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

TNS #16 5/24/05  
Rain or shine baby! The TNS ride went off regardless of the rain and dropping temps. Stoner had to tighten up his headset a little, which delayed the start a little, which was great because I was already late as it was. The way things were going and the fact that Stoner's birthday was this past weekend, we decided to go for a shorter ride and better beer. The original plan was to hit Founders, but we opted instead for Dr. Dremos. The ride is about 14 miles round trip.

So we ride out on the W&OD and the trail is pretty bare. Not a lot of people are braving the elements, which by this point isn't full out raining anymore, but enough to keep you wet. We cut off the trail once we reached Arlington and took Fairfax Ave. down to Washington Blvd. and before we knew it we were at Dremos. Started off with a pitcher of Arrogant Bastard. The next two pitchers were chosen by the birthday boy, Chocolate Donut Stout, which seems to always be on tap now (yes!) and Victory Hop Devil. We took our last pitcher of Victory downstairs for the Tuesday Night Film special - basically watched some weird ass japanese film, pretty funny stuff. The best part came after the movie. The guy put the Happy Tree Friends dvd on and just let it play. I haven't laughed that hard at something so f'd up in a long time! That set the tone for the ride home.

We busted out and headed back for the cars. Pretty much an uneventful ride back. At the usual spot Stoner and Spearmint went pretty hard on an almost invisible uphill. The kind you just sit and grind as hard as you can cause you know your going uphill. For me the goal is usually just to hold onto whoever's wheel is in second, ha. After this section we usually hit the streets of Arlington into Falls Church. Since this is my blog and I can actually finish what I'm typing before gettting the smack down, I'll finish what I was saying at the end of the TNS ride...

We came out on the street and I'd say 9 out of 10 times we pull a left at the first stop sign (even when the lead person or at least when the lead is Stoner, ha, goes straight). I was on the outside and getting ready to pull left, but Spearmint went straight and I had to slow down OR it would have been one of our classic turn into the other biker, which has been known to happen a few times on our rides, ha. So with that that avoided we kept on going straight. I finally caught back up to them just before we turned left to start the final hill ascend into Falls Church. Yea, caught up just before another hill...just in time to get dropped again cause I suck so bad at hills. Here I am riding fairly hard, just watching somebody's red blinky slowly pull out of sight...yea I'm a hill stud. Back at the cars, we're all goofing and packing up. I tried to relate my little story above, but I guess you should never mention the words "slowed down" in a story or it's automatically an excuse story.

So yea, maybe you all can leave your best excuses in the comments below so I have something better than I suck at hills (which doesn't keep me from riding them or being last up them, ha) when I get called out...

DT
posted by DT at 5:54:00 PM
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Annapolis Rocks Photos  
Busterman giving it all he's got - check out the album.

DT
posted by DT at 1:38:00 PM
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Annapolis Rocks  
After a good rain thumping, dirt riding in the area was a no go. Gambrill and the Watershed probably would have been ok, but instead I headed up to Annapolis Rocks with Steve, Donna, and the Busterman. Didn't take too long to get there, being it's right near Greenbrier park. It's a short 2.25 mile hike from the parking lot to the top. Lots of big loose rock and some steep sections. Your rewarded with some incredible views once you hit the top and nice cool natural spring.

Buster did great on the trail. I kept the leash on when people got around, but it didn't seem to bother him. Most of the time at the top I let him roam free. Playing in the spring was big time fun. Then we headed over to one of the rock climbing areas. Thought Buster might have trouble getting down/up, but he handled it like a rock climbing champ. It was fun to actually watch the rock climbers. It has me psyched to give it a try, but I'm gonna have to start working on that upper body strength if I plan on getting anywhere!

I'm pulling photos now to make a gallery.

DT
posted by DT at 12:43:00 PM
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Bike To Work Day  
Bike To Work Day was wet. I had a few options lined up depending on how I was feeling. I had my long option and my short option. Being that I'm still a little sick, I decided on the short option. When I left the house a little before 7:00AM, the temps weren't that bad and it actually wasn't raining, more of a drizzle. I put on my City Bikes jersey since they are one of the major sponsors for this day, put on some shorts, and decided to wear my slightly warmer jacket instead of just my waterproof pullover. This proved to be a good move. By the time I had climbed the hill out of my neighborhood up to Rt.7, it had started to full on pour and the wind picked up making the temps seem to dive.

