Category: outdoors

surviving snowmageddon

author randomduck | timestamp 08/02/2010 | categories 1 Comment

This winter has been a real winter in the District of Columbia. Rather than overreacting to the chance of an inch or two of snow, this winter has packed two storms that have dumped a grand total of 40 inches at The Burrow. Other, smaller storms have dumped an additional 7 or so inches, making this the snowiest winter we’ve seen here since moving into town back in February 2003.

DC is still not a town that likes snow. It has a great deal of influence from the southern states, where frozen, fluffy precipitation is more of an abhorrent anomaly than a regular visitor. So many DC residents are ill-equipped for the stuff.

They own nary a shoe that can withstand deep, cold layers of slush on the ground.

They use umbrellas during snowfall, which makes those of use who grew up in snow country giggle as they pass.

They tend to think that monster-size four-wheel-drive vehicles are invincible. (Wait – that’s common everywhere.)

And their snowplow drivers tend to have a tough time remembering how to operate the large blade that’s attached to the front of their vehicles.

I have to admit, the current administration here in DC is dealing with the snow far better than its predecessor. When we moved to DC, it was immediately after the “Blizzard of 2003,” and our street went unplowed for over a week, as DC plow drivers routinely were intimidated by the snowpack. Eventually, plows from New Jersey were hired to finish the job (which they did in a matter of two days).

This time ’round (as was also the case with December’s “Snowpocalypse” storm), the local plows have done a decent job of clearing the roads. The same can’t be said about many homeowners clearing their sidewalks (it’s now been 43 hours since the snowfall stopped, and owners technically have 8 hours from the cessation of snowfall to clear their walks), but DC’s usual strategy is to “let it melt.”

Have I mentioned that it’s not cleared freezing since the storm, save for in sunny areas, and that the overnight hours have refrozen everything? Heh.

As far as sprite and I are concerned, we’ve done well. We had plenty of food and entertainment on hand, shoveled the walks throughout the course of the storm, and are very thankful that most of DC has its utility supply lines underground – thus no loss of electricity or phone, unlike our suburban neighbors who have lost power and cable TV during the storm.

Today I’ll take my mountain bike out onto the snow-covered streets to enjoy my snow day – should be fun, if slow.

categories outdoors, random, washington, dc

categories

the time, what of the time?

author randomduck | timestamp 07/10/2009 | categories Comments Off

Okay, so I’ve been slacking off here.

It shows, doesn’t it?

Rest assured, I’ve been active. So what have I done since… August 13?!?! Okay, let’s start with August 1, why don’t we?

Riding:

  • On August 1, I rode the Mountain Mama Road Bike Challenge out of Monterey, VA. The drive down there the night before was eventful, as my trusty Subaru decided to blow almost every single oil gasket just outside of Staunton, VA. No fun, and possibly a show-stopper. But thanks to the help of friends, I was able to get a ride for me, my driving companion and our stuff to Monterey. The ride was spectacular, though I felt like ass for the first 80 miles of the ride, having expended a lot of energy the previous night getting the car to a mechanic, waiting for a ride, etc. From miles 80 to 100, though, I was strong, and did quite a bit of good, fast climbing over the final three summits. The car is fine now, after replacement of six gaskets.
  • I also organized a century on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. This was a great ride, loose and fun, and featured a sighting of a black bear sow and two of her roly-poly cubs.
  • My Tuesday night “Downtown Breakaway” club ride slowly ramped down throughout August, wrapping up on September 1 with an unfortunate ending: a crash in the paceline ended up with one rider breaking a hip, another his bike.
  • Rode the Civil War Century in early September. This is a must-do ride, given its location and organization, and a lot of people drive down to Thurmont, MD, for this annual tradition. The day was somewhat misty and damp, but it made for exceptional riding, and I got to hang out with many different friends along the route.
  • The PPTC Historic Back Road Century took place in late September, and while it is a ride that I’m not particularly fond of (the route is somewhat flat and boring), the company I rode with made up for that. I was in a great shape for this, though I left a lot in the tank when riding with my friends.

Travel:

  • My main travel was to Salt Lake City to visit my mom. It wasn’t the best of trips, to say the least, as there was a lot of work to do around her house – some of which was a surprise to sprite and me. And my mom is no fan of having her visiting family do housework while we’re in town, but we really had to do it. Needless to say, I’m now quite versed in cleaning, dismantling, moving, disposing of and installing refrigerators.
  • One bright spot on the Utah trip (perhaps the bright spot) was a lovely evening spent with our old friends, Bethy and Garrett. We drank beers, had some fun conversations and jammed out on guitar, mandolin and piano until late in the night. It brought back a lot of old memories and created lots of lovely new ones.

