miles). This descent has many creek crossings. Whew! Now turn around and ride back to the Cades Coves loop. Turn right on the Cades Coves loop road. You can take Hyatt Lane or Sparks Lane as shortcuts across the Cove to the Rich Mountain road. Cumulative climb for this roundtrip is about 6000'. Rich Mountain trail is 7.7 miles (one way); Parson Branch trail is 10 miles (one way); Cades Cove trail is 11 miles.

The initial directions for getting to the ride start were a bit fuzzy since it gives a left where you should take a right and ignores a couple of intersections where I continued to follow the cavern signs. Finally found what appeared to be the correct hill but driving up Rich Mountain Rd I quickly decided I should be riding it and not driving up it half way as the directions dictate. So, I went back down to the base of the mountain, parked along the road slightly in some random person's field and headed on up the mountain. The moderate climb along the rough but paved road was full switch backs and great little mountain houses, many of which had excellent views between the trees.

Me, looking like a dork out at the top of Rich Mountain, a view across Cade's Cove behind me. Some day I'll learn to smile and maybe not look quite so much like an A$$!

After a couple of miles I found the designated Smoky Mt park boundary and continued onto the gravel road. The initial first climb ended up being just over 5 miles with about 1300 feet of climbing. Good steady effort, not killing it but not necessarily taking it easy either (at least for me).

Along the Cade's Cove Loop, just a bit before the rain came...

From the top it was a fast descent into Cade's Cove where I shared the road with what felt like more cars then when I ride in DC. At one point I noticed a Choose Civility bumper sticker and ended up meeting a family that lives down the road from where my folks used to live and from where I went to high school. Better yet, after chatting for a minute with the lady I found out they used to live right here in GHI, just down the street from where I now live. Small world I tell ya. This one probably begins to rival the time I saw three people I knew from home in MD while on a lay-over in London-Heathrow airport with the family... Ok, well maybe not rival it but ah well...

I kept on the route and eventually it became clear the it was going to rain. There were butterflies all over the road that apparently refused to move as I rode by, but I guess they flew away before the rain came. I thought maybe they knew the rain was on it's way and they sat there with their wings up and together while it rained though I'm not so sure about that considering how heavy the rain was.

Anyway, the rain came down... hard and heavy. Better yet the thunderstorm accompanying it came fast and close and after a strike within a quarter mile from me scared me off the bike into the shelter of a sign for Parson Branch road... aka standing out in the middle of the rain trying to keep the phone and camera dry in my bag... Eventually a park service employee pulled up but didn't offer me any shelter in his big old NPS truck. A couple of Georgia in a big old pick up with their dog did let me sit with them despite my sopping wet self. Turns out the guy was a little bit of a rider himself and actually had spent a couple of years volunteering at the Tour of Georgia! Very friendly and nice couple that I was VERY thankful to for allowing me to wait out the worst of the lightning soaking their leather interior.

Once I got out I headed up Parson Branch for a ways, essentially riding up a small stream rushing down the "unimproved" "road" as the moderate rain continued to fall. Eventually though the rain stopped and the Sun began to emerge again from behind the clouds. After a bit I realized just how behind schedule I was and that I was headed out and back along Parson's and I quickly decided to cut the remainder of the road out of my ride and head back towards the cove. Once back to the cove I continued along the loop mostly stuck behind dozens of cars with people pulling over occasionally to ogle the deer or a local turkey sunning it's feathers in the fields. At one point I pulled up to some folks watching a bear slowly amble into the woods across a field which was cool to see.

The GF Paragon Poses near the top of Rich Mountain looking out at Cade's Cove.

After that it was back to Rich Mountain road for the 3ish mile climb back to the top and the long and super fast descent down to my truck on the other side. My camera turned out to be dead, which I realized as I rode up Rich Mountain initially and tried to take a "before" picture for my ride. The cell camera stepped in and saved the day, though I could only get a few with the limited storage space on it. I also realized about three quarters of the way to the top of that first climb that my camel back had leaked nearly all of it's water out on the passenger seat. Apparently the bag's weight laying on top of the bite valve caused it to open and leak the entire way out to the ride. Sucks right? Luckily I was able to refill at a water fountain at the visitor center. However, I also brought my lap top since I have a wireless modem for my Internet access just in case I really needed help finding the ride... My lap top was under the camel back on the passenger seat.

