DT's Fat Boy Deluxe Blog |
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"It's not that bicycling is so important, it is that everything else is equally unimportant."
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11.30.2004
CCT Exploration
Ok, so it's my plan to get a small group of people together and ride the entire Fairfax CCT. Should be around 40 miles and take us all the way from Great Falls to out near Fountainhead. I want to map it with several GPS, take photos of intersections/turns, note the trail conditions, and anything else I can think of while we are there. The plan is to take it super casual and do it over this winter so tree cover won't be a problem. We will have to start early in the day and I have yet to come up with a shuttle plan, which I need to do soon. Tentative plans are to do the ride on December 18, 2004. So far it's Randy Kerr (MORE CCT liaison), Lee Diehr (MORE VA At Large), Gary Ryan, and myself. I'd like to keep it small, but I think we could use a couple more people, we'll see how that turns out. When we are done, we should have a nice continuous map of the CCT, including photos of where to go and full trail descriptions. What can this info be used for - well let's see, let's just name a few of the big parks you could connect together... Riverbend Park, Great Falls Park, Lake Fairfax Park, Wakefield park, Accotink Park, Fountainhead Park... There are more smaller parks and sections of trail that go by other names, but most of those are part of the CCT (Difficult Run, Colvins Mill, Oak Marr, etc.). This means one hell of an epic ride! Plus it is great for people who need to train. Stick to just the CCT and it's mostly flat since it follows the streambed area. I'm posting a bunch of links below just so I have them referenced. Hopefully I can put together a shuttle plan from them. If anyone has a real desire to help out, let me know. DT Go Clipless - Graham - lives in the area and has some ideas about mapping parts. Fairfax County Existing Trail Maps Fairfax CCT Map Fairfax County CCT Info Fairfax County CCT - Wakefield Map Fairfax Trails & Streams Alternative Running Trail Notes Fairfax County Digital Map Viewer Fairfax County Aerial Photo Viewer Maps/Cue Sheets of the Fairfax CCT |
Freedom Park
So I wrote this all up already, but Blogger decided to crap out. So instead of getting the longer more interesting version, you get the shorter, less energized version. Over the holidays, I spent my time in Williamsburg, VA. For those that don't know the area, Williamsburg is the heart of colonial America. On Friday, Kristin, Buster, and I walked through Colonial Williamsburg for about 2 hours. Buster was super interested in the 7' oxen...at least until it started to make noises that were so deep you could feel it. It turned out to be a beautiful day, not real crowded, and Buster was wearing his Gentle Leader and didn't pull once. For those of you that are dog owners and can't stand walking the dog because they pull all the time, get the Gentle Leader and thank me later. After a nice walk, Kristin and Buster hung out at the hotel while I suited up and headed out for a ride at Waller Mill park. I had driven by the park on Thanksgiving, but the whole park was closed, not surprised. But I was surprised on Friday to find out the mountain bike trails at Waller Mill had been closed and would be closed for another year or so to hopefully get some regrowth - turns out it's closed because of logging and EVMA will have to go back in when their done and rebuild all the trails (what a pile of crap!). A quick query to the lady working the desk had me a map of Freedom Park and directions to get there from Waller Mill. So I jumped back in the car and headed back out. Arrived at Freedom Park, no one there. Pulled the bike down and checked out the map. Really nice map of the area and trails, only problem is they don't have a sign posts saying which trail is which. It would be fine if you only had one trail going out or they were spaced far apart, but when you have 3 trails leaving from almost the same spot...it was a little confusing. I picked the trail in the middle and rode on. This turned out to be Loop A (0.83 miles). It was short, but nice and tight and it put me right out onto Loop B (3.22 miles), which was a longer and gave me a little more up and down. The trail has been bench cut and it makes all the difference in some areas. After that I moved onto Loop C (5 miles). This was the longest of the three loops, but it's also more straight. It builds a good flow and offers an actual downhill and small climb. I would compare the climb to climbing out of the bowl in Wakefield. It's not straight up, more side to side, so it never really seems hard. The trails were in great condition and you can still tell they are fairly new. Still lumpy in places and the little one foot drops haven't been smoothed out (think opposite of Shock-A-Billy at Fountainhead, but on a much smaller scale). It was refreshing to get a ride in, but the trails also move you along quite fast. I didn't stop for a break and cruised all three loops in about 40 minutes. Not bad for 9 miles, for me at least. Good luck to EVMA on building new trails down there. I look forward to getting back and checking out the trails behind W&M College. DT | 11.22.2004
Richmond Epic Part Deux
