pa biker

Snakes Alive!

2009-06-24T23:58:00.002-04:00

I've seem more rattlers this year than in my whole life.

Especially here.

Father's Day ride

2009-06-22T22:19:00.006-04:00

Michele dropped me off at Southern High School in Anne Arundel County south of Annapolis at 8:15 am for a metric century 100k (62 miles) organized by the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club (PPTC). The plan was to do the ride and then ride the roughly 20 miles back up to Severna Park.
These roads are also on the Bay Country Century ride and feature miles of single-lane paved roads with little traffic.

Advertised as a "B" ride. I spent some time at the front to insure that I wasn't out riding all day. After the second rest stop I decided to go it alone and pulled the tattered cue sheet from my pocket to wrap up the last 20 miles of the club ride. Back at Southern HS on Route 2, I headed north to Annapolis pretty much a straight shot with a few rollers.

Downtown Annapolis was pretty busy. I rode down to "Ego Alley" to grab an espresso.

There was a persistent headwind for most of the day - especially crossing over the bridges.

This is the view out toward the Chesapeake Bay from the Naval Academy Bridge.

I spent a few miles on the Baltimore - Annapolis rail trail on the way back to my in-laws house.

Finally this private path takes me from the rail trail over to Old County Rd. where they live.

Here is the view after 81 miles - pulling into the driveway for some wiffle ball, frisbee, hot dogs, fireworks, and family time.

The best Father's Day so far.

Big Bear 2009

2009-06-15T21:07:00.011-04:00

Last week I got the call from David Kegley. "Hey, we lost a guy from our five man team yesterday. Do you want to do a 24-hour mt bike race this weekend?". Since I was driving home from a three day mt bike weekend in Northern PA when I got the call, I said "let me see what Michele has planned and I'll call you back."A Quick check with the wife reveals that she has planned a last minute beach trip to her father's condo in OCMD (a place I loathe) - I'm not expected to attend. OK, the boys will be at the beach playing with cousins. Guilt-free, I call David back to tell him I'm in. I had five days to train and it rained for four of them.
Our team: the "Nitro Burning Juggernauts" was skippered by Todd Bauer and included Dave George, Frank Comer, David Kegley, and myself. A group of Frederick Watershed regulars from Montgomery County, they were all veterans of 24 hour racing at Big Bear - I was the newbie.

My riding in PA the preceding weekend led me to believe that taking my rigid singlespeed 29'er was the way to go. In our class, the 5-person open, we would be able to ride any bike we pleased and could have riders of any ability level. Other categories place limits on the ability level (sport, expert, etc.), bike (singlespeed/rigid), gender make-up (co-ed, all men, all women), or number of riders (solo, duo, four person, five person).

The race is run on a 13 mile trail loop and the team or rider that completes the most laps in the 24 hour time period wins! The timing began at noon on Saturday and ended at noon on Sunday. The rain stopped on Thursday evening and while the trails were sloppy and wet Saturday morning, it never rained during the race. The course was a mixture of double track, singletrack, river beds, and a couple of short gravel road sections total climbing 1,630 feet per lap.A couple of sections made more permanent impressions: first the fast, smooth, pump track-like, section in the pine tree forest where the trail swooped in and out of tree trunks making sharp turns on dirt banks. Second, was the long technical downhill, a very-wet steep section littered with loose mud-covered rocks and roots that ended in a streambed. My arms and hands were pretty beat from holding the brake levers by the end of this section. Third, was the big rock garden that preceded the final climb. This section was around mile 9 and featured a normally rideable garden of stone that we had to walk during the race. With the singlespeed gearing I chose (34x20) this marked the beginning of two sections where I had to carry my bike. Topping out on this climb, you had about 2 miles of fast singletrack to go before you crossed the Fourth memorable feature, the bridge. ALL riders had to ride up a rather large ramp, cross a narrow bridge suspended 20 feet up in the air, and descend a ramp on the other side - all within eyesight of the finish line/staging area with lots of spectators. This is a Big Bear tradition.Our team had three single speeders (2 rigid, 1 w/shock), and two 1X9s. We set up camp next to many friends from PA, MD, VA, and DC, a sort of a biker shantytown. There was the MBM'er, Paul, wrenching; and YBR's, Zach, doing massage. Friday night was mellow. Things were still pretty damp, folks were arriving late, there was alot of apprehension about the trail conditions and that 'one more thunderstorm' that might make conditions unbearable. After a few libations around the fire, and despite a couple of round faced snorers, most of us got a good night's sleep.