Imagine the feeling of dread looming over me for the remainder of my ride after realizing nearly 3 liters of water had leaked out on top of my lap top. And then the rain and my phone and camera; I figured my tech days were over. Apparently the portable electronic device gods were smiling on me despite the weather gods' constant frowns and all my devices appear to be in perfect working order. Phew...That would have been one hell of an expensive bike ride.

On the drive back to Aimee's parent's house I drove directly through the severe thunderstorms that were threatening to get me again as I climbed out from the cove but luckily held off just long enough. The storm called for radio broadcasts of severe weather alert warnings describing quarter sized hail and multiple lightning strikes. I saw the lightning, sometimes 4 strikes in a row but didn't have the pleasure of experiencing the hail.

Saturday morning I returned the rental Paragon to the shop (River Sports on Sutherland Ave, in Knoxville - $30 per day rentals if you're ever in the area- Very cool shop with lots of other stuff as well, including a climbing center attached...) and begged for a rain check on the second day since I didn't want to get all muddy and destroy the local trails in the process. The granted my wishes so I now have even more of an excuse to get back down there and ride. Can't wait to get down and try out some of the actual single track they've got.

The guy from the shop, Justin I think also told me about the 12 hour race they are holding on June 6th. Unfortunately its a bit too soon for a return trip for Aimee and I but I think I just may add that to the calendar for next year. Sounds like a good time and appears to be a pretty affordable and personable event.

So, maybe it didn't end up short... or maybe we should all just be happy I didn't write this while it was really fresh in my mind!

Smoky Mountain Squallor

Big ride today down here in the Smoky Mountains. Got plenty to say but little energy to say it right now. For now though, my route. Was supposed to be a 30 miler with about 3000 feet of elevation gain but due to a later then desired start time and a serious thunderstorm with lighting within a quarter mile of me I cut it short. Apparently my route description wasn't quite correct... Turned out to be a 35 milder with about 3000 feet of elevation gain...

Photo by: Scott Basford from wikimedia.org

The rental Fisher Paragon was excellent, though the front shock I believe was set for someone much larger then I. This ride was just the kind of thing I needed/need to be doing these days. Absolutely beautiful!

I Du not feel like making that drive after all

Ok, made the choice. I finally put some responsible thought into the decision and came up with my final decidion. $85 in fees + 4+ hours of driving + early wake up time equal no Duathlon Championship race for me.

Instead I'll be joining Darren, Alex and whoever else for 3 laps at Fountain Head. Hopefully I can also get some maintenance work in on the bike before next weekend's 12 Hours of Lodi Farms. Looking forward to that one big time racing coed with Ilana and Vince.

So far the rest of the season confirmed:

12 Hours of Lodi Farms
24 Hours of Big Bear
12 Hours of Cranky Monkey
Pittsburgh Tri
Nation's Triathlon

And likely:

Wednesday's at Wakefield Series
X-Terra Off Road Tri at Rocky Gap State Park
Cranky Monkey Fountain Head
Cranky Monkey Quantico
EX2 Day of Endurance
Possibly some of the Fall Back Yard Burn Races
Hopefully some cross races on a fixed cross bike...

Looks like a pretty reasonable season to me...

The Last Supper - Snow Ride Style

It seems appropriate. The timing and the atmosphere. Kind of like the last supper; only way better and with a LOT more snow. Since tomorrow I go under the knife it was important to have this opportunity. I am confident my disciple, Brian will continue to preach my word of fat tires and single track goodness for weeks after our "last supper".

The Scalpel luckily was not cleaned this weekend.

In all seriousness when no one showed up to work today because of all the snow and what not, Brian and I started scheming. I might have mentioned to my boss that I was leaving because I had pick up Aimee at the airport. And, I might have failed to mention the fact that she didn't land until after 6. But I left at 2:30 and met Brian at Fairland by 4.

Brian wonders what the heck he may have gotten himself into. Well, that and worries about his bike getting dirty...

