2/8/10

Snow riding before Snowapocalypse

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Sat.
I went out riding the last weekend of January in the snow on Sat. and Sunday. The Sat. ride had promise, but turned out to be not that good. I went riding at Wakefield. I had been at volleyball and was going to get some more of my workout on with some riding in the snow there. By the time I got there the snow had gotten too deep. I like to ride in snow that is like 3-4 inches. The snow was closer to 5 or so. With my SS I couldn't stand on the hills so I was slipping. I had an ok time of it on the flatter stuff. The snow was slippery and not very good at cushioning the fall. I was hating life going down the bermed downhill where I fell twice hurting my knee and arm.










Sun.
I was to ride with some folks on the CCT and Fairlakes, but after Saturdays's adventure I decided to just ride the C&O canal. I rode the SS and the canal had a fair number of users walking and CX skiing. I was able to ride fairly well with my SS, I had a leaking ft. valve so I had to run the front tire a little higher then I would like. It was sometimes faster to ride in the fresh powder and hit real ground then to ride in the ski tracks. I started from chainbridge, and then by the time I got to 495 I decided to ride with a Bike Doctor rider who I be playing leap frog with. He was bolder then I riding a CX bike in like 6 inches of snow. We rode together with me gaining on the rougher sections, and Eon gaining when going through fresh powder where he could get to the real ground and use his gears. We rode to Great Falls, and I then turned around. Ended up doing like 2 hours of non-stop pedaling(and I really couldn't stand up). I am glad I ran into Eon, who I found out was on the rain ride I had done the week prior with his teammate Evan, and the DCMTB crew. He gave me the extra motivation to get to Great Falls, cause once I was there I had to ride back to get to the car :-).

2/1/10

Arlington Hills


Well I have found myself in the bad situation that many cyclists see themselves in. I am out of shape and heavier then I would like to be. I had hurt my back doing the SM100, so didn't do CX but did running instead. I was doing well with the running then I got plantar fictitious- corrected kevin Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) ! To add insult to injury I was sick most of December. This added up to me being the heaviest I have ever been. At this rate I can race the clydesdale class!
I play volley ball through out the year, but in the fall and winter I play on the weekends as well. I still need to get some biking in so what I have been doing is a afternoon Saturday ride. I did my first one, and it ended up being a DCMTB west ride with Tyler, Vince, and Mark.
Tyler had never biked in Arlington so I decided to give him a tour of some of the hills I do. Mark was running late, so Tyler, Vince and I did the double banger of Walter Reed and then Oxford. We then went to Mark's house which was harder then I thought it would be top find.
After Mark's we did Wilson, then up to northern Arlington for the hills there. One hill we did I call it Jim's hill after Jim York who showed it to me, Mark had never done so that was a little treat for him. We finished the hills with mini Alpe d'Huez then took George Mason back home. I will try to keep these rides going if the weather is good enough, and hopefully people can join me.