some more camera time this morning, this time in the back yard...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
waiting...
you can't tell in the picture, but it was tipping down with rain while i waited for this CSX freight to pass last night...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
ramping up...
gwadz is bugging me to blog more... every week i start with good intentions to write up the weekend and start the blog on a strong note, but suddenly it's thursday and it doesn't seem to make much sense to write up a road ride i did 5 days ago, or the minutia of some project at home. even heather has blogged more than me this week.
Saturday's ride was blog-worthy though, or at least it seemed like it at the time. we were up in Philly for wedding planning and heather's b-day and saturday heather was busy throwing a shower for a friend of hers. i had to show my parents around some potential rehearsal dinner venues, but i had my pass stamped until at least 2 in the afternoon. josef wanted a big ride, so i did a big ride. started with the 9am art museum ride, and stuck with that group for the first 3/4s of the ride. once they started to head back into the city i turned off and rode out the river trail to valley forge. once i got out there is turned back around and rode home. i had to do an extra loop around kelly drive/west river drive to get up close to 90 miles, but mission accomplished.
the rest of the weekend was good... 2nd meeting with the caterer, first meeting with the florist, cake chosen, rehearsal dinner location chosen, ceremony brainstormed, birthday celebrated, beers consumed, friends visited.
this week we've been multitasking well. i've shifted my hours a little earlier in the day so that i can get a good training ride in after work and we can still get errands run in the evening. bought my tux on monday, got a quote on replacing the windows in the house on tuesday and then sorted out the rental package for the groomsmen/ushers/dad's yesterday.
training's kicked up a bit this week. i've been a bit more on the ball with the 100 just 2 weeks away. the last couple of days have felt really good, so i'm hoping the next week will get me into good shape. training's been weird this year, but i have had a lot of big weekends year - 3x 24 hour races, a bunch of good, long mountain bike and road rides - another big ride this weekend (sugarloaf, anyone?) and maybe the cranky monkey at fountainhead on sunday. we've got friends in town so we'll have to see how it fits with the schedules.
by the way, the blogroll on the right is hopelessly out of date... here are some new blogs of note: heather, anna, darren
Saturday's ride was blog-worthy though, or at least it seemed like it at the time. we were up in Philly for wedding planning and heather's b-day and saturday heather was busy throwing a shower for a friend of hers. i had to show my parents around some potential rehearsal dinner venues, but i had my pass stamped until at least 2 in the afternoon. josef wanted a big ride, so i did a big ride. started with the 9am art museum ride, and stuck with that group for the first 3/4s of the ride. once they started to head back into the city i turned off and rode out the river trail to valley forge. once i got out there is turned back around and rode home. i had to do an extra loop around kelly drive/west river drive to get up close to 90 miles, but mission accomplished.
the rest of the weekend was good... 2nd meeting with the caterer, first meeting with the florist, cake chosen, rehearsal dinner location chosen, ceremony brainstormed, birthday celebrated, beers consumed, friends visited.
this week we've been multitasking well. i've shifted my hours a little earlier in the day so that i can get a good training ride in after work and we can still get errands run in the evening. bought my tux on monday, got a quote on replacing the windows in the house on tuesday and then sorted out the rental package for the groomsmen/ushers/dad's yesterday.
training's kicked up a bit this week. i've been a bit more on the ball with the 100 just 2 weeks away. the last couple of days have felt really good, so i'm hoping the next week will get me into good shape. training's been weird this year, but i have had a lot of big weekends year - 3x 24 hour races, a bunch of good, long mountain bike and road rides - another big ride this weekend (sugarloaf, anyone?) and maybe the cranky monkey at fountainhead on sunday. we've got friends in town so we'll have to see how it fits with the schedules.
by the way, the blogroll on the right is hopelessly out of date... here are some new blogs of note: heather, anna, darren
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
what's going on?
the pendulum has swung for the last week and a half. after a good bit of bike time in the previous couple of weeks i've been spending more time working on the house since coming back from killington. this weekend, with some help from my little brother, we managed to get some lingering odd-jobs finished up... a new light in the hallway, shelves & curtains in the office, picked out tile to lay in the mud room... little things that have just been falling through the cracks.
