Biking the Bay

Annapolis Bike Plan

2011-05-24T07:50:00.002-04:00

I received an email from a guy who works for the city of Annapolis. He sends out emails once or twice a month with things going on about biking in an around Annapolis. This email was about a new initiative to discover the good and bad things about biking in Annapolis. He requested we use a map, which he provided, to outline high traffic areas, bike parking needs, dirty/unusable bike paths, dangerous intersections, etc. The map is online and at Community Walk. It is highly interactive and allows a user (with the username and password he provided) to add icons and notes anywhere with information.

When I first used it there were only about 5 icons. I added a dozen or so, but I find it funny how much it has blown up since then. I don't think you can make it a tenth of a mile without something wrong.

I went on a very short ride up to the start of BWI from my house this weekend, just to check out how safe it was. Looks to be a good route, though I might do some weaving through backroads to avoid sitting on West B&A as much as possible.

Bike 2 Work 2011

2011-05-20T09:44:00.000-04:00

Biking season (for me) has officially begun! Today was Central Maryland's Bike to Work Day, which is put on every year by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. Working in Annapolis, I went down to the City Docks to the rally where they had a food table, coffee table, and gave a few speeches. Even with the threat of thunderstorms this afternoon, it was an amazing turn out! I was keeping an eye out for Chesapeake Sailor, but I think he headed on in to work instead of sticking around for the festivities.

They only had three raffles this year, which was a lot less than the previous two years, but one coworker was lucky enough to win a bike chain picture frame:

Five of us from ARINC made it down to enjoy the rally.... here are a few pictures:

Beautiful Weather!

2011-03-18T16:45:00.000-04:00

I've been in a training class all week and was lucky enough to get out early today. The wife headed home early as well and we did a quick little 9 mile bike ride down and back up the B&A. Glad that she was wanting to go out though I am looking forward to a solo bike ride so I can up the speed.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:54:00.001-05:00

A lot has been going on recently with me... I haven't posted in a few months due to... well, not really riding. I have done a few shorter rides, staying in my neighborhood, but the weather has kept me from doing much. I still haven't convinced myself to go out in sub 50 weather...

But, on the awesome side, my wife and I finally purchased a house! It is still in the process of being built, but once it completes, it will be a few miles from where our townhouse is, in Severn. 3.5 miles from the BWI loop and about 4 miles from B&A. It will be done January 31, so in a month we will be packing up and moving on in!

Today we went out shopping and I was surprised to see how warm it was, a nice 52 degrees. I decided to jump on my bike and do my normal Elvaton-B&A-East/West loop. Having never ridden in weather this cold (hey, its cold for me!) I donned bike shorts and a long sleeve Under Armor shirt with my new Dogfish Head jersey. Just a few pics... but I learned quite a bit. First off, gloves are necessary. It wasn't that bad, but my hands were very unresponsive. Second, I need a second layer of long, wind proof on my upper body. My legs, however were quite fine.

It also looks like they have made ZERO progression on fixing the B&A from where it washed out over a year ago.

Looks like Garmin Connect switched from Google Maps to Bing.

I wonder who wins...

2010-09-14T19:45:00.001-04:00

Beautiful day down to Annapolis

2010-09-06T10:43:00.000-04:00

This weekend's weather has been phenomenal. I decided to get back out on the bike and head down to Annapolis. Not surprisingly for such a wonderful day, Annapolis was packed. I had a good time getting lost around town, going down roads I wasn't aware of. They had a band playing down on the docks and a food festival of some sorts going on as well. And tons of boats out!

Aluminum Man

2010-09-03T09:37:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been nearly two weeks since I did the 114 miles on the C&O. My buddy who went with me apparently got hit by a car while biking in downtown Frederick and walked away with a severe concussion. Glad to hear he is ok, but scary none-the-less. I haven't been biking since. I weighed myself when I got home and was startled to see I was down to 139 pounds, a weight I can honestly say I don't ever remember seeing, even in high school when I was playing soccer every day. 139 pounds is an unhealthy low and I spent the next couple days packing on weight to get myself back up to a more healthy 145. I started lifting weights again as well, which has been a lot of fun. I destroyed my legs doing squats and that put me on the sideline of any cardio training for a few days. But I am feeling great now.

So the title of this post is Aluminum Man. What is the Aluminum Man? Well, talking with my buddy we realized that over the past few years we have done the running and biking portions of the Ironman. A few years back we backpacked 27 miles in a day. While we certainly weren't running and it did take us a good portion of the day, we were carrying close to 70 pounds on our backs. And just two weekends ago we did 114 miles of biking. The only thing left is the 2.4 mile swim.

Looking at that, we decided to come up with a half iron man we could do back to back in a single day. 1.1 miles of swimming, 57 miles of biking, and 13.1 miles of running. I devised a way we could do this self-contained and dubbed it the Aluminum Man (Iron's atomic number is 26, aluminum is 13). We would take off from my house, go to the B&A, ride around the BWI Loop four times then come back to my house. From there we would leave our bikes, switch into running clothes and run down East West to the B&A and follow that all the way south to the Naval Academy Bridge. Once there we would jump in the Severn River and swim 1.1 miles northward to the other bridge and exit there.

The reasoning behind this route is that we are never very far away from water or food. If we coordinate it well, we can park a car at the airport loop with food and water. Each lap, if we needed it, we could go to the car and get fresh water and/or food before continuing. Of course we can refill when we get back to my house. The run is a bit different. We might need a swag biker to stay with us with a backpack full of food and water that we can use as we run south. At the swimming point we can have another car to change in, refuel, and then have a canoe accompany us across the river for safety. Once there we can have the canoe-ist take us back across the river to the car and call it a day.

We are planning this for this time next year. I know the biking portion will be simple and I have confidence in my swimming ability. The only question will be the running, but if we give ourselves a full year of training, I see this being very very doable.

114 miles of the C&O canal

2010-08-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

Well, that was an adventure. Saturday morning I went and grabbed Eric from his parents house at about 630am and headed up to Cumberland, MD, which is where the C&O Canal officially "ends". Of course, we would be using that as a starting point. The drive to Cumberland is amazing. Rolling across mountains with spectacular views and through the sides of mountains that were blasted in half to make the road.

Anyways, we arrived in Cumberland and found a parking deck which was free for the weekend. We had to park on the top level, the only "public" parking level and we set ourselves to prepping our bikes and getting our gear in order. The first thing was stripping and putting on our bike shorts and chamois cream... something neither of us have used before. We had a good laugh at eachother rubbing that shit all over....

And then we headed out to find the canal. It started right on the edge of town.

And then we started off. Our original goal of 124 miles to harper's ferry meant the half way point would be in a small town called Hancock which promised a bike shop (if we needed any more tubes) and a good lunch. The quarter way point was a rather long tunnel built for the canal called the Paw Paw Tunnel. We decided it would be best to take short breaks every 15 miles or so, and since we started off at a good clip, this was great. Unfortunately, by the end of the ride, these 15 mile breaks would cease and we would stop at every water pump we came across.

So, 30 miles in we reached the paw paw tunnel. A few years ago Eric and I did a bit of a crazy hike around these parts and we were looking forward to doing this tunnel again. We stopped there and ate a power bar and had some water before riding through the pitch black tunnel.

And the other side of the tunnel is spectacular. There is a wooden boardwalk that cuts through the mountain with the canal on one side.

With another 30 miles to go until lunch, we took off. During this next stretch we saw many deer and, even cooler, a single black bear running along the drained canal. By the time I could come to a stop to take out the camera, he was already in the trees on the other side. About 20 miles later we hopped off the C&O canal and onto the Western Maryland Rail Trail, a 22 mile paved course similar to the B&A I ride all the time. Unfortunately, this trail was uphill all the way to Hancock and there was no water, at all, on the route. I was dumb and skipped a previous water stop, so I had to push through 11 miles with absolutely no water. It was terrible. Fortunately, this rail trail does shave 5 miles off the canal.

Eventually we made it to Hancock. The pleasant town I was expecting was... not so pleasant. In fact, it was hardly a town at all. More like a few gas stations and that was it. We grabbed a sandwich from Sheetz, a bottle of gatorade, and some bananas and snacked down.
Hancock:

There was a bum passed out where we wanted to go eat. We didn't see him until we sat down and thought he was dead. We checked him breathing then left him alone. From the bottle of vodka in that blue bag... I think he was sleeping off a rather heavy drinking night.

After we left Hancock, we continued on the Western Maryland Rail Trail until it connected back to the C&O around 70 miles in. Surprisingly, I didn't even notice we had done a metric century... wish I would have taken a picture. Oh well.

And then we hit a wall. Both of us were fatigued. We slowed our pace down considerably. I got a stitch in my side and had to pull off for a few minutes to get it out. When we jumped back on the bike we caught a second wind and upped our pace. By mile 80-ish we knew, due to daylight, our goal of 124 miles was out of the question. We called our parents to figure out where to get picked up sooner. We knew we wanted to get a full 100 miles in and the next closest town after that was Shepherdstown, West Virginia at mile 73 on the canal. Unfortunately... somewhere along the way, we hit a detour. Apparently the canal towpath had washed out and we had to head across mountainous side roads. Up and down hills for 10 miles is not something we looked forward to.

Eventually the detour reconnected with the C&O and we pushed out the remaining 12 miles or so. As we hit the 73 mile signpost we saw an opening ahead that would lead to a parking lot where we expected to meet Eric's parents.

And then... after 114 miles of biking over the course of 11 hours. After dodging potholes and limbs. After accidently rolling off the side of the towpath and having to bunny hop over a log. After all that... I freaking fell. I was drafting Eric as we got to the parking lot and he made a sharp turn to get around a signpost. I saw it at the last second and slammed on my breaks. I missed the sign, but with no speed and starting up a hill, and absolutely no power left in my legs, I just fell over. Feet still clipped in. Damn.

We went home, I took a bath, ate as much as I could consume and swiftly fell asleep.

Some other random pictures from the trip:

So... the August 150 is officially cleared and done. my goal of 400 miles for August is nowhere near complete, but I don't think I will be biking much this week. 114 miles on a mountain bike... not bad, not bad at all.

C&O canal this weekend

2010-08-20T13:51:00.000-04:00

The guy that came down and road into Annapolis a few weekends ago and I are heading out to Cumberland tomorrow morning to start the 185 mile ride into Washington DC. On day 1 we are hoping to make it to Point of Rocks, which is just 10 miles or so south of both our parents houses. We are going to get picked up and spend the night at my parent's house and then get dropped back off in the morning to continue the ride.

On day 1 we are hoping to do 136 miles, which will more than double my longest ride. The only saving fact is there are enough places to bail out that if we don't make it, then we aren't stranded int he middle of nowhere. I am hoping to wake up and get up to Cumberland to start the ride at 7:30am, which would put us in Hancock for lunch. There is also a small bike shop that we can restock if we need to.

I am hoping to make it to Harper's Ferry for dinner... this is where my mom and I rode to about a month or two ago. If we make it that far, we will call my parents to come scoop us at Point of Rocks, a 12 mile bike ride away.

I am a bit of an analyzer... if there is any data I can scrounge up, I will use it to make out some form of... form. So, while I can promise you on Sunday I will return with "the best laid plans of mice and men..." but in the meantime... if we keep an average pace of 12 mph... this will be our timing schedule.

Performance Sale

2010-08-13T13:07:00.000-04:00

Though I doubt it means much to anybody that reads this but Chesapeake Sailor, Performance Bike has just opened a new location in Columbia, MD. Since I worked early this morning, I was able to go over there around noon and picked up some awesome stuff for "dirt" cheap.

I bought a Blue jersey for myself, a red jersey for my wife, a chain cleaner, cycling shorts (finally), 2 tubes, and a pair of sunglasses.

Total was about $150.

