bundokbiker

Last post, I promise

2005-05-16T08:21:00.000-04:00

Yes, bundokbiker is still dead. As many of you have teased and taunted me about, blogging is addictive. However, I wanted to try something new. I've started a collaboration blog (collablogation?) with folks I've met and befriended over 15 years of biking. Check it out: bikecentric.blogspot.com.

toodles, prate

2005-02-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

That's it. I'm done with blogs. Bundokbiker is now officially dead. If you have links to it, disconnect them now. It ain't gonna get updated.

Why? I don't have a good answer except that good writing takes a lot of brain cells, and I need to reserve what I have left for breathing, eating, and riding. Every time I'd hunker down to put in an entry, I'd spout off 500 to 1000 words, then think, "Where am I going with this?" I'd save it as a draft and never touch it again. My time, my thoughts, my moments converted to 1s and 0s, stagnating on some server out there. I could have been doing something else.

'Sides, there are plenty of fine specimens out there (stage left, for example) and the Net doesn't need my help to clog it up.

Happy trails,

-ricky deLeyos

Neato torpedo

2005-02-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've run into a really cool interactive website, but if you haven't played with google's new map system, do yourself a favor and try it out: maps.google.com.

It is extremely easy to use. You can also come up with funny results. Just enter stuff into the blank textbox at the top, and see what they come up with.

It works so fast it feels like you're working with an actual paper map. I especially love how smoothly the map drags. This is a perfect tool for finding new road bike routes...

2005-02-07T13:32:00.000-05:00

Funniest $2.50 I've ever spent. Alfred E. Neuman, from the Swap.

Max goodness

2005-02-03T22:06:00.000-05:00

No riding since last Sunday, thus, no blogging. I've been sick as a dog since Tuesday, and I felt so bad today that I just had to take the day off and sleep.

Sunday's the annual Bike Swap up in Westminster, then the Outlaw will probably lead a ride at Hashawa, which is about 15 minutes from the Ag center. JoeP and I are going to head up there together to save some gas.

The swap's a fun time because people come out of the woodwork and I always end up seeing a bunch of people I've lost touch with. There's always NOS of crap that you don't really need, but just can't resist because it's so cheap. I guess it'd also be a good time to look for stuff that I'll need for the new 29er. Rims, cog, and fork is all I really need, but I may just get the last thing from Chester hisself because he can get it at discount.

On a completely unrelated note, I've got a new nephew! He's four weeks early, but a strong little guy so he won't have to spend too much time in the ICU. Hopefully his parents will let tito Ric take him out on the Burley in a few years.

Dancing Co

2005-01-31T10:30:00.000-05:00

Seems that a buddy blogger works for Dansko. Look at the middle picture at dansko.com, then come back here and look at the blogs on the left. Guess who? It's easy if you click on the right spot. ;)

Mellow

2005-01-31T08:53:00.000-05:00

Saturday morn wifey and I went up to the Garden State for a baptism. These, weddings, Christmas and Easter masses are the only times that this lifelong Catholic sets foot in church any more. Got back home just in time to see the sun set, so there was no riding for me that day.

In between sleeping, eating, and a little riding, this was the weekend of the movies. We just joined some Blockbuster plan where you pay $15 for the first month, and you can have two movies a day. If done right, you can make out with ~60 movies a month and a lot more dead brain cells. We also have Netflix, so we were ready for the snow.

Saturday night we watched the Village. It's probably the lamest movie I've seen recently. After the brilliant Sixth Sense, M. Night has steadily declined. Later that night, we moved onto This Girl's Life. Watchable, and the spattering of nudity didn't hurt.

Sunday morn we started off with Twilight Samurai. That was probably the gem of the weekend. Can't go wrong watching this with the gal, but probably not the guys. The next one was Old School, which is more appropriate with the fellas. It had me in tears laughing my ass off.

After lunch I struck out into the neighborhood and tooled around with the camera and my bike on my way to Blockbuster. Picked up Chinese Chocolate and Maria Full of Grace. We tried to watch Chinese Chocolate, but after being so pissed off about the Village from the previous night, I decided that if the movie sucks superbad after 10 minutes, it wasn't going to get any more play. This one got the superbad label and was out.

We tried to play La Ley de Herodes, but some effer scratched it pretty bad in one spot and it screwed up my DVD player. It's strange, but after trying to play this movie (which kept dying at the ~2 minute mark), every other DVD kept dying at around the 2 minute mark. I unplugged the player, whacked it a few times, and banged it on the floor for good measure. It must have straightened up the laser because I had no problems afterward. Finally, we watched Maria Full of Grace. I'm glad we finished up the weekend with it.

Melange à Trois

2005-01-26T01:02:00.000-05:00

Halfway through the eight mile loop of the Rosaryville ride last night, the drive side bolt on my ENO hub stripped and was trying to escape by rattling itself loose. If you ride fixie - heck, if you ride - you know that you won't get far if the hub is only supported on one side. I just replaced that bolt 20 minutes earlier because the one I started the ride with stripped as well. That previous one lasted only for two hours of riding since I replaced it last week. Three bolts. One hub. One useless hub.

I am now up to three major things that have died since the beginning of the year: this ENO hub, a $300+ Chris King SS rear hub, and (drumroll please) a singlespeed titanium frame. White will get a call from me tomorrow. King will be receiving their rear hub in five days. And Matt, well, this one is just hard to discuss right now. I've talked to him and he's going to build me a new one. However, I have to decide whether I want a 29er or another 26er (which he no longer builds). In the near future, I may be asking for opinions of which way I should go.

Finally, this is my third wedding anniversary. We'll sit in front of a fire and have a quiet dinner to celebrate. Leather is the traditional present for the third, so I'll pick her up another pair of Dansko clogs in antique red. She loves them things. I gave her first pair 5 years ago, and they remain her favorite shoes. She also just got me my first pair of the quirky clogs (Professionals in black), and I dig 'em.

Maleficent madness

2005-01-23T08:59:00.000-05:00

I read somewhere that Eskimos have over 50 names for snow. I wonder what they'd call the stuff we encountered on the hills of Gambrill/Watershed yesterday. The powder looked thick, fluffy, and inviting, yet was hateful. It was angry that Markie, Becky, and I spoiled her virginity.

It never allowed our tires to travel in a straight line. It melted and refroze on my glasses to give me a nice sheen of ice so that it was close to impossible to see. It did the same to my eyelashes so that it became difficult to open my eyes. It easily gave way and allowed my elbow and knee to plunge through and find pointy rocks. It sniggered at us for attempting uphills.

I had my EWR, built up with my Fox, and 34:18 gearing. It wasn't a good choice. I even slapped on my Nokian Gazzi 2.6 and pumped it up to 10 PSI so I can have some semblance of float. It was no use. Anything short of skis or a sled was an exercise in futility. On downhills and flats, I weaved no matter if I gave the death grip or relaxed and let the tires cut their own course. Bike and I charged everywhere but straight ahead.