We headed out in the 5 inch deep snow; plowing fresh tracks through much of the area. Nice. We did about half the first opening "warm up" loop before I realized I forgot my camera and I convinced Brian to head back to the cars so I could get it. While I was having a blast, Brian was not so much. I'd mentioned tire pressure before we started but he felt he was well set. When we got back to the cars and he was leaning towards calling it a day I convinced him to drop his tire pressure way down; I personally dropped his front tire down about a quarter of the way and we set off, this time with photos to document our efforts.

The fresh tracks were pristine! Those are all ours after riding out and back so I could get the camera from the truck.

This time Brian was much happier and we set off to make a run of our local trails. They were slow, plush and super sweet. Much of them clear of any tracks aside from the occasional rabbit or deer tracks.

Brian adds another.

The snow in the woods was absolutely beautiful and the late afternoon sun made for an amazing glow off the covered limbs, leaves and ground.

I spent half my time and energy giving Brian a hard time today.

Brian contemplates how far he is from the car and whether it's worth it to turn around now...

The sun was falling quickly but Spring could be seen at least in the later sunset (really, I promise it's almost spring!)

Brian studies the fresh powder ahead.

I study Brian's fresh track.

Brian looking possessed as he takes on a log.

This will probably remain as one of my favorite rides of the year and of the season. A completely different kind of ride that made me not feel so bad about the coming days of recovery. Yeah I know it's just wisdom teeth, but those fools are telling me 3 to 5 days of NO EXERCISE! WTF? If I'm taking off a few days of work I at least want to be able to get out and ride or run or something! But apparently that's just not allowed after such a major surgery. Be sure to pray for me on this one folks. :)

Or maybe a day and three weeks...

Wow, so how much worse can it get?

My father always got on my case about attention to detail. I never had it. Turns out I still don't.

Sunday, May 15th is a lot different then Saturday, February 28th...

At least I still have a shot at making it to the ride on time...

Hurry up and wait... a day? Or not...

I was supposed to meet a group for a pretty great sounding ride heading from Old Ellicott City through Patapsco, into Baltimore, through Federal Hill and around the Inner Harbor area and apparently along some new and little known Gwynn Falls trail. All that and back and finally capped off by beers at the Old Ellicott Brew Pub. Yum. Sounding like a really awesome ride and a great opportunity for me to see a bunch of new areas I've never seen despite living just a few miles from OEC for 7 years of my young life.

I decided late I definitely wanted to make it (well actually I completely forgot about it until around 11) so I threw my stuff together and ran out the door to try and make the noon departure time. 95, 100 and 29 are all a lot longer when when you are running late by the way. Got there with about 8 minutes to spare and started looking for cyclists gathering in the lot I expected was the correct one. Nothing. Not even bike racks to suggest I missed it... The blackberry then confirmed that I WAS on time just on the wrong day... Oops.

I saddled up anyway for a brief hill ride on some of the biggest hills I've ridden in a long time heading out of the river valley that is OEC. Started up Oella then popped around before coming back down and heading back up the steeper Westchester Ave looping back down before heading up Main Street onto Church Road and down Park before turning around and climbing back out Park up Court House Rd, down Ellicott Mills back down Main St, and finally up College Ave for a ways before turning back and calling it a day.

On College Ave I was looking for the good old Hell House; the storied, burned and abandoned insane asylum we used to sneak out to in the middle of the night in order to scare the bejesus out of ourselves. Unfortunately I wasn't sure I remembered exactly how to get there and when I turned around I was just a bend or two from the turn that would take me there. Ah well, it'll still be there next time I suppose. There will be a next time too.

In the end I turned in only about 18 miles and 900 feet of climbing or so; nothing too big for the guys that head out to Shenandoah every weekend but for me a pretty solid ride. It was good to know especially, that my legs wouldn't completely blow up on me on these longish steepish climbs offered by the area.

Now, maybe if that ride tomorrow really happens I will try and get my butt out there on time and do the ride. The forecast however isn't looking too great for that one though. Like I said, Ma Nature could go one of two ways...

Lets build on that...

It's 9pm in late February and it's currently 62 degrees outside. In twenty four hours it will be heading South of the freezing mark bringing along a wintry mix of precipitation. I'm flabbergasted. Need I say more.

