"It's not that bicycling is so important, it is that everything else is equally unimportant."

 
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 :: Ride Report - DT

I didn't get a chance to ride all weekend as I was at Bonnaroo, which was a great Thursday - Monday thing. Thursday and Monday were spent making the drive to/from Manchester, TN. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent jamming out to something like 60 bands over the 3 days and enjoying myself with some great friends.

It was supposed to rain all day, but the rain stopped early in the morning and the temps rised to about 80 degrees. I saw this as an omen to go and ride because it's been too long. I put out a challenge to anyone wanting to brave the possible weather and ride either Mt. Vernon trail or do an urban ride. Two guys, Gary and Ricky, took up the challenge and we decided to do some urban warfare in DC. Gary met up at my house and then we rode through Arlington and over to the Lincoln memorial to meet Ricky. Then the trouble begins...

We make our way along some of the pools and up to the Washington monument, from there over to the Mall area. Up to this point it was mostly street and walking path riding. By the time we got to the abstract art park, we were in full curb jumping/riding mode. Nothing big, but it was still a challenge to hop up a couple inches onto a marble curb that's only 4 inches wide and ride it until it runs out about 8 feet later. Good practice for balance. Somewhere along this point I got a flat, probably from hopping onto a mini-wall/curb around a foot high. I made the hop and was riding when you hear the tell tale snake ssssssssss coming from the rear. Ricky grabbed his pump and Gary provided a spare tube. Done and done.

Next was the plaza area near Second Street. Curbs/walls are bigger here. Imagine the marble stuff that usually surrounds the gardens, but there are several big steps in the garden to make it level from one street to the next, perfect for doing wheelie drops off either the big steps keeping the dirt in or the actual walking steps to the side of the gardens. This lead us over to the Canadian Embassy where we made some interesting finds.

We happend to see some fat guys and some weird looking bikes and thought it would be fun to ride the steps. What we found was fat guys having a showing of all that is electric. These were basically the Montague military spec bikes, but electric. They let us fool around on them, pretty cool, they go pretty fast. Couldn't pedal them worth crap though as the things easily weigh well over 50 lbs and way heavier than ANY downhill bike I have ever picked up. While riding, I kind of got barked at not to ride on the marble, right before I was preparing to take the bike down the steps, call it a little endurance test - oh well. We also checked out the new hybrid gas/electric cars form Ford. Pretty cool, but the looks just don't do it for me. They got this one up to 34% efficiency I think they said (I believe Kevin's Insight is probably around 28%) so that's a pretty big step up.

We wasted a lot of time at the Canadian Embassy so we headed back out and over to Georgetown and across the Key Bridge back into Roslyn. Then someone, I won't mention names Ricky, got a bright idea to hit up these high concrete walls that are real wavy and a blast to ride on. Gary rode up the left side while I took the wavy grass in between. I made it up first so I started back down the wavy wall on the right side, no problems, but it was a little freaky at the end as it gets steep and there is the potential to get launched into car/pedestrian traffic. Once at the bottom I start tooling around and Gary starts his way down. Just before the last wave I hear "Oh Fuck". Evidently the last wave kind of freaked him out and he slowed up too much at the bottom and didn't have enough speed to finish the last wave. I turned around while he was at it's peak, just in time to see him faceplant off the side of the wave into the bricked pavement! Since he is a big guy and this section of the wall was about 4 feet high, he probably fell from a good 6+ feet onto his head. Pretty good scare, since he knocked himself out, but we didn't realize this until later as he was back really quick. Cracked his helmet and got some really good abrasions, probably a slight concussion. While I stood there helping Gary out, Ricky rode back to his car to drive back and pick Gary up. We packed it in and headed back to my place and just settled for a bit until everyone was ready to go home.

That's it. A great ride up until the end, but thank God he was wearing his helmet. He easily would not have been getting up from this fall if he wasn't wearing a helmet, maybe even worse. Here are the pics, enjoy.

DT

posted by DT at 12:57:59 PM
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Monday, June 9, 2003 :: Ride Report - DT

A few of us got together last night for an easy casual spin on the W&OD to loosen up our muscles after the Tour de Cure. We started from the parking lot off Rt. 28 near the CarMax. It was a beautiful day, about 85 degrees and really sunny. The foliage was bursting with green. I took a few pictures as we rode and actually stopped to take pictures of the Luck Stone Quary just off the path around sunset. Again it was a very easy day, averaging about 14 mph. I think we did about 22 miles. I really need to move my bike computer from the mountain bike to the fixie. Pictures to come.

