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

Ocean City  
Friday night Kristin and I drove through DC traffic, Baltimore traffic, beach traffic, and what looked like a deadly SUV/small car crash on Rt.50, which required backtracking in stop and go traffic to jump on a side road for more stop and go until your past the accident...but damnit, we made dinner with my family at the beach. Never again.

After eating some fatboy deluxe seafood alfredo, we figured the next morning (Saturday) would be a bright and early 8am bike ride on the boardwalk. My brother and his wife on their sweet olive colored Treks (Petra's with sweet purple bits), my parents on their newly acquired singlespeed beach cruisers (Dad's all black and Mom's a nice shade of blue witht the drop top tube making it easier to step into), and Kristin and I (the red Giant Boulder and I.F.). Great ride, did the whole boardwalk, first riding to the end down by the pier and then all the way to where it ends at 22nd St. Then rode back to the cars as bikes are only allowed on the boardwalk until 10:00am. Totally cool being able to ride with (almost) your whole family (Susan and Craig had to work).

After riding we hit Breakfast Bills for some much needed carbo loading - waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, birch beer...mmm good.

DT

posted by DT at 8:53:15 AM
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Maine Pics  
Finally got around to pulling the photos off the camera. Not a lot of them as I was busy riding...

Most of the time I just rode and one of the rides during the week, Hinckly, I didn't take any pictures. Just means there was a lot of better pictures to be taken while riding, just not by me as I was enjoying the trails too much!

Maine Album - August 11-19, 2004



DT

posted by DT at 12:01:56 PM
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MORE Thursday Night Ride  
So for the first time in probably a year, I hit up the Thursday night Wakefield/Accotink ride with the MORE crew. I started doing this ride awhile ago, but it was just too fast paced for me and I ended up getting dropped everytime I went out there. Not a bad thing, it just kind of sucked to do an 90 minute solo ride after getting dropped 15 minutes into a group ride...

Anyway, MORE has done a great job of offering more speed/skill levels. They now have a beginner ride sponsored by The Bike Lane, an intermediate ride that is more fast paced and has a lot less stopping, and then finally they have the race pace hammer till you die session where there isn't any stopping and your riding at full throttle 100% of the time (usually consists of the guys that are good enough to enter a race in the singlespeed and expert categories...in the same race). I chose to ride with the intermediate group led by Wes.

Wes did a great job leading. We kept up a nice fast pace, but not so fast we were dropping people, since that's the goal to NOT drop people. We first did the Wakefield side, staying away from the Bowl area and sticking mostly to the race track area and the creek trail. From there we sprinted over to the Accotink side and hit the singletrack leading to the natural gas plant. From there it was just a lot of crisscrossing singletrack until just before we get to the dam. This is where the group finally split up. We took turns going over a big downed tree that had been ramped up a bit, made it over in both directions. Then most of the group decided to hit the Cinder trail around the lake to get back to the parking lot as the sun was down and it was growing increasingly darker as the minutes ticked by. 3 of us, Stoner, Billy, and I, decided to take our chances and ride the singletrack back. We kept up a pretty fast pace and didn't stop except to pick the trail line we wanted. We tried to take the most direct route and keep near the railroad line for the extra light that would seep in. We cruised back and popped out onto the Cinder trail and then out through the neighborhoods to cross the creek and back onto the Cinder trail again. Another couple minutes of fast spinning and we were in the parking lot and the overhead lights were on. It was pretty much totally dark on the last section of Cinder we rode on. We still managed to get back before the rest of the group made it back.

Took some time to hang out and chat a bit, but then hit the road back to the house where the girl was waiting. Definitely prefer the faster stuff with fewer stops than the race pace or beginner rides, have to see if I can work more of those in.

DT

posted by DT at 11:07:25 AM
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Busting the Cherry  
Last night I was thinking of doing a ride out in Reston at Colt's Neck, but then decided to give my friend a call. He just got a bike on Sunday evening and I thought it might be fun to give him a quick tour of Wakefield. We met up at the parking lot and headed out around 7:45pm.

First we headed over to the creek trail and zipped around that a bit, before cutting over to the race track trails. Did a little tour of singletrack before finally heading uphill. At the top it was then time to head down into the hairpin and go back up. He did great, just needs to get his bike lungs by riding more.

