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

Google Maps  
I think I came up with a good Google Maps mashup, but I haven't really searched enough to see if someone else has already done it. A quick google search didn't show much. I'll post the idea here and maybe someone can build it out or point me to a site that already has it...

Take google maps and add a topo layer, you should be able to switch from google maps to topo and then to hybrid mode showing both. The point behind this is to get elevation data incorporated with google maps. Why would you want this? Well say your going out for a ride and you want to make sure you hit the biggest hills in your neighborhood - well using this map you should be able to determine the size of those hills (grade, how long, how many feet climbed/descended), maybe color code the streets based on how big the hills are. Of course if your just trying to get to work and you think it would be nice to take the flattest route so you won't get into the office all sweaty like, this map should show you that too. I'm sure there are other non-bike uses for something like this, who knows.

Anyway, I signed up to get a key for the Google Maps API, so I'll see what I can bang around. Been quite a while since I actually did any ground up developing, so it may be slow going...

Last nights TNS ride was a good one. Just Stoner and I and the raindrops. We headed to Arlington to the Boulevard Wood Grill. They were supposed to have a bunch of winter beers on tap. They didn't have most of them yet, but I did try two beers I've never had before. First up was the Clipper City Winter ale and the next was Sierra Nevada's Fall Harvest ale. Both were fresh and tasted spot on from their taps. The Clipper City was more malty, but light and almost foamy in the mouth, actually very good. The SNFH is labeled a pale ale and is definitely not as robust as their Celebration ale, but a very good pale ale all the same.

The food was spot on too. The menu is definitely higher priced and I could have swore they did pizza and some other low cost items, but I must have been thinking back to another place. I ended up getting the Tuna Veggie Burger and it hit the spot. Basically a veggie burger made with ground up tuna steak and a side of liquid wasabi sauce, the shoestring fries just completed the meal. It rained pretty much non-stop while we enjoyed ourselves inside and a few minutes before heading out the rain magically grinded to a drizzle. The ride home was fairly uneventful with the exception of some stupid motorists. In fact, there were more on this ride than probably all our rides combined. From people honking, yelling stuff out their windows, to giving the good old buzz. Doesn't bother me too much, it's wet out and they are just pissed off for having to spend their evening in the car in traffic and they see it as a complete inconvenience to have to wait 10 seconds to go around us. I do however get much satisfaction out of catching these people at red lights and letting them know that I'm there. Usually a knock on the window or a tap on the back of the car is enough to get the WTF? look from them and then see their embarrassment or the "I can't see you!" look. All of which let me know they probably feel like an uncomfortable ass. Ah, well my job is done.

DT
posted by DT at 3:06:00 PM
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It's been almost a month since my last post, pretty long time. Spearmint asked my why no posting and it basically comes down to I didn't feel like writing. It's not that I haven't been writing, it's more that I don't feel like writing up every ride or every race. But I'm back in the mood...for now.

We got the Tuesday Night Swill ride tonight. Looks like Spearmint is already out. Evidently he picked up a little cold illness while riding at Douthat over the holiday weekend. I can think of worse places to pick up a cold, ha, hope you feel better soon man.

So as long as Stoner doesn't bail, we should be good. I've suggested the Boulevard Wood Grill in Arlington for tonight as I read a post on the DC-Beer listserv and they have a bunch of seasonals on tap right now: Clipper City Winter Storm, Old Dominion Winter Seasonal, Delerium Noel, and Sierra Nevada Celebration. If you haven't had any Celebration this year, get on it. I believe it's somewhere in the 7% range and it's got a nice explosive hop to it, not the citrus arromatic hops where you can just taste the hop oil, but it's still really good. The best way to describe the taste is hearty.

So I saw Bianchi's 2006 bike lineup, thanks to a post on fixedgear, and they have a new bike that's a mix between their Volpe and their Pista. The Pista is my fixie track bike that I've been trying to mix it up with on the dirt. The Volpe is basically the Pista with gears, canti brakes, and rack tabs. Well their new bike is called the San Jose. This new bike looks pretty rockin - it's built singlespeed, which we all know means it's only a step away from being fixie, it has canti brake posts, rack tabs, front/rear brakes, and even comes with some WTB All Terrainasaurus 700x32C tires (not quite big meats, but close enough). This is basically what I've been trying to do my Pista. I've built a stronger wheelset using a Level hub in the rear and a Phil Wood up front, both laced to Salsa Delgado rims. Then I added some inverted tread 700x32c tires that pretty much leave no room for mud, added a front Shimano 105 front brake with some Cane Creek SCR5 levers, and to top it off switched an On-One Midge bar. The bike is basically what I was trying to get out with a few exceptions - the bike needs more space for bigger tires and fenders, rack tabs would be nice for some light touring, and the toe overlap is getting a bit annoying on technical singletrack (this has been furthered by the fact I have bent the fork back just a bit). So with all that said, the San Jose seems to be a pretty good deal for anyone trying to do what I've done to a Pista, only it can be bought as is from your local shop, nice. I wonder if they were reading my blog, ha. Anyway, here it is:



