MC rocking it off-road style
Another off-road TMR in the books. The start was muy sketchy. The dirt road through Rockburn was covered in ice. We didn't see it until we were on it. My rear wheel started to come around my front wheel. My sphincter puckered up tight. But my tires found dirt again so I stayed upright.
After that the trails were great. Frozen solid with only a few small patches of ice and some frozen ruts where douchebags have been riding in the mud.
Nice ride and a gorgeous sunrise! I know I'm a broken record, but a night/sunrise mountain bike ride to start the day is the tits!
One of the things that I love most about France is that instead of Starbucks there's a bakery on nearly every corner. Freshly baked artisanal bread is part of everyday life.
We've discovered the Great Harvest Bakery very close to our house. They're good people and they make a big variety of tasty breads. You can sample any of them for free at the front counter. Like good beer and pre-work mtb rides, good bread adds to quality of life. Check 'em out!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
the tits
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
the warmest room
Another nice snow (ice) TMR ride in the books Thursday morning. My neighbor KR is the man, opening his house with hot coffee ready at 5:30am! W rallied from a sleepless night to post for the ride. The pull of a pre-work mountain bike ride is a tough force to resist. Even on a very cold day the woods becomes the warmest room.
This was my third ride on the Panaracer Rampage 29er 2.35's and so far I like them a lot.
This photo from Amsterdam (Summer of 2004) highlights the Dutch attributes of practicality and fashion. The Dutch minivan rocks! I'm still on the lookout for a pair of those gold lame' cycling shorts.
'Cross Worlds this weekend. I wonder what the atmosphere will be like in Italy...
Next year they'll be back in The Nederlands.
Here she comes again & I'm biting my lip but it won't be long
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
frozen fundra
We had a nice ride on Saturday. Me, Mel, Trevor, Bernie, JohnH, and Tim, most of us on singlespeed's. This was Melanie's first time riding the SS since she was pregnant with Gavin. Fun crew! Bernie was on his new Seven 29er SS and doing it justice with some skillful riding on the slick trails.
The trails were nice. Mostly it was either hard packed snow or frozen dirt.
Nice benchcut on the Ridge Trail.
There's nothing like a snow ride to produce the gigglewatts. The scenery isn't bad either.
The best part of the whole situation was that we got the ride in during nap time and the kids slept the entire time we were out. I wonder if anyone has written a book about time management for cyclists with kids? hmmmmm
Monday, January 21, 2008
sieze her with a tweezer
Once completely suited up (thank you Craft!) I stepped into the freezer.
The trails were frozen solid and slick, especially the rocks.
I ran the tires as low as I could go and had a blast floating over frozen ruts and using body english to find traction on glazed rocks. I didn't go fast. It was all about keeping the bike upright and moving forward.
I'm not sure which froze up first, my bottle or my toes.
Aside from the feet I was pretty comfortable.
Once back home in the shower the pain from my toes thawing out was brutal. Hours later they're still not right. I need to invest in a better pair of winter riding shoes. The Sidi's are ok for temps down to the 20's, but lower than that and my feet turn to ice after an hour.
Get out there and enjoy the trails while they are still frozen. Just remember to dress for the weather.
Friday, January 18, 2008
tough sledding
Wednesday and Thursday I rode dawn patrol. Hitting the trails before work makes waking up at 4:50am amazingly attractive. The legs were not so good each day, but perhaps not having anything to eat is to blame. Though I was moving slow I was still very happy to be out in the woods on my bike.
Both rides were fun. Good company, conversation, trash talk, and even a few laughs courtesy of W going for a swim in an icy creek...the same creek that I dunked it in last month.
The snow hit yesterday. Unfortunately, it was a wet snow and the temperatures stayed right around freezing so conditions for a snow ride were (and remain) decidedly sub-optimal. I'm hoping for good conditions Sunday morning when things should be frozen solid. Hopefully, it will be frozen snow and not a layer of ice. We'll see. Low tire pressure and Advil will likely be the themes of the day.