we're almost finished with the wallpaper striping in the kitchen. there's still a lot of prep work to be done in there though before we can get started painting, as a lot of the drywall is in pretty bad shape in there. we've got the last couple of pieces of furniture for downstairs on the way: a cupboard for the dining room, an armchair for the living room, and a sofa bed for the office.
saw social distortion (with the heart attacks and the hangmen) last week with jason and maili up at rams head live in baltimore, and then went down to the black cat after the team meeting with matt to meet up with katie and heather (and others) to see casey neil, and the starlingtons. both turned out to be good shows.
went out to annapolis this weekend to see friends of heather's who were visiting their family summer house. they bought crabs and shrimp and we ate on the front porch right on the bay, then went in to town for ice cream.
this weekend we're heading up to philly for wedding stuff. hopefully i'll be able to get a long ride in saturday while heather is throwing a shower for one of her friends.
3 weeks to the sm100...
we're almost finished with the wallpaper striping in the kitchen. there's still a lot of prep work to be done in there though before we can get started painting, as a lot of the drywall is in pretty bad shape in there. we've got the last couple of pieces of furniture for downstairs on the way: a cupboard for the dining room, an armchair for the living room, and a sofa bed for the office.
saw social distortion (with the heart attacks and the hangmen) last week with jason and maili up at rams head live in baltimore, and then went down to the black cat after the team meeting with matt to meet up with katie and heather (and others) to see casey neil, and the starlingtons. both turned out to be good shows.
went out to annapolis this weekend to see friends of heather's who were visiting their family summer house. they bought crabs and shrimp and we ate on the front porch right on the bay, then went in to town for ice cream.
this weekend we're heading up to philly for wedding stuff. hopefully i'll be able to get a long ride in saturday while heather is throwing a shower for one of her friends.
3 weeks to the sm100...
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
24 hours of Killington...
if you don't want the full details, here's the quick scoop: fun course, great weather, excellent teammates. rode out way from 12th overall (thanks to my slow start) to 1st (thanks to the rest of the team) in 4 laps and held on for the entire race. going into the night laps there was only a minute and a half separating us from the two teams behind us but with some good luck on our part and bad luck for other teams we held our lead and slowly built up over a full lap lead. at the end of the race i went out for one last lap with a 1/2 hour left to go before noon to give us 21 laps and a 2 lap overall and expert win.
now for the details, at least as many as i can remember...
start/lap 1:
since i'd never done the run at a 24-hour race, and this is probably my last one this year, i volunteered to run. i didn't realize when i did it that this would be the longest run we'd seen all year. there'd been some rain the day before and the skies looked threatening all morning. as i started to get ready for the start the rain started and we all thought this was going to turn into a repeat of the mudfest that we had heard this race turned into last year, but as i made my way down to the start the rain stopped. other than a shower or two in the first 2 laps that was the last we saw of the rain all weekend.
the run was kind of a long one, so i tried to take it fairly easy. i stayed in the front half of the pack on the run. there were only 38 teams/solos so it wasn't too crazy. i'd planned on taking the first lap fairly easy, since i hadn't seen the course at all and on top of that the run had put a little more hurt on my legs than i expected. out of the start/finish the course crossed under the killington access road and immediately started climbing up and across a couple of ski runs. after traversing over a short way on to the main base area, and then another shot of climbing we got the first, allbeit short, taste of singletrack. the trail was narrow, slick, rooty, twisty, and a total blast to ride. this pattern (fireroad climb, singletrack downhill) repeated over and over for the rest of the course.
another climb, this time a long one, up to the top of the course, interrupted by a short-but-sweet section of singletrack. but once at the top it was a mile and half of super tight singletrack back down. every 20 feet there was another technical puzzle to be solved: a little rock garden here, a tight 180 there, a slick hump of criss-crossed roots, a long boardwalk, a skinny, and a couple of bad mud-pits. there was a short run-up where the trail ran straight up a small muddy gully, but overall the trail was in great shape. a couple more repetitions of the up on fireroads, down on singletrack pattern, though with less and less elevation gain each time and i was dumped out at the lake by the venue. around the lake, over the bridge, and into the start to hand off to kent. 1:12 for 12th place.