Anything else? Well, I’ve spent some quality time with our DC friends, though not as much as I’d like due to the craziness that is late summer and early fall in DC. But fall and winter look to be a lot of fun, once the transitional chaos inherent in the seasonal change settles down. I’ll be up in New England this weekend, which will be a bit more of a vacation than was the trip to Utah – can’t wait for that.

categories cycling, outdoors, random, travel

trip report: harpoon brewery-to-brewery ride (20 june 2009)

author randomduck | timestamp 29/06/2009 | categories 1 Comment

Activity: road cycling
Location: Boston, MA > Hinsdale, NH > Windsor, VT (Harpoon Brewery-To-Brewery Ride)
Distance: 148.0 miles (mostly rollers, some big, with one challenging climb from miles 91-94)
Duration: 7:41 (8:20 with stops)
Weather: partly sunny in the early hours, mostly cloudy for the remainder, 67-78 degrees
Climbing: 8,125′
Avg HR: 150 (max 188)
Type: aerobic

We ride north along Spofford Lake

This is the big ride of 2009 (at least according to my current schedule), and it comes far earlier than last year’s big ride out in California. This ride differed in two key respects:

1. It was a longer, point-to-point ride with less climbing; and
2. There was a lot of beer involved at the end.

This ride is sponsored by Harpoon Brewery and is a fundraiser for charities near and dear to them (they are highly involved in helping out in New England). The entry fee is steep, but with it you get a cool jersey, great support (including the Mavic neutral tech support cars and motorbikes), and an end-of-ride BBQ featuring a lot of Harpoon beer.

It’s a fine, fine ride.

The morning started off in Cambridge, where sprite and I were staying with our friends, Sam and Alexis. We had to get up early, as I had intended to start the ride at 7:45am and need to be at the brewery at Boston Harbor by 6:45, at the latest (according to the info packet I had). However, even on a sleepy Saturday morning, traffic doesn’t move slowly through downtown Boston due to poorly-timed traffic lights. On the way, we made a quick pit stop at a Dunkin Donuts in downtown (sprite made the fastest stop for coffee, OJ and a bagel I’ve ever seen) and made it to the brewery by…. 6:50.

Most riders had already embarked on the course, as the slowest riders were sent on their way at 5:45am. I was planning on riding with the 20mph group, but decided that maybe the 19mph group was a better fit, given my high level of fluster heading into the ride. It certainly caught sprite off-guard, as I left at 7:35, about 10 minutes earlier than originally planned. But she was sweet to drop me off at the ride start.

I ended up in a group of 20-or-so riders, most of whom either were members of the Team FuelBelt triathlon club or the Monsters In The Basement cycling club. I ended up slotting in with the Monsters, who were a group with a similar personality to my PPTC “wrecking crew” – it was a good and serendipitous teaming, as they invited me in to their group for the duration of the ride.

The route isn’t overly complex, as it basically stays on five major roads: Massachusetts routes 225 and 119 and New Hampshire routes 63, 12 and 12A. Yes, there are many forks in the road and other, smaller roads used, but over 85 percent of the ride features the aforementioned five routes. The entire cue sheet fits in one column on a single side of standard letter paper – that’s how easy the course is, in terms of linear routing.

And the climbing on the ride is fairly mellow. There are many rollers of various size, and a gradual rise into New Hampshire the account for the ride until mile 90. At this point, in Hinsdale, NH, the ride turns north onto NH63 and a climb called “The Leviathan” by the ride organizers. It’s no slouch of a hill, averaging around 4 percent for its duration, with a few stretches of 7-8 percent before its “summit” at mile 94. After this, the rest of the ride is rolling, including a covered bridge crossing of the Connecticut River a mere four miles from the finish.

I must have prepared well for this ride (indeed, I told sprite the previous weekend that I was ready after riding a really strong-yet-controlled pace for two consecutive 65-mile rides): I ate well and hydrated myself just enough. The bike, my Jamis Eclipse, was in great shape, with new tires and a more aggressive riding position that mirrors the Pedal Force (my usual road bike). And I had a good amount of rest.

And it showed on ride day. I was always in good spirits with a lot of energy in the tank. My first rest stop, at mile 52, was a bit longer than I’d like, but it went well, with a lot of free Clif Shot Blocks available (I stuffed my jersey with the things – they’re tasty). At mile 56, we called the Mavic cycle to aid a cyclist whose loaner wheels (from Mavic) weren’t holding air. And the third stop at mile 89 was unplanned, but one of the Monsters met up with his family at this stop. Stopping near the bottom of a climb is usually tough, but we made this stop quick and got on our way.