The race order would be Todd, me, David, Dave, and Frank. The first rider has to do a short run in order to spread the field out a bit and Todd was the leader so....... After Todd turned in a great first lap time. I took the baton, scanned my RFID and hit the trail. My lap was largely uneventful. Having never seen the course before put me at a slight disadvantage since I had no idea what was coming or how far I had to go, but I put in what was to remain my best lap time: 1:29:41. That is an average of 8.67 miles per hour. The fastest lap by any rider, a pro, was run in 1:10.My night lap began in the dark a little after 9pm and I finished around 10:45, a 1:42 lap. This was the most enjoyable lap of the whole race for me. The trails were drying out and it was quiet out there. Many riders were struggling in the dark conditions, wet rocks, and slick muddy sections that remained, but I was able to pass a few and move our team up a couple places. In fact, our team did especially well in the darkness, and by the end of the night we had moved up 12 places in the overall standings. This can be attributed to the fact that the five of us ride together almost every Wednesday night during the winter at Gambrill State Park - usually in snow.

The day laps were a little faster all around and we ran through the rotation one more time to complete 3 laps each for total of 15. Amazingly we had ridden a collective 192 miles and climbed close to 5,000 feet each. This put us in solid 5th place in our category which included 13 teams and 23rd out of 150 teams. 5th place gets a mention at awards time and the emcee read our names outloud, but no podium presention and no swag. Most of our friends also did well with several teams placing on the podium in their respective categories. pics here here and here

It was fun to see the whole 24 hour racing scene. Interesting to see how individuals and teams meet or fail to meet the inevitable setbacks and challenges. Hopefully, someone will bail out next year and I'll get the nod again. results here

Look at these beauties!

2009-06-01T22:26:00.006-04:00

The Crocodile Hunter would be proud.

Two sets of three Timber Rattlers encountered on my Sunday ride.

They live about halfway through this rock garden.

2009-05-26T21:31:00.003-04:00

Alex likes espresso, especially before a big trip to DC.

Thomas at the Washington Monument.Henry looking up at the top.

We had another nice trip to DC. Some Greek food in Georgetown, parked near the White House, walked down to the Mall, visited the National Aquarium, the new Museum of American History, played frisbee on the Mall, raced to the Washington Monument, walked back to the car, drove to ThaiTanic on 14th for a great Thai dinner, then headed home. We didn't even leave Frederick til 1pm so it was a short trip, but the kids were tired.

Memorial Day:

Memorial Day picnic at a friend's farm near Thurmont, MD.

Henry launching balsa wood flier, he caught three fish in the pond (by himself).

Dinos in the grass.

After fishing, eating, frisbee, we found the gravel pile - what fun!

Douthat & Elizabeth Furnace

2009-05-18T11:53:00.002-04:00

Nice weekend of riding. photo: dkeg

Henry IV

2009-05-11T20:52:00.004-04:00

Birthday boy in the heat of the party.

The crowd building around the cake.

Lollipop cake with azul buttercream icing.
Helping hands abound.

Many friends and family came to help celebrate Henry's birthday this past Saturday. Seems like we accomplished quite a bit this past weekend: trail hike on Friday, Saturday morning appointments in my office, YMCA Healthy Kids Day event, making popcorn balls, rice crispy treats, icing, etc., party, sleepover, early Sunday morning mtb ride in the Shed, mother's day bike ride to the library, sushi dinner, movie, and finally - rest.

Capitol Hill

2009-05-08T23:38:00.002-04:00

Norshed

2009-05-05T18:57:00.002-04:00

F2

2009-04-18T11:12:00.001-04:00

Stone Harvesting

2009-04-08T19:40:00.002-04:00

The MORE workday in the Frederick Watershed was well attended. We made a big dent in the Blue re-route and I got to play with some big stone.

Press Time

2009-04-06T18:20:00.004-04:00

My business sponsored a booth at the Frederick WasteNOT Expo earlier this month. Henry made the front page of the Gazette and Thomas, Michele, and Alex got a photo in the Frederick News Post. Curiously, the photos were taken at different times, by different photographers, but both were with the weaver.

This fun event was well attended by many friends and neighbors.

Boys

2009-04-04T07:55:00.004-04:00

Tussey Memorial Ride

2009-03-02T21:10:00.007-05:00

This past Sunday in the Shed, a bunch of clowns and I (head clown pictured here in purple) gathered to honor the passing of my beautiful labrabor retriever,Tussey Rally Russ.We were met with cold temps and 1" of snow at the Sand Flats lot. There were ten of us in attendance and we proceeded to hit Blue, Cutoff, Iceberg, F2, ????, Pit Trail, Supersweet, Trail of Tears, Salamander, and some fire road back to the lot.

We rode, had some Ten-Fidy at Tussey's gravesite, rode a bunch more, had some brews in parking lot afterwards, ate at Brewers Alley (smoked porter),and went to the Mark home to top it all off with some Voodoo stouts, espresso, and family - a very nice day.