We then headed down the out and back section of the powerlines, back up to the top and down the dusty downhill. By this time it was getting pretty dark outside, so I decided to take one last piece of singletrack next to 495 before popping back out onto the service road. From there it was just a quick jaunt back to the cars.

We did about 45 minutes of riding, nothing too hard, but we didn't stop too much. Glad to see another previously non-bike owning friend hitting the trails!

DT

posted by DT at 10:37:49 AM
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Boss Is Gone!  
So the boss has been in the Columbia, MD office all week and will be there until Thursday morning. With the sun a shining and Chance talking up a mid-day ride, it only seemed proper to ditch for a few hours.

Got the call around 10:30am that things were a go and Chance would probably be leaving with Mark around 11:00am, but that turned into more like noon. I just chilled at work until it was time to head out. Jumped on the beltway, hit Rt.4 and over to 301. 35 minutes later I'm sitting in the parking lot of Rosaryville State Park where Todd Brooks and fellow MORE members have recently opened a whole bunch of new singletrack to play on.

Rosaryville is great because it's a lot like Schaeffer Farms, only it has a lot more hills and it's about 20 minutes closer to me. We saddled up and headed out on the trail in the counter-clockwise direction. I have previously (one time) only ridden this trail in the clockwise direction. Getting into the trails you immediately notice the sweet singletrack and the great job Rich Edwards did with the mechanized trail building on the bench cuts. We were able to get in lots of swoopy flowing singletrack before getting a little off track and riding up a huge hill that looks more like a fall line trail that is only used by horses. Definitely put the hurting on me, not just because of the hill, but there are spiderwebs crisscrossing the trail like nobody's business. The last thing you want to be doing is riding with one hand, uphill, pulling spiderwebs off of you and pushing the spiders back down to the ground.

The trail rides like it is directly out of the IMBA handbook. The rolling dips are textbook and provide some nice air. We ran into one other biker going the opposite way and 2 hikers with their dogs who were super friendly and live close to the trails.

All in all a great trail riding day. I got to see and ride some of my own handywork and it felt good. We all decided that riding counter-clockwise is probably preferable to riding clockwise because the way we went we rode the swoopy switchback uphills as opposed to the straight up wall hills. A lot of our downhills were straight lines and superfast. We also didn't have to climb the powerline hill, just down it. We ended up probably doing a little over 7 miles and then headed out for slurpees...mmm...

Now it's back to work, gotta make up some time.

DT

posted by DT at 4:36:31 PM
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Accotink Monday Night Ride  
Being the weather was so nice on Monday and I was stuck in work all day after a nice long vacation, I hit up the Monday night intermediate MORE/DCAMB ride at Wakefield/Accotink. We started pretty close to the 6:30pm starting time and headed straight over to the Accotink side of the park. A quick spin through the parking lots and out the gravel paths, cross the bridge and up the hill switchback and into the neighborhood. Pass the school and shoot through the cul-de-sac and back up onto the gravel path. Just a little farther and we are finally taking a left onto the singletrack and heading into the woods.

Mark was leading on his Specialized dualie and I was just floating along with the group. The first half of the ride was nice, people weren't tired and we were able to keep riding and not stop as much as usual. Mark knows the Accotink trails like the back of his hand and I was able to hit a ton of singletrack I don't think I've ever ridden before. As we got farther into the ride we gained 2 people and then gained another 2 people. The new people coupled with some people in the original 10 person group starting to get a little tired, coupled with a couple of flat tires, made for a lot more stop and go action. I resigned myself to take up the sweep position since I don't mind riding slow if we are going to be stopping at the top of every hill anyway. Nothing like slow riding to really bring out the technique and to make you have to work to get up that hill without any momentum.

Made it back to the parking lot just as darkness was creeping over the forest. Glad I showed up to ride as I got to catch up with some peeps I haven't seen in a few weeks and was able to get schooled on the singletrack from Mark.

DT

posted by DT at 4:23:30 PM
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Maine-ly Questions Answered  
Ok, so to answer more questions about the riding in Maine - yes they have racing. It looks like they had 8 races this year, details at MMBA. Just from a quick glance at the schedule I see a race in Gorham and one in Biddeford, both are within 30 minutes of downtown Portland. I just missed the Biddeford race, it's going down this weekend. Would have really liked to get one in while I was there, everyone I rode with was in great shape and their trail knowledge probably would have put me to shame, but it would have been fun.

