Up to Gettysburg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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