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

Lapse of Judgement  
I had one of those total lapse of judgement on the bike this afternoon riding home for lunch.  I've been riding the 1x1 lately cause it kept whispering to me from the shed.  Without having the proper chainring bolts/sleeves or spacers, it's still got two front rings.  I just use the big one, so whatever is big on a Deore crankset and an 18 (maybe a 16) tooth freewheel.  Works really well for commuting, though I miss the fixie stuff.  I pretty much ride it like a fixie and just keep pedaling, but there is a huge feel difference in the engagement of a freewheel and a fixed cog, it's something you don't get from a King hub, it's totally immediate and all the time.  It's like that blanky you carried around with you as a kid, it just felt right.  So yea I'll be putting a track cog on as soon as I can get to the shop.

Anyway, cruising back for lunch and I'm pedaling along fast as hell downhill.  The cranks are pretty much topped out and there is no pressure rotating them around.  Out of instinct I start to make my left turn, still pedaling, and leaning, and leaning some more...then comes the scraping sound and boom, the backend of the bike starts to go.  With a foot out to the side, it simply looked planned, like a bmx slide, but surprised the hell out of me!  Guess that's what you get for not riding flat pedals for a few years.  I'm using some big ass Sun Ringle pedals and totally clipped the pedal into the street in the middle of the curve, which lifted the rear wheel off the ground and put it into a quick slide.  Good thing the reaction time kicked in!

Saw this on mtbr.com - 24 Hours of Pisgah - and I think I might even be in town.  We'll see as I'm pretty busy between now and then, but the trail looks pretty gnarly, sounds like a lot of climbing with some killer downhills.  I guess if I didn't find teammates I could always attempt solo, but I doubt I'm ready for that.

DT

posted by DT at 3:26:54 PM
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Plans  
I had planned to ride Monday night, but I got out of work pretty late around 7:30pm.  That also just happened to be the time Kristin and I needed to leave to go order the furniture at Hecht's.  The group ride at Wakefield was cancelled anyway, which I don't quite understand since it wasn't raining, but was cancelled due to the impending rain...

Now that it rained all night, I wish I had been able to get out since riding the dirt for today/tonight is pretty much a bust.  Hoping to get some biking in before the weekend as I'll be spending a majority of it on the road.  Got a wedding near Syracuse this weekend, so we are taking the dog and driving up to Seneca Falls, about an hour past Syracuse, to stay with friends.  Hopefully Mike will be up for some riding, maybe Friday night or a quick ride after he gets off work on Saturday morning or even Sunday before heading out.  Not real familiar with the riding around Seneca Falls, but I imagine it's not that great.  Gonna have to find some trails before I head out there I'm sure.

DT

posted by DT at 11:31:04 AM
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MORE Summer Party  
So Sunday proved to be a good day for riding.  I was worried with all the rain we were getting that the pre-picnic rides would be cancelled.  No rain until crossing the Woodrow when the skies opened up.  Pretty much a good solid rain and then a light mist as I pulled into the parking lot.  I of course was late getting up and forgot my Camelback or any waterbottles, but I did remember extra clothes, but no towel.

Got dressed and pulled the bike out of the car.  Just then they started breaking into ride groups.  Being that the fast group was right next to me and my car, I jumped in with them.  We headed out and climbed down to the base of the powerline climb before stopping to get everyone together.  Then of course that meant having to ride up the powerline hill from a dead stop and no momentum.  But we all made it without any issues.  I think there was 12 people in our group.  Rosaryville turned out to have some wicked nice singletrack, still bumpy from not being bed in, but nice flowing curves and more hills than places like Wakefield and Schaeffer.  Our first loop wasn't bad at all and I kept up in the middle of the pack just fine.  They pushed the speed at times, but nothing I couldn't keep up with.  I believe Dan Hudson was leading and pulled us off to the side to show us a section that is great for wheelie drops if that's your thing.  I rode up to it and went to jump while trying to look and see what the landing was going to be like.

Always look before you leap!

I was going way to slow for the 3 foot drop since I was looking for the ground as I went over, my front wheel just dropped down and over the bars I start my roll.  Still clipped in I roll onto my back, busting my Performance sunglasses, and manage to unclip the bike as it continues to roll.  The worst part was that my front wheel somehow flew out from the fork.  The IF fork I have didn't come with lawyer tabs.  It was quite a sight I'm sure.  It was one of those "It doesn't hurt at all, but damn it sure looked like it" type of falls.  Everyone had a good laugh and the ribbing continued throughout the day and into the picnic, thanks Larry.  So yea, lesson learned, size up the jump before hand.

Back onto the trails we continued on and did another loop and a half before cutting through some field at the rumor that the food was on.  The beginning of the second loop was where I started to bonk hard.  No breakfast that morning, no snacks with me, and no water all day started to accumulate.  I knew this as soon as we stopped again at the base of the biggest climb of the day and then when I got to the top I was breathing super hard.  We took off without waiting very long and I had trouble getting my breath back and recovering.  It was also about this time that the fast group decided to put their riding in gear and step it up a notch.  As the group pulled away from me I was left climbing slowly wondering why my legs felt so heavy and why the pedals just didn't want to turn.  I kept up for the most part, but there was a pretty good size gap between me and the front group, with a few people behind me.  Ricky d. was nice enough to give me some of his water, teammate looking out for the ill prepared brother.  It was a well run 2 hour ride.

Once we finished it was over to the hose to wash off the legs and bike.  Then it was time for the food!  Great burgers, dogs, wings, fries, etc.  It was all there and everything in between.  So good, "Once it touches your lips" - Will Ferrell.  It came time to play Frizbike, which is Frisbee played on your bike.  Pretty tough game, but lots of fun.  By this time it was 2pm and I needed to head home to take Jean to the airport with Kristin.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing and going over the finances...fun fun.