I just pulled off the pics from the camera. Not a lot of good ones. The camera takes a while to actually snap off the shot, so most of them are blurry and didn't shoot when I wanted the camera to shoot, but hey, you get what you get.  I also remembered a couple of things I didn't post earlier. Having cranks that you don't need a special tool to remove is awesome! While riding on Sunday morning I dropped my chain after a long downhill, weird though because I dropped it up front. I go to put the chain back on and realize why it fell to begin with...my Jericho spiderless chainring was extremely loose, so loose you could wiggle it about a half inch side to side. So I put the chain back on and rode it up another hill before catching up with the group and sharing this with them. A few proceeded on as I set to fixing. Since I have an older set of the XTR M952 cranks, I could take them off with my hex wrench, tightened the lockring that holds the spiderless ring to the cranks by hand, then Mike Dart set to tightening even more with Jay's Leatherman....indispensable. Then without paying attention I put the chain on the chainring, only to realize the chain wasn't on the cog, but it was so tight I had to take off the rear wheel, then put the chain on, then put the wheel on. Then I demonstrated to Jay just how easy it is to tighten your chain with an ebb. Then we sped on to catch the group and go play in Little West VA. I imagine riding fixie caused the lockring to come loose, but it's all speculation. This is the second time it's ever come loose, so maybe I'll locktite is this time. Eventually I'd like to switch out the XTR cranks and Jericho chainring all together for something different, who knows what though. DT |
Single Speed World Championships 2005
So Eric Roman has released the first bit of information on the upcoming Worlds. Will you be there? > Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 10:21:29 -0500 Subject: SSWC05 Fall update Nov. 18, 2004 From: "SSWC05" To: "SSWC05 List2" SINGLE SPEED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005 Fall update Nov. 18, 2004 The leaves have fallen here in Central PA, cyclocross is coming to a head, and the excitement for the Worlds is growing. With over 900 of you on the mailing list, it looks like this year¹s event just may be the largest yet. InterBike was a blast and the industry is behind us‹it¹s gonna be a good one! The course is just about set and should offer challenges for every rider. From the challenging climbs, twisting ridge top trails, and fast fire roads‹the venue will be one to remember. Look for a 25 mile single loop with vistas, sustained climbs, and a ³bail out² for the less fit. ³Aid Stations²will be located at key spots to re hydrate and regroup with the boys. The date (Aug. 20/21) brings riders to town on the quietest weekend yielding empty restaurants, no crowds, and plenty of lodging. In a town used to dealing with 100,000 beer swillin¹’ rowdy football fans, we shouldn¹t even set off the radar‹imagine that! Registration has yet to be figured out. With so many people interested it¹s going to be tricky...be patient, please. Just to clarify, there will be spots set aside for riders from other countries, past winners, and local riders. You will be notified before registration opens! Unlike some cycling events, this will not be about prizes. One winner per gender and everyone else is second. Whining about placing will not be tolerated. NORBA/USA Cycling will be more than happy to take your money and let you know how many seconds you got beat by...this is about gathering together for the sake of camaraderie. As of now, look for entry fees to be $30.00. You will get your money¹s worth. T shirt, stein, belt buckle, something-food-drink-epic rides, relax. As of now, Dirt Rag kids are looking to host a group ride for those of you flying into Pitt. As always, more to come. Derby? Surly kids are talkin¹ trash, so be set to throw down...these kids mean it. Group rides will also be heading out of town here in State College, many of us ride to the forest from town-‹about 3 miles (stop whining...). Lastly, hangover ride the day after the main event. OK, off to ride my bike........(take a hint).......go ride yours! --Eric Roman > DT |
Richmond Epic
Well the Richmond Epic has come and gone. It was an amazing day of riding. We spent about 7 hours in the saddle and covered a little over 30 miles. So let's break it down. Saturday morning headed to Scud's to drive down to Poor Farm in Ashland. We arrived right on time, even with traffic and were amazed to see a ton of cars and even more people milling around on their bikes. Turns out there was over 40 of them. We gathered round and signed the release form and then split into groups based on pace. I headed out with the fast group, which was led by Sam, another single speeder riding his Bianchi SISS. We hit every trail except the stuff on the Blair Witch side as all those trails are off limits (No Trespassing Signs). We ended up riding some of the shorter trails multiple times to get in some more riding time and more miles. We started around 10am and finished at noon. The highlight of this ride was probably riding the wooden stairwell. It was extremely long and slippery from the brief showers. Most chose to walk it, some rode it and had their bikes slip out, others rode it and made it without issue. Instead of riding the longest section I rode down the hillside next to the stairwell, not to bad, then hooked up