started the weekend with a couple of hours on the road bike on saturday morning, up through rock creek park to tuckerman lane, then seven locks, bradley, and eventually back into the city on macarthur... 45 minutes to refuel and warm up before heading back out onto the streets down to dupont circle to sit in on part of the MORE transistion meeting and spring trail liasons meeting to talk about plans for the website... snow started just before the meeting finished up and i rode home through the snow...
wake up sunday morning to a inch or so of fresh snow and more still falling... not the beautiful dry snow from last weekend, but i hit the road with my singlespeed in tow to head up to montgomery county to try to get another snow ride in... the snow in the city didn't look encouraging, a bit wet and slushy, but as i got further north the conditions improved, and the snow in the parking lot a schaeffer looked great...
ran into dietrich and rob from the team, and a friend of theirs in the parking lot as they were getting ready to ride and we hit the trails together, just as the snow started up again. there were only a couple of other cars in the lot and we got first tracks on a couple of sections, riding with big snowflakes falling around us. yellow, out blue to cut through the fields, then back to yellow around the far fields loop... back at the 4-way, we headed down yellow then cut onto the new trails, and over to white, through the pines and back to the trailhead... normally an hour or less but it took us 2 hours...
conditions were mostly pretty good, hard pack with a couple inches of fresh snow... there were some sections where snow from last weekend had drifted and piled up and was pretty choppy. by the end of the ride things were getting a bit slushy as a sun came out... with the temperatures climbing this week hopefully they'll close the gate.
this year's first batch of beer is ready to bottle...
Monday, January 31, 2005
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
a ride in the snow
after spending 5 days on the trainer last week i couldn't stand the prospect of another ride there today... steve, from the cedarville ride a couple of weeks ago, had a ride listed for rosaryville tonight, so i cleaned up my singlespeed and packed up my cold weather riding gear last night and put my light battery on to charge.
traffic wasn't bad on the way down and i pulled in about 6, as ricky and mark were just finishing getting ready for a quick warmup lap. they left, and set about getting my bike and myself ready. a couple more riders showed up, including joe and mike miller.
steve led us out onto the perimeter trail, an 8-mile loop ringing the park that swoops around sides of the hollows hugging the contours in true IMBA style... in dry conditions, the trail is fast and flowy, not so with 4 inches of snow... trail conditions varied constantly, changing foot-to-foot and inch-to-inch... most of the trails had been ridden and there were sections that were packed down and solid, but if you drifted slightly to either side you'd hit soft snow and find your wheels slowing down in a hurry. traction was in short supply on the climbs, resulting in a bit of walking and turns on the downhills could be tricky if you didn't pay attention.
3/4 of the way round the loop i noticed the toe of my shoe cover had flipped up, exposing the toes of my shoes and partially covering the cleat on my shoe, making it hard to clip in... rather than trying to put it back on (difficult in the best of conditions, thanks to a broken zipper, when they're not covered in ice and full snow) i'd just pull it off... quickly realized that if i rode out the rest of trail, i'd have a frozen foot in no time flat, so i bailed soon after when we got close to the road.... after a couple of wrong turns i made it back to the trailhead just before the rest of the guys. in the end it was a little short of 2 hours...
not a long ride, but epic in its own way, thanks to the conditions and good company...
traffic wasn't bad on the way down and i pulled in about 6, as ricky and mark were just finishing getting ready for a quick warmup lap. they left, and set about getting my bike and myself ready. a couple more riders showed up, including joe and mike miller.
steve led us out onto the perimeter trail, an 8-mile loop ringing the park that swoops around sides of the hollows hugging the contours in true IMBA style... in dry conditions, the trail is fast and flowy, not so with 4 inches of snow... trail conditions varied constantly, changing foot-to-foot and inch-to-inch... most of the trails had been ridden and there were sections that were packed down and solid, but if you drifted slightly to either side you'd hit soft snow and find your wheels slowing down in a hurry. traction was in short supply on the climbs, resulting in a bit of walking and turns on the downhills could be tricky if you didn't pay attention.