The Leviathan was tough, but I set into a spin pace and did just fine with it. Our group would reconnect after big features like this, which was for the best and kept folks’ spirits high. The next official stop at mile 97 featured musette bags with goodies and water, but the way it was setup didn’t allow for a smooth, pro-style hand-up, so we stopped to use the loo and refill bottles.

Monsters near the top

At this point, we were rejoined by the FuelBelt triathetes, which was an interesting experience. First, we ended up with a monster-size paceline of 16 riders. And of that group, only the Monsters and a few of the tri-folk were taking pulls (mostly by choice on our part, as we scoped out the FuelBelt riders and found that most weren’t the best paceline riders). It could have been irksome, but two of the FuelBelt riders took great, strong, steady, long pulls for the group. And they happened to be the only two women in the group – and one of them had never been at the lead of a paceline before. It certainly didn’t show, and we averaged almost 24mph for the 26 mile stretch to the final fuel stop of the ride before Vermont.

At this point, a few of the Monsters were shelled from the crazy effort we’d just made, and we all welcomed the cold sodas and fruit and the salty pretzels at the rest stop. Never before had a Pepsi or Mountain Dew tasted so good! We refueled and stretched, and let the FuelBelt crew ride ahead, as our group wished to stay together. And I admit, I got jumpy as we neared Windsor, and jumped ahead of the group until the covered bridge crossing of the Connecticut River, where I stopped to take a picture of the sign over the bridge. Regrouping in downtown Windsor, we rode together for the remainder of the ride to the brewery.

After 148 miles, the journey was complete! And my legs were ready to ride another 30 miles, at least – as I said earlier, I was prepared!

But the lure of a hot shower, a massage, fresh barbeque and cold beer was too much to pass up. It was a fitting end to the ride, and sprite met me a short while after I finished to give me a ride back to her folks’ place in Connecticut.

It was an awesome day and a superb ride – one that I’d happily do again, though I’d want to bring a few more of my PPTC friends to share in the experience.

(Click on any of the pictures to see my full set from the ride. Click here to see a full album from Will Williams of the Monsters – you’ll see more pics of me riding there.)

Me with the Monsters In The Basement crew

I really need to mention the debt of gratitude I owe the Monsters for their overall support of me. Their club support driver, Ian, provided me with water and soda along the way, treating me as a member of the team the whole day. It was really great, and made the whole day much more special. And to Peter, Will, Philip, Dan, Dave and Todd, a tip of the hat to y’all for being so nice to a stranger from the south. C’mon down to this area for a ride sometime: Mountains of Mistery, Mountain Mama, Civil War Century, you name it!

categories cycling, outdoors, travel, workout

monday musings (tuesday edition)

author randomduck | timestamp 17/02/2009 | categories 1 Comment

Since we last met, I’ve been skiing in Colorado (great time – proper post coming soon, though the new header image is from this trip) and spent a weekend in Chicago, where sprite had her annual meeting (inconveniently planned to occur on her birthday). There are plenty of pics from both adventures over at my Flickr page, so have a look around.

Let’s muse, then:

  • So it seems that Chrysler – who already received $4 billion in loans from the TARP fund – needs an additional $5 billion to stay afloat. GM wants another $16.6 billion. Sorry, Detroit dinosaurs, but we need to cut you off. Y’see, I remember how things used to be in the land of business: those that could adapt to changing circumstances survived, while others failed – no bailout needed or expected. Note that you don’t see Studebakers, or Cords, or Nash Ramblers in the dealerships these days – there’s a reason for that, as their parent companies failed. And yes, many people lost their jobs as a result of these failures. But somehow, the United States survived, and the fittest of the automakers lived on to see another day.

    The issue, as I see it, is that the “Big Three” of Detroit failed to see the folly of their ways. When customers demanded fuel-efficient and reliable cars, the folks at Ford, GM and Chrysler kept on producing big, hefty, inefficient, unreliable cars that didn’t appeal to many buyers. Sure, there was a certain pride in “buying American” (a trait to which I don’t really subscribe in these modern days), but the buyers looked to the cars that looked forward: Honda and Toyota hybrids, well-engineered German models, and high bang-for-your-buck units from South Korea. All the while, Detroit over-expanded and watered down its offerings.