Thankfully today I managed to convince myself in my half asleep morning stupor to suit up and ride into to work despite seeing the calls for rain all afternoon. Turned out that was a great idea. The head winds and heavy legs in the morning made for a little bit of a slow ride in but the evening ride home was sublime. Knickers, a short sleeved jersey and a vest just for kicks and I had myself a nice comfortable spin home. Really shorts and vest would've been perfect.

I had some great ideas today for some posts, but now of course since I'm not at work I can't for the life of me remember what they were. Hopefully they return.

As for this weekend, while dirt appears to be out of the picture I will hopefully be getting in some miles on the road. The legs felt good leaving work today so hopefully that will continue through the weekend and I can really start building my miles up. A measly 100 miles for the entire month of February just doesn't seem like enough. Especially when other folks are logging 100+ on any given weekend. I guess I'm now the epitome of a weekend warrior.

Maybe this weekend would be a good time to get back to the pool too...

The sneak it in ride

This morning, well in about 45 minutes I've got my oral surgeon consultation appointment for my wisdom teeth removal that I've been putting off effectively since I was about 16. Gosh how time flies when you're having fun and NOT having your teeth ripped out! Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

Since it didn't make sense to go into work for an hour or two before leaving for my appointment I took the morning off and decided to get an early morning ride in. Did my go to Ag Center loop with no fluff in it for a round 17 and a half moderate miles. I was surprised when I realized that's my first road ride since MLK Jr./Innaug. weekend. Conditions were similar with temps in the low 20's feeling more like the mid to upper teens and the beaded ice in the beard proved that.

Luckily the sun was out and the majority of my route was surprisingly car-lite so all in all it was a pleasant ride. Like I've said before; I've really got my cold weather riding gear all dialed in down to my ankles. The toes, even on the short sub-twenty miler with smart wool socks and booties on top were still nice and frigid when I returned home. Some day I'll get that part figured out though this winter is too close to finished to bother with looking into any Lake boots... unless of course I can find them on super sale...

One thing today's ride showed me was I really need to get the base miles in starting now. It wasn't bad overall but I definitely could tell I haven't been riding enough, especially long rolling, or worse hilly rides. This weekend Aimee is out of town and I currently have absolutely nothing planned. Looks like the perfect opportunity to bump up my miles for the year substantially. Maybe I'll pass on that Shed ride and just focus on some long mileage instead.

Now off to be poked and prodded. Yum.

A whole new ballgame

Sunday I joined Darren, Mike and Jonathon for my first taste of some real mountain biking out at the Frederick Water Shed. Pretty eye opening in a lot of ways. I was a bit nervous before the ride about whether I could keep up and if these guys would be willing to put up with me but in the end it was mostly ok. I lagged behind for most of the ride but everyone was understanding and willing enough to wait when necessary.

The Shed on the other hand is a whole other world from what I'm used to. For one, the real mountain biking. Actually going up climbs that last longer then a minute or so is completely foreign to me on the mountain bike. Really with my go to parks of late, Rosie and Fairland I can't even claim to climb at all so this was a welcome wake up call for me.

The other, even more foreign aspect of the ride was the rocks and boulders. We rode the iceberg and super sweet trails which had some serious rock sections; pretty much all of which seemed unrideable to me. The guys showed me otherwise. Jonathon on his rigid single speed cleared not only all the climbs but also I believe all the rock sections (I couldn't tell for sure since I was so far behind). Mike rode his heavy duty full suspension (I think the Specialized Enduro All Mountain rig) through everything with ease and Darren, rode another of Mikes' FS rigs somewhat uncomfortably through his less then preffered terrain. Darren and Mike meanwhile were a bit of a riot to listen to... the entire ride... even from a half a mile behind where I spent most of my time on the ride.

I struglled and walked through a lot of the rocky areas and watched in awe as the other guys cleared a number of nasty looking sections but I think the more we rode the more I was able to handle. Not getting the major sections but clearing some things that at the ride start would have been definite hike a bikes. Actually needing the front shock was a bit of a shock (ouch, that's weak) and I felt I was riding the rocks better with it nearly locked out.