3/4 of the way round the loop i noticed the toe of my shoe cover had flipped up, exposing the toes of my shoes and partially covering the cleat on my shoe, making it hard to clip in... rather than trying to put it back on (difficult in the best of conditions, thanks to a broken zipper, when they're not covered in ice and full snow) i'd just pull it off... quickly realized that if i rode out the rest of trail, i'd have a frozen foot in no time flat, so i bailed soon after when we got close to the road.... after a couple of wrong turns i made it back to the trailhead just before the rest of the guys. in the end it was a little short of 2 hours...
not a long ride, but epic in its own way, thanks to the conditions and good company...
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Saturday, January 22, 2005
those shoes look canadian...
it's been a while since i've had a night out with no worries about my ride home... a 2nd take at ryan's 30th with ryan, and steve and alisa.. dinner at alero (watch out for the inauguration atendees cloging up dc restaurants), then over to atomic for a couple of dogfish, a couple of PBRs, and a bit of pool... it been a while since i've had to stumble home from connecticut ave...
not much blogging lately, because there's not much going on, a couple of gym and trainer workouts...
not much blogging lately, because there's not much going on, a couple of gym and trainer workouts...
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
fixed some links...
thanks to a switch of ISPs at home, there were a bunch of broken images in posts from late last year... they've been fixed
Friday, January 14, 2005
thursday night at cedarville
when i wrote this last night i called the park that we rode rosaryville... it wasn't, it was cedarville... i have a habit of confusing these 2 southern pg county parks, at least when i'm talking about them... i've corrected the text, but go ahead and have a laugh at my mistake...
honestly, the prospects weren't looking good for the ride... on and off rain, including a couple of lines of showers moving through dc-metro around noon. we got the go ahead from the ranger, but my expectations still weren't high, the heavy rain was looming, the trails would probably be slick from the accumlated rain and fog, and quite frankly, it was cedarville, good for a change every now and then, but not very challenging and not always fun... but hey, it's a ride thats not canceled and it's not riding around in circles at wakefield.
no problems at work so i left on time and was there was plenty of time to get ready... started to get the idea that we might be in for a good night when i stood outside my car in the dark getting changed and didn't get cold... knickers, a short sleeve jersey, and a pair of arm warmers looked like they'd be enough for the ride... no tights, no shoe covers, no balaclava, not tonight... bunky and marcus showed up just after i did, and by the time we set out steve and tommy brought the group up to 5...
out into the woods following bunky and marcus and we hit the gas... to paraphrase bunky, if you're not enjoying rosaryville, you're not riding fast enough. you can really rail on these trails... great flow; long smooth downhills with turns bermed just enough to let you hold your speed. we darted in and out of the woods, on singletrack and doubletrack, up gentle climbs and down fast downhills. in spite of the rain, most of the trails were really dry and in good shape... there were a couple of boggy sections, but when i've ridden rosaryville in the summer they've still been there.
i don't know the trail system, but we rode most of the park, meeting up with another rider, john, who'd missed us at the start, about half way through... the rain held off untill we hit the asphalt of the parking lot, perfect timing.
my legs felt great through the whole ride, but there weren't any hills to really challenge them... normally i drift back through the group on a ride, not tonight... rode up near the front for the whole ride... if i can maintain and build on this form, this could be the start of a great year.
honestly, the prospects weren't looking good for the ride... on and off rain, including a couple of lines of showers moving through dc-metro around noon. we got the go ahead from the ranger, but my expectations still weren't high, the heavy rain was looming, the trails would probably be slick from the accumlated rain and fog, and quite frankly, it was cedarville, good for a change every now and then, but not very challenging and not always fun... but hey, it's a ride thats not canceled and it's not riding around in circles at wakefield.