The markdowns were this:
Shorts: $45 down to $25
Blue Jersey: $45 down to $30
Red Jersey: $55 down to $35
Chain Cleaner: $35 down to $20
Tubes 2 at $6 down to $2
Glasses: $70 down to $30

And on top of all that, you get an extra 15% off!

Check out more of their deals here

Ram's Head for Dinner + Garmin Goals

2010-08-09T08:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had one of my good buds come down for a biking trip. He showed up around 3pm with his brother's beat up old mountain bike (a nice mountain bike... just old... and beat up) and we took off down to Annapolis. I rode my mountain bike as well. Not too much to report on the trip... we ate at a great little restaurant called Ram's Head, where we were able to sit out front with our bikes. We also did a short little tour of Annapolis... down by the city docks, around State Circle then church circle. All in all it was a great day.

Unfortunately I didn't turn off my gps until about 2 hours after I got home... so that is why the 2 and change trip reads at over 4 hours.

And as I mentioned in a previous post, I am using "Garmin Goals" to track both Phil's August 150 challenge and my own August 400 challenge.

Doing this is really simple...yet a bit underdeveloped. You go to Garmin Connect, click on Goals, click on New Goals, and then you get a bunch of drop down menus. Name of Goal? Activity Type (Cycling, Mountain biking, running, etc.)? Goal Type (Hours, Distance, Frequency, Calories)? Value of Goal (you put a number in... so for the August 150, I selected Distance then wrote in 150)? And then how long for you to reach your goal.

After that, any time you upload your gps files to Garmin Connect, your goal sheet automatically gets updated. See below for my progress.

Now there are a few problems I have with this program. First, you can not create goals for the past. So, for example, I started goal tracking the August 150 on August 3rd. It would not let me select August 1st for the start date, which means it wouldn't include the 10 mile mountain bike ride I did on Aug 2. Not really that big of a deal... but I can see it pissing off a person that rode a century on the first before making the goal.

Now the cool thing is it shows you "where you should be".

That is on the Dashboard of Garmin Connect. Basically all it is doing is dividing my goal by the number of days to complete the goal and drawing a line, but it does kinda motivate you to ride a bit everyday to make sure you are ahead. Surprisingly, I am almost at that line for my August 400.

Around Severn River

2010-08-07T19:27:00.001-04:00

Today is such a nice day... went out for another ride. Got down to Annapolis and realized I was close enough to work, I could stop by there and do something that I probably should've this morning. Oh well...

Anyways, great ride and tomorrow a buddy is coming over to ride down to Annapolis for either a late lunch or dinner. If he's up to it, I'll see if he has any interest in doing this loop again.

I didn't take too many pictures... these are of the Naval Academy's Stadium.

31 miles this afternoon and 10 this morning. I might just make the August 150!

Back down for some Coffee with the Wife

2010-08-07T13:21:00.001-04:00

We did the same route as last weekend, and I think we are gonna make this a weekly thing... perhaps going a little farther each day. We did up our speed by 2 mph which was great, and I saw a coworker along the path as well. Good day! I am going to try another ride in this afternoon... beautiful weather!

Garmin Forerunner 310XT Giveaway

2010-08-05T10:02:00.000-04:00

Head over to DC Rainmaker to check out the details!

I saw a deer do it, so can I!

2010-08-04T21:18:00.004-04:00

As I previously posted today... starting tomorrow I will be working a lot. Too much. But I digress.

In order to get some frustrations out, I decided to push out to Kinder Farms, where I met Mike, a coworker. Mike is as serious of a biker as they come. He doesn't own a road bike, but has a few commuters and then his pride and joy, his Specialized full suspension mountain bike. This guy is absolutely insane.... rides to work every single day. Lightning, snow, sleet, hell, he rode home through a god damned hurricane. And every weekend he tears up Patapsco State Park, a rather highly technical path around here.

Anyways... we met at the entrance to Kinder Farms on East/West. He had told me stories about Kinder Farms, and I have to admit, I didn't believe him. I had rode through there enough time to know all the paths... and nothing he ever said held much weight with what I knew.

So... let me tell you... this man is not a liar. He took me along paths I was familiar with and then out of nowhere he starts cutting through these hairpin turns along single tracks that were completely overgrown and covered with briars. During a water break he said, "Now up here ahead there was something I wanted to check out. I saw a deer do it, so hell, I figure so can I!"

And then he took off through brambles and down a path that Crocodile Dundee couldn't navigate.

I turned around and high-tailed it around to where I thought he would come out. And there he was, plowing through tree limbs and underbrush only to come flying out the other side completely covered in mud and leaves.

Needless to say, he showed me just about everything Kinder Farms has to offer. We did about 6 miles while inside the park... through fields, streams, a small water reservoir, over hills, around a cemetery, through a pig pen.

Here is Mike with his bike.

From Biking the Bay

Oh... and I know a lot of the people that follow this blog are riding to lose weight (along with enjoying biking). Mike has lost a ton of weight in the last year. He doesn't keep track of anything (miles, speed, weight), but here he is at last year's Bike to Work event.

From BiketoWork2009

Damn awesome if you ask me!

12.93 miles today... and probably the last time I'll be on my bike during the work week.

Goodbye August Goals...

2010-08-04T09:03:00.000-04:00

Work implemented mandatory 12 hour work days for this month, including some weekends. Goodbye August goals.... I might be able to pull off Phil's August 150 challenge if I can get out some long rides on the weekends.

Down for Coffee

2010-07-31T13:13:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning and realized it was absolutely beautiful. So the wife and I drove down to the B&A (She still is uncomfortable on the roads), parked the car and headed south along the B&A. We made it to a cute little coffee shop that sits right next to the trail, grabbed some coffee and sat on their back deck to enjoy it.

After that we returned back to the car and stopped at Panera for lunch. Unfortunately, I am now sitting at work and probably will be for another 4 hours. :/

And with today being the last day of the July150, I am proud to say I ended up with 165 miles. Not bad considering how few days I actually rode. I am shooting for 400 for August, which should motivate me to get out and ride right from the start. I made it a "goal" on Garmin Connect, so I am excited to see how that works!

So this is what it looks like when you press "Start/Stop" instead of "Lap"

2010-07-29T12:35:00.000-04:00

Got a side cramp on the jog out, walked back. I did try a sprint there at the end just to see how fast I could actually move. ~11-12 mph. I can't believe people can run that fast for an entire marathon.

Lunch jog

2010-07-28T12:26:00.000-04:00

Well, decided to go for a jog at lunch. Not much to report. The Forerunner 305 is a freaking awesome device and the transition to jogging with it was simple. Navigate the menu to switch from Cycling to Running (three button presses) and the screen then showed my Time, Pace (minutes per mile), Heart Rate, and Distance. The distance started out in feet then switched to miles at the 0.5 mile mark.

I only jogged two miles today. A warm-up walk to the road I jog on, a mile jog, a small walk to stretch, a mile jog, then the cooldown walk back to work. These were easily distinguished via the Lap button on the face of the watch. Whenever I got to a new transition, I just hit the lap button and it logged that location to monitor.

I have to admit I wasn't really in the mood to run and it can show with the speed. I am beginning to question my abnormally high heart rate a little bit more. I have my cardiologist appointment coming up somewhat soon and I am looking forward to discussing my fitness with my cardiologist. I haven't seen him since I took up biking last year and he has never ever seen me after running.

Crabbin!

2010-07-26T08:11:00.000-04:00

(And yes, Kungfoo, this is ripped from knightly)

Sunday I went crabbin. Unfortunately, due to my old high school buddy being a dumbass and not showing up, it was just me and one other friend. We didn't get out to the docks until about noon... which is not only the worst time to go crabbing (mid day) but also the damn hottest. And we had to deal with a full dock, so we could only place a half dozen chicken neck lines. :( We only lasted an hour before we were completely dehydrated and called it a day.

We caught about a dozen crabs, though only 5 of them were keepers. So... here are some pics of the cooking!

And yes, they were delicious. The third and fourth shows the seasoning... a mixture of Old Bay and J.O. Seasoning.
We think we are going to make this a weekly thing. $6 to get into the park and if we get there early I am sure we can catch a few dozen.

The $21M Photo + July 15 done

2010-07-22T21:06:00.009-04:00

Decided today to head on out to Gibson Island. Left home at 6:30-ish. Gibson Island is a small little island on the Chesapeake Bay. Strangely enough, it is the #12 most expensive zip code to live in in the entire United States. It is a gated community, so I couldn't even make it there... and the road signs pointed it out quite clearly.

And as you approach it, the smell of water is great. Truth be told, I have really shown very few photos of the bay, considering the title of this blog is "Biking the Bay". So here is the Bay Bridge (along with the road that takes you onto Gibson Island:

The guard tower is just slightly to the right. I actually got yelled at for taking that picture... he thought I was photographing one of his precious residents. Anyways... I titled this the $21M dollar photo...so here it is.

Doesn't look all that impressive, right? Just a picture of 7 houses. Well, considering the average price of a house on the island is over $3 million dollars... that right there is a picture of $21 million dollars.

Anyways... I did 29 miles tonight, which officially puts me over the July 150 challenge. So yay for that!

But now a question for you all. According to my garmin, I burned 1593 calories on this ride. I am exhausted. I was equally as exhausted yesterday. My guess is it has to do with my food intake. I haven't changed my eating habits in years. I eat for breakfast(throughout the course of the morning until lunch) some greek yogurt, a banana, and a bit of cheese. For lunch I have a sandwich of either turkey or salami on wheat bread with cheese, tomato, and onion, an apple and some grapes. Dinners usually vary, but some meat and carbs. I don't know. I think I need to get some more food in me. Haha, or I'm just weak and looking for excuses for tiredness.

Riding up to the BWI Loop

2010-07-22T07:51:00.003-04:00

I headed out last night for a ride back up the B&A. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I don't very much enjoy the northern side of the B&A. I was planning on turning around where the B&A dead ends, but about 100 yards before there some punk ass decided to play chicken with me. I was barreling down at a semi-brisk pace and this guy, riding a kid's bike, stayed on my side of the path while coming at me. I yelled at him to move over, but he just stared at me. At the last second I bunny hopped off the side of the path and turned around. He stopped and stared me down. Fuck it... so I just kept on going. I decided a run in with him probably wasn't the smartest idea, so I kept on riding to the BWI loop. I turned around right at where it "started", and headed on back home via East/West. Not wanting to get caught inside Kinder Farms, I didn't do that and was back home in no time.

On an unrelated note, somebody deleted my data for the July 150, so I had to re-input it all again. Glad I've been keeping track1

Garmin Forerunner 305

2010-07-20T07:39:00.003-04:00

After spending some time looking at different GPS devices, I decided the best idea for me would be to go with the Forerunner 305. Considering I've been running as well, it made sense for me to get something that would easily transition between running and biking. And, in my opinion, the Forerunner 305 is the best bang for the buck.

The Forerunner 305 comes packaged with a heart rate monitor (which sells for $60 alone) and for extra cash, you can purchase the Cadence/Speed adapter.

I purchased it from Best Buy for a total of $154 after taxes. In the box is the actual GPS unit, a usb to mini-usb cable, a mount for charging/uploading, the power supply (which is connected to the mount via the usb cable), the heart rate monitor, and the paperwork and software.

I let it sit on the charger for four hours before pulling it off. The recommended charging time was three hours, but I never got a "Charging Complete" message so I was hesitant to pull it off. That being said, after scouring through the documentation, I don't think there is said warning... so I think I am safe. Unfortunately, by that time it was too late to take it for a run so I simply configured it.

The configuration was incredibly easy. You turn it on by holding down a button on the side and then you go through simple questions. "Do you own a heart rate monitor?" "Do you own a foot pad?" "Do you own a cadence?" "What is your age/weight/sex?" etc.

All in all, the setup took about 45 seconds before I could have been using it. Unfortunately, by that time it was 10:45 at night, so I couldn't do much else.

This morning, however, I worked on the configuration screens.

