Laural hills only trail dry

From Jan. 15

Well there was some warm days and people thought all the trails would be too messy, I thought maybe Laural hills would be dry enough. I went out there on my SS which always makes trails like this more fun. I met up with Dave(might be wrong) from MCEngraving a MORE sponsor. I rode with him for a bit, and then went on my own little adventure. I found that the place was totally ridable, there were a few muddy sections, but not many. The only issue was that trail rode a lot slower then usual. I have a 20T on the SS right now so I was able to do more climbing seated, which I am not sure was a good thing. So did my laps and was able to get done before it got dark, was nice to do a January ride in knickers.

2009 Year End Totals and thoughts

2009 was an OK year, I didn't push my back as much and was feeling good late in the season. I did one of my goals which was the SS class at Wednesday at Wakefield. I had much better time in that class which wasn't as fast as the expert class. I was able to actually race people and some top 10 placings and then the final week I got a 1st so pretty cool. I had my best race in August with the 18 hours of Scouts Honor. I also had my fastest solo ride the week before the SM100 I did a 40 mile ride without stopping with a avg speed of 21.6 with no time trial bars at my parents house so I was pretty stoked. The SM100 hurt my back again(had not trained enough), so I only did the DCCX and did not ride much in the fall, and I have been sick for most of December.

Tandem- 140 miles

The good news about the tandem is that I think we have Sara's knee issue figured out for a bit. I think she pushed herself too hard and then the clipless pedals were hurting her knees. I had her ride with her normal shoes and toe clips, and haven not pushed the distance as much and things seem to be going better. Sara has started to do some spinning classes, so hoping to have over 500miles on the bike next year. Will have to see how Sara's body holds up.

Single Speed 29er- 266 miles

I like riding this bike on some of the trails in the area(Roseryville, Fairfaix CCT, Schaffer, Fairhill) . I had a blast riding the bike at the 12 hours of Lodi. I don't like the bike at Patapsico where there is too much elevation change. I improved the bike greatly with some Stans wheels and setting it up tubeless for the W@W events. In 2010 I will have a Rock shock Reba to use at events like Lodi or to have more versatility riding.

Dual Suspension Mt. - 643

My mountain bike had some good miles on it but if you take out Bakers, Big Bear, Iron Mt, Scouts Honor and the SM100 I think I only did like 400miles on the bike.

CX Bike - 1007 miles

Usually my CX bike doesn't get that much mileage since I stopped using it as my commuter bike several years ago. This year after I cracked my Raleigh last fall I road my CX bike as my road bike for all of spring until I got my Moots. I was bummed that CX season didn't work out but I did like riding it with a tubeless setup, only issue was that the rims were wide and were painted so did not brake very well might get Stans wheels for this bike next Fall have to see. I did not ride it much this fall. I hope to do some dirt road rides on it in the spring and then the Wintergreen ride/race in late August followed by the Iron Cross in October along with like 5 CX races in the fall.

Fixed Gear - 1022 miles

Pretty happy with how much I rode the fixed gear bike this year. I became my go to bike for commuting to work. With its 32mm SERV-T tires it can be ridden on the C&O Canal or cruddy city streets. I also didn't have to0 worry to much about the bike being messed with.

Race bike - 1379 miles

This was the biggest disappointment, I think I did a fair bit of riding, but not the distance. I stopped doing the PPTC Tuesday ride which brought my mileage down by quite a bit. I got my Moots in the early summer and I was able to pound out to OMGWTF Shepardstown Rides. Will plan to do that ride again with the more direct downhill. I was able to ride the bike on some good rides but would like to get some more mileage on the bike for 2010.

Snotcycle Pre-Ride

With the trails frozen, I was pleasantly surprised to hear there would be a snotcycle pre-ride. I am not doing snotcycle cause it sold out and I wasn't sure because I am out of shape. I put an email out to people about doing the ride and ended up riding with the Bike Lane boys. I got there, early and it was cold but at least it was sunny. I did a warm up with Todd from Bike Lane, he was rocking the bling GF superfly100. We were riding nice and easy then got back to the start, and I lead us through the first part. I went out too hard, and then my water tube froze so I was toast! I ended up doing the 2nd part of the lap solo. I then went back got my SS Rigid out to do a loop on that too. The course is ok on a rigid, and I think with my front shock the Bakers course would be great on a 29er hardtail. I didn't get into Bakers, so it was a good thing I was able to ride it when I did. I had a good time seeing the guys, reminds me I need to ride more with them.