There were a few things I learned on yesterday's ride. If you are going to ride at Gambrill in six inches of fresh powder while it is still steadily coming down:

Use a stupid low gear. 1:1 is what the two of them used for the bulk of the ride.
Stay rigid. You need no squish.
Fixie might have made things easier.
If you aren't prepared for the white-knuckle/ulcer-inducing/20 near-miss crash/3.5 hour commute back, stay home. I wasn't, and I wish I did.

2005-01-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

Snow! Glorious snow! I love it, love it, love it!

Tired today.

2005-01-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

Watershed yesterday. Ass cold. Frozen mud. Useless brakes. Foggy glasses. Painful fingertips. Pointy rocks. Three hours. Big fun. Going back.

Meat beat manifesto

2005-01-10T17:26:00.000-05:00

Last week a buddy said (in jest?) that I am not very good on descents. Joking or not, he's absolutely right. I've known this for a long time and I've been practicing, but I still leave a lot to be desired. Maybe it's the lack of skills or confidence, or the ugly head of self-preservation which keeps rearing up. No matter, this year I am going to try to kick all three of their asses and get me some downhill.

I know, it's easy right? Throw on a shock and you're all set! I wish it were that simple though. The last few times I've used my Fox, I ended up kissing the dirt. It's always been on the same kind of situation each time: I hop over one rock/log only to be stopped dead in my tracks by another rock/log immediately after, then it's face meet ground.

I do go faster with it, but the prospect of bashing my face on a rock scares me. I've been lucky that I've only been hitting the relatively soft soil. (I ain't pretty, but I can't afford any more scars.) On those rides I've either ended up with sore palms, face, or chest as I did the soil dive.

To assuage my front shock angst for yesterday's ride at Gambrill, yet get some squish in the front, I compromised: I put on a honkin' fat Nokian Gazzi 2.6 downhill tire. I inflated it to about 10-15 psi. With the super stiff sidewalls there was no discernible squirm. For good measure, I threw on the Tioga Factory DH 2.1 tire on the rear. I think I added about three pounds to my regular setup (Mythos 2.1 & Cortez 2.4).

When I got on the trail I noticed the difference immediately. With the lower pressures, the tires conformed to the surface better. I also got the give I was looking for. I don't usually air it out on lips, but the fat tires gave me more confidence to add an extra inch to my already staggering two inch high jumps. ;)

I even got a little reckless. I let go of the brakes on some sections and let things fly. The front tire had a nice run-in with a rock and heard a "Thung!" as the rim bottomed out on said rock. I stop and take a look and I can't find a dent on the rim. Better yet, I hear no telltale hissing from a flat. Bad ass. It's hard to beat good meat!

Now about the one negative thing: the Nokian is damn heavy. It's almost twice the weight of the tires I usually run, but when going down you don't notice it as much. It gets this funky gyroscopic effect that you can feel when trying to steer. It's like the bars don't want to turn. The smoother and faster the run, the more you can feel the resistance. However, when you're bouncing around at light speed and everything's a blur, this feeling is probably a good thing. It doesn't want to tip over, so you are more prone to staying upright.

I was with some friends that have never been to Gambrill before, and as a selling point, I promised that they wouldn't have to do any uphills. So at the bottom, I humped my way back up Gambrill Rd. Save for about three minutes, I was standing up the whole way stomping the pedals.

I get up to the top and I am wiped because of the redline effort all the way up. Bike on car, I zoom down Hamburg again to get the guys. Lucky for me they are wiped out as well. If I had to climb the hill again, it would've been a really long drive home.

Hello pictures

2005-01-06T13:07:00.000-05:00

I got my HRM yesterday and it's huge! I know, stupid pic.

I'm playing with this image software that works in conjunction with blogs. It looks like it works fine, but I wonder if you can add text before posting it up. I added this text after the fact.

Sluggard to slumber

2005-01-05T10:45:00.000-05:00

I'm getting fatter and slower. Ten years ago I entered the world of mountain bike racing at 135 pounds. I'm 33 now (and about that many more pounds), and I see many of my friends constantly improving while I'm standing still. It doesn't seem to matter their age. Some are younger and some older. Some are training seriously, and some are just genetically gifted. I have neither of these going for me, so I've got to do something about it or I will always be the one off the back.

This year I resolve to make a training plan for biking, and actually sticking to it. If you want measurable results, then I'll say I want to lop two hours off my previous SM100 time.

I've never done this before. Previously, my training consisted of riding hard and riding often. That's it. I am learning now that this isn't the best way to go about it. There's stuff like zones, peaks, and, er, dedication which can make you a much better rider without too much more work. I've got a lot to learn, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get the training book and HRM my wife ordered for me for Christmas.

Dropping down to 150 pounds will be my secondary goal. However, this may be harder than training regimen because I'm a lazy eater. I'm semi-allergic to a bunch of types of fruits, so I usually snack on sugary items. I also eat fast food because I don't like taking time to prepare food. Ask my wife, but whenever I cook, I've had the bad habit of eating the food while preparing it. Hopefully I can control myself around the Krispy Kremes, KFC, and Five Guys burgers and fries.

I used to laugh and make fun of those that said stuff like, "I need to stay in Zone 2 on tonight's ride." Now, I'll be joining their ranks. Join me as I laugh at myself.

Day 2

2005-01-03T13:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was still riding high off the awesome ride I had on Friday, so I went back up to the same spot. I was half-considering going on Erin's cyclocross ride at the Shed, but I didn't want to take my Crosscheck apart because it's in fixie road condition - a terrible setup for gravel and rocks.

They waited for me, but I took my Chester up and I didn't feel like killing myself to keep up with a fast-looking group they had assembled. I told them to go ahead without me. It's been a while since I rode solo at the Shed, but I know it enough to not get stranded into the night.

I took off into the Gambrill side, but I had it in my head that I wanted to do some climbing. I rode all the way down the Blue trail, but just kept going to the very bottom, crossing over the multitude of streams, then back onto the road.

I then began the grunt climb on the road back to the parking lot. It's a little tough for me, but luckily I threw on the dorky looking bar ends. No matter that they look like crap, they actually help me get more leverage on the climbs. If I keep doing rides with long grinding uphills, I'll keep them on. If I'm hitting any of the really local stuff where the climbs take less than two minutes, they're just extra weight.

I make it back to the car, eat a Gu, and leave my jacket. Not quite satisfied with that climb, I barrel back down the blue trail, and repeat the road climb up. The second time's a doozy, but I make it without too much fanfare. I still have a little left in me so I go back down again, just to explore. At the point that I turned left to go all the way down, I go right. Three of those Hamburg road climbs in one day can't be good for you ;) I mess around on the trails that either I don't remember riding before, or actually have never ridden before until I get to a section that I already hit. I head back because it's getting late and I have a lot of stuff to do for work after being off for two weeks.

More rides like this and it's going to be a great year.

Last blast

2005-01-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon I headed out to meet some friends at Greenbrier. I arrived at about forty minutes early for what I thought was a 1:30 ride so I decided to go for a quick spin after suiting up. [Looking back at my e-mail it was 12:30, dumbass.] Up the hill to the left, then back down to the car by 1:25. I remembered Markie had a group ride going on at the Watershed at 2:00 so I waited until about 1:40, but they didn't show up so I left a little P.O.'d. I threw the bike onto the car and blazed back south to the Hamburg Road parking lot.