As far as singlespeed culture, I didn't ride with any. Looking at the schedule again though, it doesn't look like they offer a singlespeed class, but they do have a race called "Lake George Mountain Bike Challenge & 2nd Annual New England Single-Speed Championship - Canaan", which sounds like fun. I'll be in WV the weekend it goes off though. Almost hooked up with a guy who rides a converted Merlin, but just couldn't get it in, too much going on. He was heading down to Mt.A, which evidently is the best trail in Southern Maine. Something like 30 miles of singletrack, enough to get lost for hours and a compass is recommended.

That also gives you an idea of how varied the trails are. I rode everything from flat loamy singletrack to wide powerline fire road to sweet curvacios rocky technical hills. So yea - hills, they got them, extended climbs - yep, singletrack - you better believe it. I have some pictures I still need to pull off the camera, but they should give you an idea of how varied the terrain is up there. Trails are very much like the DC area, only the people are more relaxed and just have a different pace of life. I mean really - how often are you offered donuts when riding down the street to a trailhead...

Southern Maine is also the home of Bath Cycle and Ski, also known to us online savy people as Bikeman. Great online deals, not to mention a great local shop that sponsors the local riding/advocacy group and helps sponsor races.

If you couldn't tell I was impressed with the riding, people, and support up there. Portland is big enough to give the city life, but small enough that you can get out of the city on your lunch break for a ride - that's my kind of town.

DT

posted by DT at 9:43:32 AM
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Mountain Biking in Maine  
If your going to be in Southern Maine anytime be sure to bring along the bike. The riding up there is every bit as good as the DC area, only their trails are closer to the city, sometimes going right through the city. The best place to find out info is the local club there - Rage on Portland who also has a Yahoo group called Mainiacs. There is also another Yahoo group called Trailmixmtb, which is pretty close to the Mainiacs site. It's kind of like the DCAMB and MORE - many of the DCAMBer's are MORE members, but not everyone - good to have diversity and a uniting force.

Anyway, if you make it up there, definitely check them out. The people were totally friendly and were very accommodating. They don't really have the access issues up there that we have down and here and it shows, quite the refreshing change.

Oh and another tip, if your driving, go up through the night. If you can drive and stay awake, it's a much more relaxing and totally faster way to get there.

DT

posted by DT at 12:52:51 PM
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Wednesday - 8.18.2004  
Rode some trails about 5 minutes outside Portland, ME with only Avram this time. We started at the Hannaford parking lot in West Falmouth and did a mile road ride from the lot and through some neighborhood streets. We were offered donuts from a young lady who was getting ready to get in her car and drive her mother somewhere. A very generous offer and very tempting since I didn't eat any breakfast, but we say thanks and continue to ride to the trails. We bust a left onto the trail and it immediately starts climbing on a steep pitch, which would set the mood for the day, climbing, climbing, and more climbing. After the fairly short, but steep hill littered with rocks we turn right and head out on some rolling singletrack.

The easy singletrack didn't last long. Before I knew it we were rolling back uphill. The hills here are really rocky and really long, great training for the SM100. I was actually surprised by how big the hills were. It had been almost a week since the ride last Friday and there was a hell of a lot of drinking going on over the weekend. These long rocky uphills consisted of some wide doubltrack, some powerline service road stuff, and some tight flowing singletrack. The powerline stuff was really steep, but the hills were great and provided some miraculous views.

After some powerline stuff and some singletrack we hit a section called Sisters. Sisters is named after the pair of hills you have to climb over back to back. It may look like a few "rolling" hills, but their steep as hell and littered with babyheads. Picking the right line is essential! Avram made it all the way to the top, but I was stopped cold many a times by the wrong line and a wayward babyhead. At the top Avram told me that was his first time ever making it up both sisters without stopping and I could see how excited he was, one of the many reasons I ride. I then hear how Avram is in the best shape of his life and he just turned 50!

This was pretty much the whole ride. We climbed for long periods of time where Avram would kick my butt and wait for me at the top. The reward - some nice twisty flowing doubletrack downhill, before cutting back into some wooded singletrack. Amazing the amount of climbing we did not only in Maine, but only a couple of minutes outside the city.

