Post # 400

That's not a very good average I'd say. It's taken me over 2 1/2 years to get to 400 posts! Shoot Gwadz probably hit's 400 per month.


Tiny Cass

In other news, I've really got to get Cass out in some snow. I really think she would love it, especially after watching the clip here. So much fun.


The fit used to be a bit of a stretch.

She's hurt her paw again somehow. She's a bit too much of a puppy to be left out yet (remember the torn up bed) so she spends her days while I'm at work in her crate. She still is perfectly fine with it and spends plenty of time in there on her own accord while we're hanging out at home so I don't necessarily have to feel THAT bad about it. However she seems to have found a way to injure herself while in it. I'm guessing she starts flailing like she does when she is bored and hit on something. So, the good news from this is, I think it wasn't the ride last month that hurt her, but the bad news is she did it to herself somehow and she's now back on the DL. Poor pup.

She WILL play with anything.

This morning I confined her to the entire down stairs minus the kitchen and utility closet. I'm hopeing in her current gimpy state she won't go crazy. I'll be sure to post pictures of the damage otherwise.

Racing Division

I was just thinking and I'm not sure if I've even mentioned it here on the blog. After the 2008 season (well actually throughout the 2008 season I should say) the Racing Union racing team essentially dissolved. Unfortunately the small group of riders was too spread out and engaged in life's other callings to continue to operate as a racing team.



The core racers (those who actually spent 2008 racing some) mostly moved over to join friends with the Whole Wheel Velo club and should be well suited with the larger and more active team. A couple of other folks may have moved to other local teams as well, not positive but I vaguely remember someone moving in with the Coppi's though that might have been Jeff prior to last season.


The 95 degree heat at the 2007 Pleasant Valley Road Race

As my road racing interest has waned a bit I'll be unaffiliated for the time being, though we'll see how things play out. I have some ideas for my season that I'll get into a bit further down the road. For now I'm just going to ride.

Is it spring yet?

As I've said before, I hate this kind of weather. If it's got to be cold and there has to be precipitation why can't it just be snow? Hopefully this weekend things will clear up enough for some trail riding with B and his new rig. He is going to be so damn happy with that bike.


The Dakota resting in "The Man Cave" - which apparently goes by the same rules as the tree fort. No parents allowed as Brian informed me today.

I've got a couple of fairly big things on the back burner at the moment. I'm not going to discuss them for now since nothing is for sure at this point but I am most certainly hopeful. I will post up for sure if any of this stuff ends up going through.


The small stuff. Before taking any photo's Brian was sure to remove the novice markings, aka spoke guard and wheel reflectors. Good work Brian.

For now, enjoy Darren's shots from the New Year's Day ride.


I believe at this point I'm about to run head long into a tree, either that or my toasty warm Castelli Cardio bib tights just caught on fire.

Joel's recap.

My own recap.

Follow up review on Castelli's Cardio Bib Tights

I mentioned these in my GamJams Review for winter tights a couple of weeks ago and said I'd post up some more once I'd worn them a few more times. I think I've now worn them enough to get a good feel for them and for the most part I'm pretty happy with their performance.

The tights are lined with a very nice and soft red fleece, my only fleece lined tights. They are moderately thick, mostly owing to the layer of fleece and the Large size fit me well. I generally wear a 31 or 32 inch waist and 32 inch inseam which will usually mean a Medium though for these the Large is the way to go.



The ankle cuff has the rubberized inner lining that keeps the legs of the tights down and your sock pulled up and a scorpion design one on the outside also in case you are layering or pull the socks over the outside. Of course there is also a sufficiently long ankle zip with reflective fabric over top for easy in and out and for visibility.



The chamois is pretty comfortable; comparable to what I have in the Pearl Izumi Attack bib shorts and Hincapie team shorts from my Racing Union team kit. I'm not sure I have the saddle time and experience to really be able to tell most chamois' apart though I'll say this one is no better and no worse then my other mid-level shorts. I find them perfectly fine.



My one and only complaint about these tights is in regards to the chest straps. I bought these because they were on Chainlove for pretty cheap and I really needed some riding tights (I was using my knickers for everything). The design it appears is to keep the straps off the nipples thereby eliminating any nipple chaffing. A good idea, except I have never had that problem with any of my bib straps. Instead these simply place unwanted pressure on my shoulders while leaning forward; nothing too serious but I'd imagine on longer rides fairly bothersome.

As for warmth these tights stack up wonderfully. I used them New Year's morning with the sub-freezing temps at the ride start and they were great. I never felt cold in them with just shorts underneath for some extra cover on the sensitive regions.

Overall I'd say these tights are great from the waist down. For the price I paid on Chainlove they are also very good all over though if you're not paying 60% off I'd avoid the style of straps offered on the Cardio Bib tights.