with the second half of the stairs. Riding down was definitely sketchy as it was slick and I had to continue pedaling no matter what, because I was riding the fixie. Made it to the bottom without incident, so I think it was pretty successful. Next we split off into lunch groups. A lot of people stayed close to Poor Farm and got tea and crumpets in Ashland. A handful of people were swayed by my incessant BW3 remarks and off we went. We took the long way there taking about 45 minutes to drive through Cary Town, the ghetto, and then back into the Bottom. Finally at BW3s we ate lunch. For me, that consisted of 18 wings (12 Teriyaki & 6 Spicy Garlic), a basket of Buffalo Chips with cheese and cajun seasoning (basically potato wedges), and a 20oz. Sam Adams Winter Brew...mmm...good. Running close to starting time, so we paid the bill and headed over to the parking lot by Bell Isle. When we get the Tredegar parking lot, it's already packed with people. Less than the morning ride, but it had been raining a bit here and there. We split into our groups and again I went with the fast group, only this time I was sweep and carried a two-way radio. We went out on Buttermilk and did the trail down to Buttermilk West, which evidently is extremely rocky and technical. While the trail was in great shape, the roots and rocks were getting uber slick, so we decided to skip the West section. Instead we headed a ways back and did the Forest Hill section. We even ran into a few of the guys that were doing trail maintenance all morning instead of riding the epic, total dedication. I think we rode about two and half hours. I was definitely hurting by the end. Not so much because of the short steep climbing, but because of the technical nature of the trail and how everything technical was slick, it made for a rough ride. I did manage to ride a small rock wall down to a creek crossing that I don't think anyone else tried. I made it down, but definitely lost my footing and got a little scrape on the inside of my leg, but I stayed on dammit! Close to the end I was getting pretty tired and was bombing a little downhill section that has a small drop before you get to the roadside. I didn't even have my hand on my brake when I did it and the next thing I know there is a tree branch laying on the ground that curves upwards. High enough to take out my right hand. I didn't totally bite it, stayed on the bike, but crushed the front of my thumb, still hurts like hell. After that, the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, ha. Thanks to Woody for leading the fast ride. Everyone who led the fast group at the different parks did a great job keeping the pace fast without too much stopping. You could tell they wanted to go faster, but they kept it fast enough for a few of us just to hang on. After riding Buttermilk, a lot of people disbanded. Ricky d. and Butch headed back to NoVA after going back and forth on whether or not to stay for dinner. Butch was a good guy and strong rider. Living here now, but was from Ohio and rode for Team BigTime. Those of us that stayed headed over to Legends Brewery for appetizers paid for by MORE, dinner, and of course a few more Brews. You could see people were tired and fatigue was starting to set in. We knew we had to get back on the bikes or we might just drink the night away. So after I finished my club sandwich and 3 beers, we headed out to Pocohantas State Park. Poco was incredible. Mike Dart and crew have done an incredible job with the trails here. Surprisingly, the trails were totally dry as it didn't rain out there at all. With far fewer people than earlier, we fired up our lights and headed out into the 60 degree night. We had to ride about 2-3 miles of fire road before getting to the trail. But once on the singletrack, that was all forgotten. The trails are super flowy, just incredible. I was just about to say I've got a second wind when we hit the biggest climb of the night. It chewed me up and spit me out. I made the climb, but I was now far from thinking I could go all night as I was thinking just minutes before. It was apparent that my legs were lacking their usual snappiness and my juice was running out. We decided to skip the Red trail that night and head on back to the cars. Even with skipping some trail we managed a super long night ride. We started riding around 8:15pm and didn't leave the parking lots until 11:30pm. The plan was to go back to Jay and Lisa's place, get cleaned up and then head out on the town. We were all exhausted though and thought it would be best just to walk over to the Taproom since it was only a block away. That all changed when their neighbors saw us and invited us up for beer and leftovers from a multicultural Thanksgiving dinner they had earlier. After two plates of food and couple of beers, it was time to hit the sack. Scud dropped out first around 1am, and I hit the couch around 2am. Thanks to Jay and Lisa for putting us up. I was up at 7am and just hung out reading Dirt Rag in the dark until everyone got up. Around 9am we were putting together the plan. Scud had wanted to race cross, but he couldn't imagine doing that now. He wanted to get in one more ride though, so we met up with some people doing a ride at Pocohantas State Park and headed on the ride around 11:15am. We did some of the same trails as the previous night, only backwards, the way they were meant to be ridden. That