    Even now, the “Big Three” refuse to do a proper culling of their models and workforce to appeal to the modern economy. If they would simply specialize in their unique strengths (Ford = trucks, Chrysler = vans and the basics of the Jeep brand, GM = ummm, something), plus one “character car” (Ford = Mustang, GM = Corvette, Chrysler = Viper or some very-capable Jeep), then perhaps there would be reason to have optimism. And this wouldn’t require any federal funding to happen: it’s just a matter of cutting costs – and personnel – at all levels, top to bottom.

    Furthermore, the UAW is standing firm on post-war, sweatshop-based tactics toward job protection, moves that do not endear them to me or to the economic realities of today. Look at the most productive and motivated auto workers these days, and you’ll see that they work for Toyota, Honda, Nissan and BMW – most of which are not beholden to the UAW and its yesteryear-leaning tactics.

  • And this leads to my next point: unions need to look long and hard at how their European counterparts handle employment and worker protections. Note that the European labor unions do not rule the roost at the places where they are active. Membership is optional, and you’ll see both union-affiliated and non-union workers standing side-by-side at factories, all happy in their choices. Compare that to the United States, where unions like the UAW create all-or-nothing situations for potential employees.

    Unions have served a purpose throughout the history of the United States. They helped improve worker conditions and defend workers’ rights during times of sweatshop tactics and excessive child labor. They helped set proper safety standards, and helped negotiate living wages. Like the “Big Three,” however, most unions in the United States have failed to adapt to the new realities of the market, both locally and globally. They are paranoid and protectionist to a fault, and while there are some that still act as fair players in the grand scheme of business and societal welfare, there are others that fear any change.

  • And that brings me to the basic reality that the United States now faces: change. The voters called for it in the 2008 elections, and the current economic crisis demands it of all citizens, rich and poor. The America many have known is a relic of a decadent past, and we need to move forward to a leaner, more efficient, more inclusive and less divisive way of life. It means walking instead of driving to the store, it means less spending on frivolous items, it means setting up the basics that many societies take for granted as true civil rights – universal healthcare being paramount above all else, especially for those 18 and under. It means investing in the future: in post-oil energy, in mass transit and infrastructure improvements that will connect our neighborhoods without requiring low-occupancy cars to get from point to point.

    These are all changes to the old “chicken in every pot, two cars in every garage” post-war dream that continues to be bandied about by nostalgia buffs and social conservatives. It was a great dream, but it’s time to wake up to reality – and reality demands that we change our ways. It will involve sacrifice, no doubt. But these changes are simple to integrate into daily life: walk, bus, train or bike to places you would normally drive; use canvas, cloth or reusable composite bags for shopping needs; turn off lights, computers and appliances that aren’t in use; set thermostats lower in the winter and higher in the summer (dressing in layers is chic, after all); eat locally and in season whenever possible; hang dry your clothes. These are just a few things – little things – that most people can, and must, do in order to help enact real, tangible change.

  • And speaking of reusable bags, the Trash Free Anacostia movement is one I really support. It calls for a 5 cent fee for any plastic or paper grocery bag issued by a store, thus encouraging reuse of bags instead of introducing them into the ecosystem, where they often end up as waste – in DC’s case, that’s usually in the river ecosystem of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

    Frankly, I think a 5 cent fee is too low – it should be more like 35 to 50 cents per bag – and should be used in conjunction with a 5 to 10 cent credit for bringing your own bags to the store. This kind of system works well in Europe (where else?), and has really changed how people shop: they buy only what’s needed, and think about what they realistically can carry. Yet this isn’t necessarily a limitation; rather, it’s a call for personal creativity.

    And while people will grouse about this adversely affecting the poor: it’s a one-time charge to get a reusable bag (most retailers change between $1-2 for fairly large, durable bags), and in DC, it’s not difficult to come upon tote bags and duffels, as they’re handed out at myriad free events throughout the District.

    So I applaud Councilman Wells’ efforts on this, and am in support of this first step toward a new mindset in American commerce – one bag at a time.

categories government, outdoors, politics, random, travel, washington, dc

the early bird and the late bird

author randomduck | timestamp 15/01/2009 | categories 2 Comments

Sometimes it pays to be the early bird. And it sure-as-hell sucks to be the late bird.

Let’s start with the latter, because it’s better to end on a high note (at least that’s what Hollywood tells me).

Next week, as anybody not living in a remote wilderness or in a self-imposed media blackout knows, is the inauguration of Barack Obama. And living in DC, there’s no shortage of events surrounding this event, from concerts to balls and everything in between.

And in this, I’ve struck out in securing tickets to the events I’d really like to attend. A fun concert at the Black Cat sold out a few days before I decided I wanted tickets, and a more festive, neighborhood ball sold out hours before I decided to dive into the world of tickets. I’m especially miffed about the latter, as it actually stands a chance of being an enjoyable dance party (festive attire vs. black tie, big band swing vs. big-name star power), and many of our friends will be in attendance. While there’s still a slim chance of scoring tickets to this party, I’m not holding my breath.