DT

posted by DT at 12:19:40 PM
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Busted  
So Saturday's riding was a bust.  I didn't ride in the morning thinking I would be riding that evening and because Kristin's cousin Jean was in town.  So instead we went and saw "Anchorman" (which I just tried to find a link for and Google was down!), which was ok, but no where near what I was hoping for.  I would watch "Old School" before watching "Anchorman" again.  After the movie, since we we're already in the mall we headed over to Hecht's to try out furniture.  Man do I love testing furniture!  We tested several sofas, recliners, chairs, ottomans, etc. before deciding on the material.  Once we got home we figured out how we would organize the furniture so we knew which set of pieces to get.

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday planned, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Then maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time." - Will Ferrell

Finally it was time to get my bike stuff ready and head on out.  Jon thought a 6pm ride from Arlington into Alexandria or into DC for some grub and beer would be fun and I agreed.  Got to his place and it turns out he took a spill earlier in the day doing some road riding and he was pretty spent.  Would have been nice to get a phone call so I could have come up with a plan, but hey, roll with the punches.  Gary had passed by me on the drive over, he was headed for home.  So I called him up to see if he was down for some riding, but got no answer, figure he left the cell at home.  Parked the car up the street, hopped out and onto the bike and just started riding.  New plan was to try and make it over to the bike store and get a track cog for pinky.  No such luck so I just rode around some more before seeing Kristin and Jean driving through an intersection.  They were finally making their way over to an ex-coworkers bbq, so I headed out and tried to make a long convoluted trip out of a few blocks to the bbq.  Ended up finding a little paved path that winded behind and next to some neighborhood houses and ended up spitting me out right at the end of the cul-de-sac I was looking for.

Got some beers and then it was time to head out again.  The girls headed home and I rode back to the car and then headed home.  The rest of the night was pretty lazy with me feeling the need to have a couple more drinks before bed.  Nothing like a really stiff margarita and a Makers on the rocks to get you ready.

DT

posted by DT at 11:43:36 AM
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More Snowshoe Pics  
Check out Maili's pics from Snowshoe.  She did a great job!  If you have an aversion to butt, take it slow...Team Sweet Cheeks didn't have time to make up stickers.

DT

posted by DT at 12:51:49 PM
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Foiled Again  
So my riding plans for last night were foiled again.  Initially I had decided to do the 6:30pm MORE urban ride, leaving from McFadden's and ending up back there again at 8pm.  Then I decided to drive closer into Arlington and ride in with a friend who was antsy to ride his new (to him) singlespeed.  Of course at 6pm the rain and wind storms rolled in right on que.  Being that Kristin had to drive to McFadden's anyway, we just rode together and I left the bike at home.

It sounded like everyone who rode had fun, but it was definitely wet and the humidity weighed heavy in the air.  I was 10 minutes away from finishing the bike last night and I'm still 10 minutes away from finishing.  It will be the rebirth of the Pink 1x1, this time using mostly parts from out in the shed.  I ran into two issues yesterday while building the bike, both were remedied by having extras in the shed.  1) Cranks didn't come with any crank bolts, so I had to use some old ones and 2) XT V-brake didn't come with a noodle, which I happen to have laying in the bottom of the tool box.  Now all that's left is to throw on the flats and then put on the chain, should be ready for flight.  It's single now, but I should have a track cog later today/tomorrow.

Back to the subject at hand.  I made it to McFadden's and proceeded to grab a couple of Sam Adams at the fetching price of only $2 a pint.  After a few of these, catching up with some old friends I invited and generally making fun observations of the McFadden's crowd, it was time to get on the Trek road bikes that Revolution Cycles provided for some time trial action.  I went up againt Jon Burns, who's a little bigger than me, but all heart.  We pushed real hard.  They told us to start off in easy gears and then shift to the hard ones - this perplexed me.  1) It's been a good 3 years or so since I've ridden a bike with gears and 2) Fancy new road shifter/brake one piece system that I've never even placed a hand on before.  So after a quick tutorial, started off big ring up front and big in the back, all that was left was to shift into increasingly harder gears in back.  3-2-1-and we're off.  I'm in the saddle for a few seconds but soon I need to stand up.  I'm pedaling hard and pushing my shifter every couple of seconds.  I of course run out of hard gears in the rear and am left with no where else to go, but pedaling.  We ended up in a tie in that round so the tie breaker was to start in the hardest gear and push as hard as we can for 30 seconds and the person with the fastest speed wins.  This is where my advantage comes in, pushing a 53x16 the last couple of days has made me use to the big gears.  3-2-1-and we push.   I'm out of the saddle and pedaling with all I have, right up on the handlebars, people having to hold the bike on the trainer.  Finally it's time and I come away victorious - 34.7 mph.  I think only one person out of the 10 or so that competed beat me, but who knows.  It was so hot and humid inside the bar that I proceded to sweat for the next hour.  Finally after cooling off it was time to get back to the tour going on the tv's.

As we watched the finish of yesterday's stage, we told Kristin what was going on to help her understand why everyone was sticking together and what was happening when an attack went down.  The finish was super exciting and everyone cheered.  Soon after that it was time to pack it up and head home.  Gotta take care of the puppy after all...

DT



posted by DT at 12:23:47 PM
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Adventure Pic  
Finally pulled some pics off the camera and thought I would post them up.  You can read about the ride here.  #1 - Great Falls (VA Side), #2 - Matt, #3 - Me.














DT

posted by DT at 2:52:36 PM
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Brake Woes  
Well I don't know how it happened from last night to this morning.  I must have shoved the bike in the car all funky like or something cause now the brake is kind of pushed in too far and rubbing the tire.  No time this morning to fix it, guess I'll do it at lunch time when I have access to my tools.