Oh and if your wondering what seasonal beers are out there that you haven't tried, take a look at the list at the Beer Yard, if'n your up in PA near the Philly area...jackpot. Link courtesy of my brother, who also gave me the book Mapping Hacks a few months ago since I'm looking into transitioning into the world of GIS. The pic at the top of this post is from Blue Marble Next Generation mapping, probably one of the best worldwide pics I know of to date...enjoy, should make it easy to now plot world domination, muwhahahah...and I'm out!

DT
posted by DT at 3:39:00 PM
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Testing, Testing...  
Been a while since I last posted. Just got done with a couple weeks of testing at work. As I've said before, while it's just a job, it pays the bills and if that means cutting into bike riding time or family time or life in general...well it sucks, but thats life.

Anyway, I have been riding, but a lot of it has been solo. Sneaking in some dirt time here and there, testing out the cross bike. I even fit in a quick 6 hour race in Charlottesville, VA a couple of weekends ago. The race went well (meaning it was fun), but with the super slick race course from the previous couple days of rain and all the angled roots I had a hard time mustering up enough skill on the cross bike. After one lap I was beat up and thrown down. Each time I got a new lesson in riding and gained some new skill, yet at the end of the lap I opted to switch to my real mountain bike with the big meats. Damn, made a huge difference on getting over the roots and actually having mud clearance. Unfortunately during the second lap my chain blew. Not just broke, but blew. It went so hard that it swung around and lodged into another link. With only a few spare links and not an entire chain I was screwed. I hiked it out to finish table, told them I was done and headed back to the car where I had a nice hot meal on my camp stove. Just a couple hours back to the house and sleeping in my nice warm bed. Could have been worse right?

Then I missed last weeks TNS ride, just couldn't make it. This week, well this TNS ride was odd. I was done with testing and enjoying a much needed break. Got a call from the FCPA and they needed some helping doing mile markers on the Cross County Trail. Called Spearman cause that slacker still doesn't have a job, ha, and we headed out to the Difficult Run parking lot. Hooked up with the park staff, got the mission straight, and headed out on the trail marking every 0.5 miles with an orange flag. They said we needed to go to Vail Rd., which in my head I was thinking of Lawyers Rd., and Vail is a few miles farther. By the time we finished it was growing dark and we still had to get back to our cars, so we opted to take the roads back. A couple of minutes on Vail Rd. and we both knew if we didn't hit some side roads we would be squashed by 80mph SUVs on this one time farm road. There was only one road off Vail on our paper map before the map ran out. We struck out and ended up on some country back roads that eventually put us out on Hunter Mill Rd., which at least has gravel next to the paved road instead of the gulley on the side of Vail. Eventually we hit the W&OD and made the decision to ride the rest of the way on the dirt trail...in the dark...without lights...and damnit, we were going to have fun! From there we headed back into the woods in complete darkness riding the CCT portion backwards to Rt.7. Crossed Rt.7 because there was no way I was going to ride down Rt.7 in the middle of rush hour at night without lights. Another hour or so and we made it back to the parking lot and to our cars.

Because we would be so late, Spearman called Stoner earlier and told him we probably wouldnt make the TNS ride at Wakefield. I'm guessing he headed over and rode anyway, but I'm not sure. Sorry Stoner. Figured after such a mini epic ride we deserved some Papa Johns and then polished off a couple of beers...good times. The Stone 9th Anniversary is a taste to be reckoned with. Not what I was expecting at all, but damn it was tasty. A different hop taste than I'm used to tasting. Next on the chopping block was Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. It's like a more citrus hop flavored 60 Minute IPA. This one beer has changed my opinion on the Heavy Seas beers. I never really liked them, just figured they had the fun artwork, but now we might have to go back and revisit.

Steve took pics of our travels for the day, so maybe he'll post them or send them to me.

Looking forward to this weekend. Working on a little plan to include some light fixie touring, a little S24O (sub 24 hour overnight) camping and the MORE Fall Picnic at Lake Fairfax Park. Should be some great weather and really hoping to take advantage!

DT
posted by DT at 2:43:00 PM
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