Lucky for me, before 7:00AM on Rt.7 there isn't a ton of traffic, which is actually surprising since in the route I was taking makes me ride through an exit for 495 and on 123, both are major car commuting routes. After I passed the exit for 495 I cut onto Gallows Rd. and took that slightly less traveled road over to 123. A quick left at the light and I was cruising down the right lane of 123. Most of the traffic was going the opposite way, so I took the full lane knowing that it was raining and still kind of dark out. No issues with traffic the entire way into Vienna. Pulled into the Whole Foods parking lot where they had a tent setup as their Vienna pit stop. I informed them that I was with City Bikes and was there for any support they needed. With the wet weather, people seemed to trickle in, but there was a constant flow. I handed out free t-shirts, poured coffee, and gave out food.

By 8:30AM, the volunteers were ready to pack it up. The wind had picked up dramatically and we were holding the tent down while still being drenched. My knees were purple and I was starting to get the chilly shakes. As soon as they said it was time to pack up I started helping to put stuff in their van and then grabbed a couple of shirts to stuff under my jacket for some warmth. The ride back home was super soggy. Water squeezed out of my shoes at every push of the pedals. Traffic was much thicker now, a slow crawl all the way up 123. I stayed to the right and rode past several blocks of cars before turning back on Gallows. Rt.7 was mysteriously empty of traffic, but I'm not complaining. I cruised back down to my house to get out of my wet clothes so I wouldn't be drenched going into work. Actually needed to take a warm shower to get the blood flowing back in my limbs again.

Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers that make Bike To Work Day possible and an even bigger thanks to all the people that rode into work on such a nasty and raw day. If you rode to work in that weather, you can ride to work in any weather. Even bigger props to all the people that bike commute everyday. I wish I had that ability, but this last week working back in McLean and being able to ride the bike in has helped a lot. Ride on.

DT
posted by DT at 12:24:00 PM
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TNS #15 - 5/17/05  
Dirt it was. We rode Accotink/Wakefield and had a newcomer to the TNS rides. Jay, a mechanic from The Bike Lane cruised around with us. Stoner led us out and put together quite a quality loop. We rode over to Accotink first and hit up the new trail, before working in some rock garden loops and heading towards the dam. Once at the dam we took the trails back up and put in some more loopage. Probably spent an hour or so at Accotink before heading back and taking on the Bowl. Fun stuff as I haven't done the bowl in a couple of months probably. The switchback climb was a lot easier than I remember. Yea I was last up it, but it wasn't hard, I'm just unbelievably slow. Definitely a fun ride. Stoner layed the loops just right, Jay impressing us with his mad trials skills, and Spearmint always giving my fat ass the encouragement I need to make it up the hill just a little faster. Afterwards we enjoyed a couple of cold Hop Dog homebrews before heading over to Kilroys for some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Good ride, home by 11pm.

DT
posted by DT at 2:34:00 PM
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12 Hours of Lodi  
A little late in the making, but here's the race report for Lodi. My race sucked, so if your looking for an exciting race report, check out Bikecentric.

Let's start off by saying it didn't go well. I was on a team with Spearmint, "The Big Meats", running duo singlespeed. A few days leading up to the race I started getting a sore throat, then came the coughing, which only irritated the sore throat. Other than being annoying, it hadn't really bothered me up to this point. Steve picked me up at my place and we made the slow drive down to Fredericksburg. Normally takes an hour or less, but with all the traffic issues the Springfield area has it took us twice as long. We made it down in the heat of the day, must have been 80 degrees or so, clear blue sunny sky. With the sun bearing down, we skipped the preride and setup camp and started cooking dinner. Steve following the team name got two giant steaks and some corn on the cob. With the sun starting to set a little and our dinner down, we headed out with Ricky d. for a preride.