Interesting note on these brakes, they are old, very very old.  Well the bike in general is old and I have yet to find any information on it.  It's a Fuji Absolute (I can't remember if it has the "e" on the end or not).  It's painted an almost sky blue color, only with a little more green in it.  Oh yea, back to the brakes.  Their old.  They don't have quick releases and the like.  If you want to remove your wheel, then you must engage the brake by pulling the lever towards the bars, then use your other hand to push the top of the lever off to the side.  It's a little secret piece of the lever that rotates.  Now when you let go of the lever it can go farther into the hood, thus giving the brake more slack and parting far enough to slide the wheel out without pulling a pad off.  I only mention this because I think I destroyed 3 pads before I figured out how to take the wheel on/off about a year or two ago.  Glad I know, thought I would pass it on to anyone who has or is looking at old school road bikes.

DT

posted by DT at 11:52:21 AM
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Ride to Whitlows  
Yesterday I took the cross bike out for a good test.  Since the W&OD is hard to access from my house, I drove a little closer to Arlington before jumping on the bike.  In order to get to the path from my house I have to ride on Rt.7 or 123, within one block of all the people trying to get on 495.  The last thing those people want to deal with is a biker on the street, which doesn't make it right, but I'll choose more important battles.  Tonight was about getting a nice ride in and being able to enjoy a cold frosty one with friends, rather than get berated by drivers or have crap thrown at me.  Sometimes you feel like taking them all on, other days, forget about it.

So I drove over to the Falls Church metro area, I can't remember if it's the East or West, but it's right off 66.  It's basically one exit farther up 66 than where Rt.7 is.  From there I hopped on the bike and took an easy ride into Arlington, hopped onto the streets and rode some good size hills.  Not real long ones, but pretty steep.  My gearing was a limiting factor causing me to crest some of the hills in complete slowmo, frame by frame I pushed the pedal a little farther.  Thinking about how much I'm pulling on my bars it makes me thankful that my stem is of the one piece quill variety as I've already pulled a stem apart at the welds...

Traffic was light heading into Clarendon so I stuck with the streets.  It's fun knowing that when someone passes you, you'll just see them again at the next light...how frustrating that must be for the drivers.  I was taking my time until getting deep into the Ballston area where I stepped it up a bit so the drivers don't get pissed that I'm taking up the entire right lane, but I've ridden the sidewalk before and I got hit coming off it at an intersection - so no sidewalk riding for me.  Made a quick pass in the left lane and turned left to get to Whitlows.  Didn't really notice how hot it was until I stopped and the sweat began to drip.  Time to lock the bike up and head inside for a cold one.

Tried a new Irish beer that was on tap.  It was ok, but nothing real special.  Meanwhile I got an explanation of how Melinda needs U-shaped brackets for mounting wood on the wall, but they only make L-shaped.  I still think someone has to make a U-shaped bracket, but what do I know.  I told her to use JB Welds and make a U out of 2 L's.  Works on bikes...

After about an hour or so of catching up it was time to head back out.  Back on the bike and out the way I came.  It was a good ride with even less traffic than I had on the way in.  Lots of pass and catch back up type of traffic until we got out of the traffic lights.  I thought about changing the gears up front again, but I would need a new crankset with removable rings since my current one is all one piece.  It will do for now, but I see this as a change for the future.

DT

posted by DT at 11:25:45 AM
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Done Resting  
So it's time to get back on the bike.  Other than commuting and checking repairs, I haven't ridden since Thursday.  This is due in large part to the bachelor party I attended over the weekend - white water rafting on the Kennebec River in West Forks, Maine.  I think the biggest rapid we did was in the 8 foot area, but the rushing water that came over the bow was enough to knock me on the floor.  I recovered quickly and was back to paddling, but damn it felt good.  The weekend was made better by getting to see lots of old friends and connecting with new ones.  After Saturday's drinking escapade, it took a good part of Sunday to recover and that's pretty rare for me.  Luckily no headaches or anything, just some sour stomach that wouldn't let me eat anything.

Anyway, last night instead of going riding I opted to work on the bikes for a bit.  Most of the work was done on my old fuji road bike turned cross.  Mostly the small things needed to be done.  Put new brake pads on the front brake, removed the rear brake, housing, and lever, but made sure to leave the hood for comfort.  Also changed out the saddle since the one on there was the original fuji and the leather had become almost rubbery with a few accident scrapes on it.  Put on a Selle Italia that I used for a while before purchasing the Terry FireFly I'm using now on the mountain bike.

By this point in the night the maintenance guy was at the house fixing the front door - the front lock broke last week and we have been unable to unlock the door all weekend.  Took him a few hours to fix and I helped when he needed it, but it was all him for the most part.  That's the bonus of renting and not owning, those bonuses are far and few between.  It was also about this time that Kristin got home and tonight would be my turn to cook since we decided to grill out and do burgers.

Between all this I was still able to take the crankset off the old Supergo Access frame, which I need to give back to Joe Romano.  I wasn't able to pull the old Truvative 5D crankset off the OG Giant Iguana cause it's on supertight and I don't have a cheater bar.  I was hoping to pull it off quickly and throw it and the square taper bottom bracket I have sitting around onto the Surly, but just not enough time.  Hope to get the 1x1 running again soon, even without my 29er idea, might just be the spare fixie for the time being.

It got dark before I even got to the cranksets, so I just put all the bikes back in the shed.  Took some time to try out the new setup on the cross bike and everything feels good.  To do real cross I'd have to drop the gearing to something easier, but for my commute it works great.  Hoping to test it out tonight on another bar ride!

DT

posted by DT at 12:10:25 PM
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W@W #4  
It was the final race of the series, cancelled on Wednesday night and moved to Thursday.   It's a pain to do raindates for races, but it's so much better for the trails.  Even though the rain was short, I'm glad they made the decision to delay for 24 hours.
 