huge hill was now a downhill! Scud was feeling it in his legs so we cut off some of the loop and cut straight over to a trail called Little West VA. It contains a lot of TTFs (Technical Trail Features) and was made to keep up skills in the winter so when the users go to W. VA in the summer they won't be totally out of practice. It contains rock gardens, logs (to ride over and to ride down), teeter totters, and tons of other stuff. The trail was incredible! They have done an awesome job with it. Once we were done, we broke into two groups. One went to do the Red trail, while the rest of us went back to the cars. After all that riding, it was finally time to get back home. What an incredible weekend of riding. My legs aren't so much sore, as just lacking any juice or get up and go. Check out Cycling Central VA for pics from Peter. Thanks to Jay for putting it all together, it was a great time! DT |
Tour de Swill Coverage
The ride went down on Halloween. Everyone had a good time and can't wait for the next one. Click on the picture for the full story and pics.  DT | 11.18.2004
Rizeston
Pretty much did the same rides I usually do out in Reston. Tuesday with Lee and Wednesday with Gary. Tuesday was nice because we saw a lot of deer, although a few looked a little gimpy when running away from the W&OD. Wedneday was way fun with all the nature we saw. First we saw some deer, heard a lot more, but then just before heading into the freaky "Nightmare Before Christmas" woodsy section, an owl with a mouse in its claws flew about 3 feet in front of my head! All I saw was this big bird and a fuzzy tail hanging down. It was unexpected and totally threw me off...into a tree I rode. A little later we saw a field mouse scurrying around, then more deer. The only problems I had was on Tuesday, I somehow managed to drop the chain running fixie and it immediatly got totally jammed into my dropouts, enough that the only way to get it out was to loosen the rear wheel. No big deal, except upon further inspection a link in the chain is mangled and bent sideways, unrideable. With Lee's manly strength, we bent the chain back and it's working like a charm now. On Wednesday, probably because of my previous chain mishaps, I dropped my chain twice because it was loose. A quick flip of the bike and the slightest adjustment of the EBB and we were on our way. Good rides both times. I even got an email about the bridge we built on the CCT over a creek crossing. The creek crossing was badly eroded and it had gotten to the point where people could no longer ride it and trying to ride just did a lot of damage to the sides of the creek bed. It's holding strong and even the deer are using it... DT | 11.15.2004
Richmond Epic Ride
This Saturday, the Richmond chapter of MORE is having their first ever "Richmond Epic". They will be leading riders through Poor Farm (you might have raced here), Buttermilk (possibly the best trail system smack dab in the middle of a city, with the exception of Palmer Park in Colorado Springs, CO), and a night ride through Pocohantas (these Richmond guys have worked their butts off to make this trail what it is). I expect this to be one hell of a ride. Rides start at 9:30am, Saturday, Nov.20. I'm leaving at 8:00am that morning and since the last ride ends around 10ish, I'll probably spend the night. Depends if anyone rides down with me or not. I got an open rack on the roof if someone needs a ride or doesn't feel like driving. Who's in? DT |
Juicy 5
Like I said before, my Juicy 7 was so toasted that SRAM/Avid sent me a brand new Juicy 5 to use until they had the 7 back in stock. The 5 is the little brother to the 7, the only real difference is the 5 doesn't come with Pad Contact Point Adjustment - also known as the little plastic red knob that can break when you crash... Well they sent City Bikes the Juicy 5 on Wednesday and I told them they should install it for me, which they could do on Friday. Works for me as I wanted to do some rides and whatnot on the bike. Thursday was a holiday so I dropped the bike back off at the shop around lunch on Friday. Sean said it would be done by 4pm. I called once I was on the road, right around 4pm, the brake installation didn't go as planned and wasn't done, which wasn't Sean's fault. Evidently, after bleeding the brake and installing the hydro line, they started to tighten down the line using the proper wrench (come to find out SRAM recommends a different wrench than what is pictured in the instructions) and the nut disentegrates. Ok, so Sean calls SRAm to see what he did wrong and before he can even finish his story you here "oh yea, that happens all the time". What the @#$%! So SRAM is now sending out another Juicy 5, but honestly, I don't know if I want that thing on my bike. I think they have a great product, but if I were to do my own work, I might have been blamed for doing something wrong and would have been out a brake. Next Sean figured he would try to fix the situation by boring out tube and cleaning up the threads. Well that didn't work either, in fact the front of the brake where the hydro line enters the brake body actually broke off! So yea, I might be moving over to Hayes, who knows. I like the Avid product, but with the kind of issues I'm having, it's not very confidence inspiring. So those of you with hydro dics, what are you using, what do you like and what don't you like about them? DT |