As I was pulling up, I saw about a dozen guys on BIG full-suspension bikes, with arm pads, leg pads, the whole deal. No sweat I thought to myself, Markie can't be riding with them.

I roll up to Markie and I see Becky, a gal I've ridden with once before who isn't half bad. I figure it's just the three of us, but one of the freeride guys calls her over. Oh snap. I confirm with Markie if this is the crew. Yup. Double snaps. How am I going to keep up with them? I don't know any of them so I have no idea what kind of riding we'll be doing, but from the looks of them, it'll be the big drop stuff. I felt like a brought a knife to a gunfight decked out in my tight lycra shorts (red to boot), kneewarmers and heart rate monitor.

We set off towards on the Blue trail towards Gambrill, a direction that I have started riding more often. I like it because there are a lot of sections that are really rocky, but rideable, and it's easy to get into a groove where you need to concentrate on the next spot where you will be, unless you enjoy doing endos.

All the while, Markie and I are in the lead group doing just fine with the big travel boys. The guy right in front of me is a little skittish and gives me many opportunities to trackstand as he stutters and stops on the rocks. Ahh, I get it. This isn't the first time I've been unnecessarily worried about showing up for a ride with guys decked out in downhill pads and gear (while I was in my lycra). They were using the safety stuff as precautionary measures. It wasn't for ripping up the trail -- it was for the inevitable falls. I start to relax a little when I realize that I'll be ok riding with this crew.

At the bottom of the Blue trail (which I love!), one of the guys (that actually can jump) challenges me to lift his bike. I do and I'm blown away how heavy it is. It actually feels like it's around 50 pounds. Yikes! I can't imagine trying to ride a bike like that...upwards.

We take a few turns and since we're at the bottom, there's no way but up. Markie and I break away up the Blue trail valley (I suck at names so that could be completely off). He on his lightweight Salsa hardtail gearie, me because I have no choice. The rest of the crew spinning furiously in their grannies, doing just fine cleaning the stuff, albeit at crawling speed.

We make it past the yellow trail, but daylight is running short, as are peoples' time. We have to hightail it back to the Hamburg Rd parking lot, but two guys get flats within minutes of each other. They get it fixed up quickly, then we do a reverse of the trail that we took out.

When I get back I am completely spent. Bouncing off the rocks is a great workout. I absolutely love this section and glad that I was able to hook up with a fun group.

Beginnings

2004-12-31T23:30:00.000-05:00

Even better than the more you can believe it

2004-12-29T16:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I joined the MORE ride out at Catherine's Furnace. It was simply awesome. About an hour and a half from my trappings in College Park, it was worth the drive. It's up in the hills of northwestern Virginny, so there's a decent amount of climbing out there. Definitely not the sprint up and down kinda stuff we have right around us in DC. You have to work to get to the top of the mountain, and you are rewarded in kind.

I also just finished reading my buddy Chance's blog, and his sentiments about different parts of the trail are the exact opposite of mine. Where he was hating life, I was enjoying it tremendously. The sections that I liked least he probably liked most.

He's a gravity kid: big bike, big sneakers, big travel. His Santa Cruz Heckler was meant to attack the mountain at full blast, so long as it's pointing downward. My bike's travel is all self-contained. I probably get as much travel as he does - five inches - by pivoting my elbows and knees. I do take a beating when it comes to downhills, but on the uphills (that I could ride), I was having the time of my life. It's easier to lock out my suspension and I get none of that bothersome bobbing.

Laugh all you want, but maybe it's because we don't have the moderately hard fireroad climbs that go winding up for six miles, so I actually enjoy them. You stand, you pump your legs like pistons and rock the bike back and forth until you can't take it anymore, then sit down and cool off a little. After settling for a few minutes, then you stand back up and repeat.

I surprised myself when I made it up the six mile climb which greets you at the very beginning of the ride. Doubly pleased that I made it up there first. Sure, Camp, NickD, and JoeP can beat me on their worst days, but I lucked out as they waited to lead people in the right direction. I just kept chugging along because I felt great. At the top, I dare say I felt refreshed.

After the long climb, you ride along a long flat section through an interconnecting maze of double and singletrack. On this section I hit a new type of surface that I've never seen before. There are sections that are basically "crusts" that easily bust through when you put any weight on it. The tricky thing is that you can't tell where it is, or worse, how deep it is. I don't recall busting through anything deeper than about six inches, but if you aren't lucky, you get stopped a lot because your tire keeps diving into the holes.

Anyways, that'll wrap up my recount for now. All I can say is that the Catherine Furnace is a worthy destination in the DC area trails quiver.

F_king

2004-12-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I went to Gambrill with JoeP. After I got to the parking lot, unloaded my bike, and hopped on for the mandatory ride around the parking lot to see if everything was ok. I pedaled and spun in place, and the bike didn't go forward. Effing ring drive of my highest-end rear hub froze up in the frigid temperatures again. Car dash temperature guage indicated 22 degrees, and it's usually right. Exasperated, I realize I have no other option and flip the wheel to the fixed gear side.

I ride fixie off road in places that are smoother: Schaeffer, Avalon, and Wakefield. I've never ridden anywhere as bumpy as Gambrill before so I'm a little apprehensive. In the end, my worry was unfounded. Fixie freeriding is extremely fun but a lot slower. I suck at judging distances, but suppose if you are riding a full suspension bike you can look ahead 50 feet. With rigid singlespeeding, you look ahead half that distance, but with fixie riding, your attention has to be a quarter of that distance. If you choose to forgo using your hand brakes, your concentration is only ten feet out. You have to time your pedals to smack the least number of rocks possible, but ratcheting is never an option. You have to either hopskid or trackskid to get your timing right -- and I did half the time. I surprised myself by how many rock gardens I made it through. The hardest thing for me that day was making it through technical uphill sections. If you trackskid, you lose momentum, then your really have to pour on the juice to make it through. However, I ain't gotta lotta juice.

One thing I noticed about fixie riding if you try to avoid using your brakes: it's really rough on the trails because of the trackskidding. Remove the first part of that word, "track", and you end up with "skidding". Primarily on downhills as you scrub some speed, you skid, you roll, skid, roll, repeat. Of course you are supposed to use your legs to power down some, but you eventually get tired on the long descents.

It never rose above 23 degrees up there. Standing around made you chilly almost immediately. Luckily, riding with JoeP, that is never a problem. At the end of the yellow loop we decided that we wanted to ride some more, but neither of us could manage another loop up there. We decided to hit Schaeffer after munching at Boston Market.

When we got to Schaeffer, it warmed up a little. I think it was in the upper twenties/ low thirties, just warm enough for my freewheel to work properly. I flipped the wheel back over because this place has a lot of logs. In my opinion, a bigger obstacle on the fixie than rock gardens. With rock gardens at Gambrill, there's a lot of loose rock around so it's easier to break the rear tire loose and position your pedals properly. Here, it's not as easy with the hardpacked soil.

Anyways, we ended up whipping out two fast laps then splitting for home back to our families. With at least three hours of riding under our belts, it's safe to say it was a good day.