This race I got to Wakefield with more time than usual, maybe 5:15pm.  Got the bike ready, put on my race number, and headed up to the registration table.  With about 10 minutes to go before the race, Ricky d. and I head out for a quick warm-up on the creek trail.  About 5 minutes of riding and one jump into the creek bed before deciding I need to change out my dark sunglass lenses for the orange lenses.  I leave Ricky and motor on back to the car, change lenses, hop back on the bike and head for the starting line.  As I approach I see everyone lined up, but before I can get to them they take off for the starting sprint up the gravel service road.  So I ride harder and loop around the race starter and start my sprint - it was important for me to do this because I didn't want anyone to think I had an unfair advantage starting 30 feet farther up the hill.  I wasn't too far off the start, but I was definitely well behind the group and was playing catch up.  I caught up to the back of the pack soon and wasn't forced to race by myself.  Lot's of familiar faces that I've come to know from doing the local race scene.  I stuck to the rear wheel as best I could and made my passes when there was room.  I always felt like someone was right behind me.
 
I felt so much better in this race than I did in any of the previous 3 races.  I wasn't blowing up on climbs and didn't feel the need to recover nearly as much in the flats as I did in the past.  Not sure if this was due to the warm-up or the fact that it was a beautiful low humidity day - you really can't ask for better weather than what we had that night.  I was feeling strong and confident.
 
There are two people I pretty much raced against most of the time during the races.  These two guys made me pedal hard when I wanted to take it easy as they were always either right in front of me or right behind me.  Roger Hoff rode a converted Trek and we spent a good time on each others wheels for the majority of the second lap.  He is much faster than me on the flats, but I think I might be able to push the descents a little faster making for a good race.  We had some good friendly talking going on while riding up the powerline section before heading downhill and into the 495 singletrack section.  I managed to put a little space between us going into the third lap, but I got big fat stick in my rear wheel that required stopping to pull it out and again he was back on my wheel.  Riding past the substation trails and passed the creek trail, I could see people behind me.  I notice it's the second person I end up racing with a lot in this series, Peter Maloney.  He is a much taller rider so he puts out the damage on his Karate Monkey 29er.  He stayed right on my wheel the entire time we were climbing and dropping in the racetrack area and into the powerline section.  Starting the climb to the top of the powerline section, I looked back and he wasn't right on my wheel, but close enough to push me even harder.  I dropped out of the powerline section, crossed the creek, and pushed hard going into the 495 section.  It was after passing over the creek again and taking the climbing switchback and then the short trail section before hitting the gravel service road that I began to feel like I was going to be ok.  A quick glance back confirmed that he was still there with me, but there was no need for a sprint to the finish.  I placed 17/21 according the results and 21/25 overall for the series.  For some reason it says I only did 3 races and there isn't mention of my last race, but I was there so who knows.  You can see all the results for the series here.
 
Many thanks to the volunteers - I know I rode past Larry and Brian several times while they premarked the race course on Tuesday night.  Also big thanks to the racers that make it racing, even if we are duking it out for back of the pack, ha.  I'm looking forward to a break in racing so I can just get my ride on for a couple of weeks, but I'll be back by the end of the month.
 
DT

posted by DT at 10:29:41 AM
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Bar Ride!  
So last night was the first time in awhile that I've ridden the bike to the bar. After moving out to Falls Church, there aren't a lot of bars in easy biking distance where you don't have to cross major roads - 495, 123, 7.

Last night I helped a friend, Jon, build his singlespeed, part two. I tried to get it going the other night, but we ran out of time and he needed to get some new parts - crankset (old one was all one piece), square taper bb (cause old one was fried), handlebar (old one was crimped from bar ends), and new grips (had grip shifters).

We started installing the new parts around 8pm, he installed the bb while I stripped the two extra chainrings off from the crankset. We had an issue with the chainring bolts being too long, but I took off an extra spider/ring combo I had in the toolbox. Next we replaced the handlebar with a new riser bar, added the brake levers and then some new spiffy lock-on grips. All that was left was to figure out the rear wheel situation.

I took my old Surly Singleator off my my first singlespeed - the '84 Giant Iguana and bolted it onto his Cannondale. Next we added a regular rear wheel that I had done back up back in the day with copper pipe for spacing. Everything seemed to be going well until I realized I never had the spring to make the singleator push down, so up it was. This didn't yield enough tension, but seem to do ok for the time being.

So about 90 minutes after we started, it was time for the maiden voyage. We took to the streets and started uphill. He was exhilarated and at once was a big fan. We rode several rolling hills before heading out to the main road and pushing on towards the bar. While pushing hard he dropped the chain a couple of times, which was to be expected with the slack tension we got, but will soon be fixed (well not fixed, but not broken).

I was pushing my old 70's Fuji bike I turned into a 27" wheeled fixed gear cross bike. Pushing a 53x16 made for slow going on the hills, but super easy cruising on the downs and flats.

We got to Iota's Bar and Cafe fairly quick and started in on the IPAs. We met up with Gary, Melinda, and Matt (who's girl showed up a little later). Kristin showed up pretty late after going to a wine tasting thing in Alexandria with her girls. It was open mic night and there were definitely some bombs, with one or two good acts. Around 12:30 people started filtering out. Kristin and Jon kept the AOL hate alive and didn't disappoint with more outrageous work stories.

Soon it was time to head off into the night. Threw on the lid and led light and we rolled back to Jon's place. There I gave him my ENO eccentric rear wheel to try out and see if that solves his tension problem. Then it was back in the car for the drive home. Late night, but good riding and glad Jon finally has a singlespeed.

DT
posted by DT at 3:44:46 PM
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Snowshoe Pic  
They sent out the photo site that was taking pics on the trail for Snowshoe. There are a few pics of Team SweetCheeks taking the podium in the Awards section, but this was the only pic I found of myself while actually riding.