Another Wedding
This seems to be the year of the weddings. Kristin was just saying how she had been to more this year than all previous years combined. This weekend was no different. After getting the house cleaned up, it was time to head down to Manassas for another wedding, got back well after dark and it looked like riding was hopeless. Instead headed down to Chantilly for beer and darts with friends. Sunday I planned on doing a nice ride, but I ended up getting a ton of stuff done at the house. Hopefully now the grass won't need cutting again until next year and the lawnmower did a great job of keeping me from having to rake leaves. After getting a bunch of stuff done and lounging for a bit I decided to get my ride in. That changed quickly though and ended going for a nice long walk with Kristin and Buster. We found a cool bamboo garden tucked behind a streambed park. After watching Buster play in the stream for 20 minutes, we finished our walk and it was starting to get dark again. So no riding this weekend, but I feel like I'm getting back in the groove and finally figuring out how to fit night riding back into my schedule. Kristin's got dress shopping again tonight, so no night riding, but Tuesday night is looking free and clear right now as is Thursday. Wednesday night is usually the girls happy hour, so that's always up in the air. DT | 11.12.2004
Big News at Big Bear
The 24 Hours of Snowshoe will officially now be held at Big Bear Lake in WV. This looks like an all around win-win situation. Singlespeed category, look out... DT |
Demo 9
So when I stopped into the City Bikes shop on Wednesday, Mike showed me the Demo 9 bike they had on loan from Specialized. I took the chance to take it for a little spin... First was the curb ram - basically riding full speed into a sharp 6" sidewalk curb. The bike took it totally in stride. I hit the curb at full speed and the shock absorbed and the next thing I know I'm cruising down the sidewalk. Amazing. Next was the skinny drop - the shop is right next the Capital Crescent Trail and next to the trail is a mulch bed with wood holding it in that progressively gets higher. The first time I ended up just riding into the mulch, but the next time I managed to get the 3' high mark before going off the edge. It was seriously like sitting in a Lazy-Boy. The shocks ate everything up and slowly came back. I didn't even feel like I did a drop at all. The next time I made it a little higher and again, the same reaction. While my type of riding lends itself to picking good lines, this bike gives you the license to ride right through things without even thinking about it. It's quite an amazing feat really. The bike weighs something on order of 47 lbs., but the way they managed to fit 9" of travel in the rear with a 26" wheel is amazing. If you get a chance, stop by the shop and demo the Demo 9. It was awesome. DT |
Give Me Some Of That!
So I finally got in some riding this week. Even with work being completely crazy, I managed to get out Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday after work I stopped by City Bikes to see what the haps was on the I.F. SRAM evidently is out of stock on Juicy 7's and my 7 needed to be completely replaced, everything inside was toasted. They sent back a Juicy 5 instead, not a big deal, they are supposedly going to correct it later. City Bikes is supposed to install it today after I drop the bike back off. I took it home with me so I could ride the next couple of days, just went fixie and didn't worry about a rear brake. Wednesday night, Lee met me in Reston and we headed out on the trails at a pretty good pace. Since I literally put my DAC (Disc Adapter Cog) to convert my King hub into a fixie hub on in the parking lot before the ride, it took some getting used to. I was reminded quickly of how a little dirt jump grows whole new dimensions when getting air on the fixie. The ride itself was great though. I took Lee on a section of trail that runs through the campgrounds that he hadn't been on, at least not lately. Good to have some variety. Pretty much did our usual ride though, through Lake Fairfax, over to the Cross County Trail, across the W&OD back to the cars. Took us an hour and 5 minutes, of which I think we only stopped for a total of 3 minutes. Saw a few deer, but heard a lot more. We saw one just lounging on the ground with his back against a downed log, taking it easy. Fun stuff. Thursday night I headed to Wakefield for the MORE ride. With the new FCPA night riding law (or newly enforced I should say), night riding can only take place on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and must stay in Wakefield, no more Accotink. You can read about it here: http://www.more-mtb.org/story.php?news_ID=304&catID=1 I hooked up with the intermediate group since I wasn't really in the mood to go with the fast guys and get dropped. Vince did a great job of leading the group and created some great loops out of the minimal amount of trails we are limited too. Got in about 2 hours of steady riding. You can really string some good hill training together using all the little off shoots of trails in the race track area. Other than the one hill in the bowl area, the race track area is the only other hill. It seemed like everyone had a good time and we all headed to Kilroys afterwards for some SNPA and grub. It was good to get back out there. DT | 11.08.2004
Not A Lot...