Right from the beginning I was off the back and feeling a little out of sorts. My legs were there, but I just didn't feel so hot. Laboring up the hills and breathing hard and before I knew it my throat was super dry. At one point in the lap I remember pulling off the trail while climbing a hill in front of Spearmint literally 4 feet from the top. I think I said something like I wasn't trying or I didn't want to waste a lot of energy, something like that. Reality was my throat was burning. We kept on going though and I dropped my chain a couple of times, one time about 5 miles into the lap and I had to pull the rear wheel to get it back on. With the chain back on, the rain a coming, and the sun going down, we headed back for camp and only did a 6 mile or so preride. Nothing left to do, but wait.

Between then and the start of the race, we fueled up, got out bike stuff straight, and I replaced my old chain with a new KMC Rustbuster (new one hasn't dropped yet). I was slated to do the first 2 laps and we were going to hand off 2 for 2. Stoner and I both had first laps, so we hung out in the back of the running start and had some fun running to the bikes, which were using each other to stay propped up. I had some nice slow motion "Chariots of Fire" going on. Once on the bikes we settled in. Stoner was a couple of people ahead of me when I see him take to the grass and pass like 20 people. I was slow on the uptake so I had to wait in the caterpillar line that was soon to develop on the first uphill. The first half a lap went really well, didn't get passed and managed to pass a few people as they bobbled on hills and technical stuff. By the second hilly section of the lap I was feeling the sore throat creeping in and taking over. I decided to slow it down a little and just take it easy hoping the throat would get the idea. I finished my first lap in around 1:25, definitely on the slow side of things. I pulled in the start area and asked Spearmint to grab my bottle of Accelerade that was in the cooler as I needed something super cold on my throat. With that down, it was back out for lap number 2.

Tried to make up a little time in the not so crowded hills and was doing ok until the sore throat came back full throttle. It started swelling this time though, not just sore. Eventually I felt as though I couldn't breath. If you have asthma or have ever felt like you have plenty of energy, but you can't breath - well that's what this felt like. I walked a bit and then tried to just ride through it. This didn't work as well I had hoped, because I started getting tunnel vision. I was having to slow way down in the curves to make them and theres a curve about every 50 feet, most of those 180 degrees. At one point I just blanked, shot right through the curve and into a tree. Basically scraped up my arm/shoulder a bit and got knocked on my ass. I took a few minutes to compose myself before getting back on the trail. With an extremely slow pace, much walking on the technical stuff and hills, I was able to make it back to the start with just over a 2 hour lap...a 2 hour lap! That's over twice what people were pulling! Spearmint took it all in stride and went out for his two laps.

I tried to get some rest and get worked up for the next two laps, but it was a no go. I headed over to the paramedics to see if there was anything they could give me for my throat. What did I get? A pack of mints, some tylenol, and a recommendation to stop riding because I have either tonsilitis or strep throat. Right, just want I wanted to hear. With my throat still swollen I tell Spearmint that I gotta take awhile and that I might possibly be calling it a day. He took some downtime where I should have been riding to rest up for doing another two laps. So that's it. I stayed out for the rest of the race, while Spearmint went on to do 4 laps and finish the race for us.

Extremely disappointing for me and I'm sure a let down for Spearmint. The bad thing is it's almost a week later and I still have a nasty cough and irritated throat. Just won't go away. Taking vitamins like a second job, but damn, just go away.

DT
posted by DT at 2:34:00 PM
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WABA  
For anyone in the area that doesn't know about this, I'm posting it up. Take action!

I-66 Widening Study Release: Protect the Custis Trail!

The Idea-66 Study Report, first released to the public on March 9, recommends widening westbound I-66 through Arlington to produce three westbound travel lanes plus two 10-ft shoulders. Besides worsening local and regional traffic almost everywhere else, reducing Metrorail ridership and carpools, and subsidizing more dysfunctional suburban sprawl, such widening would likely obliterate adjacent segments of the Custis and W&OD Trails, especially when eventually applied to eastbound I-66.

WABA urges you to support wiser, not wider solutions to transportation problems in VA. More more information and to find out what you can do to help, please visit www.acstnet.org.

