Ride Lugged

So you may have seen a post last year about some training obstacles I set up in my backyard to help Christine improve her bike handling skills. This year I added another rock/log pile for her to crawl over and she tried it out today. Here’s the shots…

The course overall…over one pile, around the tree, and over another pile…(while dodging the bushes and clothesline)

Upclose of the older pile…

Christine on the approach…

Up and over…

This little training course in our backyard is an excellent lunch break escape…it’s really improving her bike handling skills and more importantly, her confidence.
Thanks to Casey for the bike on loan.
Please don’t let the fork comments outweigh the cheers of encouragement for Christine’s riding.
Rob

So Hutch ventured around on the wooden velociped today. This was the first time he actually spent more than thirty seconds on it. He pittered around the yard and driveway for like a half an hour! He even tackled the obstacle course I set up for Christine’s mountain bike training in the backyard (I’ll reveal those pics in another post). He went all over the place and I was almost more amazed by watching how the thing teaches balance than I was by what he was doing on it.
Here’s some shots….trying to be artsy…

The velociped power…

Finding his stationary balance point…

Posing on his bike…

Motoring around the yard…

Flashing the look…

Tackling the obstacle course…

I’ve got some video footage of him rolling around too. I’ll post the link to it in the comments section once I get it up on my YouTube channel. He definitely makes us proud.
MOTIVATOR!
Rob

this morning, over stolen coffee, starmer and i hashed out a plan for a day o’ training in patapsco park. this will include 3 mini mock races, with gold plated guiness for 1st place, silver plated yuengling for 2nd, and bronze schlitz for 3rd. the mock races will have a few laps, and somehow be marked so you dont get too lost.

who is invited? everyone who wants to do a day of fast riding, with breaks in betwixt races for burgers, concealed adult beverages, scrabble, and scat. (cards, not scatological). obviously if you are part of the team(s) you should come. we’ll meet early, say 10am, set up in a pavilion (not yet reserved) and go ride. then eat lunch, relax, then go ride. then eat dinner. then go ride. awards will be handed out after every race, with the grand prize being a fif’ of old granddad. platinum plated of course, with jewels.

plan on being back home around 8. or 1am. depending. dont worry about lights, we’ll be out before dark.

possible dates: the 26th or 27th of april. vote like its american idol. but in the comments section.

also, rsvp so we know how many burgers starmer has to buy.

so without yer knowledge, the database has been pushing forward. is it called the database? no. did i mastermind it? not reallby joe whitehair is on board, but he might have been two PBRs to the wind when he said he was. they were a dollar. i mean. cummon. so jay has been working on posting some dirt roads in frederick county, i spent the day teaching kids final cut pro entering roads from the fredrick county rural roads pdf that joe lent me, and so there is quite a bit of info already. right now its just frederick co, with a few roads in VA, in montgomery county. I am working on a seperate one for centre county, PA. I think the key is going to a super simple website that organizes things by state, then county. maybe each county/state could have a dirt road count next to it. right now i’ll start with that blog i keep going on about, so at least the database has a temp home until i learn how to make a website. (over spring break, i swear). wait, doesnt rob know how to do simple html?

check the blog for what we have so far, a quick users guide to labeling and symbols, and other stuff. if you want to add content to the new blog, or join it as a writer, let us know in the comments (ie leave some contact info) hell, that goes for this blog too.

the new blog’s title is dirt road datebase, but its home on the web is dirtdata.wordpress.com

(cory hearts hair shorts)

cory is sorta in town.  we’re gunna ride in the shed or maybe on the road on friday, meeting at cory’s unshanty between 10-11ish.  Afterwards: food (jolly ranchers ala mode?) and drink (sparks?) and barrel fires.  Bring your own two by fours.  bring your road bike and your mtn bike.  i bet you actually cant come because you got a job.  ahh.  too bad. sucka.

so i was walking to the post office today, (on a dirt road) and was lamenting the fact that with all of the crazy mapping software out there, GIS, google maps, USGS, etc, there isnt a good way to tell if A. your route will work (is that someones driveway?) and B. what the road surface is.  The closest we get is USGS, which tells us if something is unimproved or not.  Well that could mean anywhere from paved and not maintained, to cow path thru a field.  Not very exact, and consequently, not very helpful.  What if there was not only a route mapping site that allowed users to tag roads according to surface, but also made notes of where there were potable springs, country stores with ice cream sandwiches, and included tagged pictures of overlooks, vistas, sites of note, ect.  Wouldnt that be great?  Users could search by town, state or county and get a list of user generated tags, ride info, and visual information.

Of course, this would involve server space, and alot of work on not only the web interface but also general usability.  How would roads be tagged?  Could we color code them?  Thats my choice.  Roads could even be rated, for traffic, passability, (if its a dirt cow track, maybe 23s arent a good choice) and general pleasantness.  Key features would include elevation output ala route slip, editablity ala the new google maps, terrain maps ala google, satelite imagery, and an easy to use east to print cue sheet like routeslip.

I bet it would cost a bundle to make, and to maintain.  I’m guessing that part of this cost could be offset by getting appropriate advertisers, rivendell, velo orange, ect.  I think the data compilation would be interesting.  We could have content submitted through a blog, directly onto the website, by mail.  It would be an interesting compendium of others rides, thoughts, and interests.  I have started a blog to promote the discussion of this idea, although I guess all discussion could take place right here too.  It just seems easier to move it to another forum.  For now, users could create ‘dirt specific’  routes in routeslip or bikely,or even gmaps, and link them to the blog.  We can start a database without any real work.  It wouldnt be as convient or easy, but it might get cogs turning.