Slackin

2004-12-23T08:08:00.000-05:00

I've got about four rides in since the last entry. One in Pittsburgh, one at Gambrill, one at Greenbrier, and one at Wakefield. All were great, but the crappy overcast weather not only takes away our riding opportunities, it also removes our motivation to do ... anything.

I've said this before and many people say the same thing, "I can handle the cold and I can handle the wet, but I can't handle them together." It's not quite as bad as during the spring when everything is thawing. At least in the winter after it rains, there is a possibility that it wil freeze up. When the ground hardens up because of the cold you can still go out there without a guilty conscience.

So I still owe you a Pittsburgh experience. That'll come later. Right now I'm going for a road spin in the drizzle butI have to hurry and get back before the furniture delivery guys get here. Later.

Q

2004-12-19T23:32:00.000-05:00

I don't know if any of you other bloggers do this, but I have at least four unfinished entries in the queue. Maybe I'm thinking about it too much, or maybe I just get bored with what I write and end up putting it on hold.

Well, no matter what god you serve, I hope you have a good time in the next few weeks. I won't be spending much time on the bike, but shoot me an e-mail if you want to get together. If I'm not painting, fixing the house, moving furniture around, or otherwise sleeping, I'll try to make it out. Take care!

Punk Bike Enduro

2004-12-13T16:31:00.000-05:00

I did the Enduro yesterday, and as expected because of the bad weather that passed through Pitt in the previous week, trail conditions were really bad. Imagine the nastiest, sloppiest, muddiest trails, slightly above freezing. That was our playground for the day.

I'll write up more later...

Mutinyman melts again...

2004-12-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

Last Friday when I picked up my car after having the clutch, the timing belt and the head gasket replaced on my Subaru Outback, something didn't feel quite right. As I tried to drive out of the parking lot, it was a lot easier to push the clutch down, but the friction point was almost at the bottom. I promptly stalled. I don't know much about cars, so I figured that it was something with new clutches that I had to get used to.

On the way to the REI down the road from the dealership, it was cold and drizzling, so my windows fogged up. No problem, just turn on the air conditioning to dehumidify the windows and get rid of the fog. It didn't work. I put it on full blast, and still no results. Then I noticed it wasn't even getting cold.

I also noticed that there was a ticking noise coming from the engine, and I could smell something else burning. It was close to closing at the dealership, so there wasn't much I could do and figured I'd call them in the morning, after the VO2 thing.

I drop off my car Saturday afternoon and explain everything I found. They send me off for my free loaner car after telling me they'll call me on Monday.

So I talk to mechanic rep today and now they're telling me two things:

my air conditioning compressor has locked up and needs to be replaced. Parts and labor will set me back $675. I sigh in disbelief.
my master and slave cylinders will have to be replaced. This is a separate thing from the clutch replacement, so it will be $400-$500. I almost fall flat.

I can't believe the grief all this recent car repair work has given me. I let them know that they'll be hearing from my insurance again. I call up GEICO, we discuss stuff, then we get that same mech representative on the phone, and they discuss stuff as I listen (and get hopelessly lost in their car mumbo jumbo talk).

The mech rep hangs up and the GEICO person tells me the bottom line. The worst case scenario is that I'll have to pay $500 out of pocket because they're two separate items/repairs. However, there is a chance I'll only have to pay for the AC because the other clutch thing might be covered under the clutch work they did on Friday. Either way, this is a major blow.

I'm fairly certain that the next car I buy will either be a Toyota or a Honda. I don't recall any of my relatives or friends that own them ever having so many problems. I like what the Outback gives me, except for the recurring repair costs. Cars truly suck.

Big expectations

2004-12-11T23:20:00.000-05:00

Last year I made a name for myself as I stripped down for a downhill leg of the Punk Bike Enduro. There was six inches of snow on the ground, and it was a biting twenty degrees. Inexplicably, I took off my tights, wool jersey, and liners, and wrecklessly whooped it up down the hill. Must've been the two beers.

Well, this year's Enduro is in eleven hours, and I feel like I need to do something to top it. However, hear it from me first, I'm not. My buddy SteveH and I are driving up tomorrow and it will be all about having fun but I ain't taking off my clothes this time. I'll save the silliness for the Single Speed World Championships next August.

For those that want to RSS these ramblings, use this: http://bundokbiker.blogspot.com/atom.xml

VO2 and my suckitude

2004-12-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's official. I suck. Wind. A lot. And can't transform it into power very efficiently.

This morning I did my first ever VO2 max test at Fitness Concepts. JoeP was up at the plate before me, Foley was immediately after, and big Lee was last in the lineup. They got to sit around and heckle me as I whithered into a sweaty blob.

Having never done this before, I didn't really know what to expect. Yeah, I've heard how it's done, but I didn't think it would be so hard. You get on a trainer that is attached to a computer that measures your speed and other things. At the same time, you are wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth. Attached to the mask is a mouthpiece that has hoses that go into a carbon dioxide analyzer. This thing is also attached to the same computer.

I know it's wrong to demonize a computer, but this laptop was out to do me wrong. As I pushed on the pedals harder, it ramped up the resistance. I fought back and bumped up my effort, and in defiance the computer just told me to shaddup. We fought for a little over thirteen minutes before I had enough.

I got my results and I found out I was outstandingly...normal. I'm in the "good" range according to one chart I saw, so now every time I get whupped up on the trail, I can say, "Yo, I'm just good. You must be grrrrreat!"

Hurl was right

2004-12-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

You're born, then you die. Somewhere in between you do stuff. If you live in America, you need some way to get to this stuff. It's a big country after all, and to see it in one lifetime, you need something faster than hoofing.

I bet you 95% of us outside of New York City choose cars. It's easy to hate them because all the problems they bring to the world: wars, famine, poverty. Yup, all three of things go on in my head when I think about cars.

Five years ago I got my first full-time job that payed enough for me to move out of my parent's house. A year later, I bought my first completely new car. Up until that point I had at least six cars that I could call my own. However, they always commited suicide, probably because they didn't want to live with me. I treated them dirt poor, never taking care of them or cleaning them, and I can count the number of times I changed the oil on all six cars with one hand. It never took them long to refuse to move from the driveway of my parents' house, and every last one of them had to be towed away.

Stupid as I was, I always blamed their demise on the fact that they weren't new. That may have been the case for one or two of them, but I definitely could have prolonged the lives of the rest of them by simply changing their lubricants and fluids. So with this poor train of thought, I decided if a car was going to last more than a year and half under me, it had to start off with a clean slate. That meant buying a new car.

After a year of working, I decided to buy a Subaru Outback. I dug the way it looked, its large capacity, but most of all, its ability to get through snow. I've been stuck in the snow a few times and I've seen plenty of accidents, and even though I was lucky enough to ne'er be in one, I wanted to limit the possibility as much as possible.

So its got this awesome all wheel drive all-the-time action going on, which is a lot more complicated than the average car. I don't really understand the mechanics of a car, but I do know one thing: complexity begets complexity. With all the whiz-bang things going on down there, there are more parts to go wrong. And recently, wrong it went.