You can choose how many data sets are on the screen, up to four. For biking I chose Time, Speed, Distance, and heart rate. You can configure more screens, (Up to 5 I believe), so if I wanted to also see what my max speed, lap speed, lap time, etc. was, I could configure those for a different screen, at which point pressing the up or down arrows on the side of the unit would take me to those screens.

I strapped the heart rate monitor on this morning and off I went for a small little ride. I wanted to make it back with plenty of time to download the software and upload my ride.

Satellite acquisition took about 45 seconds, which was exactly how long it took me to lock my front door, put my keys away, walk my bike down the stairs and check to see the satellite status. (It is a progress bar that, when filled, means you have satellites). Reading about the product on various other reviews have stated that after awhile, the satellites pick up faster if you stay in the same general area (i.e. not going to a different state). To start recording you simply hit the Start/Stop button on the device.

While riding it was great. I didn't purchase the bike mount, so I simply wore it on my wrist. Surprisingly, I didn't even notice it. I'm not gonna lie, the device is rather large. The screen is the width of two fingers and about an inch (2.34 cm) long. The whole unit is probably double that size.

But, what makes that good, is that you can actually read the damn thing. A quick glance up and I know how far I've gone, how long it has taken, what speed I am going, and what my heart rate is.

Once I got back home, I simply hit the start/stop button and took it off.

Downloading the software was a breeze. It comes packaged with Garmin's home made tracking tool which auto-detects any rides/runs you have done and uploads them. But I wasn't that interested in that... I wanted to check out Garmin Connect.

So I went to Garmin Connect, registered, downloaded a plugin, and that auto-detected my device, uploaded my routes, and I was done.

So... wihtout further ado, my very first Garmin Connect upload. (ok, it was the second. Apparently last night I hit "Start" while walking around in the apartment, so I have about 10 seconds of me standing still).

A few interesting things about that.

First off, click the "View Details" button to go to the actual garmin site. You can then see my speed vs time, elevation vs distance, and heart rate vs time graphs. You can also see my route, max and average speeds, times, device, etc.

The first thing I noticed was my heart rate. Admittedly, my heart is a bit of a dysfunctional piece of crap. Due to a birth defect and heart surgery, my heart rate is high and erratic. But, I do believe a heart rate of 260-ish would even kill me. So something was screwy for the first few minutes with the heart rate. The second thing is the elevation. I don't quite now exactly what occurs when you say you want "Elevation Corrections" enabled, but it was and I am impressed by the data output. You can zoom in and out on any of the graphs to make out the changes a bit more.

But the last thing that I found interesting was the mapping. I am guessing it takes a gps reading about every 2 seconds. If you zoom in on the first intersection (Kenora and Old Mill), you will see it clips the corner of the road off. I was going fairly quickly through that corner (no cars and there is a good 10 foot shoulder there) so it was interesting that that happened. On the return trip I went through the 7-11 there.

Anyways, I am really liking this device. I have a $35 credit to Hudson Trail Outfitters, so I am going to check to see if they have anything neat to go with it (perhaps the cadence sensor)!

First Ride with SPP

2010-07-17T10:40:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Chesapeake Sailors post regarding his bike club, the Severna Park Peloton, I decided to sign up for their email list. I found out they were doing two rides this morning, both originating along the B&A at East West. I decided to tag along with them down to the Annapolis docks for breakfast.

I rode out to the meeting point a bit earlier to give myself a moment to rest before starting the trek with them. I was the first one there

Shortle thereafter another guy showed up and we started chatting and by the designated start time, about 23 people were there, including a tandem bike couple. I introduced myself to everybody and they were all very friendly. We took off at 0730, a majority of us to go down to Annapolis and the rest to go to Ellicott City.

It was great! We were cruising along at about 18 mph, which was very easy when your riding in a group and can draft. At some point, we took a side road along a broken pavement road. The leader of the group asked if we wanted to do hills. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of saying yes. Let me tell you something. When a guy whose legs look like this:

asks you if you want to do hills, it is 100% acceptable to say "no". Needless to say, I tried my hardest to keep up (though I got dropped rather immediately), but he was nice enough to turn around (after he already finished the 2-ish miles of pure hills, ride BACK UP and down the hills to find me, and then turn around and lead me BACK UP the hills he had already done...twice.

Great guy.

Anyways... we made it down to the city docks where we enjoyed some coffee and bagels before getting back on the ride.
Our bikes outside Aromi d'Italia:

The view outside the store:

Anyways, we took off for the return trip. Once again some people split off to take another route home (Crownsville, which was the way I got to work about a month ago) while me, the leader, and two other guys went back along the B&A.

Great ride and I am looking forward to doing it again... minus the "hills"!

Tack on 33.7 miles for the July 150 challenge. Not much more to go!

Heading South Down the B&A

2010-07-16T21:14:00.011-04:00

I wanted to check out my replaced tubes on my road bike so I took off down to the Naval Academy bridge and back. Tack on 27 miles (15 for the July 150 challenge. Just a few miles short of halfway at the halfway point of the month.

Average speed of 15.4 mph

The "start" of the B&A, just outside of Annapolis. The rest are either on the bridge or right before the bridge on the WW2 Memorial.

And I just like this picture. Kinda wish I didn't snap it while trash was right ahead of me.

Let's talk GPS

2010-07-16T09:34:00.003-04:00

First off, on a cool note, we had an earthquake in Maryland this morning. I woke up at 5am and was brushing my teeth when I heard a low rumble and the house started moving. I ignored it, figuring the furnace had just kicked on. Until I realized we don't have a furnace... It wasn't a large earthquake by a Californian, but nonetheless it was pretty awesome.

To the topic at hand...

Do any of you use a GPS device while biking? I know that at least Chesapeake Sailor uses a Garmin Edge 705, which is the top of the line Garmin (and well out of my price range).

I've been doing a bit of research on them...

The Edge 205 is the very entry level Garmin device. It shows basically what a $10 bike computer shows, but it does track your gps coordinates. This is $250.

The Edge 500 does everything the 205 can do, but adds an altimeter and, for extra, you can add a cadence and heart rate monitor. It is the same price of the 205, so I doubt there is any reason to even look at the 205.

The Edge 305 is the predecessor to the 500 and comes standard with either a cadence -or- heart rate monitor. You can purchase the other and use it as well. Price hike to $350 though and since you can get the Cadence and heart rate monitor on the 500 for $350, there really isn't a point in spending more money for an older product.

The Edge 605 is the first one to offer an on-screen (and colour) map. It will show you where to go and has the functionality of the edge 205 (speed, distance, gps). Unfortunately, and in a move I don't understand, it is not compatible with any cadence or heart rate monitors. So basically you are paying $400 for a $250 product (the 205) with maps. It doesn't even have an altimeter! I'll pass.

And finally, the king of the Garmin series, the Edge 705. It does all the neat things of all of these, including an on-screen map, cadence and heart rate, speed, etc. The issue is the $550 price, which is more than my bike is worth.

And to toss in my final cheap-ass options are getting the non-bike specific gps's. The Forerunner 205 for $150, which is a running watch, the Etrex H, which is a mountable handheld, and the Foretrex 401, which is similar to the Forerunner 205, but also has an altimeter (a great review of the 401 is located here.

So anyways, do you have a gps? What do you like about it? Do you even care about your data? For me, I don't really see a point in monitoring my heart rate nor cadence. While it would make for a cool data set, I'm not training for any races. I just like the idea of knowing exactly where I go with higher accuracy than ridewithgps.com can give (along with knowing what speeds I am going throughout the ride).

Don't Forget the Lights!

2010-07-14T21:44:00.002-04:00

The wife worked late and I was busy this afternoon, so after dinner I decided to head out for a little ride. I thought I had left at 8... but I guess by the time I changed, got my bike out, and started pedaling, it was a bit later.

Meh, plenty of sunlight to do my normal 7 mile loop. I decided, once again, to take the mountain bike since I still haven't fixed the flat on the road bike. And damn, it was a beautiful night! Nice cool breeze right after a day long rain.

When I got to East West, the sun was just setting and I figured I'd have enough time to make it down to the main entrance to Kinder Farms like I had on the previous ride, so I stayed on the B&A. After about a half mile, I started getting nervous. I had based my daylight decision while standing on top of the East/West Bridge, which rises about 20 feet in the air... by the time I got back down the sun had well set and it was really starting to get dark.

I recalled that there was a side entrance to Kinder Farms from a cul-de-sac that also connected to the B&A, so when I saw a small side path I took it which opened into a neighborhood I had never been on before. Figuring this was part of the neighborhood that shared a side with Kinder Farms, I kept on riding. And riding. And riding.

And nothing ever came up. I saw a lady walking her dog, so I stopped and asked for directions to the park. "Up ahead, down the path and on the right."

Alright, so I raced on ahead, now nearing complete darkness. I spotted a small side path and took it. Unfortunately, it was for a small community pond.

Long story short, the "down the path" was actually the major road at the end of the neighborhood which I recognized and went down into Kinder Farms.

Not wanting to waste too much time, I took the main bike path around and found my side trail that I love to take.

Granted it was pitch black. I had no lights. But I just wanted to take it.

And damn was it fun! I couldn't see a damn thing except the white dirt/sand mixture of the single track. I was scaring all sorts of wildlife around and almost had a heart attack when I came within 10 feet of some bunny or something that ran across the track.

And then... when I thought I was in the clear... I get to the park exit back onto East West.

The closed the damned gate on me!

And mind you, that really is a tall fence. I had no idea what time it was, but I figure it was just after 8:45. There was simply no way around it and I had zero interest in backtracking out the main entrance, back through that neighborhood, down the B&A to East West.

So I threw my bike over and hopped the thing.

At which point I took off down the road and back on home.

All in all it was only 10.7 miles though it felt much much longer.

Wanna see fast?

2010-07-13T14:26:00.003-04:00

Well here it is. (This is NOT me)

This was during the Death Ride which includes over 15,000 feet of climbing. here is his Garmin Stats. Also, he is using the GoPro HD camera which I am seriously wanting to get. Shoots in 780p with 30 or 60 fps and even in 1080p at 30 fps.

Why I don't go up the B&A

2010-07-09T21:13:00.014-04:00

I headed out at 7pm this afternoon for a nice little bike ride. I opted to take my mountain bike again due to a semi-flat on my road bike and lack of motivation to change the tire... seriously... I really need to.

Anyways, I opted to head up northward of the B&A tonight. Where I get on the B&A at Elvaton is pretty much the socio-economic middle point. Northward is the... ghetto/industrial side and south is the pretty side. Not that the north is really that bad, but it is definitely not the route to take for the enjoyment of sights.

Shortly after heading northward you cross route 100.

And then you are at Marley Station Mall. There is really zero reason to ever step foot in this mall, except they have two Gamestops.

I passed three groups of teenagers hanging out along the B&A... all three groups passing around a pipe of pot. But hey, at least they were nice enough to get off the path as I came barreling through.

At the very end of the B&A is a pretty neat little abstract art sculpture. Not that I really understand abstract art, but its all good.

I was also sad to see they are officially ripping down the cheapo movie theater, the last place I know of that you could see a movie for $1.99.

I went back down the B&A past Elvaton and even further past East West. For the first time I wanted to take the main entrance to Kinder Farms. I rode around on the dirt paths in there for a little bit and as I turned a corner I was surprised to see a rather large buck standing along the path. I jumped off my bike and took a few terrible pictures before he headed into the nearby brush where there were two more bucks! I laughed wondering if they were gay, cuz seriously, where the women at?!?

I eventually got too close and they hopped away.

Anyways, I mentioned I got that jersey the other day so here it is.

I took off as the storm clouds started coming in and made it home by 8:30.
Tack on 19.8 miles for the July 150 challenge!

Damn it is hot!