DT

posted by DT at 1:55:15 PM
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Sunday, June 8, 2003 :: Tour de Cure - DT

Sunday was the great unveiling of the Pista. Everyone really liked it and there was a bit of jealousy going on. We all met at 7:15 AM and proceded to the registration tables where we checked in and received our race numbers. Then we grabbed some free food and drinks before heading over to the start line. We ended up starting after the 8:00 AM start time, probably closer to 8:30 AM. Our group of around 10 set off at a casual pace before kicking it up a notch. The legs are still a little tight from not doing anything on Saturday because of the rain. We get to the first rest stop which is about 10 miles into the course. We refuel, pit stop, and then wait for some of the group members who had fallen back. This was the last time we would all meet up as a group.

With everyone together, we set back out. This time leaving the trail and hitting the streets of Ashburn. It started out with some good downhills and some easy ups through communties that are just being built. After many more miles, coming down a nice decline into a left hand turn into our first real big climb, there was a skid and a crash. It was our first accident on the day. Juan, riding his mountain bike with slick tires had a problem with his front brake. This caused his front tire to skid and threw him into a rolling endo. I am only going by what I heard as I was about half way up the hill before going back to see what happened. Juan escaped with only a scrape on his elbow and scratches on his Camelback. Now it was back to the climb. Climbing our first big hill with no speed coming into it was really exhausting. It wasn't that the hill was so hard, but trying to push a 48x16 gearing proved to be a hard task. I had to resort to doing switchbacks about 3/4 of the way to the top. Eventually I managed to just push my pedals hard enough and to pick up some cadence making the last part of the hill a lot easier. I could see 3 people had gotten pretty far ahead of me and this was my motivation to push on after the crest of the hill instead of resting and recovering. I caught up quickly and settled in. The streets then went into "rolling hills" according to the map. This was supposed to be our fitness test.

"Rolling Hills" is the biggest bunch of crap, fitness test yes, rolling hills no. These were screaming descents where riding a fixed gear bike proved to be quite interesting, praying that my cranks weren't going so fast they would fly off. Of course at the bottom of every hill is, you guessed it, an up hill. These up hills were long and the secret was keeping as much speed from the downhill as was possible. About half way through these "rolling hills" I looked back and didn't see anyone. Most likely because I have to pedal even on the downhills, I had pulled away from the group. But by the end of these hills, closer to the last couple of up hills, everyone seemed to be catching up fast as they must of been having an easier time climbing than myself. When the hills finally leveled out, we were over 3/4 of the way done. All that was left was to jump back on the W&OD paved path and head back to Reston Towne Center.

There was more traffic on the path than I expected. This was the first time on my new bike that I can think of where I might have wanted a front brake for assistance. We were single file and cruising at a pretty good pace. Evidently there was a walker on the right, a random biker approaching the walker, and bikers coming on the left in the opposite direction. The line was passing the random biker and had to go out wide to also get past the walker, which in turn put Gary and myself in the left lane heading into oncoming traffic. Gary slowed down and went to squeeze in, but I was going to fast and had to split between Gary and the random biker on the right while then veering to miss the walker. Pretty hairy, but it all came out good. From there on out, it was pretty much just cruising to the finish line.

We crossed the line averaging about 16 mph with a time just over 4 hours for the whole 65 miles. After we finished, we headed back a mile or so to wait for the rest of the group to cross the finish line all together. I think a few people were a little pissed that we didn't all stick together as a group the entire time, but hey, it's a long ride and some of us probably wouldn't make it at a slower pace ("some of us" looking in my own general direction). Anyway, it was a great day for riding and it was a great ride that I'm glad I coud participate in. Our team raised the most of any team, just under $4000, for the American Diabetes Association. I raised almost $500 in my Dad's name, which I'm pretty proud of.

DT

posted by DT at 1:49:28 PM
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Weekend Happenings - DT

I will be doing another post on my big ride from Sunday, the Tour de Cure after this, but I wanted to present my newest possesion. As some of you know I was hit by a car last Monday, June 2, 2003. Fortunately I was ok, but my fixed road bike was not so lucky. The entire front end of the bike ended up under the driver's side wheel. This meant replacing the front wheel, the handlebars, the stem, and at least the front brake lever and caliper, possibly the rear brake lever and headset. To replace all that would easily run $300. Well I don't know about you, but how many people spend $300 on parts for a bike they paid $5 for at a yard sale. In short, it's an ancient Fuji Absolute, made it singlespeed and then made it a fixed gear, it's heavy, not exactly the right size, and well, it's just not the greatest bike. BUT it did get me from point A to point B and it was an unusual pleasure to ride.