no problems at work so i left on time and was there was plenty of time to get ready... started to get the idea that we might be in for a good night when i stood outside my car in the dark getting changed and didn't get cold... knickers, a short sleeve jersey, and a pair of arm warmers looked like they'd be enough for the ride... no tights, no shoe covers, no balaclava, not tonight... bunky and marcus showed up just after i did, and by the time we set out steve and tommy brought the group up to 5...
out into the woods following bunky and marcus and we hit the gas... to paraphrase bunky, if you're not enjoying rosaryville, you're not riding fast enough. you can really rail on these trails... great flow; long smooth downhills with turns bermed just enough to let you hold your speed. we darted in and out of the woods, on singletrack and doubletrack, up gentle climbs and down fast downhills. in spite of the rain, most of the trails were really dry and in good shape... there were a couple of boggy sections, but when i've ridden rosaryville in the summer they've still been there.
i don't know the trail system, but we rode most of the park, meeting up with another rider, john, who'd missed us at the start, about half way through... the rain held off untill we hit the asphalt of the parking lot, perfect timing.
my legs felt great through the whole ride, but there weren't any hills to really challenge them... normally i drift back through the group on a ride, not tonight... rode up near the front for the whole ride... if i can maintain and build on this form, this could be the start of a great year.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
good riddance
yesterday's sudden demise of whfs has brought about some thoughts on the state of DC radio... when i found whfs i was in high school and it started to pull me out of my sad state of mainstream music consumption... i can't claim that i was all that Indie or punk in my taste in music in high school, i had my share of poison and def leppard CD's...
what whfs did was prime me for finding good music while i was away at college... while i was at virginia tech i worked with a student organization that booked small bands to play on campus... velocity girl was a highlight from freshman year, but we also booked ralph stanley & the clinch mountain boys, and rancid, so we ran the gamut... we were basically there as free labor, loading in and out, selling and taking tickets, and doing security when it was needed...
alt sounds led me to wuvt 90.7 (woovit), the student run radio station, by my sophomore year and i dj'ed on and off for rest of my time at tech... i started, as all new dj's did, on the AM station that i'm not sure could ever be heard, except as background music on one of the campus information tv channels... i got a slot on FM pretty quickly, starting with a "contemporary classical" show on sunday mornings, and then drifting around, playing jazz, new music, blues, wherever i got ... the highlight was a jazz/blues/contemporary classical mix show that i did for a semester and people really liked.
working at woovit exposed me to a huge range of music, jazz, indie, punk... you name it we played it, and when i'd come home for summer or winter break, i'd listen to whfs... it wasn't playing the same music we were playing at woovit, but it was still descent... by the time i moved back after graduation, there was really no difference between whfs and any other mainstream rock station... i held on to the memories of the old whfs for a while, but i haven't listened for a couple of years now... if i hadn't heard the news online, i probably wouldn't have known it had changed formats for months... whfs, goodbye and good riddance...
the upshot of this has been some recommendations for good music online...
KEXP - i've been listening to kexp at work for the last couple of years... check them out...
WOXY - recommendation from a comment on gary's blog... listening now, they're good...
WUVT - woovit has a stream, though i don't often listen to it and it's not always the most reliable...
one bit of knowledge from my time at woovit... if you ever find yourself working as a DJ and need a break for a couple of minutes for a trip to the vending machine and a bathroom stop, dig up a copy of sonic youth's washing machine and put on the diamond sea... it's long, and it's a good track in it's own right...
any more recommendations for good online radio?
what whfs did was prime me for finding good music while i was away at college... while i was at virginia tech i worked with a student organization that booked small bands to play on campus... velocity girl was a highlight from freshman year, but we also booked ralph stanley & the clinch mountain boys, and rancid, so we ran the gamut... we were basically there as free labor, loading in and out, selling and taking tickets, and doing security when it was needed...
alt sounds led me to wuvt 90.7 (woovit), the student run radio station, by my sophomore year and i dj'ed on and off for rest of my time at tech... i started, as all new dj's did, on the AM station that i'm not sure could ever be heard, except as background music on one of the campus information tv channels... i got a slot on FM pretty quickly, starting with a "contemporary classical" show on sunday mornings, and then drifting around, playing jazz, new music, blues, wherever i got ... the highlight was a jazz/blues/contemporary classical mix show that i did for a semester and people really liked.