So my only planned inaugural event is the blockbuster concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. And yes, I plan to bundle up and enjoy hearing the various acts along with 500,000 of my closest friends – snow or no snow. After all, I’m a mountain man at heart, so a little cold and snow flurry action is no big deal.

Now for the good news: I managed to get myself up before 7:00 am to login and register for the Harpoon Brewery-to-Brewery Ride: a 149-mile journey from Harpoon’s brewery in Boston to their other brewery in east-central Vermont, taking place on June 20. Only 800 riders are allowed too participate, and they demand that all riders be in good enough shape to average 16 mph over the distance. I know I have that kind of speed in me, so it should be fun.

Sadly, my friend Jason waited until 7:45 to try and register and missed out, as all 800 places filled up fast. As with me and The Hill Ball, he has a slim chance of scoring an entry, but right now, it’s not necessarily in the cards for him.

So the early bird got the spoils this morning. Perhaps I should remember that for future events.

categories cycling, music, outdoors, random

categories

welcome to 2009 – let’s catch up

author randomduck | timestamp 03/01/2009 | categories Comments Off

So now we’re two full days into 2009, and it’s been… well, another set of days.

Actually, it’s been a lot of fun – though I’ll need to backtrack to last year to really recap what’s been going on.

After arriving back from New England early Wednesday morning, sprite and I got a bit of sleep before heading out on our traditional New Year’s Eve pastime: movie watching. We saw three films (with a dinner break at Ella’s Word-Fired Pizza), including Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire and Bedtime Stories. I liked all three films, though sprite really disliked Slumdog (it exceeded her tolerance for graphic violence and tension, so she left part-way through the film – Sarah and I stayed for the duration and liked the film quite a bit). The pizza, as usual, was good.

And due to the crazy timing – the third film was really short – we were home before midnight, so we got to toast the arrival of the new year with Dick Clark on the toob.

On New Year’s Day, I went out and rode 24 miles as part of the annual “Circle of Cycles” down at Hains Point. The morning was clear but brisk, and the wind was its usual strong self on the northbound side of each lap. But I got in some good miles, saw some old cycling friends, and felt alive on the bike – I guess I’m finally over my slight burnout that affected my riding in the last few months of 2008.

After that, sprite and I went to a wonderful brunch hosted by friends on The Hill, and partook of traditional Southern luck food, enjoyed lovely drink and lively conversation. So far, so good.

And today was a final vacation day for me (sure, I’m off on Saturday and Sunday, but those days are always off), so I slept in. After going out to a late lunch with sprite (who had to work, and whose lunch I delayed a tad because I didn’t realize the time), I came home to prepare a pot of chili before watching the Sugar Bowl.

And all I can say is…. GO UTES! And they once again prove that the BCS is a crooked crock: 13-0, destroyed a strong EC opponent, yet never in consideration for #1 because they’re not part of the money racket that is the BCS consortium – there was no way that they would be selected for the BCS National Championship Game, barring serious calamity. If they’re not #2 in the final rankings, it’s a sure sign that the system is rigged to favor those who pay into the scheme.

So where were we? Oh year – 2009. Should be a fun, busy year. I’m looking forward to skiing this winter (been skiing 5 days already this season, all in Vermont, all in less-than-ideal conditions), and will certainly make my way out west to Utah and Colorado. And I hope to meet up with more friends, old and new, on the slopes, because the social aspect of skiing is a real draw. And I might race a bit, too – the clarion call is there, once again.

I’ll ride the bike and race it some more in 2009, but I’ll also make sure to allow myself more time with sprite and our friends – better time management. I rode 5,300 miles and change in 2008, and aim to do the same or more in 2009.

I also plan on writing more often here on this blog. I’ve been distracted by other online social centers over the past year – Twitter, Facebook and sport-centered forums – but my real focus is this website, where I’ve been writing for years. Sure, I’ll still be writing tweets more often (easier to do on an iPhone), but they’ll be part of this site (once I get the silly plugin working properly again – it’s still mired in the past, it seems).