2010-07-08T20:36:00.010-04:00

Well, in accordance with my plan to do the July 150 challenge, I decided to go on some bike rides today. The first was to do something I have never done. I figured, considering I now have a mountain bike, I could actually carry some stuff on it. So I went out to the store to pick up some necessities. It was actually amazing. I got some bread, some meat, some lettuce, sauces, pickles, etc and brought in on home. I give the mountain bike a 10/10 for the ability to carry said groceries home.

So after that delightfully healthy meal, I went out for the bike ride I normally did on my road bike, the 7 mile loop + 3 mile Kinder Farms loop. But, since I didn't actually have to stay on a road, I jumped off into the local baseball park and did some loops through dugouts, trees, and what not before getting onto Elvaton.

I was surprised to see they built a rather large chain link fence around the broken B&A I've mentioned before...

though I was still able to climb around the fence and take a look at the work they've done... which, to be honest, doesn't look like anything.

To be fair though, I'm not sure I want them to rebuild it. Put a bridge over it or something... but with the water drained out of the marshland on the right hand side, that area has been flourishing! Just check out all the greenery!

I got to the Kinder Farms park side entrance and was amazed to see the pond at the entrance completely dried up. Just a testament to how damn hot it's been here!

Normally my bike would be completely underwater!

I did about a half hour of riding around in Kinder Farms... it was starting to get dark by the time I left. And those bamboo trees that popped my tire on my first trek out were looking pretty intimidating.

The lake surface was so completely calm I got a perfect mirror image of the trees on the other side.

And I made it home just as the sun was setting over the tree line.\

I did love how absolutely beautifully green everything was this time of year. And I can tell my running has upped my endurance crazy.

16 miles for today, or there-abouts. I know I did 13 on the road... and 3 is probably a low estimate for inside Kinder Farms, but I'd rather low-ball.

July 150

2010-07-06T14:25:00.004-04:00

Following suit of most of you others, I signed up for the July150 challenge organized by Phill Connell. Even with Joby of Biking2Work completing the challenge in less than a freaking week (and almost entirely on one ride!), I think this is a good way for me to get back on the bike.

Of course, it is 101 degrees out (thats 38 degrees C) right now with the heat index pushing it over 110, I think I might be able to get out for a ride at night.

On a cool note, I bought my first real bike jersey from Black Dog down in Annapolis over the weekend.

Either way, let's do this!

Rather Late Update

2010-07-01T15:36:00.003-04:00

Hey all,
First off, my apologies for not updating this site nor visiting most of yours over the past few weeks. Work has been busy as hell, working late, getting in early and working weekends.

But what is new? Well, I have started running again. Due to the long work hours (yet still being required to take an hour long lunch), I started to run at lunch with a few coworkers. Most of them have been running for awhile now, so I generally head out with them then lose them after a few hundred yards.

But I am getting progressively faster and gaining a higher endurance. I am running between 3 and 4 miles a day now, up from the two I was doing two weeks ago. It is amazing the different muscles you use in running from biking. I can definitely tell I work my calves a hell of a lot more and use my quads a hell of a lot less. Of course I am running relatively slow (averaging 8 minute miles) so I think that has a lot to do with my lack of quad usage. I can also tell running works my back and abs hard and my arms to a lesser extent. Overall it is a great feeling! I am also down to about 146 pounds, dipping as far down to 143 a few days ago, but never getting above 150...which is awesome.

Unfortunately, I don't carry a camera while running, so I don't have any pictures to share. Below is my 3 mile route. The two mile one I started with was, instead of turning right, to continue straight into a school and turn around at the end of that driveway which was a mile. To go above 3 miles, I continue past where I turn around and that goes into the community pool/lake area where there is a side trail.

Going to the UK!

2010-06-12T14:19:00.001-04:00

Just found out that I am going to the UK in early October/late September. I'll have a week free to do whatever I want, then the wife and I are going to do some traveling up to Scotland for a week.

My goal for the first week is to do some hiking/biking... probably along Hadrian's Wall. If any of you have -any- information on how to make that possible, please let me know!

Out on the C&O with the Mom!

2010-06-01T07:39:00.003-04:00

Monday was Memorial Day over here in the States. I took off bright and early to go to Frederick to meet up with my mom for a day of biking along the C&O Canal. The canal is a 187 mile long now-defunct canal that reaches from Washington DC to Cumberland, Maryland. I was excited to try it out on my new mountain bike and my mom was up for some biking.

We drove our bikes down to Point of Rocks, Maryland which is on the border of Virginia and Maryland. We found a nice little place to park right along the canal and headed out on the 12 mile journey to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. The goal was to meet up with my dad who was driving there for lunch. Then, depending on how my mom was feeling, either I would return on my bike to my car and have my dad take my mom and her bike home or my mom and I would bike back.

The C&O canal is awesome. It parallels the Potomac River (which is the dividing line for Maryland and Virginia) and is mostly shaded. Even with the temperature reported to be 93 degrees F (34 degrees C), the shaded path and the proximity to the river kept us much much cooler.

There were lots of sights to see., especially the river.

From May 31

Nowadays there is a train track that runs next to the canal for most of the time. Through some tree jumping, I was able to make it along the tracks for a bit.

From May 31

Since it was a canal, there were the lock keepers houses to check out as well.

From May 31

And the locks themselves

From May 31

We also stumbled upon the stones they used to make the canal.

From May 31

And some more pictures...

From May 31

As we were riding down the trail, we were surprised when, right after a quick turn, we ran into this monstrosity that had just fallen over.

From May 31

I stuck around for a little bit to help some people over it.

Some more pictures...

From May 31

The canal itself is a bit run down. Algae covers most of it, yet somehow wildlife still flourishes.

From May 31

One of the many amazing views..

From May 31

The Appalachian Trail (AT), which is a 2,000+ hiking route stretching from Georgia to Maine uses the canal for a bit. This is the famous "White Blazes" trail marker which means you are on the AT.

From May 31

When you get closer to Harpers Ferry there are some fun little rapids along the Potomac.

From May 31

And we finally made it. This is the first view of Harpers Ferry.

From May 31

Harpers Ferry is a major location for trains.

From May 31

We carried our bikes along the bridge that leads into Harper's Ferry.

From May 31

And got some great views of the two rivers (Shenedoah river and Potomac river) colliding.

From May 31

We got there just as my dad did, but since he had to park, I rode around town a little bit.

From May 31

This is the Arsenal, which was what made Harper's Ferry famous during the Civil War.

From May 31

And the flood line levels. Harper's Ferry has gotten flooded so bad so many times, this marker shows how high the water gets. I guess that's what happens when you put a town where two major rivers meet.

From May 31

And the church...

From May 31

And finally for some much wanted lunch. We were able to find a nice little outside diner where we could sit outside to watch our bikes.

From May 31

After this, my mom said she was up for the return trip, so we got back on the canal and rode back to my car. I was impressed with my mom! 24 miles? Hell yea! It was slow though... took about 90 minutes to get there and about 2 hours to get back. I stopped to take all those pictures while my mom went ahead and I caught up.

It was a great trip and definitely made me want to go out and do the whole 180 miles!

Kinder Farms again... and again... and again...

2010-05-30T16:25:00.002-04:00

Since I have gotten my mountain bike, I have been out riding it every day. Kinder Farms is the closest place that I can experiment tearing up some trails, so most days I'll ride her over there. I've gotten fairly accustomed to the trails now, though every time I go I find something new. Today was no different.

I started off passing by that pond again. I decided to stay away from the bamboo though, considering I already popped a tire over there.

From May 30

The pond has a pretty nice little floating dock which somehow I missed up until now.

From May 30

While out exploring around, I did stumble across this... which I can only presume to be an oven or fireplace.

From May 30

The best part of mountian biking though, is making your own trails.

From May 30

Kinder Farms is a great little park. They even have my college's favorite sport, Frolf!

From May 30

I took a little break for some lunch in a hidden away picnic table:

From May 30

Where I found something a bit creepy.

From May 30

Yes, those do say Mother and Baby Meyn.

Kinder Farms has a lot of pavilions you can rent out

From May 30

along with a ton of fields and playgrounds

From May 30

They also have a communal gardening area that I might look into!

From May 30

Anyways, thats it for todays ride. I can't track mileage while on the mountain bike, but since getting it, I have put in about 10 hours.

New Bike's First Time Out!

2010-05-26T18:36:00.002-04:00

I got a call today from Bike Doctor saying my bike was in and built so I should stop by at some point to pick it up. Needless to say, I have never driven the 3 miles from work to the mall in that high of speed.

As I mentioned two posts ago, I won the grand prize at the Maryland Bike to Work day, a brand new 2010 Trek 3500. I was ecstatic. I could barely get out more than a "Thank you!" for the 10 minutes after I won. I road over there on my lunch break to check it out. The Trek 3500 is an entry level bike, retailing for about $350. While it is a great bike, I have had my eyes set on a Cannondale F9 for awhile now. My buddy has one and he let me ride it for a bit. I loved it. While it is still an entry level bike, it is a great trail bike. I'll give a little review of it shortly...

So I was able to get a store credit for the Trek 3500 and only had to pay the $90 difference for the Cannondale F9. I paid, thanked them again, and drove home. I tossed off my work clothes and headed out to Kinder Farms Park... a place I have ridden many many time before on my road bike. A coworker said there are some awesome trails back there for mountain biking... I had my doubts. I hadn't seen anything of that sort on my road bike... man was I wrong.

From May 26

And here is a close up of the bike...

From May 26

I love it.

Anyways, you may recognize that photo... I took a similar one last year when I first went there on the road bike. So I took off down the paved road and before long I was in Kinder Farms. Still having my doubts about mountain bike trails. It wasn't long before I spotted an opening off the side of the pavement and off I went.

From May 26

Soon this grassy trail turned into dirt...

From May 26

Which then opened up to be a beautiful glade.

From May 26

I was surprised to see a lake nearby with a small "bridge" going over some marshland. Hell, I have a mountain bike, lets do this!

From May 26

After riding through some bamboo, I came across another glade on the other side of the lake.

From May 26

With beautiful tree coverage.

From May 26

A few more side trails led me out to a field overlooking a pitch (as most of you call it)

From May 26

And in an attempt to pull a CoastKid profile picture, I lifted my awesome new ride up in all its glory.

From May 26

I rode some more trails then headed home. Gotta start dinner soon anyway. So, how do I like the Cannondale F9?

It is everything I could want. Assuming my scale is calibrated right, the bike weighs exactly 29 pounds. The tires are "slick" enough to ride on the road without losing much efficiency (I was going nearly the same speed on pavement as my road bike). I didn't feel any of the roots I hopped over and the overall experience was great, albeit different.

I do have to get used to riding the bike though. The upright position is a bit... strange after only riding a road bike for a few years. The lack of hand grips is strange as well, though once you actually get in the woods and off pavement, the thought of getting "aero" goes away completely. Shifting is of course different... I got caught in too high of a gear quite a few times, but that will just come with general mountain biking practice.

But all that aside... I am astonished at the amount of fun I had. Even with stopping that much to take pictures, it was a great experience to get off the pavement and get "hidden" in the woods. I can't wait to go back out again!!!

Beautiful day out with the Wife

2010-05-22T14:13:00.005-04:00

This morning the weather was great so the wife and I decided to do the same route we did a few weekends ago. We took off from Elvaton northward on the B&A. When we got to the end, which is where we turned around last time, we decided to trek on ahead. I kept us going until we had done 5 miles, putting us just about half mile away from the BWI loop.

This area is in a small forest. I know the picture doesn't look like it, but there is a great 7 foot wide bike trail (which I am standing on to take the picture. Here is the wife at the 5 mile mark.

We turned around there and made our way back. Nat got her first real "scare" when we were crossing a street and some jerk lady slammed on the gas only so she could slam on the brakes and blare her horn as we were crossing when we were legally supposed to. I got yelled at by the wife for stating my opinion of the driver loud enough so she could hear. Haha.

Anyways, we took a little break at one of the flower gardens that dot the B&A.