lap 5
even after seeing us move up to 6th, then 3rd as kent and mike came back in i was surprised to see matt come in before any other team finished their 4th lap, so i went out for my 2nd lap in 1st place and very worried. without the lactic acid from the run in my legs the 1st climb seemed easier, and the singletrack was more familiar. climbed the big climb at a nice steady pace, starting to catch and lap slower teams, always trying to give some encouragement while passing. some rain that hit the top of the mountain on the 2nd lap of the race and the effect of many bike tires softened up a bit more of the course and the mud was worse on this lap. a good lap though, 1:07 to hold 1st place, just. after this lap there was about 1:30 between the top 3 teams in expert.
lap 9
the mood in the camp was a little weird after we took first. none of us were quite sure what to make of the situation. were we going to be able to hold this lead, or were we just setting ourselves up for disappointment. but the skies were clearing, the air was drying out, and over the cycle of laps kent, mike, and matt managed to open up the lead a bit over 2nd and 3rd. going into my first night lap things were looking a little more comfortable. that lap was going fairly well until about 2/3rds of the way around the lap. after the run-up, my hamstrings started cramping, a big thing to see this early in the race. the downhills were getting more slick and riding them at night was much more challenging that during the day. i kept moving and made it back in 1:21.
lap 13
after my cramping on the previous lap i was worried. i tried to do as good of a job as i could recovering after this lap. i didn't want to mess up my body clock with any sleep, so i made sure to get some extra food (instant noodles in a cup could be the best 24-hour race food), take some extra sportlegs (something i'd forgotten to do before the last lap), and keep drinking water. i also went down to the start and got a 15 minute massage from the masseuse that was set up in the start tent to try and get my hamstrings and back to relax a bit. the next lap was ok... a couple of technical bobbles, and a little bit slower than the first night lap, but still decent at 1:25.
lap 17
ah, back in daylight. caught a little sleep after my last lap and woke up slightly refreshed. hit the course with almost an hour lead over 2nd place. the downhills were so much nicer in the daylight and seemed to even be getting a little drier. rode strong and felt better on the climbs that i had since my 2nd lap.
sean sullivan (from the 2nd place team) catches me at start of the big downhill. they're a lap behind, but i try my best to keep up. he's flying down the singletrack with a grace i don't even pretend to have. near the end of the course i catch back up to him (i think he stopped to take off his jacket) and then pass him going into a section of singletrack. i rode that last mile of the course fast but ugly as i'm riding it faster than i should. the rest of the team rode hard to put that lap on their team, and even if it's only a matter of a few pointless seconds, i'm not going to be the guy that lets them get back on the same lap. i'm sure if he really wanted to, he'd have been able to pass me, but he didn't.
the 5th lap goes into the books at 1:10 and as i'm doing the math in my head i start to realize that we're going to finish the next rotation of laps well before noon... leading to the question of whether i'll need to do another lap.
lap 21
by the time the last lap comes around we've lapped every team in the race. there's no way we can lose, but if we stop racing early there's a chance that another team could get in before noon and get another lap in to get up to the same lap we're on. matt and i talked about how we'd both like to finish a full lap ahead. in the end it all came down to me to make the call.
i checked the standings while i was waiting for matt. he's out on lap 20, and 2nd & 3rd place are both out on lap 19. checked the times they started and 2nd place won't even be able to start lap 20 unless they beat the fastest lap of the race by 10 minutes, so we've got our 1 lap victory already. standing in the tent waiting for matt i got some ribbing from the announcer and the kid behind the table to go out for another lap and then matt comes in pulling off a great 1:05. it's only 11:30 and it feels anti-climatic to call the race early, plus i feel like i'm letting the team down for having ridden so strong, and then i find myself swiping my RFID and running for my bike.
the climbs hurt, but they have every lap. the power isn't quite there, and i'm spinning in the granny gear a little earlier on every climb than usual, but i'm feeling pretty good. i'd ditched the hydration pack for a waterbottle so i'm riding light. the course was drying out and i'm taking it fairly easy. rode the singletrack the cleanest i did all race - maybe not the fastest though. saw the rest of the team out on the course. they'd driven/hiked up to one of the singletrack sections to hand me up a beer, but i figured it'd be best to wait until the finish line for that... there was still singletrack to ride and i'm a bad enough rider with 2 hands on the bars.