I didn't feel real motivated or energized for a large portion of the ride, but that could have been due to no breakfast and the amount of fried food and alcohol that had been consumed the last few days. I felt much better by the end, but definitely tired and worked. My right knee was actually a little sore while doing seated climbing, which I didn't realize my mistake until the end of the ride - I tightened my chain before the ride, but when I did I moved the bottom bracket to the top position of the eccentric, which basically raises the cranks. I then totally forget to adjust me seat and was sitting too low. Not enough to notice right away, but sure enough once I started doing those long climbs, position was essential.

Between this ride and the rest of the days activities - going to the pier to eat fries, pizza, play Simpsons pinball, and watch all the freaks - the ride home wasn't going to happen through the night this time. It was a long day, so we would have to get up early the next morning and drive through the day...bummer.

DT

posted by DT at 8:55:48 AM
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Friday - 8.13.2004  
Today was my first real good ride in Maine. I rode Hinckly, which is a trail that winds through the woods and in between housing developments. Riding with me was Avram, Alfred, and Alan. Both Alan and Avram started racing beginner vet mens this year and are in great shape. Alfred did really well, but seemed a lot newer to the sport and stayed right on our heels.

We started in a little parking lot called Hinckly Park and this is where I met everyone for the first time. I was running a few minutes late (surprise), but it seemed like they had just started getting their bikes together. Avram had asked what bike I had over the phone and I told him an I.F., but he seemed surprised when I got there mentioning "you didn't tell me it was a singlespeed". I thought it was kind of funny as I didn't even think to include that bit of information. I guess after a couple years of riding only ss, it's no longer a singlespeed, it's just "my bike". Honestly right now, it's a big deal to me when I say "yea, it's an I.F." for the simple reason they make a great bike and it was something that was previously unobtainable, only made possible by the sponsorship by I.F. of the City Bikes team. Everytime I swing a leg over the bike, it put's a big grin on my face. The namesake is part of it, but the grin definitely comes from the sweetest ride I've ever had the pleasure to pedal. Just looking at it on top of the car makes me smile, forget about it once it's on the dirt, because the dirt is all your thinking about and it allows me to do that. Enough rambling about the beautious I.F., back to the ride...

We ran into a lot of standing water, but hardly any mud. Kept us nice and cool, not to mention soaked to the bone. The trails wer in great condition though. We started about 10:30am and rode for 2 hours. Lots of twisty, curvy, flowing singletrack. At one point everyone got tied up and I ended up taking the lead and shouted to the back, "just go straight through the water right?", and the answer came back "yea". After 2 feet of riding across the creek, the bottom fell out and I plunged head first into a deep watery hole. The bike and I were completely submersed under water! Grabbed the bike and climbed up the other side of the creek warning the others of the hole, but it was no good. The next two each tried to take a different line and all were plunged into the murky water. The fourth guy saw the bridge down stream and figured it had been washed away. He walked through the creek after tossing his bike over. It then occurred to me, "crap, the digital camera". Good thing Camelback's are water reistant. I wasn't in long enough for the water to seep in and get the camrea wet, all was working.

We rode on and eventually came to another flooded area where the bridge was gone and ended up doing a hike a bike through tall grass under the power lines. This turned out to be a bad idea, ended up in yellow jacket territory and got stung several times. Hurt like a bitch and considering when I was younger I used to be allergic to them I was lucky I didn't need epinephrin. I think this was because I rolled up my bike shorts on one leg to constrict real tight just above the stings. I got real blotchy around the stings and they itched until almost a week later.

We then headed into a section of singletrack that is located where they did some previous clear cutting. Luckily the trails were still intact and even incorporated some cool rock wall drop-ins.

After the ride, we all talked in the parking lot for a bit and made plans to get in touch after I got back from Rockland, ME for a wedding. Great guys and they were happy to show me around. If anyone is in need of ride partners when headed to Portland, check out Rage on Portland - the local bike group. They also have a yahoo group.