There are pics and video available on Flickr - if you know the right people.

Tussey

2009-02-23T13:03:00.004-05:00

Tussey passed away yesterday and is at rest up in the Shed - where she loved to work and play.

Lincoln 2 Lincoln - MetroDC Run

2009-02-11T19:46:00.006-05:00

I had a day of continuing education training in Bowie yesterday and wanted to hit DC on the way home so I called Go Kart Mozart to see if he was available.

"Got a bike?" he asked. "No, but I have my running shoes" I replied. A couple of emails later and it was set - a Metro DC run from his home on Capitol Hill.

His home is the beige colored one. Like all Go Kart rides this one had a minor blip. He left his keys at work, so we were locked out of his house. After going through the garage and trying unsuccessfully to break in, he remembered that the neighbor may have keys - she did, and we were in.

A quick change and we were in full running regalia - me slightly overdressed for the close to 60 degree temps. Tony's plan was to do hill repeats at Capitol hill. I said I wanted to go by the White House to meet Obama and, after some prodding, we settled on a full-fledged tour of the Mall. We crossed the Mall near the Smithsonian Institution and ran into Ricky, JoJo, and some friends about to embark on an urban night ride. Ricky had a fixed gear bike he just built up and we all took a turn. I remarked that it looked like a clown bike and apparently this was solidified once I had my turn.

Funny how timing works out. The diversion with Ricky, et al slowed us down enough that as we were climbing the hill up to the Washington Monument we saw the President's helicopter drift by and come to an awkward landing on the White House lawn. We had the best view in the city and one minute later or a couple earlier we would have misssed the whole thing. What a feeling that must be as you sweep in past the monuments in the middle of the city and park it in the lawn (oh yeah, in secured airspace with combat heli escorts).

We made it to the Lincoln Memorial (which was hopping with people). Urban running is a blast, we tried some mild parcour moves, jumping steps, sprinting for green lights, etc. I was hurting a little on the final climb back up Capitol Hill and then Tony took me on a diversion to see Eastern Market, his rental property, and a great espresso bar. We stretched out in Lincoln Park (his neighborhood park) and headed back to his house.

His wife was wrapping up dinner and they kindly invited me to stay. After a nice meal, one Bell's Expedition stout, watching Lexi run the indoor obstacle course, and a stop at said espresso bar - I mainlined it back to Frederick. Easy peasy. (click on map for details)

Lincoln Park to Lincoln Memorial - 8.08 Miles. Definitely a keeper. This route ranks up there with the Philadelphia Art Museum/Kelly Drive "Rocky Run", Hill repeats in San Fransisco, South Beach/Ocean Drive (in the winter), Trail running in Marin County, CA, and that time I amost died running in Palm Springs, CA.

The Great Beer Run

2009-01-31T11:00:00.007-05:00

Prologue: My friend Mike recently told me about a good source of micro-brews located in Altoona, PA - the Brew Zoo. Last month he put an order together of assorted ales and stouts which I took part in. There were many beers to choose from, but one that no-one opted for was the Voodoo Black Magick, an imperial stout aged for 6 months in bourbon casks:It went for $130 a case and, with all the others to choose from, this one was left stranded. Something told me if I threw it out to my MD/DC/PA/VA pals, we could split this thing up and everyone would be able to try it. I sent an email and exactly 24 minutes later it was sold out - with many folks left out in the cold. Matt at the Brew Zoo emailed me to say he had another case and in another 15 minutes, that one was sold too.

This post is about my trip out to pick them up. Knowing that there was really no good time to drive 7 hours to pick up some beer I left work Thursday at 4pm. Arriving in Altoona at 6:20, I met Matt and took this photo of their microbrew aisle.
After throwing three cases of fine stout into my backseat, I hit the road for Salix where Mike lives. There was quite a bit more snow in Cambria County and I arrived at Mike's a little before 7pm. So far, the timeline was perfect. Mike and Brenda had prepared some really tasty italian meatball, spinach, portobella pizza on whole wheat crust and we dusted off a bottle of McClaren Vale Shiraz to wash it down. Around 8:30 we headed down to the Windber Hotel, a recently renovated pub with a great draft beer selection and cool atmospherics. Mike and I have a couple draft pints of Victory Storm King stout and some good conversation with owner (who used to work in Huntingdon). The place is really comfortable. Sort of like Boxer's, but with a much larger bar. The owners built the bar out of recycled bowling lanes and restored the tin ceiling panels by hand. In addition to the draft beer selection they have a nice cooler of bottles to choose from.