the finish
crossing the finish line as the overall and expert winner was pretty damn cool. there's really no other way to say it. matt, kent, and mike all made it back to the tent in time to hand me a beer as i scanned out of the course and celebrate in the tent.
it wasn't my fastest lap (1:15) but it was the sweetest. we got the expert win in temecula, but we were 5th overall. after 3 top-5 overall finishes the overall win is what i think we all wanted this weekend, and we got it.
the series
we've got 725 points in the series now, two first places and a 2nd. the wrecking crew have 2 firsts and they're talking about going to moab. if they win there they'll have 750 points, but that's a much more competitive race and even though they've won in style at big bear and conyers, a win for them at moab isn't a foregone conclusion. there's talk about getting a team to go to lanadahl to try and get more points, and talk of going to moab, just to go there. not sure that i can swing another 24 with the sm100 and my wedding coming up.
now for the details, at least as many as i can remember...
start/lap 1:
since i'd never done the run at a 24-hour race, and this is probably my last one this year, i volunteered to run. i didn't realize when i did it that this would be the longest run we'd seen all year. there'd been some rain the day before and the skies looked threatening all morning. as i started to get ready for the start the rain started and we all thought this was going to turn into a repeat of the mudfest that we had heard this race turned into last year, but as i made my way down to the start the rain stopped. other than a shower or two in the first 2 laps that was the last we saw of the rain all weekend.
the run was kind of a long one, so i tried to take it fairly easy. i stayed in the front half of the pack on the run. there were only 38 teams/solos so it wasn't too crazy. i'd planned on taking the first lap fairly easy, since i hadn't seen the course at all and on top of that the run had put a little more hurt on my legs than i expected. out of the start/finish the course crossed under the killington access road and immediately started climbing up and across a couple of ski runs. after traversing over a short way on to the main base area, and then another shot of climbing we got the first, allbeit short, taste of singletrack. the trail was narrow, slick, rooty, twisty, and a total blast to ride. this pattern (fireroad climb, singletrack downhill) repeated over and over for the rest of the course.
another climb, this time a long one, up to the top of the course, interrupted by a short-but-sweet section of singletrack. but once at the top it was a mile and half of super tight singletrack back down. every 20 feet there was another technical puzzle to be solved: a little rock garden here, a tight 180 there, a slick hump of criss-crossed roots, a long boardwalk, a skinny, and a couple of bad mud-pits. there was a short run-up where the trail ran straight up a small muddy gully, but overall the trail was in great shape. a couple more repetitions of the up on fireroads, down on singletrack pattern, though with less and less elevation gain each time and i was dumped out at the lake by the venue. around the lake, over the bridge, and into the start to hand off to kent. 1:12 for 12th place.
lap 5
even after seeing us move up to 6th, then 3rd as kent and mike came back in i was surprised to see matt come in before any other team finished their 4th lap, so i went out for my 2nd lap in 1st place and very worried. without the lactic acid from the run in my legs the 1st climb seemed easier, and the singletrack was more familiar. climbed the big climb at a nice steady pace, starting to catch and lap slower teams, always trying to give some encouragement while passing. some rain that hit the top of the mountain on the 2nd lap of the race and the effect of many bike tires softened up a bit more of the course and the mud was worse on this lap. a good lap though, 1:07 to hold 1st place, just. after this lap there was about 1:30 between the top 3 teams in expert.
lap 9
the mood in the camp was a little weird after we took first. none of us were quite sure what to make of the situation. were we going to be able to hold this lead, or were we just setting ourselves up for disappointment. but the skies were clearing, the air was drying out, and over the cycle of laps kent, mike, and matt managed to open up the lead a bit over 2nd and 3rd. going into my first night lap things were looking a little more comfortable. that lap was going fairly well until about 2/3rds of the way around the lap. after the run-up, my hamstrings started cramping, a big thing to see this early in the race. the downhills were getting more slick and riding them at night was much more challenging that during the day. i kept moving and made it back in 1:21.