Anybody know where esle people are posting photos?

DT
posted by DT at 1:19:34 PM
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Easy Ride  
Tuesday night I rode with Gary. Last minute decision, but I was tired of work and really needed to ride. Left early and headed for home, packing up all my stuff and loaded up the bike. Met him at the Wakefield recycling bins and headed out. We decided to do one of the laps of the W@W races.

We took it at a fairly easy pace and took about 40 minutes or so to do the lap, taking the time to stop and discuss the finer points of the Halo headband and other gear. I also made sure Gary knew all the spots where I get passed on during the race...there are quite a few.

We got back to the parking lot around 6pm and decided to hit the creek trail. Gary didn't want to do the bowl - that damn hill right? We made sure to hit all the logs and have some fun, got to the end and turned around and rode the same way back. Just before the creek we ran into a guy and his dog looking for another rider. Said eveything was cool, but he was getting ready to jump the bank of the creek and didn't want anyone watching. Told him it wasn't real hard, just pull up and then proceeded to jump it and keep riding. Gary followed me, but on the trail. As we get about 30 yards down the trail and start around a corner we hear him wreck. We turn and look to make sure he is ok and Gary says he sees him standing up again so it must not have been too bad, he said he was cool so we kept on going.

Back to the parking lot and the beginner ride is just getting ready to start. Gary joins them and I head for home. Glad I got out there, even for a short time.

DT
posted by DT at 12:38:38 PM
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The Adventure  
It started out being a last minute thrown together ride since I wanted to do a long ride this past weekend and MORE needed some ride leaders. Thus I became a MORE ride leader for a longer than usual ride. I put out the word to try and drum up some of the usual riders for the Reston area and maybe a few MD'ers who were looking to do some longer riding in an area they don't usually ride. But no response from anyone and it ended up just being my friend Matt and I. Oh well, no worries - just means we can take our time since Matt isn't exactly your everyday avid mountain biker (I think this may have been his first time on the bike in months).

We arrived at the ice rink about around 9:50am and proceeded to change out Matt's flat rear tire, received as a drunken debacle from his roommate a few weeks earlier. After that we did a check on the bike to make sure everything was tight and working and lubed the chain. Still no one so we head on out around 10:30am and jump onto the trail leading down into Lake Fairfax Park. For the most part the trail was dry and fast. We ran into several downed trees though just on the way to the soccer fields. The past few storms in the area have been pretty violent and there is evidence everywhere. The good news is that the creek crossings have dried out compared to how they used to look. There used to be several inches of mud, but now there might only be a covering of thin mud here and there.

We climbed up the first big hills and were rewarded with a fast flowing downhill, right into the bridge MORE built earlier in the season. The bridge will be going away eventually and a bigger, wider bridge with side arms will be replacing it. Just haven't had time to rally enough troops in order to pull the old bridge out. After some more climbing we arrive at the soccer fields, passing by the games going on. Tons of people hanging out watching, made me think back to my soccer days - then the breaking of all the bones in my ankle comes flooding back...we duck back into the trail and ride through a quick rocky section before hitting the small dirt jumps (small = 1-2 ft.). Then we cruise the downhill and cross the creek before we are stopped and off the bikes to crawl under some more trees. This particular area has been hit really hard in the past year. Several trees in the 4+ft. round range have fallen directly over the trail. The problem seems to be these huge trees are growing out of the steep hillside and all the rain we have gotten in the past two years has been enough to loosen the soil around the roots.

After passing under the trees, we made our way back across the creek and did a section of trail that MORE recovered last season. It's singletrack that leads to a tight and steep switchback. I have still yet to make the switchback. We then pop out at the back of the cricket fields and jump onto a gravel service road that will take us out of Lake Fairfax Park proper and into the unmanaged Lake Fairfax trails across Hunters Mill Rd. We cross the road and continue on the wide trail system until we pass out of the park and cross Rt.7 and ride past the dumping station. It's been a long time since I've ridden this section of trail and I don't quite remember it (yea, it's been that long).

Once we hit the trail though it starts to come back to me. We ride along the gravel trail for a bit until and weave in between communities. Finally we are back on dirt singletrack and headed for a dam. This is one of those low underwater dams with mini telephone poles in it for walking across. The water isn't so deep that you can't ride across it, but you do have to be careful not to have your tires slide out, because the flowing water will push you over. We both made it over without incident. More singletrack and around a curve where there is a trail wide puddle and several cut away tree sections down the middle for hikers. I tried to ride it, but the first one was well over a foot off the ground and making the transition of dropping my front wheel down to the next stump, which was considerably lower and the addition of trying to bring my rear wheel up high enough to get on the previous stump turned out to be disastrous. I almost pulled it off, but had my weight the wrong way and lost balance. Splash! Fell off the stumps to the left in slow motion into the the thick mud that lay under the 2" of water. Time for the first break...

After cleaning myself off and being friendly to a few people who passed, Matt noticed not a single biker had asked if I was ok, but a lone jogger stopped to make sure. It happens a lot these days, not sure if it's just being caught up in the moment of riding or what, but I find a great deal of the people I pass by on the trails either make no effort to give a friendly hello and most of those don't even return a nod or even look at me when I ask how's it going or say hi.

Back to the trail, we continue on. Now the singletrack is starting to get a little more technical and we are approaching the river. We pass some big boys on full suspension bikes going the opposite way. They had passed us when I was cleaning off the mud, only this time they were more friendly - asking how the hell do they get to Great Falls. As far as I knew you just stay on the trail and it leads you right there, but they said the trail narrowed up ahead and got real rocky. Told them they were welcome to follow me, but they decided to head back as it was time for lunch. We rode on, following the river and crossing a street where the trail got a lot more sandy. The trail gets quite fluid here and carves up and down the hill passing within feet of people's property. Interesting mix of houses over there. Finally we get to the narrowing of the trail, which wasn't so narrow it was unrideable, it was just true singletrack. The rocky bits were a nice technical treat, although exposure led us to walk a section instead of falling into the water. Rode underneath an overpass only to be stopped by a 4+ ft. tree blocking the trail. I gave it a go, but didn't make it to the top of it before falling backwards. Oh well, maybe next time.