DT
posted by DT at 9:56:00 AM
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TNS #14 - 5/10/2005  
Take to the dirt! On a sunny 80 degree day, there was no confining the crew to the tarmac. We met at the Difficult Run parking lot off Georgetown Pike. Steve was there first and putting on his new big meats, a Kenda Nevegal 2.35 I think. Looks a lot like my 2.1. I got there shortly after him and started moving over my frog cleats to the shoes I use most and taking the Speedplay pedals off to apply some actual grease to the threads. About the time I was finishing up with the cleats, Gary rolled in from his solo "get back to riding" ride from Colvin's Run to Great Falls and back. Shortly after that Braun and Stoner showed up.

With all the mechanical stuff taken care of, we headed down for our first water crossing of the day. The swift moving water made it hard to get the bike steady for riding across. Right off the bat my feet were wet, no big deal, but I was trying to keep the dry for at least the first mile. I'm pretty sure everyone managed to ride the water crossing and no one fell in. A quick climb up a sandy bank and we were back on the bikes and heading down the sandy/gravel doubletrack. The nice thing about the Difficult Run trail is it's a good mix of everything from doubletrack, singletrack, gravel, paved...you get the idea. It keeps things interesting. If you've ridden the trail before, then you know what the riding is like - not extremely technical, but lots of flavors. We had another wet fair weather water crossing, which managed to get the feet soaked once again. This wasn't bad as it was still fairly hot and the cool water was refreshing. We cruised into the Colvin Run lot area and Gary "peeled" off. The rest of us continued on the CCT to the left.

When this section of the CCT is dry it's a blast! It's fast, tight, twisty singletrack that you can rail if you catch the flow. I was able to ride fast without any brakes simply because this is my home turf. I ride it enough to know what to expect around the next corner, when to duck, and when to throw the bike to the right to avoid that tree in the blind curve. Stoner stayed on my wheel with only the occaisional all brake lockup, ha. We stayed the course and eventually crossed over the bridge we built, another fair weather crossing, some gravel, an under water rock path creek crossing, and into the final singletrack. There's a nice uphill slanted log going across the trail, which I make about 3 out of 5 times. I had a nice uphill endo getting over it the first time, but cleaned it the second time. Stoner made it his first time and I think Braun dabbed. We railed some more trail until popping out on the W&OD.

After a 10 minute spin we pulled right on to Michael Farrady Ct. and picked up the trail leading us into Lake Fairfax Park. Bombed the intro downhill, showed everyone the new section of trail we built on the IMBA TCC visit, took a left instead of a right effectively cutting out one quick steep hill for more singletrack that is more of a steady up and also skips some highly erroded areas. Passed by the couple making out against the soccer goalpost...how romantic. Cut back into the woods for some more technical downhill and back up the most erroded section in the park that just looks like ass. It's your basic fall line v shaped pit with several v's. Once at the top I chose to take the road back down to the trail in order to skip the cattle lines that are developing on the hillside - basically where there was once a fall line trail, there are now 4 more just like it, only each one is 9" farther to the right.

At this point we hit the Hunters Mill Rd. crossing. This was one of the few sections we actually saw anyone else. It's farily quick and before we know it we're back at Rt.7 and crossing back over to Colvins Run and back down the gravel road. This has all been covered earlier in the ride and not much to say. I took a slow speed spill while riding in a rut when I tried to roll out of it. The hillside didn't want me to come up, so it sloughed off and before I knew it I was just laying on the dirt. Not much to speak of, but it took me long enough to get back up and going that the front of the line was out of sight. Braun waited up for me and eventually pulled me back to the group. Back to the final water crossing, where it was the running theme to ride across before stepping in the water one last time.

No mechanicals, the bike is in good shape and is looking good for the 12 Hours of Lodi race this weekend. Spearmint rewarded the TNS crew with some cold beers after our 16 mile romp. The Raspberry Honey Blonde was definitely strong on the raspberry, but a lot of fizz came with the taste. Started off good, but a few sips later and your wondering whats next. Moved on to a porter, nice smokey taste. After some chit chat, we headed over to Ye Old Brogue Irish Pub...pub food and Dogfish Head 60 Minute on tap. One pitcher for the table and the keg was done. It was a sign...

