cold ride

i rode today... it was cold... 25 degrees and 25 mile an hour winds... i thought i would be all set with the extra winter gear i got this fall but i froze... i was ok till i did a 5 mile decent... that got me.

ive decided i will not ride outside unless it is above freezing (maybe i can get away with it if i don't do long descents?)... which shouldn't be a big deal... its above freezing a lot here in frederick MD during the winter... not like ME where i moved from.

also..

ive been using those motorcycle rain covers booties that i made a video about... i put them over the top of my winter riding shoes... they are awesome! my feet will still get a bit cold but they help a lot.

first snow, rain pants

got snowed on today during my ride ... i felt ok about it though... i had enough layers to keep me warm... ive started carrying along rain pants... they roll up pretty small... i put them on before long descents or if im feeling cold... it's a windbreaker for my legs... i think it will become a routine thing for me to carry them on 40 or below days.

fun ride in the watershed (frederick MD)

Jeff and a couple of his friends made a trip up from DC to ride some more challenging terrain in Frederick... they got the double whammy, more technical and a ton of leaves to make the terrain even more demanding.

it was a fun ride about 3-4 hours long... i had two flats... Colby was kind enough to give me a spare tube... then we all ate at the mountain view diner... great place... large selection, big helpings and great price... The best after ride restaurant in the area (in my opinion)

took a few pics... modeling are self's with a beautiful autumn background.

bullfrog and toad knogs

sorry about the horrible camera job

imba weekend

the imba trail crew came to Frederick this weekend... there was a class on trail maintenance, the actual doing of trail maintenance and a group ride... i skipped out on the trail maintenance because i was still sore from shoving and moving rocks helping my housemate Hillery with her backyard pond business... during which i saw a black widow...
i did go to the group ride... it was a big group... probably 30+.


Joe was the ride leader...

motercycle boot covers

mushrooms

went back and picked mushrooms i found while riding ... most of them were overripe.

processed...

puffball mushrooms

found a field of puffball mushrooms when i was out riding today... at least a hundred of them... all about the size of softballs some bigger some smaller...my housemate Hillery introduced me to these... she saw some along the side of the road a few weeks ago... she brought them home and we grilled and ate them.

i was only able to carry one home... had to carry it in my hand ... it was too big to fit in my jersey pockets.

i think they go bad pretty fast... and dont think they store well... but for the next few weeks anyway i know where i can get all the mushrooms i can eat.

bear creek race 2010 sept 19th

I think about 20 guys showed up for my category (elite)… 65 -75 degrees… ski mountain course so there was a good amount of climbing and descending… there was a few technical section thrown in but not horrible… It all seemed ridable except one tricky switchback with a lot of big rocks … Im sure someone can ride it but not me.

the fist lap decent I found that my front breaks weren’t working… the pivot pin came out… i tried riding with no front breaks for a while… but I ran in to serious issues when trying to ride down the steep switch backs … I would find my self going into corners with too much speed and rear wheel locked up making me unable to steer effectively… I decided to stop and fix it… fixed it using the pin from my chain breaker tool and some electrical tape to hold it in… it worked and I was able to finish… I came in 11th

this was the series finally of the mid Atlantic supper series … I was trying to do well in this series overall but after having a bad string of flats I lost any chance of a respectable ranking… since ive switched to tubeless its been a lot better… I went from getting a flat every week to getting a flat every month (on average)… so hopefully next season will be different with less flats and less excuses.

Might be the end of the season for me… I don’t have any races on my radar but something might come up... i'm sure i will still be doing a lot of riding either way

ride with the mayor (of frederick md)

the Frederick bicycling coalition had a deal going on where you can ride your bike to the minor league baseball field in town and get free tickets. the mayor was leading the ride... it was all put together to promote people riding there bikes around town instead of driving.

Anna Kelso was the master-mind behind the project
Anna talking w/ one of the police escorts
the mayors ride
i successfully completed the 1.5 mile ride and was was awarded this certificate sighed by the mayor (i'm adding this to my resume)
free ticket... i didn't end up going to the game though. no food or drink allowed in the park... i lost my motivation after going back home to drop off the snacks and drinks i had packed... i'm not a big sports fan... so i stayed home and ate my snacks all alone.

machaux, fall

Rode at machaux with Joe and Larry…


it was fun to go someplace new … I’ve been doing the same ride over and over… Larry knows his way around… it was nice to have him as are navigator… some pretty technical sections … one of which I had a pretty bad fall… I went to put my foot down but continued to fall down a slope… kinda like the guy in this video…




I only fell about 15-20 feet… and landed in a soft section of soil.. my left buttock absorbed all the impact… over all I got pretty lucky… I had no control over my momentum and I was moving pretty fast.

My bike seat got messed up during the fall.

giant horse fly

Delaware Trail Spinners Fair Hill Classic XC Sunday July 18, 2010

Delaware Trail Spinners Fair Hill Classic XC

Sunday July 18, 2010

Race went good… again no flats witch is a key factor in having a satisfying racing experience.
There was a large field…maybe 40? It seemed like 40…. I had a slow start … i spent the race passing people … even though I wanted the race to be over by about mile 20 or so I did pass about 3 more people after that… so I suppose those extra 7 miles were good for me even if I wasn’t having fun anymore.

I came in 10th.

It was a cool course … lots of bend and short steep climbs.

Jeff Dickey, teammate came in 5th… even after stopping to fill a water bottle and making a wrong turn.