working at woovit exposed me to a huge range of music, jazz, indie, punk... you name it we played it, and when i'd come home for summer or winter break, i'd listen to whfs... it wasn't playing the same music we were playing at woovit, but it was still descent... by the time i moved back after graduation, there was really no difference between whfs and any other mainstream rock station... i held on to the memories of the old whfs for a while, but i haven't listened for a couple of years now... if i hadn't heard the news online, i probably wouldn't have known it had changed formats for months... whfs, goodbye and good riddance...
the upshot of this has been some recommendations for good music online...
KEXP - i've been listening to kexp at work for the last couple of years... check them out...
WOXY - recommendation from a comment on gary's blog... listening now, they're good...
WUVT - woovit has a stream, though i don't often listen to it and it's not always the most reliable...
one bit of knowledge from my time at woovit... if you ever find yourself working as a DJ and need a break for a couple of minutes for a trip to the vending machine and a bathroom stop, dig up a copy of sonic youth's washing machine and put on the diamond sea... it's long, and it's a good track in it's own right...
any more recommendations for good online radio?
Monday, January 10, 2005
And if I go, don't forget the one good thing I almost did.
Back when i was at virginia tech, i spent most of my free time in the newspaper darkroom, or across the hall in the radio station... when i was in the darkroom, i'd always put a on a cd, and since i'd only ever keep 2 or 3 there, i'd listen to the same music over and over again...
what's the furthest place from here?on top rotation for a long time was a copy of jawbreaker's "dear you", a pledge premium from the across the hall...
It hasn't been my day for a couple years.listening to kexp at work today accident prone, my favorite track from "dear you" came on and i was back there in the darkroom with the fuzzy guitars spilling out of the cheap cast-off speakers in the dim orange light with the smell of fixer wafting through the air and acrid chemical taste of the darkroom air in my mouth...
What's a couple more?
What's the closest you can come to an almost total wreck and still walk away,ten years from now, what music will bring me back to these days?
All limbs intact?
I wanted you. You wanted more.
I built this life and now it's mine.
there is is there life outside of bikes...
slightly less athletic pursits on sunday... my legs felt better on sunday than i though they would, but rest is part of good training, so i slept late and spent the day on other things...
brewed another batch of beer, a double IPA this time, high gravity and very hoppy... this will be my first dry-hopped beer, but it won't be ready for a couple of months. my first attempt at a lager is on tap for next weekend... i've got ingredients for a helles lager at home, but after checking the temperature in the basement, it looks like it'll be a bit warm for the standard yeast... i've ordered a pack of california lager yeast... it's suggested as a replacement for warmer fermentation of lagers and it's temperature range seems to match the conditions in the basement...
took a trip up to rockville mid afternoon to meet my dad at guitar center... after years of wanting to learn how to play guitar, and one rather forgettable half-hearted attempt in high school, i've decided to take another stab at it... i asked my dad to come with me since he can play, and with his help, and some suggestions from the staff i picked out a taylor 110 acoustic. now i've just got to find a teacher and get some lessons... i've played instruments before - according to my mom i was really good at violin and my teacher wanted me to join some kind of county youth orchestra. i always thought i was pretty mediocre and just remember hating to practice... hopefully it will go better this time around...
brewed another batch of beer, a double IPA this time, high gravity and very hoppy... this will be my first dry-hopped beer, but it won't be ready for a couple of months. my first attempt at a lager is on tap for next weekend... i've got ingredients for a helles lager at home, but after checking the temperature in the basement, it looks like it'll be a bit warm for the standard yeast... i've ordered a pack of california lager yeast... it's suggested as a replacement for warmer fermentation of lagers and it's temperature range seems to match the conditions in the basement...
took a trip up to rockville mid afternoon to meet my dad at guitar center... after years of wanting to learn how to play guitar, and one rather forgettable half-hearted attempt in high school, i've decided to take another stab at it... i asked my dad to come with me since he can play, and with his help, and some suggestions from the staff i picked out a taylor 110 acoustic. now i've just got to find a teacher and get some lessons... i've played instruments before - according to my mom i was really good at violin and my teacher wanted me to join some kind of county youth orchestra. i always thought i was pretty mediocre and just remember hating to practice... hopefully it will go better this time around...