And we ended our trip at just over 10 miles.

After that we grabbed a lunch from the deli across the street from where we parked. Great morning!

I just won a Bike!

2010-05-21T09:28:00.004-04:00

I mentioned a few days ago that today was the national bike to work day. I met up with a few coworkers and road down... I'll do a write-up on the whole event once I get some pictures loaded up.

But in the meantime.... they had a drawing for a Trek 3500 Hard Tail mountain bike and I won! A huge thanks to Bike Doctor of Annapolis who are giving me the bike and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council for putting on the event!

Unfortunately I won't be able to get fitted and pick the bike up today since, well, I don't think I can ride two bikes home. But, yay, I am so freaking excited. I already scheduled a day out to Patapsco!

Edit: So I biked over to the store on my lunch break. They are offering me store credit equal to the cost of the 3500, which means I can get the bike I have had my eyes on for a long time now, the Cannondale F9! which is about 5 pounds lighter and has better components. I'll only have to pay the difference which is about $100.

Woo hoo!

Local Bike Race Sabotaged

2010-05-19T13:31:00.003-04:00

Apparently a bike race down where I used to live (and went to college) got sabotaged. Some numbnut laid out a line of thumbtacks onto the course and when the riders went over them the all slid out. This is absolutely terrible.

I am a bit surprised they held a bike race in Leonardtown. It is a pretty run-down crappy neighborhood surrounded by pristine roads and beautiful water-front views. I actually rented a house right down the street from where this happened for a few months before I moved up here. If you hook a left right after the fire station you run into a strip club.

I am also surprised with the crash. Unless the guy saw them and attempted to move around them, I am surprised with how quickly he was taken down. Anyways, hopefully the jackass that did this will get caught and have to pay dearly.

Leonardtown Criterium Crash - Pro/1/2 Race from Bryan Vaughan on Vimeo.

Bike to Work Day 2010

2010-05-17T12:09:00.004-04:00

This Friday is Maryland's Bike to Work Day. I started this blog in June of last year, a migration from a website I personally owned that I never really updated. I had started a blog for biking over there as well... which all started at this time last year, on the same day as my very first ever commute to work on Bike to Work Day 2009.

A lot has changed since then. On personal levels, I have gotten married, moved, and got a few promotions. On a biking level, I have really started riding. At the 2009 event, I rode my cheap mountain bike in.

From

I met up with a group of coworkers and we rode in. I was the slow man of the group, so slow, in fact, that they broke away with me to ride up a one mile side street and back down to let me get some distance on them. They still caught up and were annoyed at my slow speed. Here I am cresting the top of the Naval Academy Bridge on that bike. Note my terrible saddle position, terrible posture, and look of torture that I try to mask with a smile.

Well, as you all know, I got a new real road bike shortly thereafter. It was an incredible change of speed and efficiency. We started doing weekend BWI Loop bike rides. We rode at lunch together. Anyways, this is all due to the wonderful event that Maryland puts on each year and this Friday they are continuing the tradition. On top of that, Annapolis has started working hard on making the city a more bike friendly place. They have put up road signs, added a few "bike lanes" and even released a map showing the "Bike Routes" through the town. I'm looking forward to this Friday!

And here is a slideshow from last year.

Up to Gettysburg

2010-05-17T08:11:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning the wife gave me a choice. Go do my bike ride I had been wanting to do for weeks or go on 90 minute car ride to her aunt's for lunch. Hard choice, right?

I left in the early light of the morning and drove up to Gettysburg. Since a majority of you reading this are probably not American, Gettysburg was the location of the bloodiest battle in the American Civil War (ya know, the war we had after we kicked all your arses :P) and what most people believe the turning point of the war. Robert E. Lee got his butt handed to him by Meade.

Unfortunately (and I am still kicking myself)in my rush to get out in the morning I left my camera at home (along with my helmet!), so no pictures. It was a great day to be out biking though. I rode up and down Little and Big Round Top and took a break to explore Devil's Den. All in all it was 42 miles according to my bike computer... which seems about right as I was attempting to follow this guide. It took about 3 hours and I made it home right around lunch time.

Amazing time, some nice hills, and all around a great workout. Unfortunately sunday I came down with a stomache pain and didn't make it out to do anything.

Too damn cold

2010-05-12T09:21:00.001-04:00

The weather has been too damn cold/rainy/undesirable to be out riding for the past few days. Hopefully with the weather heating up today I can get out for a quick ride after work. Instead, I've been working out inside. Unlike KungFoo, I don't have an exercise bike, though I would really love to get a set of nice rollers at some point. I'd think they'd go on sale soon enough, considering their sales probably plummet during the spring and summer when people start to go outside again.

I've been working my legs a lot indoors, doing squats and leg extensions. After about a half hour, my legs seem to have a much more intense workout than an hour or two on a bike!

Anyways, go check out CoastKid's latest blog entry, Midweek Trailride. I have to admit, I am thoroughly jealous of all the history he gets to see on a daily basis living in Scotland. The pictures from that ride show a knight's tomb, which I can't even begin to describe how amazing that is to me.

Rider's Collective: Free Online Magazine

2010-05-10T13:36:00.003-04:00

Awhile back KungFoo posted a link to an online Mountain Biking Magazine. I now present a general riding magazine, the Rider's Collective. It is filled with beautiful pictures, stories, and advertisements. Of particular interest to me are the "How to Ride with your Wife" on Page 18 and Cycling the Blue Ridge Parkway on Page 20.

I have been staring at my Skyline Drive route, attempting to determine how best to do it. The Skyline is what precedes the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anyways, give it a read!

Scary Biking Video

2010-05-10T12:39:00.004-04:00

I saw this posted over on Reddit's bicycling subreddit. Just goes to remind us all to ride defensively and never assume a driver sees you. Cuz even if you don't do anything wrong, a car is gonna win the fight every time.

I only got out for a ride on Saturday this weekend. Truth be told, it kicked my ass. The wind was terrible and I was a bit nervous to be latched into my pedals. Sunday was Mother's Day and I opted to not do anything bike related. To be honest, this whole week is looking bad. Low temperatures on some days, raining on others, and isolated thunderstorms on the rest. I doubt I'll be biking to work at all this week.

$1 Bike Mount and a Video

2010-05-07T19:41:00.005-04:00

After seeing some videos posted over at Massive Mountain Biker, I decided I really wanted a bike camera. Even with the MD80's coming in at $30 shipped, I knew I already had a camera which could take video. So I came up with a way to mount my Kodak C613 on my bike.
The camera:

I went to Lowes (a hardware store) and bought a 1.5" long 1/4 inch wide screw, two nuts and two bolts for a total cost of $0.48. I then went to my local bike shop, dug around their rubbage bin to find a spare mount. Really, any mount would do, light, reflector, anything. I managed to find a broken bike computer mount for $0.50.

I drilled a small hole in the extended part of the mount, threaded the screw through, (surrounded by the nuts and bolts) and then tossed the whole device on the bike:

After that, I just screw the camera on (the camera has a screw hole for use with tripods). It is ugl and not the most secure thing in the world, but it works impressively well for under a buck.

So then, here is a video I made with this thing sitting on my bike. It leaves my house, shows the max speed I get on this ride (right at the start) then speeds up. I got off the bike a few times to verify the thing was still recording and it was doing great. Unfortunately, my batteries were dying, so I had to restart it a few times then I finally gave up as I made my way onto East/West Blvd. Enjoy!

Music: Any Given Day by Carbon Leaf

Highest Point in Maryland

2010-05-07T15:40:00.002-04:00

I updated my stats over at Riding with GPS and saw my climbing stat of 3,462 feet since I began keeping track last week. I know its not all that much and I would destroy that number in a single trip out to Pataspco State Park if I make it out there again. But, according to Wikipedia's article on the highest point in every US State, I surpassed Hoye-Crest, the highest point in Maryland. Which means I have also "climbed" the vertical equivalent of 19 other states as well. Another 30 feet and I'll have Massachusetts as well.

And here, via HMDB a view from Hoye-Crest.

I have another write-up tonight or tomorrow which I am quite happy about, so stay tuned!

Out on the B&A: Repairs lacking

2010-05-06T07:44:00.009-04:00

It was such a nice day out that I took a ride along the B&A after work last night. I did my normal loop, skipping Kinder Farms, as the wife was getting hungry. It seems that there has been zero progression on fixing the B&A where it washed out oh so long ago. In fact, the only difference I noted was they put up a wooden barrier in an attempt to prevent people from getting to the hole. I jumped over it and snapped a few photos.

They might have done some damming of the wall on the right. I know this picture doesn't really show it all that well, but the water level is about 2 feet above the hole in the path.

There was a cool little bird that was sticking its head out of its nesting hole every few seconds, looking around, then going back in. Enhanced zoom for the loss.

Anyways, they diverted the path as I mentioned before down a side road for about a quarter mile that eventually reconnects with the path. You get to cross over a little bridge that spans the swamp.

And you ride the B&A until you get to East/West Boulevard, which is a great road for bikes, as there is a dedicated biking/walking path off to the side. Here I am on the bridge on the B&A passing over East/West.

Trip time: 00:30:34
Average speed: 14 mph
Top Speed: 27.4 mph

Total this week: 28.3 miles
Time: 02:10:34
Climb: 1,143 feet

Entry Level Road Bikes

2010-05-05T13:15:00.003-04:00

A coworker is looking to get a new road bike, so I wrote up a little spreadsheet showing some of the more well known entry level road bikes with their retail price, their derailleur components and their website. You can find it on a tab up there at the top or here. Of course, those prices are what is posted on the manufacturer's website, so you should be able to find them cheaper. Both my wife and I are riding the Fuji Newest 2.0, which retails for $899, but I got mine for $500 and my wife for just a bit more than that.

Well, I won't be doing that again

2010-05-05T13:03:00.002-04:00

I saw a coworker out on his bike a few months back along a path I frequently drive at lunch. It is a nice little loop, crossing over two bridges and through the woods. I asked him about it and he said it was a nice little 10 miler that fits in perfectly with out required hour long lunch.

So I mapped it out, it turns out to be 11.2 miles.

So I brought in my bike to give it a go.
I will never, ever, be doing that again. Leaving work you head down Admiral Cochran, a two lane 30 mph road. Not all that bad. You then get on Route 2. Down to the first bridge it isn't bad, a large shoulder. Going across the bridge is great. After that? Screw everything about that road. A three lane highway with a "bike lane" that starts and stops randomly and way too many cars getting on and off. Luckily that is only for a mile or two before you can take an early right to get over to Route 214. At that point, there is a rather large shoulder and the speed limit isn't all that bad. Eventually you get on Riva Road.

Screw everything about that. Small-ish hills with no shoulders riding into curves.

View Larger Map

Luckily, I got through that mess without any issue and the cars behind me were kind enough to wait for a good minute until I was over the hill and they could see around me before they passed. After that little juncture the riding is fine until a few miles from work, where Riva turns into the second busiest street in Annapolis after West Street, there are no bike lanes, and there are businesses for cars to pull in and out of.

No. I don't think I'll be doing that route again anytime soon. I'd rather run laps around the shopping center.

Awesome Bike Stat Video

2010-05-03T12:01:00.003-04:00

First off, new blog layout so I can have larger pictures and whatnot in the body of the post.
I have been looking for a gps device that will keep track of data for me as I climb/descend hills. I have a cheap-o bike computer that I bought from target for about $10 that gives me some of my vital stats, but I'd love to know my exact routes and data for every single pedal I push. I inquired over on reddit what some of the other guys use, and it seems like Garmin Edge series is the way to go. Unfortunately, their Edge 605 and 705 devices are way out of my price range. A user mentioned his Garmin Edge 500 series device and linked to a video he made. Check this awesome video out!

I asked for his source code for it, or rather, his website on instructions for this, so I'll update this once he gives it to me, but damn... I am impressed!