That's my answer to been biking much lately. Kind of sucks, but it's been super hard to make time. So what have I been doing...well this weekend (Thursday evening) Kristin and I flew to Portland, Maine to square away some major loose ends. It was a super busy weekend, but one that resulted in a wedding dress being found and a reception site picked out. Looks like Joseph's By The Sea will be the reception spot. This is great because their food is absolutely incredible. It also means we don't have to worry about place settings, flowers, or a caterer - just a few of the benefits! Saturday while Kristin was dress shopping I managed to find some time and pull out her dad's bike out of the shed. A little air in the tires and I was ready to go. I didn't bring any tools with me to Maine, so there wasn't much adjusting I could do to the bike. In general it was way too big for me, but I managed to spin around the coastal town of Saco for 30 minutes or so. Their house is amazingly located across the street from a state park (Ferry Beach) and a nature preserve (Rachel Carson) on one side, with the beach and Saco Bay on the other side. Later in the evening, I found time to finish my two grooms books: The Clueless Groom's Guide : More Than Any Man Should Ever Know About Getting Married What The Hell Is A Groom and What's He Supposed To Do? After we flew back home on Sunday, we had to immediatly drive over to Dogma to pick up Buster. He of course slept the whole way home, but it turns out his eyes are gunky and red again, probably due to getting scratched in the eye. Sucks because Dogma is such a great place for dogs, but I swear we have had to take Buster to the vet everytime he goes there. So I might not be able to make it out to the trails much after work, being it's usually almost totally dark by 5:30pm now and the new Fairfax County Park Authority upholding their no night riding policy. But heck, at least I can pull the trainer out and try and locate one of the many bicycle movies on this list - Bike Movies. DT | 11.04.2004
Cross Practice
So the Bike Lane is putting on cross clinics for those that want to learn more about cross or those who just want to practice their technique. I'm probably going to end up missing this cross season, which is too bad. Cross races are short, but give you the deep pain like no other. The more mud and the colder it is, the better. I'd bring out the old road bike that I turned into a cross fixie, but the rear wheel is taco'd and there's nothing in the budget for another month to fix it. This leaves me with the Bianchi Pista track bike, definitely not your ideal cross bike... I headed up to Wakefield Park on Tuesday night where the cross clinic was going on. No lights needed as they setup a half mile course in the grass next to one of the softball fields with their bright stadium lights. Anne, the shop owner was nice enough to bring me some Maxxis cross tires to use on the Pista so I set off to install them. Front one goes on great, pumping up the tube and BAM! - the area of rubber directly behind the stem literally disintegrated and blew out. I guess it's better that it did it then and not while I was riding. Ok, so no extra road tubes, I got a bad habit with not keeping road tubes stocked. I can always borrow a tube from someone, onto the rear wheel. I put the new tire on, pump it up, and start to put the wheel back on the bike. Well turns out these machine built wheels aren't as tough as my handbuilt stuff (by others not by me) because the spokes are kind of loose and the wheel is tweaked. While it's tweaked only a little bit, when your working with the clearance on a track bike, every little bit counts. I could have tried to true the wheel better or added an extra link, but at this point I was done. No tube in front, wheel rubbing in rear...I just pulled off the tires and threw everything back in the car and gave the tires back to Anne. Definitely a disappointing night as far as biking goes. Maybe I'll try again this Tuesday. Here's the details for anyone who is interested: Hey everyone, Well, the weather is getting colder and leaves are turning so it is time to bring out the Cyclocross bike! Some of you have already begun to enjoy some of the local cross races. And some of you have thought about doing cross but hesitate because you feel like you need some guidence....We'll here is your opportunity. The Bike Lane and MORE will be hosting Cross Clinics every Tuesday night throughout November STARTING TOMORROW NIGHT! We will have a course set up going around the softball fields, over some obstacles, up some stairs, and some other fun things to get you on and off your bike. For those of you that do know cross this is a good opportunity to practice your skills and for those of you new to the sport, this is a good opportunity to learn the basics. Bill Helwig (Wakefield Park Director), and Chip Slovek (Dir. of the UCI Cyclocross race at Lake Fairfax in December) will be there to help out tomorrow and Scott Scudamore (President of MORE and Bike Lane Race team member) will join us on the weeks that follow. The clinic will be from 6:30 pm-8:00 pm. Please meet in the softball field parking lot at Wakefield (you may need to park in the rec center parking lot). The lights for the fields will be on so you will not need lights for your bike. Please email annec34@aol.com if you are coming out. Have a great day, Anne Mader The Bike Lane www.thebikelane.com DT | 11.01.2004
This is Halloween!