I had a some engine "flaring" when I was on the highway. Flaring is when the engine revs up when you push on the gas, but the car doesn't correspondingly respond. So when I took it to the dealer a few days ago to get the oil changed, I asked them to take a look at the clutch, and by the by, check out why there's a sweet burning smell.

I get a call a few hours later saying that I needed to get my head gasket replaced in my engine. Luckily, it was covered under warranty. The mech then said that I needed to get my clutch replaced. I asked how much, and he responded - in my "by the by" tone - $1800.

WHAT THE F#CK!!!! There goes my Matt Chester Mutiny frame. It's my dream frame that just happens to cost $1800 as well. How ironic -- no -- how shitty. I told the mech to hold off because there was no way I could afford it.

I got on the phone with my bro (who knows a thing or two about cars) and asked how much it typically cost to replace a clutch. At the same time I was furiously typing away an e-mail pleading for info from all my buddies to see if they knew any good mechanics that work on Subaru or Japanese cars.

After telling me that a clutch replacement typically costs $400-500, my brother had the same reaction as me when I told him the estimate for my clutch: "$1800!? WTF?!"

"Same thing I said, bro."

I got a bunch of good responses back from the e-mail, but my buddy Erin's advice turned out to be a godsend. "Just ask your insurance if you're covered."

I call them up, we conference call the mechanic, and after fifteen minutes of talking things out, the GEICO guy says that they'll pay for it. I just have to pay the deductible of $250. Well, daaaaaaaaaaaamn.

My heart jumps back in my chest, and that vision of the melting Mutinyman starts reforming in my head.

Not my weakness

2004-12-03T17:47:00.000-05:00

Kryptonite gets two snaps from me. I think that's a good thing. I just got back two U-locks that they replaced for my 7 and 8 year-old ones, for free! It takes a mighty good company to acknowledge that their engineering is outdated, then pay for shipping to and fro your place, while giving you a brand new replacement lock, all on their tab. Without a doubt, this cost them a bundle, but they have a lifelong customer in me.

A neat thing that I found out last night is that the newest version of Mozilla Thunderbird (which I use to read my e-mail) now has the ability to read RSS. That means I don't have to click through the browser to see if any of my pals have written anything new in their blog. I can just open Thunderbird, and their entries are in my inbox. This is good news for a slacker like me.

Putt putt fizzle fizzle slow slow

2004-12-03T16:30:00.000-05:00

As far as riding goes this week, it sucked. Ma Nature didn't want us kids out on the trails, so she decided to let it rain and be cold for most of the week. Even those that were able to make it to the trails yesterday reported that it was the worst that some of them have seen in recent memory.

We'll get plenty more of these weeks this winter that seem to just drag on because there's no riding allowed. So I guess I'm forced to spend time on the Cross Check because little gears onthe road sucks. I've already stripped the Canal rider of its rack, brakes, and Dirt Drops. Back on were el mustachio bars, which I regretfully cut short. Brakes stay off for now until I can find a replacement brake lever. I guess I always have the option of jamming my foot between the the front tire and crown if I have to make an emergency stop...

Wifey, her family, cousins, and I are headed for Solomon's Island tonight and won't be back until Sunday. I'm definitely bringing my bike so I can stretch my legs a little. I'll probably bring the fixie to make things more interesting.

Next weekend I am taking a lactate threshold test to see if I'm fooling myself that I can get any stronger. Later that day, I'm splitting to Pittsburgh for the Dirt Rag's Punk Bike Enduro, which should be tons-o-fun. Anyone else making it up there? Hit me up in the comments section below.

Whoosh

2004-12-01T01:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went out for the Wakefield ride and JoeP was the only one there. I guess the cold has scared most of the people off to the comfort of their home in front of the fireplace. No big deal, Wakefield's too small anyways. Less people equals less traffic jams.

Billy pulled in five minutes after I got there so now we had a threesome. Saddled up soon after, and we were off. The trails were still a little damp and muddy in many spots, and it kinda sucked. Joe was going at his usual spritely pace which I dug, but Billy was having issues with his bike so we kept dropping him. Either he didn't like the pace we were doing or just didn't feel good, so he split off when we went to the bowl.

I led on that side, and after a few staccato starts, I got into a rhythm. I tried to push harder as we wound our way up and down the hillside because I had a feeling I was going too slow for Joe. Not surprisingly, he was right behind me the whole time. I kept taking the correct turns at a fast pace, so we didn't duplicate any trails. Also, the leaves are starting to give way to the trail as the traffic pushes them aside so it's become more difficult to get lost.

For a few minutes in the ducking and diving between the trees I achieved that highest state of mountain biking: flow. You've got all the pedal strokes timed right, you float over the trail, and everything whooshes in front of you and disappears in your periphery: flow. If you aren't getting flow on your rides, you need to push harder, dive deeper, and jump higher. It's why I've been addicted to mountain biking for the last thirteen years. I'm a flow junkie and I'm not giving it up any time soon.

The day after after

2004-11-27T23:39:00.000-05:00

Here I am, approaching day four of my four day weekend, and I'd have to say it was very satisfying on all fronts.

I started the day off with a call to my buddy Al. He and I used to ride together all the time, but things have developed in his life and he has given very little time to mountain biking. Since I hadn't heard from any one else early this morning about going riding, I tried my chances and gave him a buzz. With a little harassment, I was able to convince him that today was an excellent day to break out his Moots and traipse through the rocky funness of Gambrill. Through his own admission, five months was way too long to be off the bike. Soon enough, we were going up I-270.

When we got to the Gambrill parking lot we met an elderly couple wrapping up their hike. They were wearing their blaze orange vests which had me worried a little bit. Discussion among friends yesterday brought up the possibility that there were hunters sniping around Watershed, but Gambrill should have been safe. So I asked the husband if he knew anything about the hunting situation, and his wife said that it was better safe than sorry with the hunters in them parts. The husband said he heard gunshots in the periphery, but we'd be ok if we stayed on the main trail. Dang! I forgot my bear bell, a little bell that dangles from the seat that - besides annoying your riding partners - also lets others know that you aren't some deer rushing through the woods. I decided to wear my bright orange City Bikes jersey, red pants, and red knee warmers. Al commented in jest that there's no way I can be mistaken for a deer, even though I had a white saddle.

(Me, courtesy of Al: alsantos@mtnfreakfotos.com)

After locking up the car I looked over at Al and razzed him about all the stuff he was carrying. I had a glueless patch kit, a Gu, and my keys in my back pocket. On my bike I had a small pump and a waterbottle: just enough to get me back to the car. Mr. Minimal. On the other hand, Al had one of the largest Camelbaks I've seen in recent memory, chockful with a (full) large bladder, powerbars, tools, and various other nick-nacks that we most likely didn't need unless a tornado struck while we were away from the car. In addition to that, he was carrying a huge waist pack which contained his high-end, fancy pants camera, with separate flash. From that description could you tell who was riding the rigid bike, and who was riding the full suspension? ;) He ended up taking some good pics with his honking big camera.