In the mean time, for the best review I have seen thus far on the Edge 500, head over to DC Rainmaker's review of the product. I wonder what the wife would think if $250 went missing right about now...

Wife out!

2010-05-01T12:23:00.005-04:00

I was going to head up to Gettysburg this morning to do some loops through the battlefields, but my wife said she wanted to go for a ride. So I loaded up the car with our bikes and drove down the street to where the B&A meets Elvaton. She had some trouble getting her second foot in the pedal cage, but other than that she did great! I was talking to her the whole time about how to shift and how to stop, but after awhile of me saying "To pedal easier push left, harder push right!" she got it nailed down and off we flew.

We rode to the end of the B&A and turned around right before the lane to get to the BWI Loop. Here we are at the turn around spot. That brick building on the left is the parking deck I use to get on/off the B&A from the northern end.

7.5 miles ain't bad for her first trip! Woo hoo!

Three Roads

2010-04-28T07:39:00.008-04:00

Woke up this morning at 5:15. Last night I packed everything I would need in my backpack and had my clothes laid out ready to toss on. Rolled out of bed, turned the coffee on and got dressed. Grabbed my coffee and sat down to watch the News. "Just two degrees shy of a record low in Baltimore" was just about the first thing I heard. Damn. So I ran back up, tossed on a few extra layers and out the door I went at 5:45 with 34 degrees (1 degree Celsius) and the moon high and full.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous. I had only been down these roads twice before and both times was driving. One time I got lost. Add the fact that two of these roads are "highways", I wanted to get out on the road as quick as possible and beat the morning commuters.

I had my first big hill, so I pulled off to take a picture. It didn't turn out, but as I was tucking my camera back in, another biker came up behind me, came to a stop and asked if I was ok and if I needed anything before he took off zooming down the hill. I always like that... the unwritten biking code of checking on others whenever they are stopped.

Anyways, Veteran's Highway wasn't bad at all. General's Highway wasn't that bad either, though the lack of a shoulder was a bit intimidating, especially with the buses that travel up and down the road. I did take a little break at a cool looking church. It reminded me of my trip to England. Sunrise was at 6:12 this morning, its kinda neat to look at these pictures, from a no sun, rising sun, to full sun.

I paused for a few minutes where the guy that showed me this route connects to General's Highway, but he never showed so I kept on going. I connected to Crownseville Road which is where the largest Rennaissance Festival on the east coast is held every year, the Maryland Renaissance Festival! From the road you can only catch a glimpse of its entrance "gate" and there were enough "No Trespassing" signs that I decided to stay away.

And its "parking lot"

Anyways, I finally rolled in to work exactly 62 minutes after I took off. I think I found my new way into work! And I was the first biker in this morning (which is kinda bragging rights here in the office, so yay me).

I achieved some of my goals, which I will update later today. For now, coffee and some meetings!

A few more websites

2010-04-27T10:10:00.001-04:00

I frequently use MapMyRide to figure out my distances and also view some routes I plan on taking. It is a great free site, though it does have an unnecessary amount of adspam on it. While browsing around, I located a few more sites that offer the same idea as MapMyRide, but without the as many ads.

ridewithgps.com
bikeroutetoaster.com
gpsies.com

What is really neat is as I was browsing through ridewithgps, I saw a coworker who had a few rides listed, including his ride from home to work. It doesn't go down the B&A like mine does, so I altered his ride a little bit to start from my house and discovered it can cut 7 miles off my commute! Down from 20 miles, it is a mere 13 miles. Hell, 11 miles if I want to ride for a little bit on a "highway" (not really an interstate, but probably too busy, though at 6am might be doable).

Tomorrow, assuming rain holds out, I am going to give this a try. If it is viable, then it will be great, as I currently have been driving a bit south before parking and getting on my bike.

You can see my new path Here.

Perhaps you can find some rides on those for around your area too!

Goals

2010-04-26T15:14:00.000-04:00

A big thanks to KungFoo for both adding a tab to his site and directing me over to Biking2Work. I have now added a tab to track my goals for this year. Granted, I know it will be slow going as I am trying to train up for running (hmmm, perhaps I should add some running goals) but alas, go ahead and check them out. Some of them are going to be quite easy and I can bet that I could knock out 5-10 of them in my first real ride. But hey, that will only motivate me to knock out some more, right?

But making that list made me realize just how close to things I am. My parents live 57 miles away. The Atlantic freaking ocean is 107 miles away. (Its actually much closer, but then I'd be in Delaware and who wants to be there?!?) And even cooler is Outer Banks, North Carolina is only 200 miles away! If you live on the eastern seaboard of the US and have never been to the Outer Banks, you are missing out.

I contacted a good friend of mine about possibly renting a house with him and our significant others down there in the late fall. If things go through, we will bike down over the course of the weekend and meet our ladies down at the house for the week then we will all haul ourselves back up. And if, for whatever reason, that falls through, then we can do the same thing but out to Ocean City.

It is still raining out, so I doubt I'll get out tonight. But just making that list is getting me pumped up. I want to see if I can strike out all those max speeds on my first ride out!

Top 50 Cycling Blogs

2010-04-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

How could I not be on it?!?! Haha, just kidding. If you are looking for some good biking blogs to read up on, go check out LondonCyclist's list of the top Bike Blogs! A huge congrats and well deserved applause for a gal I've been following for awhile now, Jill from Up in Alaska for coming in 23rd!

I'd also like to point out I am now following a new guy, Coast Kid. A scotsman that takes a lot of pictures and videos!

In other news, I am still on my running regiment. Getting quicker and more endurance, so yay for that.

Running

2010-04-09T09:43:00.000-04:00

This past work week has been a bit of a jump off the ship for me. After promising both myself and some coworkers that I would participate in this year's Baltimore Marathon (more correctly, I will be doing the half marathon), I began my training regiment. A coworker printed off a sheet that he used, Hal Hogdin's Half Marathon Training Guide. I have to admit, I haven't ran... ever.

That guide starts off with you running 3 miles. Well, that seemed a bit steep for me, so I did 2 miles all this week, averaging a terrible 20 minutes each run. Although, I do notice that it has gotten easier as the week has progressed, which probably has less to do with my leg muscles strengthening and more of me learning how to run properly. The first day I tried literally running. It was terribly painful and I was sore as hell after probably the first half mile. Now I just jog. While my speed has gone down, I can do this for a full two miles without wearing myself out.

Next week I will be back to biking. Since both use the legs, I figure a cross train would be ideal, and I just love biking much more.

Out on the BWI

2010-04-04T14:37:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately my wife's allergies have just started up so I went riding on my own today. I left my house and travelled northbound on the B&A through Glen Burnie and jumped onto the BWI Loop. Seeing as how it was a beautiful day, there were a ton of people out so the trail was quite crowded. Spring had clearly sprung and the trees were in full bloom. About half way around the BWI Loop from where the B&A meets it is the highest point of the loop. There is a horse farm there and, in my opinion, the best view on the trail. That second picture is at the top of a windy hill that you can hit 35+ miles an hour on. I wanted to record it, but unfortunately my camera cut out early in the ride when I had to hang the camera to switch out some gears. Still, you can see the airport in all its beauty!

After you ride a bit more, you reach a small stream crossed over by a bridge. You can see a few similar pictures from me last year. But for this year...

And finally you end up at the main parking spot from the BWI Loop where planes come cruising over top of you to land.

All in all it was a great ride. My bicycle computer is saying it was just under 25 miles and mapmyride is saying 26 miles. Granted I really don't know the exact way I take from where the B&A ends to where I jump on the BWI, so I'll say it was 25 miles and be done.
Weight: 151.6

Happy East all!

Wife's New Bike!

2010-04-03T16:47:00.000-04:00

My wife has been attempting to do some small rides with me. One of her best friends (whose fiance I have been riding with since last year) got herself a road bike just last week. Figuring it would be a blast to "double date" ride into Annapolis for dinner or just out to have some fun, my wife decided she wanted a road bike as well. Since she had been rocking a crappy walmart mountain bike, it was going to be a huge step up for her.

So we went riding around this morning to a few bike shops. We went to Bike Doctor in Crofton where she test road a Trek 1.2 WSD which was a pretty nice bike. It was the same bike her friend got, but unfortunately the massive sale they had last week when she got her bike wasn't still happening and the $840 price tag was a bit steep.

So then we headed to the Annapolis Mall, grabbed some lunch and went to Hudson Trail Outfitters, which is "my" local bike shop. Since I work right down the street from the mall, I generally head there once a week to check out some biking/hiking/climbing/kayaking stuff on my mandatory hour lunch break.

The guy I love to deal with wasn't working (John... if anybody reading this is in this area and looking for a knowledgable guy) but Collin was. Collin had also fixed my bike when I crashed down a drain pipe a few months back.

Anyways, he pulled down two bikes, a Giant Avail and the exact same bike I own, the Fuji Newest 2.0. She tested them both out with Collin leading the way while I took out a mountain bike I had on hold, the Fuji Nevada 1.0.

Nat liked both bikes, but since it was her very first time riding a road bike she couldn't really discern too much of a difference between either. The one thing she loved about the Fuji was the extra brake levers that are on the straight portion of the bar. And I love them too... makes you be able to break from your two most common hand grips.

So, we ended up getting the Fuji. Now both my wife and I rock the same bike! Her seat had to be cut down a bit, even though she was on the Small size, but Collin did a kick ass job of getting her fitted appropriately. And it was on a massive sale, $300 off the sticker price since it was last years model!

We are gonna head out tomorrow for a small little ride on the B&A so she can get a bit more used to it. Then hopefully next weekend we will be doing the BWI look with our friends!

B&A Repairs

2010-04-01T18:32:00.000-04:00

After work today I went for a little bike ride. Maryland is having beautiful weather, hovering in the upper 60s at 5pm. I took my normal loop, down Elvaton to the B&A, over to East West Blvd then do some street hopping to get back home.

But I totally forgot about the descrution of the B&A. It happens about 100 meters down from the junction of Elvaton and the B&A, and I was a bit surprised by it... I almost hit the fence they set up to keep people away. I climbed over that fence to get a better look...

Looks like they have just started getting some stones down there. But with all the rain we have had since then... I am sure the progress is slow. And they have some work cut out for them, as this is what they are holding it back against...

Luckily there is a little road that runs right across the other side of that bog, so I took that and went on my way.

So. I read quite a few biking blogs... and the biggest complaint I find bikers having is when people take the biking lane while in their cars. I have never had this issue as well, there really aren't any bike lanes (yet) anywhere I ride. But along East West Blvd there is an "activities" paved path that runs in the grass along the road. Nice and wide... wider than even the B&A. So... imagine my surprise when I see this wonderful sight on the path.

Haha.

Tack on another 11 miles for today...

Biking to work

2010-03-19T08:04:00.000-04:00

This past week has been fantastic weather. Hovering in the upper 30s in the morning and peaking around 65 in the afternoon. I just couldn't take it anymore and hopped on my bike this morning. My coworker was going to ride in with me... if I could meet him at our "spot" on the B&A at 5:30am. So as I meandered past there at about 6:15 I didn't even pause to see if he stuck around.

I made poor time. Considering I couldn't see my feet in the near new moon lit path, I took it slow. I finished the B&A and took a little break to grab a photo...

Heading over the bridge I stopped again. I could tell sunrise was going to be happening soon... but I new I couldn't stick around for it. This is the Naval Acadamy from the... Naval Academy bridge. You can just make out the Maryland State House as the lit up white top on the right.

Anyways, I rolled into work at about 7:15. Not too bad for a 12.82 miler after not riding for so long. This will be my first "counted" ride for the year.

Miles: 25.64 (doubled for ride home)
Weight: 155.8

Nice weather!