Otherwise we hit some amazing downhill sections where we just let loose and enjoyed a great day of riding. The end of the ride was a welcome sight but Ill be gunning to get back out there as soon as possible. Not sure I'll attempt some of the tougher rock sections but I will probably try and go spend some serious time on some small sections to try and get it figured out. I'm eager to figure that out.

Unfortunately the camera died as soon as I tried to turn it on at the ride start. Next time...

A fountain of riding goodness

It may look like I'm about to ride off the edge here but this is one of the complete log rides I pulled off.

This is partially the way every weekend should be. Saturday and Sunday mornings were both spent on the mountain bike. Love it.

Balancing before the fall. I love these things!

Today Adam and I headed down to Fountain Head park down in Fairfax Station, VA; my first time riding there. We skipped down 295 and onto 95 for the longish drive and ended up hitting the park sometime a bit before 10. Hitting the trail at first I was completely shocked by the rootiness of it. I started bombing down the hill and before I knew it felt like I was loosing it all over the place. I managed to get a grip and got used to it pretty quickly.

The skinny totter flattened out.

The park offered a bit more climbing then Rosaryville, nothing too serious but enough to get the breath moving. After the entry roller coaster trail we came out to a pretty sweet little play area in a "valley" opening. There are two teeter totters and a decent long and straight log-ride along with a bit of a busted picnic table and such. The teeters were the first I'd ever seen or tried and with a couple of tries we both completed the log ride.

Pretending to pull off a jump.

Through out the rest of the park the trails remained pretty technical but completely fun. Cleaning some of the more difficult areas feels great and really working over some of the technical features and short steep climbs is a great change up from the flowing smooth Rosaryville trails. Never really seen trails marked as well as those in Fountain Head either which was great. Rosaryville doesn't really need much signage while at Patapsco it would just be impossible.

Adam riding the drop.

In the exiting section of rollers I did some attempts on a side entry log ride but couldn't quite get the rear wheel up on it. At some point I'll have to get out and just spend some time on the log rides; I know the handling skills from that would greatly benefit my riding abilities. As I told Adam today, I think I'm lacking a bit in the technical skills category, I tend to just try and muscle my way through the technical stuff. Good for a bit but probably at the expense of endurance and it won't work on everything.

Leveling it out.

Afterwards a couple of burgers and some fries was the perfect ending to another great ride.

Up the teeter.

Early morning high's at Rosaryville

This morning I got up early (on a weekend? wtf?) and headed out to Rosaryville for a couple of moderate laps on the new bike. I met Chris and John a bit after 8am (we were all a bit late) and the three of us plus Cassie headed out for a lap. I led the way and kept things moving and flowing pretty well for Chris on his cross bike and John riding for the first time since mid season last year.

I only got one picture today despite carrying my camera the whole time. Stopping for pictures just wasn't in my mindset this morning.

Everyone was having a good time and both guys loved the trails and inner loop especially. We stopped a few times, mostly so I could give Cass some water and otherwise made great time through the loop. Chris is impressive on the cross machine and really seemed to get a lot out of the ride. John was also really enjoying his first time at Rosaryville and if a wife's tapping toe wasn't waiting around at home would have stayed for the second lap.

After the first lap we talked for a bit in the lot and I got Cass back in the truck. The dropping temperature was being felt pretty quickly so I decided I needed to get moving quick. I jumped back on the bike and rode smoothly back onto the trails. I kept the pace moderate and just kept riding. No breaks, no serious hammering, just smooth quick riding.

I did a million times better with the nutrition today and could really tell the difference. I even remembered to fill and bring my water bottles full of Accelerade to help keep me going. I rode the inner loop, this time a bit smoother and with more of the natural flow of the area and finished out the loop with energy to spare. Towards the end of the ride I saw one of the DCMTB groups for the day getting going. Would have liked to have turned around and joined them but after 2 laps (or considering the group after 0 laps for me) keeping up with these guys would be a serious challenge for me.

The trails had frozen with a little bit of water in some spots but mostly those spots were just damp enough to see the tire treads. More surprisingly to me was the relative leaf cover in a lot of areas. The wind was up today and likely last night so I guess it blew a bunch of leaves over some areas of the trail. While riding spot on in the middle of the trails a few times I felt my rear sliding out on me where it hadn't last week.