So welcome to 2009, everybody. Tighten your belt, exhale, and hold on – it’s going to be quite a ride.

categories cycling, outdoors, random, skiing

miscellaneous ramblings

author randomduck | timestamp 23/10/2008 | categories 1 Comment

Here’s a summary of what’s been going on in my life of late:

Over the long weekend (a.k.a. Columbus Day weekend – or “Insanely Politically Incorrect Federal Holiday Weekend”) sprite and I went to New England for three things: a wedding, visiting family, and a bike ride. We got to see her best friend, Karen, marry her sweetheart, Michael, in a lovely outdoor ceremony in Massachusetts. I got to hang out with Sam and Alexis, which was an all-too-brief treat. And I got to sample both the T and Amtrak, connecting the two in Boston – go, railroads!

That same weekend, I rode the Great River Ride in western Massachusetts. I’ve done this ride twice before, though both previous times the ride was my big ride of the year. Given that the Shasta Summit Super Century filled that role this year, I was past peak form at this ride – and it showed. It didn’t help that I was out late at the wedding the previous night and was a bit short of sleep and proper nutrition as a result, but I wasn’t as fast as I was in 2007. And I didn’t really care, as it was a beautiful day for riding and simply enjoying being outside in the beautiful foliage.

Rudi and LeviThis past weekend, I got the chance to catch up with an old friend: Levi Leipheimer. Most of you may know him as one of the greatest professional cyclists in the United States, who won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, who placed second in this year’s Vuelta a España and third in last year’s Tour de France. I know him as a former teammate at Rowmark Ski Academy, back when we were both alpine ski racers out west. It was fun to see him and catch up on life – small world.

I also got the chance to try out the new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 bike drivetrain, which features electronic shifting. It’s very slick, and had this Campagnolo user convinced that this could be a big deal. Campy is working on something similar, but it looks like Shimano will beat ‘em to market.

sprite and I continue to prepare for our upcoming trip to France. This involves a lot of house cleaning (we don’t fancy returning to a messy apartment, though I’m sure the cats will try their damnedest to ensure that some things will be out of place), some half-baked attempts at brushing up on my French (thank you, podcasts and French radio), and narrowing down wish lists of things to see and do.

All the while, I’m hoping that Obama can keep the momentum and win this election. It’s not going to be easy, given that the RNC and McCain campaign are throwing everything on the table to try and discredit Sen. Obama. It’s pathetic, but it’s also effective when aimed at people who don’t take the time to learn the truth about claims laid out in smear campaigns. 12 more days – keep up the good, aggressive, positive fight, Barack and Joe!

categories cycling, dems, outdoors, politics, random, travel

friday my:dc : autumn sunset

author randomduck | timestamp 26/09/2008 | categories Comments Off

Autumn brings out the most lovely sunsets, and in a city full of pomp and majesty, it’s sometimes refreshing when nature one-ups the construction of mankind. This shot was taken earlier this week as I was returning from riding laps at Hains Point. It was a bittersweet day: I rode laps with a friend who was celebrating her birthday (as well as her husband), as we all grieved for a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer.

Sunsets can mean different things to different people. To some, they signify an ending. To others, it’s the signal of a new beginning or rebirth. And the sunset that day signified both things, and a lot more.

Wanna see more? Hillary, sprite, Sarah, and MsP are all photo-happy and willing to share their unique DC-based views.

Potomac sunset

categories outdoors, washington, dc

categories ,

slowing down? hardly!

author randomduck | timestamp 21/08/2008 | categories Comments Off

Other than the post about my hair and the 100 foodstuffs meme, I haven’t really been writing a lot here. Sure, I’ve been updating my Twitter feed regularly, but not this blog.

So…. where to begin?

I’ve been riding since the epic Mt. Shasta adventure, though not in the same quantity. Where I used to ride 250-plus miles per week, I’m now riding 150 or so – a bit of dialing back that is necessary to keep healthy, both mentally and physically.

Not that the rides I’ve done haven’t been great. I’ve been out on the C&O Canal Towpath with sprite, where we saw lots of fish and birds. I went on a 67 mile ride in the Virginia hills that was a fast and fun ride with plenty if challenge (including a lovely stretch of dirt/gravel road). I did a solo, 102 mile ride on Sunday, which was a fun challenge.

I went swimming after work on Monday, taking advantage of the last couple of weeks of operation for the local outdoor pool (I’m not a fan of working out indoors, even in mid-winter). The typical PPTC Tuesday ride went off without problems, too, and I found that my riding is still strong, even with the scaling back of my training regimen. Tonight I rode 22.5 miles of laps at Hains Point and saw a most beautiful sunset.

I still need to make a permanent repair on my rear dérailleur on the Pedal Force. That will happen sometime soon, I’m sure. The main issue is that Campagnolo components, while completely rebuild-ready with spare parts, aren’t cheap – and the dollar-to-euro exchange rate isn’t helping matters. Furthermore, their 2009 gear is now in the stores, the 2008 supply having been out-of-production for a while with the resulting retail channel shortages in full force (Campy is saying “you really want the new bling!”). So I’m trying my luck at Mr. Edward Bay’s Auction House to try and save a few shekels.