Since he hadn't ridden at Gambrill in many years (methinks), he didn't care what we did. So we crossed the road and attacked the yellow loop clockwise. Every time I've ridden there I've always had a good time and this was no different. From the rocks, the views, and the all around challenging terrain, I thank goodness that we have something so close.

The weather was slightly chilly when we started, but I purposely dressed down because I've discovered many a time that I warm up too quickly. I have a great Craft undershirt that has a huge fold-over zippered turtleneck that rocks when things get chilly enough to necessitate knee warmers.

On the extended part of the loop we ran into Dan and Karen. I think I see Dan about every other ride, and the funny thing is that he's always going the other way. He unsheathed his hand and showed me a nasty cut he got a few days earlier that necessitated eight stitches. I was surprised he was out on one of the bumpiest trails in our area riding, knowing every rock probably shot pain up his arm. The guy's tough, no doubt.

During our brief chat with them, he mentioned he heard a gunshot on the outer edge of the loop. Again, raising our fears. He also told us to look for the blood and fur further up the trail, remnants of some hunter's prize as he dragged it along back to his car. Yuck.

We proceeded on and the rest of the ride was fast, fun, and thankfully without incident. Needless to say we survived without any buckshot in our arse a la Greg Lemond, so it was a good day as we ended it with some righteous sushi and sesame chicken at Taipei Tokyo in Rockville.

Dirty dozen (minus one)

2004-11-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

Here's the 11 of us that went on the C&O trip at the beginning of this month, pre-skank:

Paul, Jay, me, Joe, Stoner, Kevin, Erin, Bill, Mike, Steve, Mark

Stoner did a writeup, as did Joe (on 11/9-15).

Dampening

2004-11-21T22:36:00.000-05:00

I must say, DT is an effin' nut. On Saturday's Richmond Epic ride, he brought out his fixie. I don't think he had much choice because his rear brake was screwed and out for a replacement from Avid. But on this ride his skizills on a fixed showed.

The first time I met this cat I think I was riding fixed, but it was because my freewheel blew up and started freewheeling both ways. I don't ride fixed much except in the winter, especially when it snows, but DT has taken up to doing it most of the time -- at least that seems to be the case whenever I see him. He was rippin' it up on the trails, riding stuff that hardly any one of us in our group would do, and most of the time he made it. Props for just trying it fixed. Doubles for cleaning most of it.

Anyways, Butch and I headed down to meet the Richmond MORE group down at Poor Farm. Others from the "northern" MORE included Maj, Scud and Beers. We got to the parking lot that was teeming with about 40 members of the Richmond MORE, and decided there would be about 6-8 groups to make it more manageable. I introduced myself to a couple of them, and recognized their aliases from MTBR and some of the other cycling boards.

It rained the night before and there was a light mist the morning of, so the many roots and off-camber stuff was a little tricky. There were puddles here and there, but not enough to cancel the ride. Besides, there was 40+ people just itching to get out.

We started off a little mellow, but as folks got warmed up, the pace started to pick up. Sam, a Richmond singlespeeder was rippin' a fast pace. I sat in third place for the bulk of the ride, but he was smooth and quick so I had a difficult time keeping him in sight. We were in the fastest group, but there was still a little too much stopping and talking for me that day. Of course it was necessary because there was a lot of us that didn't know the trails very well. However, I was looking forward to the ride and getting out there and hammering, but when I stop and sit around too much, I seem to get tired faster. Stop, go, stop, go: ride 3 minutes, wait 2 minutes, and on, and on, and on...

We got back to the parking lot early and Sam had to take off, so we were trying to decide what to do. Suddenly Amy, a quick Richmond gal, said she was going to go off and do another lap. I wanted in, so I jumped on the train and all of a sudden every one else left in our group jumped on. She was fast but the cool thing was that she didn't seem to like standing around and waiting. My kinda rider ;) Before we knew it the group was split into 3 and everyone that was able to keep up with her was grinning ear to ear for picking up the pace.

We wrapped it up and headed to DT's college-favorite bar of BW3. I've never been to one before but it was a huge, clean, Buffalo wing place that was lined to the gills with TVs showing all the college football games. Crazier still, there were tv monitors above every stall in the bathroom, so you don't miss that all important throw from Joe Collegesuperstar. Food was good.

An hour and a half later, the six of us headed down to meet the rest of the Richmond MORE crew for some riding at the second event: Buttermilk. Apparently it's the gem of the riding in Richmond, and I was impressed. High up on the side of the James (?) River are trails that undulate up and down and side to side over many rocky and rooty sections. The added thrill to this ride is for most of it you are on the edge of at least a 50 foot drop, so you can't be too sloppy or it's curtains for you. In fact, some of the guys told us a story about one guy who got tired going up one of the super-steep uphills, fell backwards, rolled off the side and plunged into a bunch of rocks. He didn't survive.

It didn't seem that long, but that ol' hateful thing came up again: waiting around and talking.

Don't get me wrong, there are rides that I don't mind waiting around and talking, but I usually have to have it in my head before the ride. Usually I just want to get out there and hammer, and this second ride put a damper on the whole Epic. It seemed like we were waiting even longer compared to the riding. Ride two minutes, wait four. The day started to drag, and nothing wears me down faster than this type of pace.

We wrapped up this ride, and at the end I found out Butch fell in some stankass bog pit. He only brought one jersey and shorts, so wasn't too enthusiastic about finishing up the day's third ride at what I think was Powhite? I was draggin' and afraid that the last ride would continue the trend of even more waiting than riding, coupled with the incoming rain, and I was just not looking forward to a freezing disappointing ride. We said our goodbyes and split for home.

It rained hard 20 miles north of Richmond on our way back, so we didn't feel so bad for our decision. I've come to hear that the weather held up down in Richmond for the last ride, but oh well, I'll just have to come back some other time.

Final thoughts about the trails? Poor Farm is fun, fast and twisty, however it has way too many intersections in some parts. It's really easy to get lost and double back. Buttermilk is steep, rocky, and scary in some parts when it's wet. I wouldn't recommend anyone that isn't comfortable with heights to ride that system, or at least for them to take it chill. However, I liked it a lot and if I ever venture down to Richmond and have some free time, this is where I'll spend it.

Ahhhhh...

2004-11-19T14:05:00.000-05:00

The ride at Wakefield last night was a good one. Even though we've been corralled to half our trails, Larry led five of us through them woods at a good pace, with good flow. A couple of people bitched a little that it was too fast, but I think they were just trying to give him a hard time. I need more rides like that.

Afterwards Pete asked some of us if we wanted to help out with his pics. After confirming that it didn't require removal of any of our lycra, JoeP, Jason, and I followed him to the new trail to goof off. Here are some of the results.

My ol' teammate and tempter DT put a bug in my ear (see below) about riding the fixie. I went to the basement thinking about it, wondering how much stuff I have to put together to get it running. After getting there, I realized I took off the brake to put on the Crosscheck, and the lever went to the EWR. Worse yet, the bottom bracket and crank went on the EWR also. So if I want to get it running, I'll have to disable two other bikes. I'm too lazy right now and I have other things to do. Looks like you're on your own, mang!