DT

posted by DT at 3:32:00 PM
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Wednesday - 8.11.2004  
We left for Maine around 9:00pm Tuesday night and decided to drive through the night (well I decided to drive through the night). The girl was able to stay up and keep me company through most of the trip, drifting off for an hour or so at a time the second half of the trip. We only stopped once for gas and to let the dog run around and have a bathroom break. All said and done, we pulled into Saco at 5:30am, only 8:30 hours, pretty damn good. Did breakfast with the girl's parents, had some coffee, and then drifted away to sleep in front of the television.

Got up a little before noon and put the rest of my day in motion. Made some posts to some Maine boards and made some phone calls. Turns out the person I had initially setup a 5:00pm ride with had taken a nasty spill on some rocks the night before and would be off the bike for a couple of weeks. With that I turned to the internet and was able to string together some loops from what I found.

I started from the house on Seaside Ave. and rode up to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS), only about a 5 minute spin. Here I ducked into some long straight singletrack known as Atlantic Way. There is probably only 3 miles of trail here, but it's true singletrack, lots of dips and plenty of roots to test your skills. I explored all the singletrack and off shoots (new trail?) before heading out to Bayview Rd. and heading 200 feet down the road to Ferry Beach State Park. Ferry Beach only has about a 1 1/2 miles of trail and it's almost all crushed gravel and wide dirt type of stuff. Not wide enough to get a car down, but wide enough for a wheelchair. What this trail lacked in technicality, it more than made up for in the scenery department. By taking the Greenbrier trail in the park, you end up taking a boardwalk system across the wetlands that make up a special section of park. While your only 4 feet off the ground, it's an amazing experience. The lush green foliage surrounds you and you are submersed in wildlife that cannot be found in the DC area. All the while, you can hear the seagulls from the beach that is only a 100 yards from the exit/entrance of the park.

All said and done I put in an 1:30 of good fast riding, almost all on dirt and for the most part a lot of singletrack, all within a few minutes of the house. I'm told someone has cut 3-4 miles of sweet singletrack on their private land, but I have yet to hear from them.

DT

posted by DT at 3:31:12 PM
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Packing  
Packed up all our stuff last night and it's almost time for vacation! I can't wait to get out of work today and be done for more than a week. I got the kayak and mountain bike on top of the car as we speak. Getting an extra bike tray from Dominic (leads the Tuesday night MORE rides). We were gonna take the girl's bike, but her parents were going to throw away the "John Deere" bike that she used to use so we'll be leaving her usual bike at home and using that bike up there and we'll bring it back with us. It's quite possible this could be her first singlespeed!

So I get outta work tonight and we should be on the road by 8pm and starting our drive to Saco, ME. It's about 5 minutes from Old Orchard Beach and 20 minutes from Portland. The girl's parents live there, right on the bay with their own personal beach space and all. It's quite amazing. We'll probably arrive around 5am as it takes about 9 hours or so to drive it all the way through. Take a quick nap on Wednesday morning and hopefully take in a ride with some locals, if not after lunch, then definitely that evening since the have a group ride planned. The trails are a lot like the DC area, only the temps are cooler and there is no humidity. Can't wait!

After that it will be a juggling act of relaxing on the beach eating lobster rolls, biking the local trails, kayaking or sailing with the captain (girl's dad), and a friends wedding over the weekend (the real reason for the trip in the first place). Can't wait to be on vacation!

If you feel the need to send me inspiring text messages while I'm driving through the night, send it to DmofoT.

DT

posted by DT at 12:14:15 PM
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C&O Canal  
Saturday was a nice easy day. I had planned on taking the girl out on the C&O Canal to do some easy riding since she hasn't been on her bike in months. My thought was to go earlier in the day and then head over to meet up with some guys who were exploring Colt's Neck, figured I could help them out. But we didn't make it to the C&O until noon or so. We parked at Lock 8, which had maybe 3 cars and was only a couple hundred feet down the road from Lock 7, which was packed and even had cars parked in the grass, that makes no sense to me. Who cares if the lot is full, I have an SUV and it can go anywhere so I'll just park my big bohemith on the grass here, at least I'll be saving the whole gallon of gas my SUV would waste getting to the next Lock...