lap 13
after my cramping on the previous lap i was worried. i tried to do as good of a job as i could recovering after this lap. i didn't want to mess up my body clock with any sleep, so i made sure to get some extra food (instant noodles in a cup could be the best 24-hour race food), take some extra sportlegs (something i'd forgotten to do before the last lap), and keep drinking water. i also went down to the start and got a 15 minute massage from the masseuse that was set up in the start tent to try and get my hamstrings and back to relax a bit. the next lap was ok... a couple of technical bobbles, and a little bit slower than the first night lap, but still decent at 1:25.
lap 17
ah, back in daylight. caught a little sleep after my last lap and woke up slightly refreshed. hit the course with almost an hour lead over 2nd place. the downhills were so much nicer in the daylight and seemed to even be getting a little drier. rode strong and felt better on the climbs that i had since my 2nd lap.
sean sullivan (from the 2nd place team) catches me at start of the big downhill. they're a lap behind, but i try my best to keep up. he's flying down the singletrack with a grace i don't even pretend to have. near the end of the course i catch back up to him (i think he stopped to take off his jacket) and then pass him going into a section of singletrack. i rode that last mile of the course fast but ugly as i'm riding it faster than i should. the rest of the team rode hard to put that lap on their team, and even if it's only a matter of a few pointless seconds, i'm not going to be the guy that lets them get back on the same lap. i'm sure if he really wanted to, he'd have been able to pass me, but he didn't.
the 5th lap goes into the books at 1:10 and as i'm doing the math in my head i start to realize that we're going to finish the next rotation of laps well before noon... leading to the question of whether i'll need to do another lap.
lap 21
by the time the last lap comes around we've lapped every team in the race. there's no way we can lose, but if we stop racing early there's a chance that another team could get in before noon and get another lap in to get up to the same lap we're on. matt and i talked about how we'd both like to finish a full lap ahead. in the end it all came down to me to make the call.
i checked the standings while i was waiting for matt. he's out on lap 20, and 2nd & 3rd place are both out on lap 19. checked the times they started and 2nd place won't even be able to start lap 20 unless they beat the fastest lap of the race by 10 minutes, so we've got our 1 lap victory already. standing in the tent waiting for matt i got some ribbing from the announcer and the kid behind the table to go out for another lap and then matt comes in pulling off a great 1:05. it's only 11:30 and it feels anti-climatic to call the race early, plus i feel like i'm letting the team down for having ridden so strong, and then i find myself swiping my RFID and running for my bike.
the climbs hurt, but they have every lap. the power isn't quite there, and i'm spinning in the granny gear a little earlier on every climb than usual, but i'm feeling pretty good. i'd ditched the hydration pack for a waterbottle so i'm riding light. the course was drying out and i'm taking it fairly easy. rode the singletrack the cleanest i did all race - maybe not the fastest though. saw the rest of the team out on the course. they'd driven/hiked up to one of the singletrack sections to hand me up a beer, but i figured it'd be best to wait until the finish line for that... there was still singletrack to ride and i'm a bad enough rider with 2 hands on the bars.
the finish
crossing the finish line as the overall and expert winner was pretty damn cool. there's really no other way to say it. matt, kent, and mike all made it back to the tent in time to hand me a beer as i scanned out of the course and celebrate in the tent.
it wasn't my fastest lap (1:15) but it was the sweetest. we got the expert win in temecula, but we were 5th overall. after 3 top-5 overall finishes the overall win is what i think we all wanted this weekend, and we got it.
the series
we've got 725 points in the series now, two first places and a 2nd. the wrecking crew have 2 firsts and they're talking about going to moab. if they win there they'll have 750 points, but that's a much more competitive race and even though they've won in style at big bear and conyers, a win for them at moab isn't a foregone conclusion. there's talk about getting a team to go to lanadahl to try and get more points, and talk of going to moab, just to go there. not sure that i can swing another 24 with the sm100 and my wedding coming up.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
countdown...
less than 48 hours to the 24 hours of killington... check out the realtime standings at granny gear starting at 12 noon on saturday and get the final results at noon on sunday. in case you can't guess we'll be team DCMTB/City Bikes.
now that's (a bit) more like it...
raced the final wednesdays@wakefield race last night... last week i started strong but faded pretty badly on the last two laps with lap times going from 16:30 up to close to 20:30 by the 4th lap. last night was a different story though. i started strong, kept people in sight all race, dueled it out with calvin cheung all race, and most importantly felt like i didn't fade. well i just checked my lap times and
that's what i call a pretty consistent race.