The weather looks ominous outside, so I don't know how ugly things are going to get before tomorrow. Hopefully it still remains rideable in Richmond, but I'll bring my fender just in case.

It's official

2004-11-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

My Chester Ute (pictured in the background) is the bestest bike I've ever owned? Why am I saying this out of the blue? Because I've spent three solid weeks on other bikes, and my back always ends up hurting.

The EWR is fun for hopping, but I find it's too stiff for long rides and it's stout steel frames jackhammer vibrations up my spine. The long and low position I used on the Crosscheck (for the C&O trip) has its purpose, but I don't really dig it being that stretched out.

I was just wondering which bike I should take on the Richmond Epic Ride this weekend. I really wanted to take the EWR because it's new (to me) and I want to get used to it, but since the Epic Ride is an all day thing, I'd be as sore as a Bonobos monkey after a few hours in the saddle.

I also considered taking my Yo Eddy, but I haven't been to many (if any) of these places and I'm just not down with riding fixie this weekend.

Nothing beats the way that the Matt Chester disappears underneath me. It's smooth like buttah, and it's handling is just the way I like it. I've never doubted it, but taking a few weeks off that bike has let me appreciate it even more.

Anyways, enough inanimate object gushing. I've caught up with work after staying late last night, so a little of the pressure is off me. Clients look at our stuff next week, and if we hit the nail on the head, then it'll be busy time as we assembly line the rest of the project.

Another good note about mi casa. Wifey and I have been getting more furniture. We're not at the point where guests don't have to bring their own seats if they don't want to sit on the floor, but now they won't have to sit on books because we got some modular style Ikea shelving. No more tiptoeing through all our crap on the ground. Feel free to shuffle your feet! We also got a huge Ikea dining room table (seats 10-12, egad!) because it looked decent enough and was on sale for 1/3rd off. Uhhh, no seating though.

Why all the Ikea stuff? One: it's five miles from our house, two: it's cheap(er), three: we're getting tired of having all our stuff scattered on the ground.

When we're all done we should have a furniture party!

Turtle

2004-11-15T14:30:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I get a little tired of doing all the domestic things and have to sneak out for a ride. I ride down to the mile long ribbon of singletrack a couple of blocks from my house to play around. I put on my Sidis that have good cleats, paying no mind to the fact that I tightened my pedals retention to hold the cleats on my worn Carnacs better. Needless to say, once the Sidis locked into the pedals, it felt like you needed a key to release them.

No matter, it was getting late and I was too lazy to loosen them up. I get to the woods and play/ hop around on the logs. I get loopy trying to hop onto a 2' tall log, lose my balance, and WHAM fall straight on my back on top of some other logs. I lie there for a minute, laughing, still locked into my pedals, when the pain starts creeping in. Ouch. My lower back's sore again, after almost recovering from last weekend's C&O ride. No crashes then, but I'm not used to being in the aero position for so long.

Lesson learned? Lube yer cleats.

Back to reality

2004-11-09T07:39:00.000-05:00

Here I sit getting ready for work after three days on the bike. The weather cooperated, the company was great, and the bike didn't make a chirp. About the only thing that blundered was the panniers. I got the REI Traverse panniers a couple of days before the trip and I didn't try them out first. If I had to describe them in a word, it would be "f##ked". It seems like they were designed only for smooth roads because every time I hit a little bump, the clips would come right off the rack and the whole bag would only sit halfway on, dangling in the wind. This really screwed the first day up.

Erin not only had REI panniers on the back, but had front loaders as well, and all the REI panniers have the same extremely stupid clip system. He had a major crash because on a downhill one of the front ones dislodged, went under his front tire, and caused him to flip over. It's surprising because he had the most stuff this weekend, and it took a lot to flip that much weight face forward.

Anyways, it was crisp all three days and I got a chance to try out two 100% Merino wool tops, which I used as base layers. I wore my new DeVold zip T-neck on the first two days and it was perfect. It is an excellent multi-day bike top because it stayed warm and comfortable and didn't skunk up the camp when we got there. I'd change into my Smartwool top (which debuted this weekend as well), and even though it was built differently, it worked great as well. If I had to choose between the two, I like the DeVold because it seems like it is better engineered for sports and active use with its unique weaving and construction. The Smartwool is thinner and would fit perfectly under a tight jersey because of its lack of bulk.

Time to get to work, but I'll provide stories and pics later.

Three days of riding

2004-11-05T01:06:00.000-05:00

30 more hours and I'll be in Cumberland. This town is the location of the beginning of the C&O canal, and 10 buddies and I are going to pay a big van to drive us up from Georgetown to Cumberland so that we can ride our bikes down the 180+ miles back to DC.

I've done it once before, and even though the trails were a little boring, the company was good, so it was enjoyable.

Round two of this trip, and I still can't remember what I brought the first time. I'm going to try to pack as light as possible, but with the rain that just came down, I'm hoping that it stays dry for the weekend. However, it means bringing a few extra things just so that I'm ready for whatever Ma Nature wants to throw at us.

Because I will be using wool tops, this helps with the minimalism because the stuff don't stink too easily. With a couple days of use of any of the synthetics, you pretty much smell like hell after just one day's use. Wool naturally fights the stink, so I can wear the stuff for multiple days.

Anyways, I'm feeling a little raggedy around the edges, so I'm turning in early. Thirteen past midnight? I must be getting old.

Who now?

2004-11-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

Zookeeper: 9540

So here we are waiting for the media to release the news for who the next bumbling fool will be that will run the country, and to be frank, I could care less. I hate politics. I know as a citizen of this country that I should care, but I hate how no one that is in office can ever do right. Do one thing, piss off one side. Don't do the thing that your constituents want, piss off your own side. Do nothing, piss every one off. Anyways enough mindless blabber about politics from me.

I led a ride at the Rose today and 6 people, including me, showed up. It was pitch black when it started and felt a little weird because there are no lights at the park. There were 3 regulars and two new guys that showed up. I never know how to start off a ride, so I always take off like a bat at the start. The first newbie (to our group) shadowed me the whole way. Because there were so many leaves on the ground it was really hard to see the trail. I shot straight while the trail veered right. The first newbie blasted away and I wanted to catch him. I rode as hard as I could and I couldn't even keep his light in sight. By the time I got to the big power line hill, he was way gone.

One-third of the way through the ride he stopped, I caught up, and asked to wait for the rest of the group. I started talking to him and he said he's won some expert races. No wonder! That made me feel a little better. At least I was getting dropped by a truly fast guy, and not some middle-pack sport racer.

There were warm pockets of air through the course, and it was dry and super fast. I loved the swooping, but the leaves shot me straight off the trail a few times.

About the EWR: I'm still trying to get used to it. I put the rigid fork back on the bike, and I think it feels better than the Fox. However, the bike in general is pretty rough. My back was sore after three miles. I know I can prevent the sore back by just working out by doing sit-ups, but I'm too lazy. I want to keep riding this thing as much as I can because I want to ride it at the Punk Bike Enduro next month.

Zoom zoom zoom

2004-10-26T22:29:00.000-04:00

Zookeeper: 6910

So I did a ride last night and tonight. Last night was at Wakefield and it sucked. The first thing that sucked was that the paths did not completely dry in many spots, so we really got caked with mud. I know it was stupid being out there, but I had to ride my new EWR. I regret it now.