A brief bit of news RE: National Parks

I'm sure we have all heard about the new rules being laid down by the Bush admin for Mountain biking in National Parks; I've discussed it briefly along with probably every other biking blogger with any interest in trail riding out there.

Now, the bicycle spokesman brings some news of a similar last minute bush push pertaining to the National Parks. Interesting.

A new horse in another stable

So Brian had officially gotten the itch. I'd finally really managed to pass it along and get him really excitedd and ready to get himself on a new bike. The money was there, the obligations had been met, all that was left was for him to find a bike.

Sunday morning we decided to head North to check out a couple of shops beginning with the high end brands at Avalon Cycles. Turns out they were closed, under new management; who knows if they'll open again.

Stop two was the Race Pace shop on Owings Mills. It'd been a few years since I'd been in there so I was shocked at how many bikes they had. Excellent selection of Road and Mountain and everything else. We all did some test rides, including Brian's college buddy Jeff who was in the market for a trail bike. The staff was very friendly and helpful and I was definitely impressed with the shop all around. Jeff liked the Jamis Dew Plus was it's versatility and general ruggedness. Brian and I basically liked everything.

On a whim we decided to drop by Proteus, more or less thinking we might find last year's Dew Plus for Jeff at a discount. Instead we found a two year old Jamis Dakota Elite hanging out on the shelf just waiting for the right home. Proteus has been working on clearing out their older models and the few 07's left over have been marked down to 50% off.

Image taken from BikePedia.com

So Brian's got a new ride. a 2007 Jamis Dakota Elite - a $1650 MSRP for $825. Damn I'm jealous right now. That's a pretty well reviewed rig; especially at an entry level price. Looks pretty awesome too.

MOCO PP Ride Along

Yesterday I completed the required ride-a-long with the Montgomery County Park Police for the park patrol training I'm working on getting into. It was pretty uneventful and much more laid back then I expected though this time of year they said is understandably quiet in the parks since it's so cold.

After a couple of brief things Officer Crystal and I met another officer (Maark?) for a scouting hike of an area frequented by some local deer poachers. Just a few hundred yards from some expensive homes and a golf course. Pretty ballsy if you ask me. We managed to find about a half a dozen tree stands built in the area and saw more deer then I've seen in Greenbelt since I moved here.

All in all pretty low key but enjoyable. I think the patrol program should be pretty interesting and I found out that Fairland which is so local to me is actually part of the Montgomery County jurisdiction so I can patrol their when I can't make it further out. Sweet.

Two for two

After bringing in the new year with a ride I managed I managed to double the pleasure with another ride on day two of the new year. Double the fun. Brian took the week off work and was apparently bored so I blew off the second half of the super slow work day and joined him for about an hour long Fairland Spin. Good times had by all.

Brian showin off the new digs. Much better then the last rides' get up though the work gloves made another appearance.

I did a few minutes aboard his Raleigh, while he tried out the freak bike that I call my 29'er single speed. He's more sold then ever that he wants to get a new bike (and I am too, that shit was ridiculously hard to ride!)


The extent of my artistic talents at work

An excellent way to start off the new year if I do say so myself.


Jump what ya got!

Brian is considering starting a blog. I'm way more influential then I ever thought; fist I convinced him to buy the rode bike, then a bunch of riding gear, now a mountain bike and soon some more winter riding gear and mountain gear (including different pedals and mtb shoes) and now a blog. Yeah, he looks up to me, what can I say? ;)

Starting off with a bang and then a bit of a bust

In the morning on New Years Eve I got an email from Darren asking if I wanted to join him at Rosie for a New Years day single speed ride. Hell yeah I did! After no rides since probably the 14th and missing Tuesday's night ride due to my condition from Monday I couldn't think of a better way to spend my morning. Made the proper arrangements for gear and logistics and planned my first ride for the new year.


Darren at the 2008 Leesburg Baker's Dozen

Later in the day I got an email from Darren mentioning that it looked like Joel and two others from the DCMTB squad would be joining us. Very cool, though at the same time OH SHIT! While it'd be cool to ride with these guys I knew they're all, at least in my eyes the definition of "local hammer". I told Darren I'd "sweep".


Joel at DCMTB's DCCX cyclocross race in 2008

New Year's morning came and the start time was pushed back a bit due to the prior evenings new years imbibing, which was good for us all (aside from maybe Aimee who just couldn't get rid of me soon enough ;)

Turned out to be just Darren, Joel and myself all on our rigid single speeds assessing the cold temperatures in the parking lot. Joel and Darren rolled out and I followed onto the frozen solid trails that are Rosaryville on a sub-freezing morning. We stayed steady through the entire first lap, myself occassionally falling a bit off the back but overall managing to hang in with the others. I was amused at both Joel and Darren's ability to talk for the whole lap. I tend to ride quitely, not because I don't want to talk or others to, but more likely just because I am too focused on trying to ride clean lines or I'm simply working too hard to really think.