While Saturday was a good long day in the saddle, it made for a tired night out. I had planned on hitting a couple of different parties up and see where the night led us, but being tired got the best of me. First met up with Gary and his girl Melinda. They dressed up as fat Hooters girls, too funny! So the Hooters girls and Paris Hilton (Kristin) and Nicole Richie (me) made their way to first party. We picked up some Sierra Nevada on our way out to the recesses of Alexandria. The party was small, but they had a really nice place, lots of food, and even some DogFish Head Punk'n Ale. We stayed for a couple of hours, long enough for Gary and Melinda to bring home the runners up Best Costume prize. After that party I got a flood of messages from my friends hanging out at Rund's place, but the last message said they were heading into Adams Morgan. Woodley Park at someones house I might have been able to do, but definitely not Adams Morgan - I was just too tired, a total wuss. We headed home instead and crashed out. Sunday was beautiful, nice and cool with the sun shining. Thought I really wanted to get in a dirt ride, but after cleaning the house and getting some much needed stuff done, all I really wanted to do was sit outside and read. Totally relaxing. I started reading one the two grooms only books that a friend mailed to us and most importantly learned of the "Right of First Refusal". Lots of interesting stuff in the book and a lot of stuff I didn't think about, but now I have to. It's gonna be a long, but exciting year, that's for sure. DT |
Tour de Swill
After talking with Spearman late Friday night, the Tour de Swill was on and it looked like we might actually have some people riding after all. I finished getting my costume together and put everything in a pile I was going to need. Saturday morning rolled around quick and before I knew it I needed to get dressed and put on my makeup. I was going to ride from Falls Church into the meeting spot at Clarendon, but being late as usual I drove into Arlington. Called Crosby on the way to the meeting spot and gave me the "I gotta do some stuff before hand, but I'll call you later and meet up with you guys". Cool, so Crosby is out and so is whoever he was bringing. Tried to get Gary to suck it up and bring out his road bike, but the lure of a day with his girl at the house was too strong. Then Burns called me and said he was up for the ride, score. He got in touch with me just before his exit and I pulled in minutes later. We got the bikes together and rode out to the meeting spot, got there just in time. Of course when we get to the spot, there is a small group of guys on bikes and not a single person is dressed up, so much for having Halloween spirit. Luckily another guy that was just arriving also dressed up. Between the two of us we had an irish man and Nicole Richie, can't go wrong with that. And we start riding... First stop is a costume shop only a block away since the others finally felt bad about not wearing a costume, turned out to expensive and they didn't have anything people were interested in, so we kept on riding. Went down a little farther to Whitlows, locked the bikes up, someone left the prerequisite one bike hanging in the tree from it's saddle. Once in Whitlows people got some chow and a couple of pitchers of Smittwicks. Good times, had Lacy take some pictures of the group and had mini photo shoot. Out the door to hit the next spot. Time to get in some miles so we loaded up and headed from Clarendon to Old Town, via the Custis Trail and the Mt. Vernon Trail. With a little confusion of where exactly the bar was we finally pulled in front of Founders on King St. Previously to arriving at the bar, the weather sucked. It wasn't terrible, but it had rained earlier and everything was still wet. Add to that it's Fall and the leaves are falling, coupled with a bunch of fixies...could be bad news. We did good for the most part, only had one person go down. On the Mt. Vernon trail we hit a real curvy section just after National Airport, a bunch of us went full speed straight on the little dirt path that cuts out the twisty paved sections, while a few others slowed down and took the leafy curve. It turns out Burns didn't slow down quite enough before the curve and combined with the wet leaves he slid out. Nothing major, no marks on the bike, just a little rash on the knee and I'm sure a sore hip, definitely could have been worse. We really had to watch ourselves on the path, especially the still wet wooden boardwalk sections. We made it to the bar without anymore incident and by this point the sun was coming out strong. While the sun was doing it's best to dry up the pavement, we headed inside the bar. Steve gave a good history of the bar and where it's brewers had previously brewed, but I've since forgotten it all. I took my chance to eat at this bar, got some chicken quesadillas, but little did I know that meant a little chicken, a little cheese, and a whole hell of