my only disappointment was that i didn't beat calvin. i caught him at the start of the 2nd lap and managed to build up what i thought was a pretty good gap. he looked like he was coming back at the start of the 3rd lap, but i was able to build up the gap again. then all of a sudden climbing the rollers on the powerlines he came from nowhere to right on my wheel. he passed me on right after the start of the last lap and i was able to keep him in sight for a while, but his legs where just stronger than mine at the end and i couldn't hold his wheel. still, 12th of 17 starters isn't a bad result for me - this is just my first year of racing expert.
congrats to my city bikes teammates kent, chris, and tom who took 3rd, 5th, and 6th in the 35+ race.
| 16:16.0 |
| 17:20.0 |
| 17:40.0 |
| 17:35.0 |
that's what i call a pretty consistent race.
my only disappointment was that i didn't beat calvin. i caught him at the start of the 2nd lap and managed to build up what i thought was a pretty good gap. he looked like he was coming back at the start of the 3rd lap, but i was able to build up the gap again. then all of a sudden climbing the rollers on the powerlines he came from nowhere to right on my wheel. he passed me on right after the start of the last lap and i was able to keep him in sight for a while, but his legs where just stronger than mine at the end and i couldn't hold his wheel. still, 12th of 17 starters isn't a bad result for me - this is just my first year of racing expert.
congrats to my city bikes teammates kent, chris, and tom who took 3rd, 5th, and 6th in the 35+ race.
Monday, July 23, 2007
ergon...
i've been meaning to post about the ergon grips that jeff hooked me up with out at big bear for the next couple of weeks, but i keep holding off because there always seems to be a ride that's bigger than the one before to test them out on. this weekend was about as big as they come, though, so it's time to post up...
in short, they work. i'd been having problems with my hands on my new stumpjumper since i built it up earlier this year. since i put the ergons on and got them set up correctly i've had no problems at all. i did have to tweak the angle a little and also made some changes to the position of my riser bar (thanks to mike for that tip), but since then they've been solid and comfortable.
overall the shape of the ergon grips give a nice big platform under the outside of your hand and let you keep a more relaxed grip on the bike, which i think, in turn leads to a more comfortable ride and less hand-issues. they're grippy enough that your hands don't slip, but i did have to switch to a pair with a slightly narrower diameter, as my hands are fairly small and i had a tough time getting a firm grip on the bars on rockier downhills.
this past weekend we hit the watershed for a 6+ hour watershed-gambrill-watershed ride. starting south from hamburg road, we rode all the way down and back up blue to gambrill, did a full (all the way down to the lower lot) yellow loop at gambrill, back through a couple of downhills off gambrill park rd to rusted bug and then across hamburg road heading north down to little canaan then picking blue up again out to sand flats and salamander then finishing up with a long ridge downhill (trail name unknown, possibily un-named) to a long fireroad climb up the three sisters.
within those 32 miles of trail and fireroad were every kind of condition you could imagine... long consistently rocky singletrack that keeps pounding your hands, steep technical rocks where you want every ounce of control, long flowy downhills where the bike becomes an extension of your body, and long steep fireroads where you just want to keep your body as relaxed as possible. through all of that i don't think i've ever had my hands and arms stay so comfortable, so these grips get my seal of approval.
on the other hand, my bike didn't make it through the ride with such flying colors... a seal blew in the stumpy's rear shock, so it looks like i'm racing my epic tonight at wakefield and taking it up to the 24 hours of killington this weekend. i had to go out an buy a set of ergons for the epic, though... going back to regular round grips just wan't in the cards.
in short, they work. i'd been having problems with my hands on my new stumpjumper since i built it up earlier this year. since i put the ergons on and got them set up correctly i've had no problems at all. i did have to tweak the angle a little and also made some changes to the position of my riser bar (thanks to mike for that tip), but since then they've been solid and comfortable.
overall the shape of the ergon grips give a nice big platform under the outside of your hand and let you keep a more relaxed grip on the bike, which i think, in turn leads to a more comfortable ride and less hand-issues. they're grippy enough that your hands don't slip, but i did have to switch to a pair with a slightly narrower diameter, as my hands are fairly small and i had a tough time getting a firm grip on the bars on rockier downhills.