2010-03-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we opened the windows to our townhouse and realized it was a beautiful day. Not wanting to miss out, I grabbed my bike, donned my new bike shorts I got for christmas from the wife and went out for a quick little 7 mile ride around the neighborhood. The ride is a loop from my house to the Baltimore and Annapolis Trail a few miles on that, then back along another road home. The trail was cleared of snow (finally) but I had to carry my bike a few hundred yards to get from one street to the next on my return home. That was through some cruddy wet mud which got my shoes all gunked up.

It felt great to be back out on the bike. Even though it was only 7 miles, I simply felt better after riding. I can tell the winter has destroyed my leg muscles... they were straining for the first few miles but eventually warmed up.

It was my first time riding "bicycle shorts". Or rather, -my- form of bicycling shorts. I can't stand the pads in the crotch of real shorts... feels like a diaper, but the spandex did make the ride much more comfortable and reduced the constant scraping of my usually shorts against my legs.

I wanted to ride in to work today, but I was in training all last week and had to bring my computer in. The weather looks to be holding up in the 30s and 40s this week so I should be set to ride in tomorrow!

Too much snow, started something new

2010-02-16T09:10:00.001-05:00

A completely non-biking post... but I just started a secondary blog that I promise will get more updates than this one (at least until the spring hits and starts melting these 4 feet of snow).

I have been trying to learn Scot's Gaelic over the past couple of years. It is quite difficult, seeing as how the resources to learn it are so sparse. So, in an effort to actually accomplish this, I started a blog that will teach me (and you if you so choose) a word, sentence, saying, or something Scottish Gaelic each day. I started the blog yesterday and thus far you can already learn how to say:

Hello, my name is [name]. What is your name? How are you doing? I am well!

So, if you want to have a read and perhaps learn a new language head on over to Daily Gaelic!

Ride across the world

2010-01-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

Saw this over on reddit and hopefully the guy that did it will start answering questions there, but it is absolutely amazing. Quite long but filled with many many pictures.

The ride across the world.

Check it out. Read it. Be envious.

My poor B&A

2010-01-19T10:43:00.001-05:00

It appears the Baltimore & Annapolis trail has washed out in a key place during the last few weeks of rain and snow.

Revolution Kids

2009-12-10T12:51:00.001-05:00

Annapolis is taking part in a national contest by Brighter Planet to help make our planet more green. Annapolis submitted their idea of "Revolution Kids" which teaches elementary and middle school children about biking and bike safety while allowing children from low income families to earn bikes. It is a great cause and something that, if they win, I would love to assist in. You need to register on the Brighter Planet website and you can each vote three times. Take a look at the Contest Page and cast your vote!

Even if you don't decide Revolution Kids is the best choice, anything that helps keep our planet healthy is a good thing in my book!

East Coast Greenway

2009-12-01T14:39:00.000-05:00

I had read about this awhile ago. It was posted on a sign along the B&A. I have a slight fascination with incredibly long distance trails. Having hiked a good portion of the central Appalachian Trail, I find the idea of a parallel bike route to be absolutely awesome. The East Coast Greenway is an attempt to create a complete trail from the northern tip of Maine to the tip of Key West, Florida. (The AT goes from Georgia to Maine). So basically, an East Coast bike path that I could get on and go visit my cousins in Florida or hang out with some friends up in Maine.

Their Maryland Section is coming along nicely, although I really question their want to go through inner city baltimore. I mean... gross. Either way they are using the B&A path and BWI Loop as segments along it. I really want to go out and ride the rest of this area, I've never heard of most of those routes!

And speaking of long distance cycling, check out some of the Bicycle World Records!

No room.

2009-12-01T14:22:00.000-05:00

It saddens me to say that there just isn't enough room in the townhouse to fit another bike. My road bike is already jammed next to the dinner table, resulting in me having to slide in sideways to my seat. The only real option would be to store it at the in-laws house, but I really don't have much interest in dealing with that every time I take it out (and having to give it a thorough cleaning and drying afterwards). So for now, looks like I am outta luck.

I did get out and go biking around to the Baltimore and Annapolis Path yesterday. It was my first real "night" ride, although it wasn't even 7pm. I got in about 10 miles before the rain started coming down again, so I hauled ass back home for a total of about 15 miles. Took a nice hot shower to get some of my body heat back.

I brought in an extra pair of work clothes and a towel, so if tomorrow I wake up early enough I am going to attempt a ride into work... my first since the temperature has gotten below 70 degrees. Not sure exactly what I should be wearing, but its only 13 miles, so it really shouldn't matter all that much.

It is one month away from New Years, which means I need to start coming up with my New Year's Resolution. I have a terrible habit of not keeping them but figure any goal is better than no goal. I think I want to compete in an Olympic Triathlon, which is 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run. I think its a decent goal to set for myself. I know I can bike 40km without breaking a sweat and I am a decent swimmer, so the big area of focus will have to be the running. I can jog for about 5km, so doubling that should make for a pretty solid goal. There is one up in Cecil County every year called the North East Triathlon (that is from last year) held in August, so that is a pretty sound goal.

What about you? Have you thought about your goals for the upcoming year?

Weight: 156 lbs (although that Chik-Fil-A I had for lunch and the Japanese Steakhouse I am having for dinner might tip me over 160)

Felt Q520

2009-11-18T08:56:00.001-05:00

I am in training this week which means I get to wake up 3 hours later than normal, but I have to travel to Columbia, MD for Cisco training (ICND1). I went to the mall two days ago, but they didn't really have much going on there, so I went to Race Pace Bicycles yesterday. I got to test drive two bikes, a Felt Q520 and a Trek 4600D. They both were good bikes, the Trek the clear winner in lightness and structure, but with a pricde tag of 150% of the Felt, I think the Felt would be a clear winner. For a $400 bike, it had everything. Disc Brakes are key for real mountain biking. Because when you go through streams or get mud on your rims, the V-brakes don't really grip very well and if you get any small rocks or grit caught you end up rubbing your rims down.

I asked the wife about getting one and she simply said "I don't care... just get rid of your old one first." Sounds like a pretty solid answer. Considering the wet season here, a mountain bike might be a good commuter bike.

So I'm going to ask some coworkers what they think about it, but I might be purchasing one in the next week!

I present to you the hard tail Disc Break Felt Q520:

Been awhile...

2009-11-03T08:19:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since I have visited this site. Truth be told, it is more because I just haven't been riding much. Ever since I did the metric century back in August I haven't had much motivation to go out and ride. Combine lack of motivation with the turning of fall and my own wedding, the bike has gotten a back seat to life.

And to make matters worse, when I finally mustered up the leg muscles to take the bike out last week during a cold wet day I rode over a storm drain and popped my back tire. Didn't realize it until I attempted to bike to work for an event sponsored by Bike2Work Central Maryland, at which point I just tossed the bike back on my car and drove to work slightly annoyed.

But there is a reason for this post. One is to attempt to get myself motivated to go out biking again. The other is to whore out a few new blogs I am following...

KungFooSausage is a new blog by a good pal of mine from a gaming site I participate in. His description is "A blog about my life, thoughts, computer gaming, anything inane and pointless I can think of that amuses me and lets not forget my recipe's." While so far his posts have been mostly about his biking (which is great!) I am sure he will be a good one to follow. His humor is hysterical and always makes us crack up! And he is from the UK, I am hoping he will eventually (hint hint) post some pictures of his beautiful country!

Gobo's World is a webcomic just started up by another pal of mine. While mostly focused on World of Warcraft, it is a great and funny read for any gamer familiar with RPG style games. I don't think he has a set-in-stone release schedule for comics, so check there often to see if anything new is up!

And finally, one of my best friends' girlfriends has had a blog running about being a female gamer. Great lengthy posts regarding all things gaming, it is a wondrous read and can be found at Ms. Slowski.

I urge any and all to check out these blogs and leave a quick (or not quick) comment for them! We all know how great it feels to see some responses to our work!

And since posts are always better with pictures... this is how happy each of the people would be if you read what they are writing and respond!

(Obligatory: That's what she said)

First event, done!

2009-08-10T13:26:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went out on my very first official bike ride, the Eat a Peach Bike Challenge, taking place in Westminster, MD. I went up there with my fiancee's friend's boyfriend.

Having never done a bike event before, I was very nervous. I had signed up for the 67 mile course, basically so I could claim I had done a metric century. My longest ride to date has been about 35 miles or so, but I had done that easily. One thing that I would soon realize was that 35 miles of flat terrain is nothing compared to 10 miles of non-stop hills.

I asked a good number of people about how to prepare for the event, and the most numerous advice I got was to carb load and hydrate. I went ahead and bought myself a pair of cycling shoes and clips. No cycling shorts.

We got to the event early, at about 6:30am. We walked around and stretched as the parking lot got filled with cars loaded with some very very impressive looking bikes. We got in line to register and talked with some people who sounded like they had done it before. They wished us luck as we grabbed our forms and off we took.

The first couple of miles we knew were going to be hilly. We had to drive them to come in. But, we both expected the hills to come to a stop and we would be able to set a relaxing 15mph pace. By mile 10 we gave up all hope of this being a flat course and we quit pedaling down the hills to save energy to go up. The first rest stop at mile 20 was a godsend. We refilled our water bottles with Gatorade, ate a PB&J and kept trucking along. By mile 30 we were in a lot of pain. Not our legs but our necks and back. We decided at the mile 40 rest stop we would take a lengthy break and get some energy back.

Unfortunately, the mile 49 rest stop wasn't marked well and it was on a side street. We missed it and by the time we realized we missed it, we were an extra two miles away. So we just pulled off into somebody's yard and relaxed. The next rest stop was only 10 miles away, so we made our way to that and took a much needed break. At that point we knew, with only another 12 miles to go, we would make it. As we ascended the final hill, which was the largest and aptly named "The Bitch Kate Wagner" (Kate Wagner being the name of the street) we realized we had made it. Cruising down the final stretch we leaned back and listened to the country band playing at the finish line.

It took over 5 hours to do. We averaged just over 13 mph, a far cry from what we thought. Amazingly, our legs weren't sore and after a good night's sleep I could have got up and rode another 10 or 15 miles.

All in all, it made me realize I have no interest in doing the 75 mile course of the Civil War Century, but might try the metric century as that doesn't go across the mountains.

I've been keeping track of my mileage on a spreadsheet, but so far for August:

Biking: 133 miles

Metric Century

2009-07-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

I just signed up for my first bike event! I will be riding the Eat A Peach Bike tour out of Westminster to support the Brain Injury Association of Maryland. The bike event features a 12, 33, 40, 67, and 100 mile bike ride. I might be biting off more than I can chew, but I really want to do the metric century (67 miles, 100 km). I won't be competing for a place, so I can definitely take it slowly. I am going to try and get out a lot over the next few weeks for logner rides. I want to go out and try a 50 miler this weekend to see how much I can actually do.

Also, a coworker sent me a pretty good article on the B&A trail that I've been riding a lot. You can read (and see some cool pictures) HERE. (It is a pdf file)

Riding in to work

2009-07-14T08:18:00.000-04:00

I really enjoy the ride to work. There are very few people on the B&A trail; the few that are on it are also commuting to work. After the end of the B&A, you ride along a few roads until you get to the Naval Academy Bridge. Not sure if thats the actual name, but since it overlooks the Naval Academy, thats what we call it. On the hill before the bridge is a World War 2 Memorial very similar to the one on the Nation's Capital. I thought I took a picture of the memorial without my head in the way...but I guess I didn't.

From Biking the Bay

You can see the start of the bridge there on the right hand side. The view on top of the bridge is great. You overlook the entire Naval Academy and the few rivers surrounding Annapolis.

From Biking the Bay

Once you get down the bridge, you have an option. To get to work in the quickest way, you bypass downtown Annapolis and ride along the Naval Academy's Stadium. I don't like that way. With how early it is, there are so few cars on the main street (West Street) and I really enjoy seeing a completely unpopulated small town.

That store with the white sign makes a wonderful cup of coffee!

From Biking the Bay

This is overlooking the Harbor... which you can't really see. Bad cameraman is bad.