Unpacked the bikes and got the girl rolling. She hates wearing a helmet so I bought her a purple one, she likes it, but still doesn't like wearing a helmet. I say it's an optional thing, because you really don't need a helmet for the type of riding we do on the C&O. No break neck speeds there and nothing to fall on. The way I see it, the worse that can happen is you bike into a runner and you can be sure the runner isn't wearing a helmet. Right to choose and all that, blah blah blah. Anyway, we rode without helmets and it was beautiful out. I used the 1x1 so I wouldn't be spinning as fast as the I.F. We rode from Lock 8 out to Fletcher's Boathouse, used the bathroom and then decided to head back. Most of the conversation on the way back consisted of bike fitting and what we can do to make the girl's bike more comfortable. More specifically her wrists were hurting. I'm thinking a shorter stem as she already has a riser bar and maybe some soft Oury grips.

We ended up doing 10 miles or so - guesstimate. We then headed home and I got to spend some time with Buster playing outside, love that damn dog. So much personality. It's funny cause he emulates his owner, hyperactive at the drop of a hat, yet he could sleep all day...while he is doing one thing, he is often distracted and actually forgets what he was doing...acts big and tough only to have his insecurities flushed out because the wind moved a feather in the grass...ahh good times.

DT

posted by DT at 11:50:27 AM
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Colt's Neck  
On Friday it was freaking beautiful outside. I think it was in the mid 70's, sunny, with a slight breeze pushing through. I took the opportunity to cut work early and head over to Colt's Neck. I figured nobody would be on the trails around 3pm and with the perfect weather one can't lose.

I started out behind the ice rink, saddled up, and then headed down the trail where I received my first surprise - a nice long tree sprawled acros in the trail in mid air. Not rideable due to the branches and the fact it was a couple feet in the air. I had to hit the brakes hard and came to a stop as my tire touched the front of the log, close one. I got off the bike and tried to break the tree a little, but it was too alive and bendy, guess it's life was cut short. Later, back in the parking lot I would warn other riders since the downed tree is at the bottom of the first swooping downhill where speeds can easily reach and exceed 30mph. Pretty much the last thing you want to see when your focused on sticking the line and holding your tires on the loose dirt.

Once past the log it was more trail. It was in pretty good condition considering all the rain as of late. The park has done a pretty good job of clearing downed trees. There is one bad section where a tree went down, huge root ball, and the trail has morphed around it and with all the rain and new trail, it has turned into a big mud pit with standing water. That was no fun. It looks like the park rangers took out the narrow bridge MORE built on our last trail maintenance day. But they did replace it this time, they put in it's place a wider bridge with hand holds, painted a nice red. The area around the bridge is still a little muddy, but nothing like it has been in the past.

Once past the soccer fields and back in the woods, it also seems the rangers took out the 3 trees that had fallen over the trail, so that's good, they seem to be on top of things. The trail from there to the cricket fields was in great shape and not muddy at all. After the cricket fields there were more mud spots, but nothing real wide or deep. A really great trail ride up to Rt.7.

Instead of crossing Rt.7, I headed back into the woods lining the neighborhood there. I was immediately hit with a mud puddle that was quite deep. It was obvious the trail has seen a lot of water and hasn't been ridden a lot lately. That's a good thing and a bad thing - the trail and mud holes didn't have a lot of bike tracks through them making them worse, but the trails were also overgrown with nasty little thorn bushes. One took a nice chunk of finger from me and bled quite a bit - not sure it hurt so much as the shock that a piece of flesh was gone...

This section of trail is still my favorite though. It feels like your riding through the forest in Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas". You enter a section and the light level goes dim, there are these eerie evenly spaced pine trees everywhere and coming in from the bright light everything has a creepy blue hue to it. Very cool, always gets me.

Crossed another road before hooking up with the paved path and then ducking under the overpass and back onto the trails. A little wheelie dropping into a creekbed, but couldn't keep up enough speed after the landing to make it up the far side of the enbankment. Rode across the underwater dam and stopped to let the water rinse the mud from my wheels. Then it was the last push on some really good singletrack (with the exception of some over zealous corduroy) and back out to the W&OD. Stayed to the right and took the crushed gravel path that follows along side the paved path for most of the way.

It amazes me how many roadies were on the paved path of the W&OD. I often hear from people that the path is crowded and that it can be hard to get a good pace, what with all the stopping at roads and dodging people and all. But all they have to do is buy some cross tires to put on their road bike and they could ride a wider path with more rollercoaster hills at a higher resistance and have to deal with less traffic - you can't tell me that wouldn't make you a better rider! The W&OD is NOT a time trial path.