DT
posted by DT at 11:49:00 AM
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Monday Night Melee 5/9/2005  
So I put the bike through some changes over the weekend. After breaking the top plate to my front Avid Juicy 7, I borrowed a new brake from the City Bikes shop to use until I sort things out with SRAM. So new front brake installed. Broke my carbon handlebar and replaced it with a Titec 118 bar I had in the shed. It's a narrow Ti bar, supposedly only weighs 118 grams that I bought for $10 from a previous City Bikes racer before I was on the team. So with all that stuff ready to go, I started to rebuild the IF. Pulled the good parts from the Surly 1x1 (wheelset and stem). Basically the only thing I needed was a crankset, which was on order and was expected to be here sometime mid week. It actually showed up at the shop on Friday, just after Steve let me borrow an older pair of Raceface square taper cranks and helped me install them on Thursday night. So I left work in the middle of the day and swung by the shop. Sean was feeling really good on this day and decided he would do the wrenching, even though it wasn't 3pm yet, ha. So we pulled Steve's cranks off, installed the new ones - a set of Raceface Atlas cranks. We then threw on a Spot 34t chainring and I got a set of Speedplay pedals to try.

Talked to Gary soon after getting everything ready to go and we decided a 5pm meeting time to ride Colt's Neck. Put the pedals on in the parking lot and put the cleats on an old pair of shoes since my other shoes were still in Kristin's car from Saturday's Swill ride. Took a few minutes to get used to clipping in and out, definitely a lot different from my Candies, hope I can get used to them. We headed into Lake Fairfax and kept a pretty steady pace all the way around back to the W&OD and then back to the cars. The ride itself was casual and with no mechanicals, it was good to catch up with Gary.

The real surprise was how stiff these cranks are! The bottom bracket is part of the cranks and it's got a set of outboard bearings. You can feel confidence spewing from them. Riding fixie is rough on parts and more time than not, I can feel the cranks flexing and the bottom bracket squirming a slow burning death. Granted these are brand new, but wow, they are super stiff and the bottom bracket felt like butter. The highest compliment I can pay these cranks is that I didn't think about them while I was riding. They just worked. On top of this the new pedals did well. Never been able to get out of a pedal so easily. I still need to get used to clipping in on them though.

After the ride, we picked up the girls and headed over to the Wegmans in Fairfax. Gary and his girl said this one was better than the Dulles one...I'm still a big fan of the Dulles location.

DT
posted by DT at 11:48:00 AM
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Congressional Ride - 5/6/2005  
The Congressional ride is always on a Friday and is an IMBA sponsored deal. Check out IMBA's website for details on what they are trying to accomplish with the ride. Basically they get a bunhc of Capital Hillers to come out for a mountain bike ride around Riverbend and Great Falls. The pace is a little slower than normal and we make sure to get most of the climbing on fire roads instead of singletrack.

I lead an intermediate group of 5 with Spearmint sweeping up the back and Jenn Dice (IMBA field rep) mixing into the middle. The ride was fairly easy and we kept it lively. I think everyone had a good time. We made sure to drop down to Great Falls Park so everyone could check out the falls, before heading back up the longest fire road climb of the day. The reward was some honest to god singletrack, complete with tight sweeping turns, small drops, and a log or two. When we finally pulled into the parking lot everyone had a smile. This was the first year I've done this ride and it didn't rain during the ride, so big bonus right there.

Whole Foods graciously provided tons of food and drinks. I opted for the soda over the beer, or what passed as beer - Coors Gold - didn't look any darker than the bottled water I was drinking at the time. Hopefully the particpants came away with a better appreciation for our parks and what IMBA, MORE, and all the other mountain bike organizations are trying to do.

DT
posted by DT at 11:43:00 AM
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Slow Posting  
Imagine that, life gets in the way of a blog. I pretty much only blog when I have some free time at work and well, being that there is only one other guy here at work right now I'm making some free time. I kind of made the decision a while ago to rarely use the computer at home. Mostly because I stare at a computer all day anyway and it's easy to get sucked in at home and be on for a few hours. I will check my email (gotta know when the rides are), but other than that I usually stay away. So yea, the blog has been neglected and with the exception of the last TNS ride on 5/3/05 and the Tour-day-Swill this past Saturday, I can't remember the other rides I did so I'm just writing those two up.