So… there you go!

categories cycling, outdoors, random, shoulder

workout log: 3 august 2008

author randomduck | timestamp 09/08/2008 | categories 1 Comment

Activity: road cycling
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA (Shasta Summit Super Century)
Distance: 133.83 miles
Duration: 9:15 (10:17 with stops)
Weather: sunny and lovely, 50-84 degrees
Avg HR: 150 (max 177)
Climbing: 16,050′
Type: aerobic

This is the big kahuna ride for 2008!

Mt. Shasta from Castle Lake roadOn paper, it’s big: long, with lots of climbing. Two of the climbs are Cat 2, one is Cat 1, and one is hors categorie – the toughest of the tough, in terms of pro cycling. The lowest altitude of the ride is higher than over 90 percent of the riding we do here in the east.

And it was a helluva lot of fun!

But let’s backtrack to August 1, when most of us traveled to California from DC…..

August 1:
Spent most of the day cleaning, disassembling and packing my bike in its new travel case – a Pika Packworks EEP. The process was simple, and the bike was securely cradled by all the padding and straps. sprite drove me to Dulles Int’l Airport, where I joined the jetBlue queue. Ed and Chris arrived while I was still in line to check in.

I arrived at the counter with my pre-printed boarding pass. The man behind the counter asked, “is that a bike?” when he saw my EEP. I said yes, he said “cool,” and that was that. No extra charge to check the bike! None of my fellow jetBlue travelers with bikes were privy to the same luxury – must be the unique case.

The flight to Oakland was non-eventful, and most of us (Ed, Chris, Jonathan, Tracy and I) stayed at a local hotel for the night.

August 2:
The next morning, we awoke, ate breakfast, and went to fetch our two minivans from the Oakland Airport rental car facility. One catch: they had only one minivan available! Fortunately, with only five people in our group, we were able to make do with one minivan (a Kia Sedona) and a crossover vehicle (a Suzuki of some ilk). After loading our stuff into the vehicles, we drove north, out of cool Oakland to the hot and dry Central Valley. We met up with Glen and Liz at a rest stop – a complete surprise, as we had originally planned on meeting them up at Mt. Shasta.

We’d agreed to stop at a bike shop along the way, to reassemble our bikes in close proximity to a repair facility on the off chance that damage might occur during transit. We settled on The Bike Shop in Redding, a wonderful, family-run shop with a lot of personality.

As we unpacked our bikes and reassembled them, Ed noticed something awry with his front wheel. What looked like it might be a hub issue was actually a bent dropout on the right-hand side of the fork – yikes! Luckily, the shop’s owner is a former defense department metallurgist, and was able to get the fork (a carbon model with aluminum dropouts) back into working order, and things seemed to be okay. The rest of us encountered no such problems.

After a filling lunch and coffee at YAKS, we motored north toward Mt. Shasta. We soon encountered the foothills leading toward Shasta Lake, which is very, very low after seven years of drought. We marveled at Castle Crags to the west (“looks just like the Dolomites,” remarked Jonathan), and soon caught sight of our objective: Mt. Shasta!

It was somewhat obscured by latent smoke from the Trinity fire complex, and a cloud clung to the peak. But it’s a huge mountain, one we would partially scale in 24 hours’ time.

We checked into our hotel, checked into the ride, and got dinner at a local “Italian” restaurant. The food wasn’t very good, but it was plentiful and the staff very genial. Upon leaving the restaurant, we found the whole town inundated with thick smoke from the Trinity fires – not a good sign, especially considering that we had a couple of asthmatics in our group.

We returned to the hotel via a grocery store (to buy breakfast and on-bike provisions) and hit the hay – our ride was to start before dawn.

August 3 – ride day:
The alarm went off at 4:15 am, and I managed to drag myself out of bed to make a pot of coffee and eat some cereal. Chris awoke shortly thereafter, and we both prepped for our ride. A quick check outside revealed two things: it was chilly (perhaps 50 degrees), and the wind was from the south, clearing the smoke layer.

Hooray!

We piled in the cars for the very short drive to the ride start (none of us had proper lighting, front and back, to ride there safely). At the start, we made last-minute adjustments to clothing, used the loo, and were out of the parking lot at 5:39 – just after the start of civil twilight. A few of us had rear blinker lights, and had them on to help ensure safety on the roads, though precious few cars materialized. All was going well, at a leisurely warm-up pace….

