The Human Car

I'm game! The question is what route do you want to take? Are you up for coming up my way and heading down Old Court and then Old Frederic? NoRacer what do you think? You would probably be comfortable taking E Northern Pkwy to Falls road to get out my way. Take a look at my east west routes https://www.baltimorespokes.org/stati...70815081612328 to get some idea, I don't think the route would add much to your millage as you are basically scooping up rather then scooping down. Anyway a chance for some new scenery for ya.

What you say a nice friendly ride for a while then NoRacer and GreaterB can drop me like a rock on the third uphill? Tentative meeting place Starbucks in Mt. Washington Village or Joe's Bike Shop.

The Human Car

Welcome to the forum! And you live in a very pretty part of the state, I just wish I got out there more then I do. Also congrats to Garrett County for 0 bike/car crashes in 2006.

balto charlie

Welcome This is really cool. I go out there often but never for road biking. I will check out your site. How much snow do you guys have out there. Charlie

greaterbrown

Hot damn! Glad to have ride buddy. Now, we just need the weather to hold at sunny and 40's
Howzabout this for a route out:

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/100164

-GB

NoRacer

I'm still undecided about this ride, due to lighting problems. The battery for my L&M Arc HID is not charging. The charger seems ok, because the battery is getting warm to the touch, but the light shuts off after about 15 minutes of run time with a fan blowing on it. A new NiMH battery for this is $199US. Even if I did order one, it won't be here in time for the weekend.

I did dig out my old Viewpoint halogen light from Performance Bike, but after using the L&M Arc HID, this light really sucks! Halfway through my ride to work, this morning, I had to switch to another battery (glad I brought a fully charged backup.) Nevertheless, the light output from that light seemed to me to be about 3/4ths of the HID.

By the way, GB, I tried that link and only got a blank page. Is it still working for you? Is it working for anyone else?

balto charlie

Works for me.
NR: If you want a light for this ride you can borrow my Fenix w/ helmet mnt. I have 4 AA batteries which will get you 4-5 hour burn time. Thing is I need it Monday morn. If you drive or bike to this event You can stop by my house(catonsville so you can't ride w/ GB and Barry t the ride). It's on the way from East Balto. The light in turbo mode get 175 lumen which ain't shabby but no HID. Let me know. I will be going away this wknd so I can leave it in the mailbox or something. You know you want to ride

NoRacer

Thanks for the offer, charlie. I'm this close -> || <- from getting a Dinotte 200L shipped overnight.

I do want to ride, but the DC RAND folks haven't posted anything for this weekend yet, so I'm waiting to see what they're doing.

Sunday, after riding a century on Saturday, I usually take very easy (i.e., little chainring, higher cadence, being past by little girls on roller skates).

I'll confirm meeting somewhere around the Kelly Ave/Falls Rd area after I get my head out of my butt.

greaterbrown

I just changed the bikely route from private to public, but it shouldn't matter. Give the link another try.
As far as lighting goes, I'm being somewhat reckless about it. Probably shouldn't, but I've only got my 2 crappy cateye clip lights up front and a bright blinky in back. I'm planning on just watching my time carefully and getting back before 5:30.

If I poop out, I'll just use Barry's extracycle as a sag and give him encouraging words, like "mush, mush"

However, this discussion is making me mad that I haven't built up my Kogswell yet. It's still in the box with a pair of touring wheels- front with a dynamo hub.

NoRacer

The link is working for me at home. For some reason, it wasn't rendering for me at work.

A dynamo hub would not go wasted, here.

Anyway, I got the DiNotte 200L that uses rechargeable "AA"s. I won't get stuck with proprietary battery issues again. In an emergency, I can pick up "AA"s from just about anywhere. I've had the DiNotte 140L tail light for awhile and it's been the best tail light I've ever had. I've done rides in some pretty extreme weather with it and it's never failed on me. I'm hoping for the same great performance out of the 200L head light.

The DC RAND folks finally posted there ride schedule for this weekend. It looks like I'll be doing their Saturday ride, but I'm not sure about Sunday.

If I do ride with you guys Sunday, I'm contemplating riding to Mt. Washington to meet up, but that would make for a very, very, long day--probably in the neighborhood of 140 miles for me. That, in itself, is a good reason to have my lights in order, because it's highly likely that I'll get caught out riding home in the dark, not to mention a ride to Mt. Washington in the dark in the morning--not so bad during the warmer months, but no so good after about 14 hours outside at this time of the year.

