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

The Big Dip  
Continued with my training last night. I haven't been swimming near as much as I should. That's what moving in the middle of training will do to you. I already paid to be a member of the Arlington pool system, so I'd rather not pay again to now be apart of the Fairfax County recreation system. Problem is, to get to the Arlington pools now would require me to first bike commute home, then get in the car to sit in rush hour traffic for 30 minutes, then swimming. That's just not worth it.

So last night, I rode from work to the SpringHill Recreation center, down International. It was definitely sketchy biking along 123 where you must pass two exits getting off 495 and one getting on, not to mention all the Tysons traffic. There has to be a better way. Anyway, made it there in pretty good time and went in to check out prices. $500 gets you a year pass, but I'm still leary and pay the $6.20 for the day pass. If I find that I'm using it every other day I'll buck up, but for now I'm content.

The pool and facilities are nice. Most of their kids programs end by 6:30pm, about the time I was getting there, so I was able to jump into a lane by myself. Trying to do 2x50m drills and 1000m at an easy pace. I just went ahead and did 22 laps, possibly more if my counting was off (anytime I mess up I go back to the last number I remember doing).

At about my 10th lap, a lady asked if she could join my lane and that's cool with me, you pay to swim here you know and it's a big lane. So she climbs in with her kickboard and fins and goes to town. Well around my 20th lap, I stop for a quick breath. Here's how it went:

Her: "How many more laps do you have"
Me: "Only 2"
Her: "Good, cause I was going to have to kick you out of the lane, why don't you go ahead and finish up real quick then"
Me: "Riiiiiiiight"

Then I proceed to do my two slowest laps of the night out of spite. I mean really, was that necessary? My swim was good none the less.

Outta the pool and the rec center, I head for my bike. Load myself up and start home. Traffic was still bad, but going home I passed Tysons and continued on to Rt.7. Took a left and headed for home. The 495 exits seem to be less congested and people aren't in as much of a rush. Duck into my neighborhood and I'm home just as the rain starts...it always nice riding in a little sprinkle.

DT
posted by DT at 3:48:57 PM
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Hans Solo  
Sometimes it's good to ride alone.

I haven't done a lot of solo mountain biking lately. Sure I ride to and from work twice every day (go home for lunch), but it's a lot different being on a street with traffic and out in the middle of the woods. I had the best intentions of meeting up with the MORE Monday night group ride, which started at 6:30pm, but I was talking with Kristin and didn't make it out until 6:50pm.

So I got the bike together and headed on out thinking I might be able to catch them. I decided to head over to Accotink and rolled out. The day was hot with humidity, but I felt good. Stuck to the singletrack where I could. Rolled at my own pace, faster than I probably would have been in the group. Only stopped occaisionally to see if I could hear any other riders. For as much use as the park gets, I only saw about 10 people on bikes out there. Looped around the lake when I was done and headed back towards Wakefield. Switched over to the creek trail and headed down to the power lines to do some hill repeats.

Back at the parking lot, I found it took about an hour. I was pretty impressed with the ground I covered. Riding fixed gear off-road gave me plenty to think about out there. You eventually fall into a groove and your body turns coasting off. My biggest problem was piled up logs. If it was one big log or a small log it was no problem, just lift the rear wheel and rachet the cranks to where you need them. But the piled up logs proved to be trouble, one causing me to go down hard on my side. After that I found it easiest to start riding over the logs and bunny hopping up and over. A lot trickier than it sounds.

No one was in the lot, so I headed back out and fooled around for another hour. Right at the end I found the group and they were headed back to the lot. Joe P. showed me a new trail they had built earlier in the month. Then about 300 yards before hitting the lot, my chain broke again. Let this be a lesson, don't ever use a 9 speed chain on a fixed gear. The first time it broke, a pin sheered off both sides and the chain cut down through the paint to the metal. This time a link only sheered one side and bent right off. No damage to the bike though. Walked it back out to the car and took off.