a lot of mangos, peppers and onions...wtf. Anyways, on Steve's recommendation I got the Pale Ale. Definitely a good and hoppy beer they had there. Burns talked to the little lady and it was time for him to skip out. Glad he was able to ride for a bit though, bring him closer to the fixie culture, it's only a matter of time. We also lost another couple of riders at this time who also had to cut out early. The 5 of us left decided to go hit Georgetown. We sped down the trail, crossed the Key Bridge and cut up M Street. Finally we got to play in some traffic. After dilly dallying we finally settled on going to Garretts and grab another pint. I got a Redhook and settled in, finally had to take my wig off and let some heat escape. We decided not to stay too long and got right back on the bikes to play in some more traffic. Heading down M St. in traffic can be fun at times and others it can be downright scary. Lots of irate traffic, cabbies, SUVs that can't see crap, college students more worried about showing their new shopping purchase to their passenger, and to top it off, now we have to add cops. We are all cruising down the right lane, me - I'm right next to a cop. I look at him, he looks at me, doesn't seem to be any issues. Cop steps on the gas and starts to pull away, only to cut over directly into me, he's basically inches away from swiping me with the side of his car and to make matters worse he is putting the squeeze on me up against all the parked cars so there really isn't any place to go. Luckily I've been riding the Pista long enough to know how to do some emergency braking. I leaned forward and stiffened my legs and put the bike into a full on skid as the cop literally just barely pulls in front of me for an illegal parking spot. After the skid I break out left to clear his bumper and ride up waving to him to say "thanks for being an ass". After that it was time to play dirty and do some swerving. Lots of stopped cars trying to jockey for position that will give them that extra 6" of forward movement. Cutting through traffic I took the Key Bridge instead of the sidewalk on the side of the bridge, much easier than negotiating with the mass amount of pedestrians. In our traffic play we seemed to have lost Spearman. We stopped about 2 blocks up from the Key Bridge, but didn't see him. Finally we headed on to the next spot hoping he would be there. Don't know the name of the road in Rosslyn, but it's pretty steep and where I taught myself how to skid - we rode up the hill and hooked back up on the Custis Trail. Then we took a left on Highland St. and up and over to Hard Times Cafe. Of course Steve is waiting there for us. Outside Hard Times had to be the most hilarious moment of the day. This guy walking down the sidewalk is about 2 feet away before he yells out "Damn, I thought you were a broad!" Ha, well I guess I have a good future as a transvestite... Hard Times was our final stop. Some got beer, some got water, but we all chowed down on some Chile Cheese Nachos! Not a bad ride and once the sun came out, it turned into a beautiful day. We had 8 people show for the ride, 5 fixies, a geared road bike, a geared mountain bike, and a singlespeed road bike. All in all I did about 30 miles and we hit 4 bars. Not a bad day of riding and can't wait for the next one. DT |
Solidarity What?
Well Halloween weekend has come and gone. Friday was a busy day to start the weekend. My big plan was to work in McLean so I'd be done early with work and then go into DC for the Solidarity Ride. Of course that didn't happen. Even working in McLean I wasn't able to get out of work before 6pm and unable to make it to DC any earlier than 7pm. When the ride starts at 6:15pm I'm out of luck. I tried to make it happen, but just not enough time to get out there. Evidently they had a strong showing of 3 people...great. As one poster on the MORE board said, it was "LAME" and he's right. I guess that's not a lot of solidarity for DC riders. The poster also said "if you're going to advertise a ride, it might be a good idea to actually SHOW UP". Well I don't know if he was referring to me or Sean Bega of DC Courier who I guess is responsible for setting up the rides. I posted about the ride in several places to hopefully generate some interest, but I guess that didn't happen. I would have been there if it hadn't been for work, maybe that priority is wrong, but it pays my rent along with a few other benefits...but I still feel bad about not making it out. From my posting the ride experience I feel like most people see it as a waste of time or they are totally against the Critical Mass idea, even if the Solidarity Ride isn't a true CM. Oh well, maybe it's not time for DC yet. I think with the multitude of clubs and organizations there should be plenty of people out there, then again, maybe everyone is just spread so thin that a Friday night ride in the city just isn't in the cards. Whatever the reason, it doesn't seem to be working very well. DT | |