this past weekend we hit the watershed for a 6+ hour watershed-gambrill-watershed ride. starting south from hamburg road, we rode all the way down and back up blue to gambrill, did a full (all the way down to the lower lot) yellow loop at gambrill, back through a couple of downhills off gambrill park rd to rusted bug and then across hamburg road heading north down to little canaan then picking blue up again out to sand flats and salamander then finishing up with a long ridge downhill (trail name unknown, possibily un-named) to a long fireroad climb up the three sisters.
within those 32 miles of trail and fireroad were every kind of condition you could imagine... long consistently rocky singletrack that keeps pounding your hands, steep technical rocks where you want every ounce of control, long flowy downhills where the bike becomes an extension of your body, and long steep fireroads where you just want to keep your body as relaxed as possible. through all of that i don't think i've ever had my hands and arms stay so comfortable, so these grips get my seal of approval.
on the other hand, my bike didn't make it through the ride with such flying colors... a seal blew in the stumpy's rear shock, so it looks like i'm racing my epic tonight at wakefield and taking it up to the 24 hours of killington this weekend. i had to go out an buy a set of ergons for the epic, though... going back to regular round grips just wan't in the cards.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
rained out
the wakefield race last night was cancelled just before i arrived. i'd taken the gamble and driven out, hoping that the rain would have missed and would miss the park and let us get the race in. no such luck this week.
the rain had stopped by the time i got there though, and while the promoters were worried about the trails at wakefield, everyone was pretty sure that accotink would be fine. kent, loren, pat, todd, and i ended up doing a nice fast ride around just about every bit of accotink and then a quick trip around the race course at wakefield.
our trip around wakefield confirmed that canceling was probably the right decision... salamander, phase II, and 495 all had numerouse wet spots that were bad enough without sending a hundred or more riders around the course multiple times.
the rain had stopped by the time i got there though, and while the promoters were worried about the trails at wakefield, everyone was pretty sure that accotink would be fine. kent, loren, pat, todd, and i ended up doing a nice fast ride around just about every bit of accotink and then a quick trip around the race course at wakefield.
our trip around wakefield confirmed that canceling was probably the right decision... salamander, phase II, and 495 all had numerouse wet spots that were bad enough without sending a hundred or more riders around the course multiple times.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
schaeffer
schaeffer
summer afternoon temptress
low orange sun
dancing through the trees
trails, dirt, rocks
crunching under tires
red clay dirt coating my bike
and sweat covered legs
breath laboured by hills climbed
legs course with acid burn
turns carved in the trees
down hills at the edge of control
feeling the trail through tires
summer afternoon temptress
low orange sun
dancing through the trees
trails, dirt, rocks
crunching under tires
red clay dirt coating my bike
and sweat covered legs
breath laboured by hills climbed
legs course with acid burn
turns carved in the trees
down hills at the edge of control
feeling the trail through tires
more homework...
replacing the light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room last weekend inspired us to pick out paint colors for both rooms, so this weekend was spent sanding, patching, sanding, and priming in the dining room, and stripping wallpaper from the kitchen.
unlike the wallpaper heather removed in one of the bedrooms upstairs, this wallpaper is being very stubborn, but we're over half way there. the walls are going to need some serious filing and sanding though, the wallpaper was hiding a lot of wear. we got 2 coats of paint on the dining room walls after dinner last night, so that room is ready for the trim work. heather was taking pictures of the progress and is threatening to post them here...
now we're trying to figure out some other projects that we can tackle in the kitchen to make it more useful. a deeper kitchen sink might be in the cards and at the very least the faucet needs to be replaced. since we postponed our plans to completely gut the kitchen, we've been hesitant to put too much work into it knowing that a lot of it will get re-done in a year or two anyway.
still managing to get some training in. dc velo ride on saturday morning and then a ride at patapsco on sunday. i did realize that i only really know the trails on the baltimore county side of the park. i could have put together something on the HoCo side, but i was short on time and didn't want to get myself on too big of a loop. maybe i'll explore some more next weekend before heading to baltimore for rob's bachelor party.
wakefield tommorow... let's hope the rain holds off.