At this point we stop for a maintenance break to fix Matt's front brake. Due to my mechanical ineptitude (how quickly one forgets how to work on v-brakes when they go disc) it took longer than expected, but I did solve the problem of the rubbing brakes. Just a bit farther down the trail we came to the river crossing. We decided on the deep section, which was around mid-thigh. I tried to ride it, but only made it half way before having to step off, no momentum to keep me going. Matt walked being he had the cell phones. Finally we are at the Difficult Run parking lot. We discuss our options and decide to follow the river down around the point and climb the hill.

This is the most crowded section of trail. Lots of beginner bikers on the service road and lots of hikers with kids on the trails. being polite in these situations goes a long way towards trail diplomacy so we kept the speeds down and didn't push it until we hit the big hill. We climbed to the top then took a left and headed up even higher. We finally hit the top and you could see the nice views if you peeked through all the green foliage. This put us back onto another service road where a group of service vehicles must have been practicing driving up the roads as they seemed to be moving quite slow and in too good of a mood to be rescueing someone.

Here I my first trail mistake. Instead of taking the carriage trail down into Great Falls I took a trail that crosses the carriage road and actually takes you to the paved entrance to Great Falls. I didn't know until I saw the sign that if you don't have a car, it's still something like $3 to enter per person. Most of this had been downhill, so now there was nothing left to do, but turn around and ride uphill all the way back to the carriage road. We turned back onto the carriage road and sped quickly downhill and into the Great Falls Park, FREE of charge.

We stopped at the rocks to watch the kayakers play in the white water and decided this would be our half way point as it had taken us roughly 2 hours up to this point. We sat on the rocks, took some photos, ate our Cliff Bars and let our shoes/socks dry. After about 20 minutes of this we headed off for home. Matt started to cramp a little in the end, but we put down a faster pace going home than we did on the way out. We hit most of the same trails on the way back, but this time a lot more of it was uphill it seemed. My favorite is the very last hill leading to the parking lot. I call it the trifecta - it's one hill, but is has 3 different grades to it, gradual, steep, and steeper. Once at the parking lot, we packed up, headed back to my house, cracked a few beers and put the steaks on the grill.

The ride probably could be done in 2:30 riding fast and without any breaks, but we took it easy and had a good time and did it in just under 4 hours. It made the steaks and beer oh so worth it!

DT
posted by DT at 3:25:57 PM
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Reston Ride  
So I'm leading a ride tomorrow (Saturday) morning. I'm really just looking to put in a lot of time on the saddle so I'm expecting a good 4 hour ride. The idea is not so much killer terrain, although it's not easy, but just putting in the hours. It's been awhile since I rode for more than 2:30 hours at once.

I haven't mapped it out yet, but it should go something like this:

Meet at Reston Ice Rink @ 10am
Colt's Neck through Lake Fairfax Park to Rt.7 ->
Cross Rt.7 and pick up the Difficult Run trail
Difficult Run up to Great Falls ->
Great Falls to Riverbend Park.

Probably do a loop of the Riverbend singletrack and then head back the way we came, finally climbing back up to the ice rink. No clue how many miles it is or how long it will really take, but I'm guessing it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 hours. Wonder if I might be able to grab a GPS unit from someone to map it out...

DT
posted by DT at 5:14:26 PM
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Blogging Central  
I just figured out that Single Speed Outlaw put a link in his blog to my blog. Thanks! If you came from there, your probably going to want to read from the archives my 24 Hours of Snowshoe Race Report. Feel free to leave a comment about our sweet cheeks...

Granted not all of us can throw a Singlespeed Punk Bike Enduro like the master, but for some more interesting blog reading check out Gwadzilla - fellow teammate and one of the reasons I started blogging regularly again. A lot of bike related stuff, but also a great deal about life in general. Rant-O-Riffic is Gary's first attempt at blogging and he has been posting some pretty good rants about the area in general with some gratuitous biking put in so I'll read it, ha. New on the block is my boy Chance Young, hosting his 1x8 of Hate site. Lots of good riding there. Finally, a totally non biking blog, but I'm inspired to post it after seeing his movie - Michael Moore. Even if you hate him or don't agree with his politics, the movie is still an eye opener and his movie was run over by the fact checkers from the New Yorker - hey, draw your own conclusions and go for a long bike ride afterwards...

DT
posted by DT at 4:33:51 PM
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W@W #3  
It was another of those rush to the races day. I got out of work late again, you know when your boss starts talking to you right at 5pm when your already late to get out the door...well 5:15pm rolls around and I'm finally heading for the stairwell. I had plans to leave work at 4:30pm so I could switch out my rear tire, look over my bike and tighten bolts and whatnot, and get a warm-up in, but that obviously wasn't going to happen.

I changed into my bike clothes, put the bike together, and ride over to registration and get registered. I hit the starting line with one minute to go before race start. Before I know it we're off up the gravel service road and onto the singletrack course that has been the same for all the races. At this point I can already tell I'm slow. I'm not sure if everyone is just really moving or if I'm dying in the back. I make it up the first steep hill riding as usual and immediately start to slow down for some recovery without slowing so much people pass. This all changes as the short steep ups and downs take their toll and I'm relegated to very slow mashing or running/walking. By the time we hit the powerline section, I'm drenched in sweat. In fact I can't remember sweating this much in any past race. I'm not sure if it's the heat or the humidity, but I just feel drained.