Another great ride at Rosaryville though all the same. Tomorrow Adam and I are planning to head down for my first ride at Fountain Head. Should be a blast; I've heard only positives about the trails there.

Friday Bagel Ride

I wasn't going to ride today but with highs reaching up near 50 it was a hard sell. Leaving Aimee's this morning (still there for inaugural week and after yesterday's Pro-life protest crowds I'm very happy about that) I threw in my knickers an under armour top and a jersey just in case. Next thing I knew I was emailing Chris and Scott about riding during lunch.

Scott felt he was over dressed so he decided to put on a show for the new President.

He also went to the river and threw ice at Chris and I. I think he was just so happy to be away from work today that he lost the majority of his remaining sanity for a breif period of time.

We ended up doing a somewhat "special" down day ride that we've been doing on occasion the last few years which is named simply the bagel ride. As you might have guessed we ride to a bagel shop and back. Whoaa, teh crazy. Unfortunately as Scott likes to say DC is a complete bagel wasteland so our beacon of light shines from the downtown streets of Bethesda, Maryland, just off the Capital Crescent trail.

Riding out PA Ave.

The ride was comfortable with some chilly breezes. No hard efforts and lots of conversation. A great way to end out the work work week with a smile. An even better way when you return to the office close to 2 pm and cut out a half hour early at 3. Sure hope the Boss man didn't stop by looking for me today.Scott takes it by a nose... or maybe Chris takes it by a helmet brim... What's the call on this?

Today was a good day

To borrow the words of a great orator of our time, today was a good day. Really, it was just an ordinary day with a bit of a different feel from even just last week. At this point it's just mental but I feel better. I was surprisingly happy considering it was essentially a Monday morning back at the office after a long weekend. Who's up for a case of Moondays?


Did the Haines Point noon ride today for the first time in probably well over 6 months. It was good to finally get myself back out there and get back the feel of riding in a group again. I felt like I threw off the rotation every time I tried to join in but I didn't try too many times since I knew in that wind I wouldn't last too long even on the back of the group. I managed to hang in and ride the few laps Scott and I were there for which felt pretty good despite the pretty slow and easy pace of the group.


Hopefully I'll manage to keep enough clean gear at the office so I can start riding more at lunch as I work to build the base back up. I think I'm most excited for warmer weather right now so I won't have to wear and clean as much gear whenever I ride!


I've got a long way to go this season but I think I'm off to a pretty good start so far.

Riding Rosey but where's the snow???

I had high hopes and expectations for snow last night and today so I was pretty happy when the flurries started to fall around 9:15 leaving my house for Rosaryville. 5 Minutes later they were finished and that was the last snow we'd see for the morning. So much for calling it the roses in snow ride.

Brian and Adam decked out for the chilly ride. We've got to get Brian some new gloves already!

Anyway, Brian, Adam and I all met up for the chilly ride in honor of Martin Luther King Jr Day and for my first ride on a geared "26'er" in probably a year. I was pretty anxious to try out the new bike; it'd be my first experience really riding any kind of a full suspension bike with it's minimalistic 2.5" rear squish.

Pre-ride rig shot.

Short report:

It was awesome! It tracks like a dream and goes exactly where I point it. I didn't quite recognize the lose of complete precision in switching to a 29'er I'd had. Granted the 29'er allows for that with it's rolling capabilities but with the light weight Scalpel set up I think I'm pretty happy with the bike. I need to get a full run down of the bike and I'll add a full report on my initial feelings as well but for now I'll just say it is perfect for me.

Rollin' the Boardwalk, we'll be havin fun...

The ride itself was great. The trails were perfect aside from the deep ruts (probably from people riding last weekend after the 1" plus of rain fall) that were frozen and somewhat hazardous if you didn't hit them just right. Cass came along and did her usual follow the leader deal.

Cassie following at low speed (so I didn't crash while trying to take the picture).

I did some pretty hard efforts through some of the fairly tight and twisty areas on the trail and I think I rode some of those sections harder and faster then I ever have before. For a majority of the ride though we rode pretty moderately steady and took a few water and talk breaks throughout.

Adam was highly impressed with the inner loop in general and the boardwalk specifically.