From Biking the Bay

This is the church in the middle of one of the circles,looking up from the harbor.

From Biking the Bay

This is the state capital, also looking up from the harbor.

From Biking the Bay

Good ride in. On the ride home I don't go this way. Much too busy.

I haven't been keeping track of my miles, and it is something I really wanted to do. So for a recap of the past few days:

Friday: 26
Saturday: 24
Sunday: 17
Monday: 10
Total: 77

BWI Loop with coworkers

2009-07-13T13:09:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, a coworker set up a bike trip to tackle the 11 mile BWI loop. I had never ridden with a few of the riders and I was excited to get out and ride with them. My fiance's friend's boyfriend tagged along with his Cannondale Mountain Bike, which I thought would have been slow. But, it was a damn nice bike and he was easily able to keep pace for a majority of the ride. It might have been a hindrance if we were going full speed, but since it was a fun ride, there wasn't a problem. I got to ride it for about 3 miles and man, it was awesome. I forgot how nice it was to not have every little bump on the road get transferred directly to your ass.

Anyways, I did the loop again on Sunday solo and think it is a good training location. A coworker just invited me to do an organized bike ride, the Eat a Peach ride, so I think I am going to sign up to do the metric century there.

Either way, here is my coworkers and I at the end of the loop.

Biking along the B&A

2009-07-09T11:22:00.001-04:00

I have mentioned and shown a few pictures of the Baltimore Annapolis Trail. It is a pleasant 13 mile trail going from the BWI Airport to just outside the Naval Academy in Annapolis. It follows Route 2 and has a few busy intersections, but mostly travels along right behind peoples houses or strip malls in nicely wooden areas.

Mike, my coworker who I ride the most often with, has an awesome camera mounted to his handlebars. He took the following video a few weeks ago, prior to me getting my new bike (and before I even knew he had a camera). It was during our ride home from work and the day after a terrible storm ran through the area and knocked out a lot of branches. Sorry for the audio... I am getting a bit tired of trying to put any music on a youtube video with their strict filtering process. Not too interesting, but it kinda makes me want a camera mount.

Lots of biking, lots of work.

2009-06-29T07:47:00.000-04:00

I have been able to get out and do a few nice long bike rides over the past week. Wasn't as easy as I hoped, as work has been keeping me quite busy and the fiance and I have been getting accustomed to living together and getting the townhouse cleaned up and operational.

This past Saturday I took off early in the morning to attempt to find a way to get to the Baltimore-Annapolis Trail directly from the townhouse. Google Maps showed that I would have to carry my bike across somebodies lawn to get to East-West Boulevard which connects to the B&A. Luckily, when I got there, a road had been paved to almost connect East-West to Lambo Street which meant I only had to carry my bike a few feet to get across.

From Biking the Bay

I was very surprised to see a path down from East-West to Kinder Farms Park, so I went down and did a quick ride through of the 2.8 loop around the park.

From Biking the Bay

By the time I got done that little loop, I got a call from the fiance requesting to come home, so I never made it out to the B&A. The next day I took off again, went past Kinder Farms and met up with the B&A.

From Biking the Bay

I was able to make it down to where I normally drive to when I meet up with coworkers to bike into work in record time. In fact, it was so quick that I think I can actually bike there faster than driving since the drive takes me out of the way.

From Biking the Bay

That church also sells some great coffee in the morning and Mike, my ride-to-work bud gets a cup almost every day he rides in. I made it all the way to the end of the B&A before I turned around and went back to Kinder Farms for a nice lunch watching over the park.

From Biking the Bay

I did the loop again and headed on home, for a grand total of 65 miles this past weekend. I rode into work twice this week, but haven't uploaded the pictures yet... so that will come in the next few days...

BWI Loop Trail

2009-06-25T06:48:00.001-04:00

One of the nice things about living where I am, is the proximity to the international airport Baltimore-Washington International. Around it lies a biking/walking path called the BWI Loop.

It has many different mileage reports, depending on the path taken. Last night after work I had to pick up my fiance from volleyball a few miles north of BWI. I had about an hour to get the trail done, but with the higher end of mileage quotes being 13 miles, I figured it would be easy enough. I parked at the Thomas Dixon Aircraft Observation Park (P1 on the map). This is a great place to see the aircraft take off and land. Unfortunately my time restraints didn't let me wait around and catch a plane, but this is from another person...

So I took off from here heading counterclockwise at the suggestion of a coworker. It felt great to be on my new Fuji, and I spent a lot of time shifting flawlessly through the gears. It was a very slick ride. Going counterclockwise, you quickly enter into a wooded area which was great to shield some of the summer rays.

The paths were easily marked and the constant flow of bikers and walkers along this portion, being so close to the Tom Dixon Observation, allowed for a pleasant ride. After awhile you get back out to riding along a trail next to the Aircraft Loop (a road encircling the airport). I passed a lot of people riding in the opposite direction as me and I began to wonder if there was a reason why. Either way I finally made it about half way around the trail. I got to the North West side of the loop and atop a small hill I got a nice view of the airport.

A nice older man and I had a quick chat before I took off again along a nice winding downhill path. This was my maximum speed for the day, topping out at 26.3 mph, a new record for myself.

I made my way down some more hills, across some roads, then came across a long wooden bridge. It went across some marshland.

From Biking the Bay

I checked the cell phone and saw I was running a bit behind schedule, so I took off. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn when I got to Stoney Run Road.

Instead of making a left hand turn (coming from the north), I made a right. I would have realized my mistake sooner if there were not Bike Trail signs lining the road. It wasn't until I got all the way to Linda Road before I stopped and asked somebody for directions. Apparently the signs I was following were to Patapsco State Park, another great place to bike. I turned around, made it back to the bridge, and made it succesfully back to the car. Took just over an hour for the 14 miles and I got to pick up the lady just as her games were finishing.

My Bikes

2009-06-24T13:17:00.001-04:00

Awhile ago, before I knew anything about bikes, I went to Target and bought the bike with the largest tires that had a suspension. I ended up with a Magma for about $70. It was a good bike, good enough for what I used it for, which was simply riding around campus. To tell the truth, I couldn't have gotten a better bike. It never fell apart and it could handle all the bumps and bruises a college kid frantically getting to class could throw at it.

I would go out on the Baltimore Annapolis Trail quite a bit either alone or with my fiance. It was great and I felt like I was making good time. It wasn't until the annual Bike to Work when I learned just how slow I was and how inneficient a mountain bike really is.

Trying to ride the 11 miles with coworkers was impossible. They all had road bikes. One coworker kept pace with me while the others went ahead. I was annoyed that I was peddling my hardest just to keep up with him coasting. About a week after that I bought a thirty year old Schwinn Varsity off a guy. It was older than I am, the breaks didn't work and only the back shifters would move. But, it was a road bike. And that alone made it a much more efficient bike. I have road into work on that a half dozen times (after replacing the breaks). But, I still wanted a better bike.

So I went to Hudson Trail Outfitters at the Annapolis Mall and told the bike mechanic (a downright awesome guy) I wanted the cheapest road bike they had. After looking through the $800-$900 bikes, I realized that would be too expensive right now. What with a wedding coming up and all that... So he pulled up the store's main inventory and saw a 2008 Fuji Newest 2.0 for sale at another store for a wonderful $480. He ordered it and (after some trouble with parts), it got in, he built it, and I went and bought it yesterday.

I haven't had much time to ride it yet, but the little that I did, I can clearly tell this is going to be the healthiest and best $500 I have ever spent.

From Biking the Bay

I am following....

2009-06-24T11:17:00.001-04:00

Figure I should give some links out to other people I have been reading up on.

My good friend from college, Jan Hilmar, has kept quite an impressive journal of his trips throughout Europe. Quite an avid cyclist, he spent a few weeks biking from Berlin to Lepel (Belarus) and took plenty of photos along the way. You can read about it on his TravelBlog or you can learn more about his brilliant mathematician mind at his own website Cyclo-tomic, some of which is in his native tongue.

Although I have never met the rest of these bloggers, I find their stories and pictures quite interesting. I found them all on here, via the first blogger I will mention's site.

MNBicycleCommuter, aka Doug, is quite the cyclist. Living in Minnesota, he commutes to work damn near every day on his bikes (his seemingly endless collection of bikes). Although, I am most impressed with his Xtracycle, which he uses for just about everything, such as carrying lettuce and groceries home from the market.

The other person I follow and really enjoy reading is Jill from Up in Alaska. While I puss out and don't ride if the temperature is below 60, she is out riding on ice sheets in sub-zero temperatures without breaking a sweat. She even has published a book, Ghost Trails, which is the story of her Iditarod Race, the 350 mile cross-Alaskan bike race. Right now she is working on the Tour Divide race across Canada, the US, and into Mexico. Basically, she is one hardcore rider.

This last one isn't a blog. It is a fully operational and impressive website called NobMob built using Drupal. I was introduced to it via a Justin, co-blogger over at a gaming website which I assist moderating; The Black Temple. It is an awesome (mostly) mountain biking website based out of (and catering to) New Zealand. Check it out. There are some impressive trails, tutorials, and members. I am still amazed at how they coordinate their rides, using gps and google earth to know every inch that the travel. Seriously. Check them out.

New blog, new bike, new housing.

2009-06-24T10:44:00.000-04:00

Greetings! This will be a place for me to write about my time spent living outside of Annapolis, MD located along the Chesapeake Bay. I am a 23 year old graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland, engaged to a beautiful lady and preparing to get married in the Fall of this year. We have just started living together in a nice little townhouse.

The reason for starting this blog is simply to have a place to write down my thoughts and share some photos, videos, and stories that I find interesting. I am not an avid cyclist but I did just purchase a Fuji Newest 2.0 from Hudson Trail Outfitters. It will mostly be used as a commuter bike... riding the ~12 or so miles from home to work.

Please excuse the way this looks for a few days... I am not used to not having html to play with.

Biking the Bay

Annapolis Bike Plan

Bike 2 Work 2011

Beautiful Weather!

Happy New Year!

I wonder who wins...

Beautiful day down to Annapolis

Aluminum Man

114 miles of the C&O canal

C&O canal this weekend

Performance Sale

Ram's Head for Dinner + Garmin Goals

Around Severn River

Back down for some Coffee with the Wife

Garmin Forerunner 310XT Giveaway

I saw a deer do it, so can I!

Goodbye August Goals...

Down for Coffee

So this is what it looks like when you press "Start/Stop" instead of "Lap"

Lunch jog

Crabbin!

The $21M Photo + July 15 done

Riding up to the BWI Loop

Garmin Forerunner 305

First Ride with SPP

Heading South Down the B&A

Let's talk GPS

Don't Forget the Lights!

Wanna see fast?

Why I don't go up the B&A

Damn it is hot!

July 150

Rather Late Update

Going to the UK!

Out on the C&O with the Mom!

Kinder Farms again... and again... and again...

New Bike's First Time Out!

Beautiful day out with the Wife

I just won a Bike!

Local Bike Race Sabotaged

Bike to Work Day 2010

Up to Gettysburg

Too damn cold

Rider's Collective: Free Online Magazine

Scary Biking Video

$1 Bike Mount and a Video

Highest Point in Maryland

Out on the B&A: Repairs lacking

Entry Level Road Bikes

Well, I won't be doing that again

Awesome Bike Stat Video

Wife out!

Three Roads

A few more websites

Goals

Top 50 Cycling Blogs

Running

Out on the BWI

Wife's New Bike!

B&A Repairs

Biking to work

Nice weather!

Too much snow, started something new

Ride across the world

My poor B&A

Sponsored Bike Commuting

Revolution Kids

East Coast Greenway

No room.

Felt Q520

Been awhile...

First event, done!

Metric Century

Riding in to work

BWI Loop with coworkers

Biking along the B&A

Lots of biking, lots of work.

BWI Loop Trail

My Bikes

I am following....