Left the Windber around 10pm and made it home safe and sound a little after midnight. Here is my haul from the orginal buy that Mike put together. And here is a bottle of the Voodoo Black Magick at 15.5%ABV it's a sipper (and can be aged for years if you have the patience. Call or email me if you were in on the Voodoo order.

Mike told me that there are two more watering holes of renown in the Johnstown area, one downtown with great food and taps flowing with the likes of Ten-Fidy, Green Flash, Delerium, etc.; and the other a pub that specializes in Belgian ales on draft (6+ taps of Belgians).

With three quality mt biking options nearby and three pubs of interest, I am sensing a late spring weekend trip - anyone?

Playmobil Battle 2

2009-01-13T22:42:00.003-05:00

Ice, Ice, Baby

2009-01-11T18:21:00.003-05:00

Damn ice! Kept us from our mission today and we narrowly escaped intact:
Tussey proving that "all-paw drive" trumps all-wheel drive on sheets of ice. A little digging and shoveling gravel and we were on our way again.
We made the best of our abbreviated work day with some taste testing - here two quality IPAs. And here, two imperial stouts. Hopefully, next week will prove more productive.

18 Riders, 4 Hours, 11 Miles - Priceless

2009-01-03T22:45:00.005-05:00

Nice ride in the Shed today. (photo credit: Jason Stoner)

17 Friends from MD, PA, DC cruised in for a sun-splattered winter ride on Iceberg, Grebeci, and Sally Mander. We were not disappointed.
Grabbed some quality food and refreshment afterwards at Brewer's Alley in Frederick. See you next time.

Happy New Year from Frederick!

2009-01-01T11:48:00.000-05:00

Tussey likes fresh trail

2008-12-31T17:09:00.000-05:00

Holiday Ride

2008-12-28T16:37:00.007-05:00

Great time today with many friends.

DC Tony put a Sand Flats ride together today at 10 am. I Pulled in a little late, but was met with many friendly faces and a full lot. Bek, Skipper, Dave G., Lars Von Chambersburgen, Jules (not Verne), Ricky, better half, and MORE's Stoner. No Tony. We were joined a little later by the White-haired devil of Single Speed Outlaw fame. Todd, aka Skipper, helped me install the front disc pads Speedgoat had recently sent me - the ones that were sorely needed.

Feeling pressure from the ADD crowd and not willing to leave without Tony, I tinkered with my bike for a while to kill time, and then went for a short ride to relieve my GI tract. While crouched, I saw Tony speed past. Upon returning, I realised that we had lost Todd, Dave, and the girls, but the majority remained.

We hit Sally-mander, passed the Fridge, and reconnected with our inner Icebergs. Ran into some folks at the beginning of das Berg, and later Chris Eatough and compadre near Vulture Rock. Supersweet led us to Rock Candy (where we met up with Ernie, Liz and a bunch of dumbasses climbing up Rock Candy), we went up Trail of Tears to Sally-mander to finish.

I learned several things today: From Larry's sleeves, Swobo has got to cut them shorter; From the trail, WTB Weirwolf LT 2.55's fook'in rule; some pro riders still ride 26 inch wheels; From Ricky, red pants don't mean your gay; just because it's wet, doesn't mean you can't ride it.

Great times. I wish everytime I typed Ricky's name it would auto-link to his Flickr site and Larry's blog, and Single Speed Outlaw - can't one of my IT buddies take care of that?

Shed

2008-12-22T19:47:00.004-05:00

Sunday was a beautiful day in the Shed. Cub came up and we enjoyed a nice cool ride in the sun.

Saturday, I took Thomas and his friend, Ian, up for a hike. It was only 25 degrees out, but we managed close to a 3 mile hike with some rock scrambling thrown in for good measure.

On the summit.

Ian and Tussey making friends.

Michaux

2008-12-08T21:47:00.006-05:00

Nice wintery trip to Michaux with my DC/MD friends. Larry met us there and we enjoyed excellent trail conditions and little to no chance of heat exhaustion, mud, or mosquitoes.
Having destroyed nearly every form of eyewear I have ever owned, it came down to this pair of Bolle glacier glasses from the 80s. They were really dark, cosmetically devastating, and never fogged up.
Disembarking after parking.Some small batch tasties from Troegs (compliments of Brett). We hit a bunch of nice stuff and Lars Von Chambersburgen showed us a new piece from the Michaux Endurance Series 50 miler.
Gliding after riding - at the Chambersburg Pump Track.

We all had a really fun time. It was nice to be back at Michaux and in such good conditions. The snow was light and dry, not crunchy or sqeaky; it gave positive traction and made for that eeriely silent winter riding that I like so much.Never thought I would say that I was missing rocky trails after riding at Michaux, but well, I'm looking forward to some quality rock crawling in the Shed this weekend and the singletrack we hit up North wasn't particularly rocky.