It was good to be out there alone and to free the bike...she really did want to run like a kid through the tall grass, I swear...

DT
posted by DT at 4:31:03 PM
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12 Hours of Lodi  

The weather ended up being great for racing the 12 Hours of Lodi this past weekend. A small shower near the end, but that only made the trails tacky instead of dusty. Maybe a little muddy on the last lap, but nothing to harsh.

Mike, manager of the Chevy Chase City Bikes store brought the delivery truck and all the essentials. It's amazing what a good shop manager can fit into an old delivery truck...socks, grips, lights, tires, tubes, tools, food, drinks, and about $20,000 worth of bikes among other things.

We (Steig and I) got there around 6pm and the weather was perfect. Busted out the workstands and whatnot and went to town on finishing the new I.F. frame for the race. Cut my Avid Juicy 7 brake lines and threaded them through the housing holes. Reconnected and bled the brakes. Everything was looking great. Tested the bike out, pulled the front brake hard and the olive moved inside the lever and hydro oil squirted out. So cool, do everything again (long process of doing the olive stuff again with no extras (requires pulling off a half compressed olive, recutting the hose, etc.)... now it's all working good. Ricky deLeyos (my duo race partner in crime) shows up with a 29.4 seatpost (evidently the same size as the old Fats). Bike is ready to go!

I did the first lap with the lemanz running start. I was probably at the front of the middle of the pack when we got to the bikes (which Ricky was holding up for me) and off riding I went. Bottleneck at the creek so I just picked up my bike and ran past a bunch of people waiting. Left onto the singletrack and it was on. Come to the first big hill and again I'm off the bike and running past people, helps me get to an open line of singletrack instead of being bunched up. I'm feeling really good despite the running. I'm able to pass groups of 5 people at a time on technical and downhill sections. I'm feeling the new bike, it's quick and responsive. A little more than a quarter lap into it, I catch a brake lever on a small tree, the singletrack here was super tight and curvy and my wide handlebars were keeping me on my toes. Same thing as before the race, only this time on the rear. The olive moved inside the lever and the oil is gone. Also, some how my rear wheel has partially popped out of the drops. I'm quick to remedy the rear wheel situation, but this early in the race I get passed by a lot of people, probably 30 or so. Back on the trail again I go all out. I'm able to pass a bunch more people and move back up the chain a little, but definitely not where I was. Pulled about an hour lap, but I haven't seen any official times. Could have been faster, but that's how it goes down.

In the first lap I was able to get break down landmarks for where I was in relation to how long the lap was going to be:

Start/Finish Line
1/4 mark: Rooty downhill leading into elevated bridge into rooty uphill.
1/2 mark: Wood crates covering long muddy section that leads to the back side of the solo parking area.
3/4 mark: The orchard field.
Finish/Start Line.

This helped a lot to see how I was doing on my laps. I could tell how far behind on an average hour lap I was. I think I managed to average about an hour per lap.

After my first lap, I retired the I.F., because I couldn't fix the rear brake. We then moved from single laps to double up on laps. Luckily in the City Bikes truck, Mike brought his Phil Wood singlespeed and I used that for the rest of the race. My second/third lap was the hardest combo, I'm guessing that's right about when I would go to bed on a late night (3-5am). My teammate and I took a break after doing 3 laps each, sat around, ate some pancakes and bacon, and just chilled. After that I went out and did another lap and my partner did a double lap, and then I went back out for the final lap.

My last two laps were hard on the legs. They really wanted to cramp up so I had to take all the uphills in stride. I learned a great deal about recovery techniques and will be getting some Accelerade/Endurox for my upcoming 24 hour race.

So in the end, we did 10 laps total, 5 laps each, in the singlespeed duo category. The weather was just right, the singletrack was awesome, and the race went really well! Other than the one technical I had, no other problems. I fell asleep almost during dinner and I was out for the rest of the night.

DT

posted by DT at 4:07:24 PM
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