I have borrowed a pair of gloves from Lee Diehr , who happen to have an extra pair of fingerless gloves. I was sweating so much that I actually had trouble pulling my brake levers without my fingers slipping off. At one point on the powerline downhill in the 3rd lap, I was riding one handed and on the verge of my control limits, because my right hand slid completely off the bar from the jarring downhill.

Not much else to report other than I was in a battle with 2 other guys in my class going into the 3rd lap, but they just pulled away from me and I never saw them again. It was my turn to pull the coveted DFL award. But I will return next Wednesday and put forth my best effort again and we will see how it all plays out.

Good and bad things about this race:
1) New sunglasses from Gary rocked and kept all the crap out of my eyes, at least until the sweat started pouring down and the burning started.
2) The Kharma rear tire actually worked quite well during the race.
3) The adrenaline rush that came from the one handed powerline downhill lit a fire under me to finish the race strong...now if only the whole race was like that one section.

DT

posted by DT at 12:47:38 PM
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Race Musings  
Well it's official, all my training has brought me full circle. I managed to go from DFL at the first race of the season at Greenbrier, to middle of the pack in the local races, to a 3rd place podium visit at 24 Hours of Snowshoe, then back to the middle/back of the pack at the locals, only now to pull in DFL at the 3rd Wakefield race. It's been a nice rollercoaster ride.

I am under the impression that I will never be very fast in the scheme of racing. I'm fine with that and it's actually never been that big of a deal. My only true goal in racing this year was to finish the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon in under 4 hours, which I completed in 3:52. The podium visit at Snowshoe was an added bonus and mostly due to the tremendous effort put in by my other three teammates.

I am forever grateful to City Bikes, who sponsors me in my racing endeavors and does not require minimum results. My only requirements are that I should try to race 10-12 races a season and also help with four or more volunteer opportunities, whether that be MORE trail maintenance, supervising bike rodeos, fitting helmets to kids, helping Eric Welp down at Chain Reaction, or participating in Bike-To-Work Day. The team has given me the opportunity to test myself each and every race, not that I couldn't test myself before, but there is a certain pride that comes from being on a team. Your teammates cheer you on as you pass by, rather than trying to do it all on your own. It's amazing what strength can be pulled from the reserves when you see a teammate or friend cheering you on.

So if I'm not very good at it - dead slow in fact - then why do I do it? It's definitely not the t-shirt I get, ha. Why, because I do enjoy it and just finishing is satisfaction enough for me. I make sure I have fun each and every time I take the course. I enjoy the people I race with, yes, the people. The local race scene in the area is quite amazing. We have some of the fastest people around and yet they all are very down to earth people. There are those jerks, like in every race, but none of the people I have bonded with come close to that level. We all share one common thing - we like to ride our bikes! You can see in each racer that biking is a passion. Many of these people commute by bike to work, heck that's part of their training. They live and breath bikes.

Racing makes me a better rider. Learning to ride a section of trail is one thing, learning to ride it going full speed, lungs bursting and head exploding, is completely another.

Not sure exactly why I wrote this. I'm not trying to justify my racing or my being dead slow to anyone. I guess it was just a question I was asking myself last night and needed to be put down. In any case, if you haven't had a chance to race, try it. It might not be for you or you might only like certain race series (I definitely enjoy the longer races that do a loop instead of laps) or you might even find you enjoy spectating better, but it's just another aspect to riding a bike that's worth checking out.

On that note, there isn't any racing going on this weekend. Well there is the 18 Hours of Poor Farm, but I won't be attending that. Instead I think I'll try to put in an easy paced epic sort of ride...any suggestions?

DT
posted by DT at 12:05:37 PM
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Conway Robinson  
So one of my goals this year is to get out and ride more areas that I have yet to ride. Still working to get up into the MD area more, but it's hard with traffic. I do make it a point to try and make any special MORE rides though, which has helped me get to Schaeffer, Gambrill, and the Frederick Watershed more often. I had an opportunity this past weekend to do a fun little ride just past Manassas, off 66, in a state park called Conway Robinson.

There isn't a ton of trail, about 7 miles total, and it's got next to none as far as hills go, but it was a blast anyway. On the ride down from Falls Church there was the threat of rain. As I crested a hill on 66 before getting to Centerville, the sky grew dark almost immediately and then the flood gates opened. People slowed to 20mph, because the rain was so relentless. I kept thinking to myself - this is the type of rain that causes flash flooding. Another 5 minutes down the road and the rain had all but stopped. I pull into the lot and we discuss our options for riding. The rain was heavy, but quick and the trails seem ok. So with an executive decision made by the trail liaison and MORE prez, we decided to give it a go and I'm glad we did.

I've been pretty good about not riding trails in the rain so I won't contribute to the rampant trail destruction that goes on in the area. It limits when and where you can ride, but hopefully I'm keeping the trails in better condition for the future. So I was surprised when I found the trails to be rock hard and no mud in sight. There were a few standing water puddles, but even then they weren't muddy. Seems as though these trails will hold up great in the rain, as long as it isn't several continuous days of it.

Being fairly flat we moved along at a good pace, but kept it relative since there was a new rider among the group, his first time off-road. We got the grand tour, lots of logs and clean tight singletrack. We tested out a new section of trail that is currently an out and back until it's finished. Nice rock gardens keep you on your toes and there seems to be an abundance of rocks and whatnot ready to be used for freeride. We each tried a rocky, rooty, tight switchback on the way back out and I don't believe anyone fully cleared it. It was tough and I thought I might have an advantage after recently doing Snowshoe, but I managed to twist my feet out of the pedals each time.