Saturday, January 08, 2005
ow...
my legs hurt...
my body is in a state of revolt...
did a 75 mile road and towpath ride today with joe, joe, mark, and butch... out the W&OD to leesburg, then across the to white's ferry to cross the river and back into the city on the C&O towpath... i was riding my cyclocross bike which doesn't have a computer, but with the ride down to roosevelt island to meet up with the others, and the ride home at the end, it was probably and 80+ mile day overall...
i think it might be a bit early in the year to be doing 80-mile rides, especially with a bunch of guys riding fixies... i was fine untill we hit the C&O, but about 5 miles into that my legs started screaming... i limped the rest of the way home, taking some breaks, riding mostly by myself...
still a good day overall...
my body is in a state of revolt...
did a 75 mile road and towpath ride today with joe, joe, mark, and butch... out the W&OD to leesburg, then across the to white's ferry to cross the river and back into the city on the C&O towpath... i was riding my cyclocross bike which doesn't have a computer, but with the ride down to roosevelt island to meet up with the others, and the ride home at the end, it was probably and 80+ mile day overall...
i think it might be a bit early in the year to be doing 80-mile rides, especially with a bunch of guys riding fixies... i was fine untill we hit the C&O, but about 5 miles into that my legs started screaming... i limped the rest of the way home, taking some breaks, riding mostly by myself...
still a good day overall...
Friday, January 07, 2005
new year revisited
like lee said, this time of year is about the routine... getting into it, sticking with it, and enjoying the breaks from it untill the days get longer and there's more time for fun...
the new year is looking a little less gloomy than it was at the weekend... i'm mostly over my cold and i've got a couple of good days at the gym under my belt this week, and a batch beer (a fat tire clone) fermenting away in the kitchen... emailed nancy about coaching and faxed in my questionnaire about my goals and rough schedule...
i've got my riding goals for the year, and a couple of personal goals to work towards, so i'm in pretty good shape for the new year... still need to work on my time management, which just seems to be getting worse... need to get more sleep.
still, it sucked not having a good new year's ride... got plans for some riding this weekend, hopefully it won't all be rained out...
the new year is looking a little less gloomy than it was at the weekend... i'm mostly over my cold and i've got a couple of good days at the gym under my belt this week, and a batch beer (a fat tire clone) fermenting away in the kitchen... emailed nancy about coaching and faxed in my questionnaire about my goals and rough schedule...
i've got my riding goals for the year, and a couple of personal goals to work towards, so i'm in pretty good shape for the new year... still need to work on my time management, which just seems to be getting worse... need to get more sleep.
still, it sucked not having a good new year's ride... got plans for some riding this weekend, hopefully it won't all be rained out...
Monday, January 03, 2005
Sunday, January 02, 2005
an inauspicious start to the new year...
first weekend of the new year and instead of getting in a great new year ride i'm home, sick... i was up an 4:00 am on new years eve to catch an early flight back from tampa and ended up asleep before midnight... i may not have managed to get out for a ride, but i got a batch of beer started, and cleaned up some of the brewing equipment that was mostly ignored last year.
time to get in touch with nancy tomorrow to get coaching sorted out for this year... i'm going to do the 100 again this year, and i'd like to get my time under 13 hours.
time to get my life sorted out for this year... more riding, more pictures, more brewing, more fun...
time to get in touch with nancy tomorrow to get coaching sorted out for this year... i'm going to do the 100 again this year, and i'd like to get my time under 13 hours.
time to get my life sorted out for this year... more riding, more pictures, more brewing, more fun...
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