Definition of acceptable road surfaces:  hard packed dirt, wide paths, bike paths, hardpacked gravel, well maintained fireroads, old wagon roads, logging roads that are passable, chip roads.  Each needs its own tag, or maybe it can be narrowed down: dirt, gravel/chip, fireroad/logging road.  Personal favorite: dirt.

Update: no blog yet, wordpress is down.  Perspective name: dirtroaddatabase.wordpress.com, or if availible: drd.wordpress.com

whaddaya guys think?

so here is my super quick guide to bike lighting, not really for you to read now, but more so you can ref it later, when i link to it and yeah.

our rambles end in the dark or the dusk, as a rule. people dont believe me when i say a ride is going to last 7 hours, even if it is only a 45 mile ride. you see, we eat, pant, bitch, get flats, warm up and freeze, and all that takes time. plus we are all slower than a potatoe growing spuds in a paper bag, so, we ride along at 6.2 mph, on average.

so: lighting. i think i am going to require it. because if anyone got smooshed on one of my rides i’d feel bad. and i’d have to scrape your brain up and put it in my sigg. and siggs are pricey.

next ride we do, you gotta have a head light and a tail light. one that you can actually see with. that means not a light that you cant see with. whats that mean? you need more than 1 watt o’ power, led or halogen. Also, tail lights. get a big bright one. those little watch battery ones dont crank out the jams.

what works? on the cheap and crappy end, those cateye halogen joints that eat batteries (the HL-MC200 is 2.4 watts and costs less than 20 bucks. get two?) on the high end of the led world, b and m’s new ixon light looks ugly, but is reportedly quite bright.  i have ridden with the cat eye el 50o, its better than most, but you need two to really see.  also, eats batteries.

up front, if you make, say 75000 dollars a year and have no constituents, and say, need a new front wheel, get a generator hub and halogen headlight.  super bright, on when you need it off when you dont.  90 for the hub, 40 for spokes, 30-90 for a rim, 30 for the headlight.

right.  so around back…  cat eye’s TL-LD1000 is retardedly bright, ask rob.  not that he uses one.  but his wife does.  cheaper but still good is the hasselhoff approved tl ld600.  its half the cost but bizarrely ugly and bulky.  which would explain why mark uses one.  planet bike also makes the ugly but brightest of the bright ’super flash’ supposedly the only tail light visible in the day time, and at night visi up to a mile.  30 bones to not get run over not bad…

if you do the generator thing, i can help, i’ve set up half a dozen different styles.  leave a comment and i’ll help you out.

OK not only do i wanna know who is coming to the ride so i can make spoke cards, but christine wantsta know so she can make grub for post ride consumption.  So, um, 2 people so far have let me know.  Everyone else get up on it.  Leave a comment.  Yeah, Nah, or ProbablAH.

looks like we are going to have low voter turnout low rider turnout for saturday’s ride.  too bad, cause the weather wont suck like it did for last january’s ride.

sign in/leave a comment if you think you can come.  want a final head count sort of thing.

weather outlook: 40s, partly clouding, 30% chance of awesome riding.  ooooh that was a bad joke.

(look, i aint lyin’)

reminder: this ride will meet at 10 @ the sugar loaf main parking lot, at the bottom of the mtn, in that brick parking lot.  how to get there?  google this address:

Comus Rd & Sugarloaf Mountain Rd
Dickerson, MD 20842

its not too hard to find, provided you have a slide rule and some 1:1o ratio topo maps + an intimate knowledge of the surrounding area.  actually its not that bad.

10 am, mail me a letter if you arnt coming.

Guestimate: the ride will take us all damn day.  eating, riding the ferry, general shit shooting, ect, take time, and so, just to be on the safe side, bring a blinker light at least.

I’m actually gunna bring an area map, in case my directions are knackered.  someone besides me print some out, just in case i forget.

word?  word.

.

Ride Update!  Jan 26, 10 am, at the Sugarloaf/Foot o’ the mtn stonghold parking lot place.  I’ve made a revised and more accurate map, that still shows the mileage to be sub 50, and the climbing to be negligible.  I have added what appear to be more dirt roads, more roads without real names, and more instructions like turn at the pond with island and the big tree.  it’ll be like a scavenger hunt, with the prize being ‘getting home before its dark’.  we’ll have lunch somewhere, so pack one, and toe warmers, and noggin protectors, and all that, if its going to be cold.  it appears the ferry charge is MAX 4 dollars.  I bet its less, for bikers.

Car pool people, if’ns ya can.

ok, we havnt had a really long ride in over 2 months. obviously, we are all even more out of shape than we were before we ate that kilo of fudge, 2.1 gallons of nog, and 36 new years toasts.

i have a ride proposal for either next weekend or two weekends after that. a ride from sugar loaf into VA and back, 50 miles, less than 2300 ft of climbing. thats nothing. thats like walking to the mail box. thats like playing cards with your grandmother. thats like chef bouyarde’s tomato sauce.

here’s the link: look at that ride profile. its like the current housing market. its like pat boone singing tutti fruiti. its like vanilla pudding with a plastic spoon.

ok, so how about it? it’ll be fun. you get to ride a boat. you get to go to VA. you get to ride on dirt roads. ditch the kids! ditch the husband! ditch your coke habit so you can pay for the gas!

holla back if your interested and shit and shit. i vote for the last weekend in jan. pick a date. we’ll have lunch. we’ll have dinner. we’ll have flats, broken frames, and cold fingers! we’ll have a half century of rolling hills. we’ll smell cow shit. we’ll look like dip shits. we’ll ford a stream. maybe. i cant really remember where that stream crossing is.

shit i gotta go: i’m on reserve battery power, yo!