We mixed service road with singletrack to loop everything together. We rode past a section and were informed to stay to the left if we wanted to try the freeride addition. It was small and only one piece to what will be a growing puzzle. They currently have small tree branches about an inch thick cut to about 10" wide and have nailed them leading up to a downed tree, going across the tree, and eventually at the end you can bail out on another tree branch ramp down to the right or you can wheelie drop it to the left. My first time I took the ramp as everything was wet and I had no clue what the drop off looked like. It was a little sketchy being wet, but a lot of fun. I decided to go back and try it again. Started out with a little slip on the up ramp, but recovered and straightened out, rode along the tree and then dropped off to the left. The grass is pretty high to the left and there must have been some small branches in the grass as my wheels hit and slid. The bike fell from under me, but only after I had managed to land so I just rolled off the bike so I wouldn't slip with it. It was a fun experience and I can see how they have a lot of room to grown. Lots of downed trees will make up a network and bring together a nice freeride park. Really looking forward to it.

We then headed back out on more singletrack. Making sure we stopped and had a go at a dab/no dab rock garden. It was of course between the old man Scud and myself. I love talking trash to him so he gets all worked up. I only hope I'm still biking at 53, much less doing what he does on a weekly basis. He is an amazing individual.

After that we headed back out to the parking lot. It was time to drive home and begin the rest of my 4th of July activities. This included a lot of talking and a lot of sitting, so I was happy to get out and ride in the morning. Sets you up to have a nice day!

DT
posted by DT at 12:23:40 PM
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W@W #2  
I knew it was going to be a long race for me. It's less than an hour long, but with all the racing I have been doing this month I was having a hard time getting excited. I rolled into the parking lot around 5:30pm, changed into my bikewear, and set off swapping my Crank Brothers pedal that finally came in and was the right one. Finally it went on quick and without issue. Rolled up to the registration tent and put my name down for the singlespeed class only minutes before the race was to start. As I spun down the service road to the starting line, I followed a girl junior racer who couldn't have been more than 8, extremely impressive. Took the downhill speed like a champ.

As I entered the lineup, we had less than a minute until race time. Vince counted us down and soon we were all climbing back up the loose rock service road and a quick left before ducking into the singletrack next to the power station. It's here that I'm already noticing my first disadvantage - lack of sunglasses. The dust was something fierce. For the first time in awhile we haven't had rain every other day and it made for super dry conditions. The dust made it hard to see and keep my line and my eyes were definitely hurting by the end. I'm happy to head back into the creek trail area as it's not as dusty since the sand doesn't float around in the air. We head into the racetrack area and I'm remembering the course setup from last week and charging the climbs. I can feel my tired legs trying to pull me up the hills when we finally push out to the power lines uphill. Joe Foley and I are conversating, mostly him making fun of me for having to stand on the uphill, but that all ends as I plow through the downhill at an almost out of control speed. Fast enough that I almost can't make the turn to cross the creek, but with a little force I cruise across the rocks and jump onto the 495 singletrack. This section brings back memories of Snowshoe, not for the mud, but there are a ton of roots and large corduroy that just ruin the flow of the trail. I push on and up past the power station. As I emerge from the woods I believe Joe passes me as I'm kind of spent and not really down for an all out sprint to start my 2nd lap.

I pass the start/finish line fairly tired and put the bike into a neat little controlled drift to line up with the next bit of singletrack. In the middle of the drift I lose the rear wheel in the gravel and go down hard and unexpectedly. So quick I'm still holding onto the bars and plow my right shoulder and head directly into the side of the hill. I pop up quick, but I have to take almost a minute to compose myself and get feeling back in my shoulder as I must have hit a nerve or something. This set me up to be what was my worst lap. It was a tired and labored lap with lots of shoulder checking. I had a nice weird tingle that became more of an itching as I rode. The shoulder got sore just before I started climbing and made pulling up on the bars for leverage that much harder. It was late in this lap that I got passed by another singlespeeder and knew I had to put the shoulder out of my head. So I hunkered down and kept close to the guy who passed me. I was right on his wheel as we came up the hill next to the power station and he couldn't make the hill and I run into his wheel. Quickly off the bike I run around him and sprint to the singletrack. This time I sprint into my 3rd lap and take the first turn much wider than last time - no problems what so ever except that I'm behind some technically slower riders going into the twisty stuff.

I'm able to find a couple of spots to pass and keep on rolling, keeping my speed up. I can feel the guy behind me so I start pushing harder and really get down to business on all the hills inside the racetrack area. On the final hill in the powerline section I get passed by what I thought was him, turned out to be a geary just wearing a red jersey like the other guy. Doesn't matter though, I make it my new plan to stay with him. Moving through the 495 trails I am able to pass him and two more gear riders and finish off with a sprint to the line.

I'm pretty spent afterwards, happy with my first lap performance and semi-happy with my third. Totally disappointed with my second where I lost major time (1:30 is major in such a short race) that put me out of the pack. The results show me at 16th out of 19.

Things I learned in this race:
1)I don't like the Kenda Kharma DTC 2.0 in the rear for dusty dry conditions OR on loose gravel. It just seemed to spin too much and lose traction too often.
2)Need glasses to block the dust. Makes following someone on a downhill oh so more pleasant.
3)I really should eat a gel or something while sitting at the starting line. I'm sure my crash had a lot to do with it, but I still just felt physically worn on my second lap.

Looking forward to resting up and doing some non-race rides. Friday is my birthday so maybe I'll take off early and do some solo stuff.

DT
posted by DT at 10:59:59 AM
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Recovery Ride  
Tuesday was my first ride since the Snowshoe race. I felt good just out of the parking lot, but my legs soon showed how tired they were. I labored up the climbs at Wakefield and could feel the dead weight. It was a quick spin of only about 45 minutes or so, but the legs showed they weren't quite recovered yet and I knew with another race the next day I shouldn't force them into work. So back home it was to play with the Busterman.

DT
posted by DT at 10:55:57 AM
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