unlike the wallpaper heather removed in one of the bedrooms upstairs, this wallpaper is being very stubborn, but we're over half way there. the walls are going to need some serious filing and sanding though, the wallpaper was hiding a lot of wear. we got 2 coats of paint on the dining room walls after dinner last night, so that room is ready for the trim work. heather was taking pictures of the progress and is threatening to post them here...
now we're trying to figure out some other projects that we can tackle in the kitchen to make it more useful. a deeper kitchen sink might be in the cards and at the very least the faucet needs to be replaced. since we postponed our plans to completely gut the kitchen, we've been hesitant to put too much work into it knowing that a lot of it will get re-done in a year or two anyway.
still managing to get some training in. dc velo ride on saturday morning and then a ride at patapsco on sunday. i did realize that i only really know the trails on the baltimore county side of the park. i could have put together something on the HoCo side, but i was short on time and didn't want to get myself on too big of a loop. maybe i'll explore some more next weekend before heading to baltimore for rob's bachelor party.
wakefield tommorow... let's hope the rain holds off.
Friday, July 06, 2007
two good rides last weekend at parks i haven't been to in a while. 2 laps at rosaryville on saturday and then fountainhead on sunday. we spent the rest of both days getting work done in and around the house. after spending the last 4 weekends away it was nice to get some jobs that have been lingering done.
while heather worked on cleaning up the chaos that erupted in the garden while we were on vacation, i managed to get a ceiling fan put up in the bedroom and new light fixtures put up in the dining room and kitchen, plus i started replacing the old dimmers with newer ones. this weekend we're going to tackle painting those 2 rooms. yeah, i know people normally paint first, but you've got to take inspiration where you can get it. putting up the lights got us thinking about the rest of the room, which got us to finally pick out a color.
on the 4th i started the day with 4 hours on the road bike... probably the longest ride i've done on the road this year. my legs started off slowly, not having recovered well from trying to hang on to the motor-paced goon ride the night before. once i was out into the back roads of MoCo and had some extra food down my legs started to feel better. rode out to berryville road and past schaeffer, then back down in on river road and macarthur before climbing chain bridge road to come back through the city.
had a few people over for grilling and an attempt to see fireworks down the street at takoma park. we grilled 2 racks of ribs and, despite some inattention on my part resulting in some charing, they both turned out nicely. we marinated the first rack with dijon mustard which we basted with soy sauce while it was grilling and the gave the other rack a dry rub and then basted it with a citrus/chipotle barbeque sauce from whole foods. i was a little skeptical of the mustard/soy ribs, but they turned out to be tasty. when it came down to fireworks time we decided to just stay home and keep the fun going. we finished the evening off by putting some peaches and pineapple on the grill (topped with some brown sugar and basted with bourbon).
heather's started a blog... no posts yet, though
while heather worked on cleaning up the chaos that erupted in the garden while we were on vacation, i managed to get a ceiling fan put up in the bedroom and new light fixtures put up in the dining room and kitchen, plus i started replacing the old dimmers with newer ones. this weekend we're going to tackle painting those 2 rooms. yeah, i know people normally paint first, but you've got to take inspiration where you can get it. putting up the lights got us thinking about the rest of the room, which got us to finally pick out a color.
on the 4th i started the day with 4 hours on the road bike... probably the longest ride i've done on the road this year. my legs started off slowly, not having recovered well from trying to hang on to the motor-paced goon ride the night before. once i was out into the back roads of MoCo and had some extra food down my legs started to feel better. rode out to berryville road and past schaeffer, then back down in on river road and macarthur before climbing chain bridge road to come back through the city.
had a few people over for grilling and an attempt to see fireworks down the street at takoma park. we grilled 2 racks of ribs and, despite some inattention on my part resulting in some charing, they both turned out nicely. we marinated the first rack with dijon mustard which we basted with soy sauce while it was grilling and the gave the other rack a dry rub and then basted it with a citrus/chipotle barbeque sauce from whole foods. i was a little skeptical of the mustard/soy ribs, but they turned out to be tasty. when it came down to fireworks time we decided to just stay home and keep the fun going. we finished the evening off by putting some peaches and pineapple on the grill (topped with some brown sugar and basted with bourbon).
heather's started a blog... no posts yet, though
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