TNS #13 I believe - Evidently we had planned on doing dirt, but with my mountain bike torn down and in the process of building back up we struck out on the tarmac. Tonight we were hitting a small place in SouthEast called The Ugly Mug and we rode through the Capital Hill area. Awesome time riding down the middle of completely stopped traffic and making it to the top of the hill before the light even turns green. This of course was due to the gentle reassuring words from Spearmint to get up the hill - thanks man! Turns out this area isn't so bad, it's actually a real hipster area and it's pretty close to the military barracks. Food was good, but they forgot to put my order in. No big deal as I got my order free because of it. The beer was no better than average. We thought they had some better stuff on tap and it turns out they don't. We tasted a Bare Knuckle Stout and decided it was completely unworthy of drinking ever again.

On the way back, we felt the need to cut through Georgetown and play with traffic again. Then after hitting my hill and them waiting up for me at the top we headed over to Dremos for a bit. After the usual good beer on tap from Dremos we headed back out and this time we went for Steve's Hill. After climbing it, the gauntlet was thrown and it was back down to climb again. After climbing again, the rule of excess took over and it was back down a third time. I guess I should mention that the hill guantlet was getting thrown down all over the place because Steve and Stoner had beef over who gets to the top of the hill first and who had a lead going into it - all I can say is it's easy not to get into this one when your always the last person up your own damn hill, ha. So I concede, while the other two hash it out. I still ride the hills, but I'm more focused on finishing up the hill without walking than making sure I beat one of them.

Anyway, on the third time back up I took an alternate route, but didn't tell anyone what I was doing. I just figured I'd take the parallel road and then cut over and pop back out on Steve's Hill. Usually I'm the last one up the hill, so I figured it didn't matter...cause I'm an ass like that. Well Stoner ended up following me instead of Steve, so now Steve is on his own going up the hill and thinking we just left him. We cruised up the parallel hill a bit before cutting over and damn, if we didn't have to climb one of the steeper hills I've ridden. I had to ride side to side just to get up the damn thing. We pop out back onto Steve's Hill about a 1/3 of the way from the top and finish out the climb. No sign of Steve at the top so we head back down to look for him and he isn't at the bottom. Once again we climb back up the hill and now I feel pretty stupid. I give him a call with no answer, so we head back to the cars, trying to stick to the route he would have taken. Heading down Rt.7 I took a spill. We had been experiencing some very light off/on drizzle and the road was a little slick. I was riding behind Stoner when we came to an intersection and I see him break hard right. I couldn't see a car, but figured it was probably coming and threw the bike into a powerslide. With the wet road and me throwing the rear wheel out to the side, there was a quick handlebar touch down before popping back up. I don't think my hand even hit the ground, but it was close. Turns out there wasn't anyone that close, Stoner just didn't realize I was right there.

We get back to the cars and there's still no Steve. I try to call again and no answer and we get ready to go looking for him again when Steve busts out of no where. to say the least, he was pretty pissed at me and had been looking for us, not knowing if we had jumped back on the trail. It was pretty stupid to side step the gauntlet and it won't happen again.

Tour-day-Swill was this past Saturday - 5/7/05. It went off without a hitch...if by without a hitch you consider this as any other swill ride. We had beer, food, derby, lost someone in the city, changed venue, etc. until we finally made it back to the cars. Read about it and see pics here - Tour-day-Swill. Claman did a good job with the write-up. The only thing I would add is that after getting back Steve and I kept on pedaling until we got to Lost Dog where we met up with Kristin for dinner. Great pizza...it's what I'm having for lunch today!

I was supposed to race the Greenbrier race on Sunday, but I should have planned better. We had a ton of wedding stuff to go over and it just wasn't getting done. In the end I should have skipped Saturday's ride and got caught up on all our wedding stuff and raced on Sunday, but being the great planner I am, I opted not to race on Sunday and instead spent time with Kristin and getting a lot of planning taken care of. It was a great day for sure, but the weather was perfect for racing. All's good though, this weekend is 12 Hours of Lodi and I'm fully committed. Team "The Big Meats" will be in full effect. Stop by for a homebrew!

DT
posted by DT at 10:37:00 AM
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