Another reason it sucked is that the Accostink side of the ride is now closed at night, officially. That's right, you heard it correctly: Accostink is officially closed to activity at night, including my favorite one. It was in the works for a while, but they finally did something about it and are going to start enforcing it. I wonder how crowded and ugly it will get at Wakefield on Thursday nights when the hordes come out for the big MORE ride. Before we'd be spread out with all the land we had available to us. Now we'll be one teeming mass. This sucks.

On another slightly sucky note is that JoeP is incredibly fast. I've mentioned him before being a speedy toothpick on wheels, but trying to keep up with him nowadays usually leaves me exhausted. That guy weighs $1.20 soaking wet, so I already have $.45 on him. I think it's all in my lovely handles. It's not so sucky because he's one of my good buds, and seeing your buds get better is good also.

Tonight's ride was at Schaeffer. Erin organized the ride and thirteen folks showed up. It was sunny all day so the trails got a chance to dry out a little better. In a word, the ride was awesome. A few mud puddles, but they were no big deal. The bulk of the ride was swoopy, fast, smooth, fun. The EWR and I got along a little better tonight than last night, where I ended up crashing a few times. No crashing tonight because I'm starting to get used to its different geometry compared to the Chester.

I'm not good at describing ride qualities, but comparing the two bikes, I'd say the EWR is more twitchy. If I leaned or turned too much, I'd slip or wipe out. Does that make sense? The Chester doesn't react as quickly, and that's a good thing to me. I can ride more relaxed. On the EWR there's a bit more sphincter-puckering around fast swoops and turns.

The flip side is that with the suspension fork I can bomb downhills faster. No worries about picking the right lines or rattling your eyeballs out of your head. Look 10 feet further down the trail and just pedal your ass off. But I still have my qualms about suspension. The back side of logs are still scary because too many times I've completed the first half of a log-over successfully. But when the front tire hits the ground, I hate when it dives because I've been bucked. Needless to say, when we got into the log playground, I locked out the RLT so I wouldn't have to do any headers. The rest of the ride was unlocked and it was bob, bob, bob on the uphills. Anyways, after the split with the slow group, we cooked at race pace. I did fine. I feel fine. I'm going to sleep.

All work, no play

2004-10-24T22:44:00.000-04:00

Zookeeper: 5510

Did a ride yesterday with JoeP. That guy is so much faster than me now, it's not funny. I was pedaling, but I simply had no power. I could see him waiting patiently for me at forks in the trail and tops of hills, something I used to do for him not too long ago. My, my, tables have turned. When he gets his Jones, I am going to have a hard time just keeping him in sight. Thankfully, Jones' queue is a year long, so I still have the next 12 months to get into better shape.

JoeP said he's going to call Nancy to see if we can schedule a VO2 max test, something I've never done before. I want to see if I am already at my peak. If so, then there's no use in trying to get better. My understanding is that if you are already at the top, then you simply can't get better.

Today was a miserable day of trailwork in the rain at Avalon. We armored a downhill of the Hilton area before the big stream crossing. We were planning on working at Avalon, but our liaison for the park didn't submit our proposed trail changes in time for them to review. The bummer of the day is that the skies spit decently last night so we woke up with some boggy terrain. Definitely not kosher to ride, especially after working 3.5 hours on the trail. Ugh.

The bright spot of the weekend is my new (to me) Eastern Woods Research Original Woods Bike. (Phew, that was a mouthful!) They were bikes designed and made by regional legend Jay DeJesus up in PA. I don't know all the history, but I'm pretty sure that when I started my years of working at bike shops in '93, Jay was already a name to know. He was a trials/downhill/dual slalom guy, and I think this bike was designed as a hardtail, all-mountain bike. The bike is overbuilt with a high bottom bracket and funky frame design that made the most of standover and stiffness.

The killer is that I didn't get to ride at the park today. I did get to ride it this morning on the 1/2 mile of singletrack in my neighborhood, but that wasn't close to sating my excitement. The bike is easy to loft, and I was actually a little surprised how high it sprung when I jumped over some logs. Yum, I think I'm going to dig this bike...

Ho hum

2004-10-22T16:33:00.000-04:00

Zookeeper: 12990

Another gray day with no riding. Pop-z and Bunky are going to Wakefield tonight, but I have to stay home and wait for a contractor/family-friend to show up. I need him to do a few electrical things because I don't trust myself with loose electrons. My godfather came a couple of days ago to check out my 30 year-old dryer that came with the house. It turns out a part inside is broken. So I made the call to order that itty-bitty piece, and it turns out it's available, for $200!!!! I bet you the whole thing didn't cost half that much when the previous owner bought it.
Wifey and I have been looking for a new dryer just in case this one wasn't salvageable, and it looks like we're going to have to go and take the plunge. There goes $400+. Ulp...

Rides are still on the gameplan for this weekend. Tomorrow at the Rose with JoeP with our Cross Checks, and Sunday at Avalon after trail maintenance. I'll probably slap on the fenders just in case it's still a little wet out there. I might also take a spin around the hood after I submit this since the pavement is close to being dry.

The Rose

2004-10-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had to make the decision to call off the ride with MORE at Rosaryville. It sucked because I had to decide early enough so that people would have time to get their bikes and stuff ready if they didn't already bring it with them to work. It was gray and misty, but no sizeable drops when I made the call. However, at about the time that the ride was supposed to start, a steady drizzle moved in. I was glad that it did so I don't have to feel so bad about canceling.

Like most days of the week, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Weather.com is forecasting that the rain will die down tomorrow, so hopefully it's windy and sunny enough on Friday that I can do some riding on Saturday. At the very least I can head out to Gambrill and get my ride on.

The wifey feels bad for me because I won't be riding much (if at all) this week due to the rain and the other things that she wants me to go to, so she gave me the green light to ride both days this weekend. Do you have any idea how rare that is? Definitely a score! I love that woman :)

My thumb still hurts from crashes on the last two weekends. Two weeks ago (10/11 entry) I hooked up with a bunch of guys I've never ridden with, but I've talked to them on the beginning of rides. (Swell group, and I think I'm going to squeeze into their rides again.) Anyways, I crashed pretty hard and my whole left hand and palm were swollen for a little while. It was slightly sore last Sunday, but I tried to get over a dinky pile of logs and hit a small wet log at a bad angle. Shwoop! The bike came out from under me, and I jammed my hand into a hole, formed by logs thrown down at random. Ouch. Hopefully it fully heals by this weekend so I can throw down.

If you're looking for something to do on Sunday, come out to the Avalon trail maintenance day. Klas, the organizer just had another kid, so the Outlaw may run things. Maintenance is a go whether the weather sucks or not, but the ride is only going to happen if the trails are firm enough. Don't want to undo what you just did, eh?

Day 1

2004-10-20T01:11:00.000-04:00

1:11 in the morning. Rain outside my window. Wife tucked in bed. Bummed because I haven't ridden in two days. Hopefully it clears up soon or I will go insane.