The inner loop was a blast and Brian and Adam were both riding it for the first time and were very happy with it. I couldn't believe how hard I could rail it through there. I need to work on getting my speed up going over some of the bigger steeper logs but once again with the low weight on this bike I feel like I can do so much more.

Brian has helped move the boardwalk boards around but had never riden them before today. Totally gratifying I believe.

Post ride we got beers and BBQ at a Texas BBQ place in Clinton (highly recommended) and then went our separate ways. A perfect way to spend a morning off. Thank you Dr. King! :) Well for that and everything else of course!

We all looked this happy after our beers and BBQ. Yum.

Inaugural Roll Out

This afternoon, after it warmed up a bit and I got some hot coffee and food in my stomach I headed out for a ride in the still chilly DC weather. The Weather Channel said something like 21, feels like 5 or 10 so definitely a cold one. I wore my lobster gloves, new under armour top, under armour tights and castelli 's over top, a wind vest and my Campy jacket and surprisingly felt near perfectly dressed for the majority of the ride. Only things that was cold during the ride were of course my toes.

The moto-cops looked like they were lining up for a parade of their own.

The street lights lining Pennsylvania Ave decked out in their Inaugural best. DC and American Flags and all topped with golden Eagle statues.

I swung down to the Capital area first to check out the scene down there, stopped for a few pictures and generally puttered around for a bit before heading out towards Georgetown. Things were being their crescendo for the festivities and everywhere I looked there were police officers with lines of cars stopped to ask them directions on how to get here and there. Essentially the place was over run with police and tourists. Craziness.

The President's Parade viewing box. I guarantee it's got a great heater!

Made my way out to the Custis trail assuming it'd be nice and empty in the days' cold and road moderately hard out to the W&OD trail and out a bit into Vienna and back. Saw a decent number of runners and a handful of cyclists but for the most part the trail was mine.

66 Appeared fairly loaded heading back in to DC in stark contrast to the near empty trail.

Riding back across the city I was getting more then my fair share of stares from the wandering tourists. Getting to Aimee's front glass door I realized why. I'm so glad I have my beard.

Post-Ride

I'm getting there. I think I need some snow for the full monty.


I thought people were staring at all the snot on my shoulder but when I got home I realized that was likely not the case.

Frozen balls

What do you mean crude? I'm talking eye balls of course!

This morning I officially began my occupation of Aimee's apartment for the inaugural weekend so naturally I rode to work. Yesterday I'd ridden from my truck at Haines Point to work not quite prepared for just how cold it was. The generally warm enough, especially for a 10 minute spin Hincapie gloves left my hands numb by the time I got to work.

Today I was more prepared. The lobster gloves made another appearance and once again did a great job in the 10 degree chill at 6:30 this morning. The eye balls on the other hand were painfully cold. I'm not sure I can remember a time when my actual eye balls felt cold like that. The tears were nearly freezing along with the condensation in my beard. Surprisingly no brain freeze (make your jokes about lacking the necessary equipment) but the eye balls. Damn the eye balls.

The ride home was nothing in comparison.

Sunday driver

Finally, probably for the first time since September or so I got out for a base road ride. For the past couple of months I've hardly wanted to touch the road bike; my interests only with the trails. Today, between the likely miserable trail conditions and my growing lack of enthusiasm for the Dragon's geometry and setup I finally hopped on the CAAD9 for a moderate tour of my local roads.


End of ride scenery. One of the Ag Center Building in front of the cloud obscured sunset.

I stuck to the usual Ag Center to Bowie and back 20+ mile spin and kept the pace moderate for an easy but good feeling ride. I worked on keeping the pedal stroke consistent and tried to use the full stroke and otherwise just focused on a steady cadence and effort. I've felt that lately I've been simply mashing on the SS Jamis and not using all of my available resources for my riding so I want to try and brake myself of that quickly. That does not provide the optimal riding style for a single speed mountain bike much less anything else.

I believe I've dialed down the cold weather kit a bit better then I've had before. The only part that was uncomfortable was my toes but until I buy a new larger pair of shoes I don't think that'll be going anywhere. The PI Lobster Claw gloves are perfect for 35 degree (and likely even more so below) riding. Maybe a little sweaty but warm none the less. No small feat for my impossible fingers.