…..until mile three, when I tried to upshift and my rear derailleur cable slipped, shooting the pulley cage into my spokes. I immediately let up on all pedaling pressure and stopped to assess the damage: a bent derailleur hanger and a warped pulley cage. Ugh!

Luckily, I managed to get most of it back in order with a few tools and a bit of sweat. A fellow rider, Daniel (from the USCG air station in Sacramento), provided advice that was most welcome. After about 20 minutes of fussing, things were working well enough: I couldn’t shift to my high gear (11-tooth cog) or my lowest gear (25-tooth cog), but the other 8 cogs shifted without incident. My ride was saved!

And I was angry. And nothing fuels a burst of speed like anger. It wasn’t a raging anger – more like a slow, burning anger than slowly dissipated. It propelled me away from my fellow ride mates, leaving me alone off the front for the first big climb: Park’s Creek. It’s a 15 mile grind at a fairly consistent 5.5 percent grade, and quite the wake-up call. I set into a rhythm and started passing a lot of people. I kept passing them until I reached the top, where I took a quick bio break, reloaded the water bottle (the second bottle contained a concentrated mix of Accelerade, HEED and Lipton Iced Tea), had a banana and took off on the fast downhill. On the way down, I cheered on my teammates as I passed them.

The next stage of the ride was mostly flat, and took me through the town of Weed, over a small pass, and through the beautiful Shasta valley. This 20 mile stretch was a nice rest break.

But the rest ended with the climb up Mumbo Pass. This pass had the steepest overall profile (6.5 percent average grade), and a few sections of 11 and 12 percent grades. Furthermore, it featured some rough pavement that would prove quite jarring on the downhill. As I climbed this road, I passed turn-around points for the shorter ride distances offered by the ride organizers, and enjoyed the scent of pine trees – a reminder of childhood summers spent in the Wasatch and Uinta ranges in Utah. I still felt strong on the climb, and powered my way through the steepest sections. Again, I made a quick turn on the summit (bio break, refill the water bottle, eat some salt potatoes and a banana).

After the rough-and-tumble descent – one which claimed Ed’s handlebar, which cracked just to the left of the stem (he splinted it with a stick and managed to finish the ride, riding the remainder of the descents with effectively one arm) – it was an immediate right turn onto Castle Lake Road, which was a smooth, short climb that started out steep. The strain of the Mumbo descent made me feel like crap climbing Castle Lake, but I managed to make it up in good time, and took a slightly longer break, dipping my feet in the icy waters of the lake (ahhh!).

The decent from Castle Lake was fast, and brought me to the lunch stop at the Mt. Shasta Club at mile 102. I didn’t spend too much time here – maybe 15 minutes – and I ate a couple of sandwiches: PB&J and turkey, cheese and avocado, both of which hit the spot. I drank a Pepsi and a Hansen’s root beer, and refilled both bottles (the slurry bottle was empty, so I refilled it with Gatorade). After crossing the road to use the port-o-let, I was on the road for my final climb: Mt. Shasta.

I crossed through the outskirts of the town of Mt. Shasta, as the road rose in front of me. Mt. Shasta is a long climb on a silky smooth road. Averaging 5.5 percent for the duration, it starts steeper (7 to 8 percent) and slowly levels off as it rises, with a small kick up near the end. Much of the climb is exposed, though there’s plenty of thick pine forest to provide needed shade along the way.

And then there were the butterflies.

Mt. Shasta seems to be a wonderland for butterflies, and they were everywhere on the climb up. It made for a lovely distraction, and while I was feeling very strong, it was a welcome change of scenery. I powered my way up the climb, appreciating the cheers from the volunteers at Bunny Flat, and doing a standing sprint for the last half-mile to the summit.

Woo-hoo!

It was quite the personal victory – and quite chilly, as well. I quickly donned my arm warmers and, after a quick lemonade and a picture, I enjoyed a fast descent, hitting 49.5 mph for a time. Again, I cheered on my friends as I passed them on the downhill.

The last 13 miles of the ride were all downhill. In fact, had the route not required a stop to cross a major road, pedaling would not have been truly necessary (though I pedaled to keep my legs moving and to milk as much speed from the descent as possible). Just before 4:00 pm, I pulled back into the park.

9 hours, 15 minutes, 35 seconds of riding time. 10 hours, 17 minutes total time, including stops.

Mission accomplished.

I spent my post-ride time refueling, getting a full body massage, and waiting for the others to return. All of them did, having conquered the Shasta experience as well.

You can see my photos from the ride here.

categories cycling, outdoors, travel, workout

Page 1 of 2012345...Last »