In my infinite wisdom on the Friday at work (slacker) I was gathering everything I needed to make the purchasing decisions for the parts on Friday night. I thought "hey, why not just look at a couple of bikes real quick" and voila, there it is, not only a completely built up bike, but a fixed gear track bike, specifically built the way I would want it. This got the wheels turning, how can I even think of getting a new bike, and how can I rationalize it? This is where my brain kicks into overdrive and definitely excel. And it goes a little something like this ::

Ok, I got hit by a car and he has to pay me for the parts. I told him the parts would probably be $250. Instead of buying the parts with that $250 I put that towards the new bike. Then I take out $250 from money I got by selling my geared Haro mountain bike (was saving to buy a singlespeed specific mountain frame, but as much as it has rained, it can wait). That's $500, the bike is $550, don't need the seat or the pedals, $50 credit back on the bike, and BAM - a $500 bike is now paid for...

So enough talk, here it is, my new Bianchi Pista. Notice, the single gear so no clunky shifters, and it's a true fixed gear, so no clunky brakes calipers or levers. You want to go faster, pedal forward faster, you want to slow down or stop, pedal backwards harder!

DT

posted by DT at 11:39:38 AM
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Thursday, June 5, 2003 :: Ride Report - DT

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Yesterday was a refreshing change from all the rainy weather that has fallen on DC in the past 2 months. Left work early to meet up for a 5:00 PM ride, leaving from the Vienna Caboose with a goal of doing at least 40 miles. When I get there, the temps have reached 72 degrees and it's sunny and gorgeous out. I met up with Gary, Ricky, Joe, Lee, and Scud. We have some idle chat while preparing to ride. Scud let me borrow some bolts so I could finally put my water bottle cage on the road bike so I don't have to wear my 100 oz. Camelback Hawg everytime I ride. Also had to borrow a water bottle, yea I'm forgetful like that. With the cage all setup, I only needed to bring the essentials :: my keys, wallet, and the Jethro Tule. Everyone is ready, so East we head.

We are taking the beginning at a casual pace, because Scud had to pee real quick. Once Scud catches up, Ricky starts to set a faster pace. Ricky is riding his fixed gear Surly CrossCheck. Starting off I feel a little sluggish. The previous rides from this week have taken their toll on my legs. I try to keep up, but Ricky's pace is blistering compared to what I'm used to riding and our little pack starts to space out. This seemed to be the theme of the night. No matter how hard I tried, I could never pass Ricky. I could catch up to him, but never right on him.

Continueing on the W&OD, we pass several through several stop signs and cross several busy streets before we get a chance to really mash on the pedals for some long, straight, continuous riding. Just like the Tuesday night, we all stop at the rest stop a few miles before the Paltrows store. Gary finds a pair of sunglasses and pockets them for later. On we ride. This time we pass by the store and continue on for probably another 5 miles. There is a noticable difference in the scenary once you pass the store. Before the store you have lots of stop signs, street crossings, townhouse communities on the sides, etc. After the store, it's much more country, with green foliage everywhere, very relaxing. This might be because this part of the W&OD is all new to me as I have never ridden that far. We ride out past our 20 mile mark, maybe for an extra mile or so. We stop and wait for everyone to catch up and then turn around to head back. Scud of course had to ride an extra 100 feet past us so he would have more mileage than us...

On the way back, we decide to finally hit up Paltrow's store. Most of us get a Gatorade and some Ho-Ho's. Rehydration and sugar, what could be better for energy. Scud ends up helping some guy fix a flat as we set off back West. Before long, Scud has caught up to us and we are making pretty good time. Scud and one of his friends pass me and Scud has to let me know that the guy races and is incredible...thanks. So here comes in up hill and bear down mash up it, passing both of them in the process. When we get to one of the stop signs and are waiting for the light to change, a big group of roadies comes up on me. When the light changes, I take off and try to push out front. Once out front I set my target of catching up to Gary and Lee. I catch them and the roadies are no where in sight. Eventually we all catch up to Ricky who is waiting patiently at a stop sign for us. We go through a little town and it's on to pretty much the final 7 miles or so. At this point, I'm pretty beat, my legs are tired and me head is starting to hang a little. All I can focus on is the Tree of Life hanging around my neck. While concentrating on that, I reach back and grab a power bar to snack on. Get a little boost of energy and start to focus on riding again. At this point, everyone is back together except Joe, who is almost done and Ricky, who is on his way. Gary, Lee, and myself push hard the last 3 miles. It all feels up hill at this point, but having Lee push so hard is making me want to push back just as hard. Everyone is feeding off each other at this point. Finally we can see the parking lot, pull up to our cars and the ride is over. Lee get a call from Scud, he has a flat and gave his only tube away, so Lee heads back a little ways to help him out. 10 minutes later they both roll in.