Back at the parking lot I gave out the aformentioned warnings about the tree at the bottom of the first hill, loaded up the bike and headed home. Traffic was surprisingly calm and the ride was a great way to start the weekend.

DT

posted by DT at 10:25:02 AM
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Hashing  
So on the advice of a friend who might be getting into it, I started checking out hashing. If you don't know what hashing is, it's basically running while following a trail of flower that may or may not be the correct trail. Eventually you arrive at a beer check where you drink your fill, then head back out to follow more trail. Most trail is about 3-5 miles long and ends within a 1/4 mile of a bar/pub.

In my search, I also came across bashing, which is of course the biking version of hashing. Seems like it's been a couple of months since they did the last one, but I'm trying to get in touch with the guy who ran the last one to see if another is in the works. If it's not, then it's time to get something in the planning stages. I have no hashing/bashing experience, but plenty of stage racing with drink checks in between. The punk bike enduros are great, but they tend to be in the winter for ultimate punishment.

So yea, anyone interested in trying this out? Could start as a monthly thing, but the hash people do theirs once a week.

DT

posted by DT at 5:05:53 PM
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En Fuego  
It's one hot mother outside right now, with the humidity, it's down right sweaty. So I think today will be the day I try to get to the bike shop and pick up a track cog. Guess I should call to make sure they have one in stock, somehow I doubt Performance carries that particular item...
Been missing the fixie riding for awhile now, so I really need to take care of that. Got me in the mood again while reading over Fearless Gearless and his recent battle with the evil mini-van. Definitely a good read and worth checking out. Makes me wish I could have lived in more places growing up. I traveled a lot, but didn't get to spend much time in any one place and Vancouver sounds like a cool place. Also really like the guys blog and how there is an icon for the type of post, so a bike cog would tell you it's a post about a ride or something to do with biking. Makes it easy to skip around and read what you want.

Just reserved my cabin for the MORE Douthat Camping Trip for Oct.1-3 (actually also Sept.30, but that's for Scud and not me). Sounds like we are taking over this year. All the campsites in campground "A" have been accounted for and I reserved the last two-bedroom cabin, with only five one-bedroom cabins left. Right now it's the girl, the dog, and myself, but I'm sure someone will want to share the cabin and take the other bedroom. The map of where we are staying is here: Douthat State Park and we are cabin 27. Decided to go with the cabin, because the girl isn't the most outdoorsy (hates bugs) and the dog already figured out how to open the tent. Last year was brutal and rocked at the same time. There was this one hill with so many switchbacks I lost count, took over 30 minutes to climb if I remember correctly. Looking forward to this one!

DT

posted by DT at 12:40:21 PM
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Lot's of Rain  
Well not a lot of riding going on this past week/weekend. Lots of rain in the area and even more where I was up in Seneca Falls. Been sticking to the road more and more. Good thing I bought mud flaps for the bike before Snowshoe. Lost one, but still got two others, keeping me from getting the butt stripe when riding in the rain. I can give the Performance waterproof jacket a thumbs up. It keeps the rain out nicely, including around your neck.

Between this past weekends traveling and getting the house together, time for riding has been slim. Took the opportunity to ride last night to/from the City Bikes mountain bike team meeting at Tryst. Still riding the 1x1 as a singlespeed, still haven't had time to get a track cog, and not really enough in the budget right now to build up the fixie wheel I want.

On a totally different note, we seemed to have decided on our housewarming party finally. Saturday, September 4, shall be the date and I'm hoping to do a ride in the morning for anyone who wants to join me. A fantasy football draft during the day was ruled out and that will be in Richmond on Sunday, but we will still have a bbq with all the fixins - I might even smoke something in the smoker (although I've never smoked anything before). Gotta get the final details together, but since it will be Labor Day weekend, it will be a celebration of the American worker, and will be of the "Office Space" theme. You can be sure there will be lots of fun to be had. As always, be sure to expect a bigger and better ice luge, this time hopefully carved with something better than naked chicks and flowers...

DT
posted by DT at 3:25:03 PM
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