Rest of the team had solid results too…I believe we were all mechanical and injury free this weekend!!!

John Arias and Scott Wilson scored 1st and and 3rd in cat 1 race

Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler

Sun July 11 Danzeisen and Quigley Summer Sizzler Gloucester County College, NJ XC

Race had lots of bends... it was fast rolling with slick roots.

Race went well… I didn’t flat…. I came in 7th place witch is about par for what I expect from myself assuming that everything is working correctly. Aaron won the elite open!!! and Jay won the masters Category!!! but things didn’t go so smoothly for the rest of the team… crashes, broken seat posts, broken chains and possible broken hand.

Hopefully all injuries sustained will heal fast.

Bart the team director gave me a new nick name “stacks”… in reference to the height of the spacer on my steer tube… hopefully I don’t end up like the stacks form Goodfellas



GoodFellas Full "Stacks Gets Whacked" Scene

"GoodFella" David Johnson | MySpace Video

Bart was kind enough to host a BBQ at his place after the race… it was a good time

I car pooled with Jeff Dicky… we saw some crazy people while driving home…

Mr stroller in his lap

And Mrs doing a u turn at the toll booth.

iron hill challenge, mountain king tires

Two weekends ago I did the iron hill challenge race. I set my bike up with my new continental mountain kings 2.4”… I set the rear up tubeless… they are nice tires… sizing is a little off more like a 2.25 but they are tall extenuating the 29er feel. Rolling over and absorbing bumps noticeably better than the maxis ingnitors that I was running before (especially in messy rock gardens)… they run a little sketchy on the road being tall with large nobs but seeing as they are mountain bike tires and they weren’t meant to ride on the road I suppose I cant complain about that. (even though I just did)

Ok back to the race… it was a hot day 90 something degrees and course was super flat and fast… my new big aggressive tires didn’t suit this course but I’m not one to buy and switch out tires to suit particular races. I think people who do have a mild case of OCD.

I didn’t start very strong but I was slowly passing people and expecting to real in more as the heat got to people. A lap and a half in I got a flat… in the rear.. the one I was riding tubeless…I could hear the air leaking out and the sealant wasn’t doing the trick so I put a tube in… it took me a while to fix it and by the time I did I pretty much gave up on a respectable placing… I rode the rest of the race with teammate Jay Dodge (who was riding strong, winning the masters men).

I haven’t looked yet to see what the issue was with the tire… I’ve done 6 races so far and have had flats during 3 of them…

I heard Greg lemon would stop and let the air out of his tires when he was doing bad during races… with the high frequency of flats I imagine people are thinking I am pulling a Greg lemon… I’m not but I am getting so many flats that it seem unbelievable to me and probably others… hopefully I can figure out away to avoid flats in the future so I can regain my reputation as a 5^th -10 th place finisher (on a good day).

anoher wednesday night ride

3 flats in the fist fifteen minutes... i was responsible for two of them.ferns looking pretty...

golf & Wednesday night ride

Wednesday night ride...

Golf cross training with Jeff Dickey...

ride, sticker patches

rode with Jay, Doug and Joe... Joe showed me some new trails i haven't seen before in the watershed.





sticker patches seem to work well about half the time the other half of the time they go flat again within a couple of weeks... you live you learn then you get luvs ( i mean glue patches)

Sammy and Me

I’ve been plagued with flat tires… If I had to guess I would say I’ve had one flat a week on average (including winter months) since moving to Frederick… this week alone I’ve had five and I’ve only rode about 5 hours… a thorn, a nail, 2 pinch flats (w/ 35lbs of pressure in my tube) and a slow leak that I have yet to investigate.

I could ride a bit slower through rocky sections... that would probbly help cut down on my # of flats... but I can’t force myself to do that … Sammy Hagar knows exactly what I am going through… he deals with a similar situation where he can’t drive 55… he wants to but he just can’t.


I purchased some continental mountain king 2.4” tires… which are listed as all mountain tires and I plan to set the rear up tubeless… hopefully that will solve my flat problems.

On the Rocks At French Creek

On the Rocks At French Creek
Elverson, PA
Saturday, May 08, 2010

A two lap (each lap 10 mile) race. same as last weekend’s MASS series race (@ the granogue estate) this race is the only time that bikes are allowed on the property. So I felt fortunate to have the opportunity to ride these sweet trails on the only day every year that it is legal to do so.

About half way through my first lap I get a flat tire and was passed by all riders in my category. Flat tires during races are pretty demotivating. But seeing as money goes 15 deep I knew I still stood a chance to rake in some cash so I resorted to plan B which was finish top 15.

I pulled it off, finishing 13th.

All results

Several others on the scott rc crew were there…

Scott Wilson finished 2nd in cat 1


Jay Dodge finished 1st in the maters cat 1

Cam Dodge was riding strong in the pro/open until he got a mechanical

-Mike Joos

Weekend riding and Andrew Mein's Excellent Adventure at Granogue race

Friday I did a ride with Anna...

Saturday I did a ride with Joe...

Wile riding with Joe I saw my fist rattlesnake… I guess there are a lot of them in the area...

How to treat a rattlesnake bite

Granogue race…

The course ended up being really fun… it was a pretty fast with some hilly sections and only a few rocky sections… Teammate Aaron Snyder took an easy victory today with no real challengers …

I came in 5^th

Some horse and buggies that where passing through the race venue...