So here we are, a 42 mile ride under our belt in under 3 hours. After all that work, it was time to reward ourselves with some beer and dogs from Vienna Inn. Great day and a great ride with great people.

DT

posted by DT at 11:45:32 AM
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Wednesday, June 4, 2003 :: Ride Report - DT

It was another wet day for the DC Metro area. It rained off and on most of the day. When it stopped raining, it was still misty out. After a long ride yesterday, I wanted to do an easier ride where I could just spin a little. Got home a little after 6:30 PM. Parked the car in the driveway, grabbed some riding clothes, my helmet, and my shoes. Grabbed the fixie and was out the door.

Headed out about 4 blocks where I then picked up the Custis Trail. Headed West for a bit and enjoyed some of the bigger and more frequent hills that the trail has to offer. Turned around at a park near the Falls Church area and headed back East taking on the hills in the opposite direction. Continued on East, past where I started, until I was spit out on the streets of Roslyn.

From there I just rode around the streets and over near Georgetown and took on some more hills. Finally got onto Wilson Blvd. and headed back towards the house. This is a great street for a hills workout as it steadily goes up hill all the way to my house. That's about a 3 mile gradual up hill ride. Passed by Revolution Cycles and Whitlows. Rode right through the whole Clarendon section of Arlington, only having to stop at one red light. Pulled off a pretty good dead stop track stand for a good 15-20 seconds. The light turned green and I was off. Takes a little longer than most people to get up to speed as I'm running a 52x16 gearing, but once your there, it's real easy to stay there. Rode about another mile of flat streets back in the neighborhoods before returning home.

Not real sure how many miles I did as I don't have a computer, but the hills really stretched out my legs from the previous days 32 mile ride. Looking forwards to tonight's big ride...

DT

posted by DT at 11:20:30 AM
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Tuesday, June 3, 2003 :: Ride Report - DT

It was a particularly dreary day. The weather in the morning was fine, but by the afternoon had turned into an on/off drizzle and pouring rain. Gary Ryan and myself decided to meet at the Vienna Caboose at 6:00 PM. I arrived first with Gary showing up within minutes. We gathered our bikes and changed into rain apparel, for Gary this meant bringing a jacket, for me it meant putting on longsleeves. Then it was time to ride.

We started out riding West on the W&OD in Vienna, near mile marker 12. In the beginning of the ride, the rain seemed to be holding off quite well. The terrain was fairly flat with one or two quick sprinting hills, which is about all the hills there are on the W&OD. The only other type of hill is the invisible uphill, which you can't see looking down the path, but you can sure feel it in your legs. We tried to keep our pace around the 15mph mark. This pace is casual enough that you can hold a conversation, but still get your heartrate up and start working the cardio aspect. We discussed everything from Gary's new woman to what tires we should run on Sunday. Continue riding out past Rt.28 and finally stopped at Partlow's Convience Store around mile marker 28 in Ashburn.

At the store, Gary bought a Power Bar and some homemade looking whole grain/seed bar. The latter was pretty good as it's held together with honey. Gary also splurged for the both of us and we bought 20 oz. Mountain Dew sodas. Finished them at the store and then headed back out to the bikes to start the return trip. So far we had completed about 16 miles and were feeling pretty good.

While we were inside refueling, the rain picked up and as we started to ride, our wetness level had kicked in and now with the breeze it was getting a little chilly. We continued on a couple of miles and then stopped at a rest station for a pee break. Gary took this time to throw on his jacket and once again we were off, heading East back towards our cars. As we rode, our legs became more and more tired and Gary continued to assure me that he didn't see any hills and that this way was mostly downhill, although my legs could tell different. As we approached Vienna, we were both feeling the toll of an almost completed ride. I tried to sprint away and back to the cars to be done, but I started my sprint too early and found myself going back to maintain speed mode. I gave sprint mode a second try and this time was able to make it into the parking lot with our cars.

The ride was over, we had done pretty well considering the rain had started pouring down about halfway back to the cars and there was a headwind. We completed about 32 miles in just over 2 hours of riding. Pretty good if I don't say so myself.

DT

posted by DT at 11:06:58 AM
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