Pretty Bikes...

I rolled out to The Bike Lane in Burke this morning. They carry Independent Fabricaton bikes and to my surprise had plenty of eye candy on display.

Luscious green Factory Lightweight. SRAM kit.

Beautiful Brown/Teal Planet Cross. This might have been the same bike on display.

Scintillating red 29" Deluxe with Single Speed build.

Nice stuff. Nice Shop. Busy. Sorry about the drool on the floor...

a few things..

It's friday and once again I've failed to post an entry this week. Yeah Sam, I'm slacking and the crickets are loud. Well here are a few ideas bouncing around my head.

-The 1st Annual Queen City Century was a success. We had 40 participants, none of whom became too terribly lost. (whew) Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the routes and the rest stop. We set the ride up so we had one rest stop and 4 'lollipop' shaped loops from that point. A big thank you to James Sara Annette Tish Rieta Mahlon Alice Joan and Holly for all the help. And thank you to all the riders who braved the Shenandoah Valley winds. Parker enjoyed his time at the rest stop.

-Training was put on the backburner while I marked routes and did other century related tasks. I'm not too worried as it came along at the start of a recovery week.

-Went on a great ride with Jon, James and Andrew on Tuesday, when we rode south to McKinley and back via Middlebrook. Rolled on the Planet Cross, ah the sweet ride of Steel. I was left with the idea that I should replace the drivetrain as it has a number of cyclocross seasons in it. The right shifter is finicky and 10 speed is nice. I should just stay with 9 speed and get a new shifter and rear derailleur. It's about time to strip it to the frame and apply touchup paint and wax it before putting her back together with new parts.

-I'm in NoVa today waiting for my brother to come pick me up so we can drive to Indianapolis for the 500. This will be my 9th or 10th year going. There are only 5 of us going this year, the most we've had was 14. Lot of fun. Golf the day before the race, eat well, drink lots, you get the idea. Well I have a bunch of time to kill before he gets here so I'm going to visit bike shops. Bike Shop Therapy. I should've brought a bike so I could ride into DC, oh well.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend...

National Bike to Work Day...

Did you ride to work today?

The first song on today's commute was "Car" by Built to Spill.

Enjoy...





And as I rolled into work, Rod Stewart's "Gasoline Alley" started playing. How's that for a bike to work soundtrack?


I hope you have a great Bike to Work Day, nothing but tailwinds and respectful motorists...

Dirty Du results...

Rolled into Camp Hilbert in time to see the kids race. I've gotta give a shout to Endorphin Fitness and their efforts to get kids involved in endurance sports. Pretty much every kid in the race was kitted in the Red Endorphin Fitness shorts and singlet. Impressive and Encouraging to see kids racing. I helped direct them into the singletrack. Once they went past me, it was time to get the transition set up and the inevitable multiple trips to the head... race nerves and all.

A strong field lined up for the first run which was 3.5-3.6 mile single track. Damn, I love running on single track. I felt good and rolled into the first transition to start the first of two laps on the deluxe in Hilbert's tight trails. The trail felt slick at the beginning but firmed up as the race progressed. I felt faster on the second lap which was the goal and with the tacky trails, quite possible. The second run leg was a two lap on a cross-country like course. My only complaint was the many 90 degree and greater turns on the course. These sapped any momentum I built. I passed a few people and a few passed me. I'm happy with my effort. My legs probably hadn't fully recovered from their thrashing at the uwharrie race six days prior. I finished 10th overall and 6th in the big 30-39 age group.

Hung out after the race and caught up with Mark C and met Juston M. Juston races for Vicious Cycles and rolled past me on the second lap of the bike leg astride a nice Motivator 29'er. Gotta love the orange color. I talked with Bill S as he was at Uwharrie the week before. This crowd has the cyclocross feel where everyone races hard but cheers and supports all the competitors. Gotta be Something in the dirt...

Ride of Silence in the news

The daily news record has an article on the ride in Harrisonburg. I need to call Marshall to see how it went, can't always rely on the media's take on the event.

Harrisonburg has a great cycling community. Cyclists, Advocates, Planners, Sympathetic Gov't entities.

Good Stuff...

Bike to Work...

Are you commuting to work on your bike?

May is National Bike Month

The week of May 14th through th 18th is National Bike to Work Week.

and May 18th is Bike to Work Day.

Here are Fifty Things to Do to celebrate National Bike Month.


If you decide to do item 9, come to Staunton on Sunday and do the Queen City Century.

Ride of Silence™

Ride of Silence™

THE RIDE OF SILENCE WILL NOT BE QUIET

On the third Wednesday of May (May 16th), at 7 PM local around the world, cyclists will take to the roads in a silent protest of the carnage taking place on the streets.

Chris Phelan organized the first Ride of Silence in Dallas in 2003 after endurance cyclists Larry Schwartz was killed by a passing bus mirror on an empty road.

The Ride of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride.

The ride hopes to raise cycling awareness during bike safety month to motorists, police, and city officials. The ride is also a chance to mourn, in funeral procession style, those who have already been killed. The ride also requests black arm bands be worn, red if you have had a bike/motor vehicle accident. Arm bands will be provided.

WHERE: Harrisonburg High School Garbers Church Road.
Meet at 6:45pm for pre-ride instructions.

or

Waynesboro High School parking lot at 6:45 PM

More information about the Ride of Silence can be found at www.rideofsilence.org

Dirty Du

This Saturday I will be competing in the Dirty Duathlon at Camp Hilbert. I’m looking forward to this race as I have already raced here once this year, albeit a 3 lap mountain bike race. The race on Saturday is a 3 mile trail run, then 12 mile bike leg (two laps) and ends with another 3 mile trail run. The race earlier this year was on the Fuel, which is set up for all day trail rides, and I should feel a bit faster on the Deluxe. I hope the fast feel will lead to being faster. The bike is light and should tear up the Camp Hilbert trails. After last week’s race on the equestrian “trails”, Camp Hilbert should feel like riding on sidewalks.

XTERRA Uwharrie

XTERRA Uwharrie

I competed in my first XTERRA race this past Sunday, which is consisted of a 1000m lake swim, “24k” mountain bike, and a 10k trail run. The swim had some chop as the wind was gusting at 20-30mph and I exited the water where I normally do. The mountain bike course was held on trails that were only recently opened to bikes. They have and still are equestrian trails. They were rocky and deeply rutted from the horses. There were 3 hike-a-bike sections on each lap, where the trail basically went straight up the fall line. This was my first time on trails on the new IF Deluxe. I had some difficulty on the technical sections as I am not used to riding a hard tail. But I made up time on the climbs as the Deluxe climbs like a scalded cat. Off the bike and on the run my hamstring cramped within a few hundred meters of the transition. This happened 3 more times on the trail, all I could do was try to massage the knot out. This led to me running stiff legged, not a good prospect considering all the logs that were across the trail. My run time was slow.

Overall I finished in 10th place for individuals and came in 3rd in my age group. This is the third podium of the year for me and had I been asked whether I would make the podium while on the run I would’ve laughed.

This race was a lot longer than I expected, after the race I heard someone had measured the bike leg at over 20.5 miles, a bit longer than the advertised “24k”. No worries though. I will take this experience and apply it to future races, especially concerning my pre- and in-race nutrition.

I had a serious case of DOMS (delay onset muscle soreness) after the race. Two days of icing my left hamstring and copious amounts of advil have helped.