Yesterday, I took advantage of the weather to slide out of work early so that Thor and I could play in the snow. It was so much fun. I felt like a little kid and he IS a little kid so we did all the cool things that little kids do in the snow. Sledding, rolling giant snow boulders, snowball fight, snow angels, learning to eat only the non-yellow snow, and even some shoveling.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
70's get down
Last night a diverse crew from the local mountain bike community gathered at Posner world HQ for a celebration of Tracy's 30th and the decade of her birth, the 70's.
Your host, ever the snappy dresser, checking the fondue
A lof of in's, a lot of out's, a lot of 'what-have-you's'
Hot twister action is guaranteed to get a party going
Mel & the Eatough's talking kids & bikes.
Some Outlaw's plotting singlespeed world domination. I'm guessing the NSA was listening in on this conversation.
Hanging the with hostess (and Cheryl Tiegs impersonator) Tracy. Things were getting blurry at this point in the evening. Two and a half beers gets me buzzed these days & I'm cool with that.
Then it was time to get home before the babysitter turned into a pumpkin. It was fun getting out and spending time with a lot of like-minded freaks for an evening. Now if we could just get the trails to dry out so we could ride some dirt. Thanks to Tracy & Jon for hosting a very fun party.
Today was a pretty standard couple of hours on the bike hitting some good climbs and keeping a wary eye out for traffic. I'm ready to get back in the woods.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
happy child
Aside from not being very interested in napping in his crib he's a happy child.
He seems to like sitting in his big brother's chair.
speaking of brothers
My brutha-from-anutha-mutha, Greg from Mud & Cowbells, is over in Belgium living the dream. Check out his blog if you're not already for first hand reports about his experiences racing in the land of beer, frites, and waffles. I didn't have any frites handy at 8am.
Hats off to him for living my mantra, "dream your life, live your dreams".
Life's too short to do anything but that.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Dawn Patrol...man down!
Dawn patrol this morning. I started pre-dawn to ride through the Park over to CCBC to meet Trevor, Jonathon, Jim, Tim, and James for a tour of the finer offerings in Patapsco Avalon.
Fueled only with a cup of mighty fine coffee and the anticipatory adrenaline of a morning ride I high tailed it on the frozen trails and met up with the fellas at 7 sharp.
We started with the rocky goodness of the Baltimore County side before crossing the river and heading into Howard Co. The trails were frozen offering plenty of speed and spectacular traction.
The Cascade Falls were partially iced over and partially cascading. Beautiful stuff, crappy camera phone pic notwithstanding. That's the Unholy Rouleur's bike and my bike locked in a tender singlespeed embrace at the base of the falls.
Sadly, Jim hit a stump later in the ride and went airborne into a tree, cracking a helmet. We've got a man down! Bloodied and bruised he soldiered on back to my house to recover with strong coffee and about a thousand mg's of motrin while Jonathon and Tim time trialed back to pick up their cars.
Who knew the Unholy Rouleur was a nihilist? Looks like Walter tried to sink his teeth into Jim's ear.
Note the slightly concussed look and ice on the knee.
In any event it was a nice ride. Hopefully Jim will recover quickly and get back on the horse that bucked him. I hear there is some video of Trevor giving Jim a massage (or CPR) as he lay wounded on the ground. But, like the CIA interrogation tapes I doubt it will ever surface.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Kicking it off right
New Year's Day Ride with the extended TMR crew
Big group, fun ride, and a great way to kick off 2008!
Happy New Year!
If I'd known it was going to be this kind of party...
Last night...errr yesterday at 5pm the local chapter of 'Crossers with Kids convened at our place for a New Year's Eve get together. 
The McDonald's, Harshman's, and our collective broods hung out for beers, Thai carry-out, desserts by Tina, and repeated viewings of the tractor dvd. Sean & Thor had fun playing with trucks and polishing up those sharing skills. Good times and an early night. I, for one, am happy to be up early and not hung over this morning.
The only bummer is that our plans to hit the trails today are not happening. It's just too wet and muddy out there.
Happy New Year!