The Human Car

You guys can have a choice of two of the four lights lights that I carry and no rush on the return (GB lives near me and NoRacer works close enough to me so something can be worked out.) Also I just stocked up on AA batteries so that can be had as well.

NoRacer you should have an easy time riding with me and if not I don't mind slowing down. Also maybe contemplate driving out to met us. This could turn to be a fine mid-winter party.

GreaterB: You and your hills, heavy sigh, ok fine as I love Dogwood Rd.

(re: mush, mush you would not be the first I'm one of the only human powered sag wagons. )

NoRacer

Okay... go over the logistics again. We meet at Joe's Bike Shop? At what time?

balto charlie

Guys: Do keep an eye on the weather. I think it is going to stay in the 30's this Sunday w/ chance of flurries. I know; what does not kill you only makes you stronger!!
GB: If you want a light for the ride drop me an email, we can set something up
NR: Dinotte, very nice system. I looked them over but will not pull the trigger until they lose the wires. I really hate the wires on all of the lighting systems. Bike lights should be self contained units. Check out Barry's Fenix if y'all ride together. It is lightweight, NO wires and uses rechargeable AAs. I would like to double the lumen, double the batteries and mount on my bars. As it is now it is perfect for the helmet, actually it is very good for the bars but I want a little more brightness on the bars. Enjoy the ride this wknd. Charlie

greaterbrown

I'd rather meet at the Starbucks as I'll definitely want a shot of expresso and use of bathrooms before I go.
Calculating a conservative pace (13mph) would take us a little more than 1 1/2hrs to get out there. BBC ride is at 10am, so I was thinking we'd leave Starbucks at ~8am. (they open at 6:30am on sunday)

The BBC ride is +/-60miles. So, also at a conservative pace we should be back to the Mount View School start by 3 or 3:30

After a quick rest stop, we'll have 2 more hours for the last 20 miles home. Sundown at 5:20

BTW I am definitely not trying to add hills unnecessarily to our route out. Barry, any changes you'd want to make to flatten it out are fine with me.

-GB

NoRacer

^^^^^
Ok, Starbuck's at 8am.

The Human Car

Route: Well your route is shorter but I also like to get a new route in on my bike map and it's a heck of a lot more fun to ride the route and post my GPS track then it is to draw it. But there will be other days and other adventures so I can always get it another time.

calhoun1

What time will the DC rand ride probably be done Saturday?

NoRacer

It's a century that starts at 7:30am with a rest stop usuallly at ~30 miles, lunch at ~50 miles, and another rest stop at about 75 miles - so, plan on about ~8-9.5 hours depending on whether you stay with the group, ride ahead, skip rests, and environmental conditions.

calhoun1

Ok, because I need to be back to Annapolis by 245pm at the absolute latest so I can get ready for work. Trying to plan my Saturday morning ride.

NoRacer

Crista usually has shortcut options on the cue sheet if you need to cut out early.

calhoun1

hmm, I guess I can give her a call. As she has her number listed under the ride on the dcrand site. Thanks for the info.

NoRacer

Barry & greaterbrown,

I apologize for this short notice, but I'm going to have to back out of tomorrow's ride. Today's ride was much hillier than I anticipated and I started having cramping problems. I'm going to skip the ride tomorrow and just take it easy.

Sorry. I really wanted to meet GB and ride with you guys.

The Human Car

NoRacer, you called it right. The BBC ride was a 10+ on the MT scale. My knee is exhausted but feeling very good. I'll post a few pics from the ride latter on but no people shoots as I forgot I had my camera at the ride start.

Edit: I got in a 96 mile ride.

The Human Car

MountainMan1

Thanks Human Car...we make sound attempts to stay alive.....I think is has a lot to do with the lack of traffic though and gas prices are helping this. There are a lot of nice road and off road rides out here. Have a great day!

MM1

MountainMan1

Hi Charlie,
Thanks for checking out the site. We have a fairly good bit of snow out here right now...enough to xc ski and not worry too much about tearing up your bases. I skied the Wisp Sunday morning and it was pretty good....then took the dog out later in the evening for about 4 miles of XC skiing....hit a couple big rocks, but the base is pretty good for the most part. I'd say we're at about a solid 6 inch base. It's supposed to warm up for the next couple days and then turn cold again with snow. A slight melt will really make for a good base and then snow later in the week should make it really nice.

If you XC ski, I would suggest you check out Backbone Ski Farm in Oakland, MD just south of Deep Creek Lake. It's a low key place, with really nice and helpful folks that run it. www.backbonefarm.com

Take Care
MM1
https://www.trailqwest.com