Me at the 2007 DCCX - I'm sensing a trend here

At the end of the first lap I told Joel and Darren to go ahead without me but they insisted I join them for a second. They let me set the pace into the woods and though I told them I'd be riding slow, I probably went out harder and didn't want to look too weak. After a bit we switched up the lead and still I hung in on the easy riding.

We hit the inner loop this time around and Darren played around a bit on the big beams while Joel and I conquered the kiddie logs. Riding the inner loop during the day time was a whole new experience. Knowing what's coming can be very helpful in technical, speedy and fun terrain. At about this point I really started to struggle with the small ups of the park and began to lag more and more behind the guys. Finally at the top of the one "steep" and "long" climb in Rosaryville I told them to go ahead and that I'd just be rolling slowly in. They bombed it down the hill and from the sounds of it had a pretty fast and furious finish into the lot.

Those last 3 or 4 miles for me were terrible, riding in completely bonked with no food and then no water left to provide any kind of boost. I limped in to the parking lot to see Joel and Darren hanging around chatting, fully changed into their daily life disguises. I mumbled some things at Darren about being a bit tired, changed quickly into dry clothes and wen tscrounging for some fuel in the truck. All I had was an expired single serving apple sauce and a hammer gel, both of which I consumed post-haste.

Joel and I chatted a bit and then I rushed off to the local gas station for some additional sustenance. Somehow I decided in my head that the best thing to fuel my body was bugles and some yogurt covered raisens. The raisens were excellent though the bugles I could have gone without. Home to a meal of pasta and a nap before the big game (I'm a life long USC fan).

The never learned or always forgotten lesson of proper nutrition strikes again.

All in all a great ride with some cool guys. I have a lot of respect (and a bit of awe) for the DCMTB guys. A good group of people and a very solid group of riders.

Thanks Darren and Joel for helping to bring in the new year right!

GamJams Reviews: Winter Tights - Under Armour Winter Gear and Castelli Cardio Bib Tights

This weeks GamJams review features winter riding tights. While I don't have a ton of experience with a lot of products I've got at least a couple of notable things to share. Be sure to check out the other reviews for more on GamJams.

Base layer - The all-arounder award goes to Under Armour! I know I know, it's grown to be a bit of a behemoth in the last few years but in all reality there is more to the company then their roided up footballin, pre-game pep talkin, "house protectin" commercials may lead you to believe. They make some really high quality stuff!

My high school football coaches who were all somewhat affiliated with the UMd program through which the brand was essentially introduced, gave us ordering information for this new brand of sporting goods. All very expensive but apparently some great stuff. I convinced my folks to buy me the winter gear tights and top; their heavy weight cold weather stuff. Truth be told I think we all liked the tight stuff cause it made you look bigger then baggy stuff, at least in the 16 year old high school football players' mind. (I tried to find the stuff I have but they have too many new fangled options for me to figure out these days!!! Men's Cold Gear UA Metal Mock!?!? You can see what I'm talking about there with the "built in" six-pack.)

Turns out the stuff was really awesome. Now close to 10 years later I'm still using the same two pieces as my core cold weather gear. It's versatile, I use it for running, biking, hiking/camping, outdoor cold weather sporting event spectatin' and anything else where some warm clothes are necessary. I've found that in windier conditions a basic cotton shirt over the top blocks the wind enough to keep me warm on long frigid (below freezing) runs. With the tights, basically I get a layer or two over the junk (a lesson from the longtime running Pops, a jock strap is perfect here) and my legs are good to go.

Basically, to sum it all up, the good stuff from UA, while expensive (I believe I paid around $60 per item) is completely worth the money. The number of times my stuff has been worn and washed would have completely destroyed any other garment but this stuff is tough. And, it just works.

Cycling tights: I picked up a pair of Castelli's Cardio Cycling Bib Tights off Chainlove for something like 60% off. Unbeatable in my opinion for the price. Fleece lined, and super nice and bib tights to boot. Unfortunately I've only had the opportunity to try them once so far so my report will stand as worth it for the low (relative) price though they were too warm for the 50 degree weather I wore them in. I'll try them out tomorrow (today, New Years day) if I make it out with Darren and will post an update on the sub-freezing performance of the tights. The chest straps are not the greatest but like I said, the deal was certainly worth it. Also, from my experience with another pair of Castelli shorts I sized up from my usual mediums to large and they fit perfectly.