They are every Friday generally 6:00-6:30 AM. The Mayor shows up if her schedule allows. PM me if you want to be on the distribution list.

Re: spare everything
Between touring and getting my kids to go on 20 mile bike rides starting when they were 8, I have become a bit of a Jewish mother on a bike. I do not carry a mess kit only spoons, so there. ;) A beer to anyone who can guess one of the two supererogatory items I carry. :innocent:

Though some cues sheets qualify... wiping paper?, 'cuz you never know when you'll need to wipe something.

Fire producing something.

1/jack d
2/coke

Mess kit
 

Carrying a mess kit aint so strange, though yesterday all I had in here was-
Running shoes
Fleece
Locks (2)
Multi tool
extra base layer (Reebok recommended by Josh)
Gloves for running, wore my lobster mitts on the bike.
Dry fleece cap for the run
Lights that I never used

Barry-Not sure , but on the beer ride I heard some strange noises coming from that thing, and I think at the end of the Monument ride I was pretty sure I saw one of the Hooters girls perched on that skateboard gizmo waving goodbye as you headed down 33rd. You could hide just about anything in there.

space blanket and compass if you are a good boy scout
Bottle of beer and a joint if you are not

Well y'all motivated me yesterday and I got out for a ride through Catonsvilles hills, Ellicott city(Oella Ave is open again), out to the airport and back with a climb of Gun Rd. This after brewing a batch of Porter in the AM. After reading the morning trip reports I dressed way to warm. PM temps were great, nowhere near what y'all experienced.
So I went out again today(Saturday), to the homebrew store in Columbia.(trend developing). I bought and hauled 12 lbs of grain. I did fairly well w/ the exception of Dobbin rd near rt 175...crazy lane changes, no shoulders, lots of impatient shoppers. One driver cut me off with a bumper sticker reading "Choose Civility", how ironic. Most of Columbia's roads were great but then they changed to ***** quickly. Give me Balto co. any day. I do plan to map the area this year though. I've never seen a bikers map of Columbia so I'll make my own. I did find some sweet riding. Total miles for both days is between 70-80 miles. One of my New Years resolutions is to fix my odo. I guess I'm no good at resolutions.
Blue ridge pkwy touring: Well I read a bunch of tours from Crazy guy on a bike. Looks like a great tour but hard. Lots of climbing. Camping and water can be long distances from each other. Stealth camping is often an option. Harry: Adventure tours is nice but pricey. I kinda like planning and schlepping my crap. Barry, ice cooler is great for overnighters but doubt you want to haul it over the BRP. You're more than welcome to do it though. This trip (if we rode all of it) would need to be 8-10 days long. Perhaps we should plan a closer less intense trip. I've tour mostly flat but would like to try hills. I roll w/ a Burley trailer.... for the keg of course. We should keep talking about a spring tour.
Happy Bday NR
Everbody else, keep on cranking.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I won't be on the ride out of Druid Hill or the DCRand ride. My wife needs to go "care" for her parents tomorrow at 10am so I need to be back to watch the kids. I need to get out and ride during the week because weekends aren't happening.

Charlie-I also have another tour in mind and have maps for it. It starts in DC and goes south and east to where you take a ferry to get back to MD. Total is 350 or so.

Today's ride - DC Randonneur's "Psched Out in Sykesville":

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/19762

Wow, NR, that was a pretty hilly route. Not something I look forward to doing anytime soon :)

Yes, it was. Some of it was pretty steep. too--Hicks Rd, Matthews Rd (especially). There were long "grinders" around the Prettyboy Reservoir area, and in Sykesville there was another long grinder on Forsythe Rd.

Sunday ride:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/19767 <--- Substitute ride

Trainer 2.25 hrs.
Spinervals-Aerobic base -avg hr 145


Exciting!!!!!!

Hey,

Was anyone in the Eldersburg area today outside the Kabob restaurant? I saw a group of 3 guys getting ready to head out, one with an Xtracycle.

-D

LOL you busted us. That was me, Barry and another rider named Tom on our BBC sunday ride. Very nice ride today BTW. Up to Eldersburg from B'more city. North around the lake and home. I logged 56 miles. Were you eating at the Kabob place?

-GB

What, no double? Wish I could have done the ride, planned on it but alas the situation is beyond my control.

Love my trainer-love my trainer-love my trainer-love my trainer...........

No I was next door at PapPap's

It looked like you guys were getting ready to leave when I arrived. If you had noticed I would have been the guy in jeans, black leather jacket, leading four girls into the restaraunt. It is a favorite post church spot.

I almost came over to say hi. You dont see many xtracycles so I figured it might be someone I know, at least online. But it was hard while corralling 4 kids.

-D

Happy new year, MD peeps! I've been a slacker over the holidays (except for that freakishly warm Saturday after Christmas!)

I don't like to make formal resolutions, but my "what I'd reaaaaaaallly like to do this year" list includes getting faster on the bike -- just enough so that I can at least keep you guys in sight when we ride together. ;)

Harry, Barry, Charlie, others -- I too would be interested in some "mini-tours" this year. I have a Trek 520 which I have yet to load up. But I love to camp (I went several times last year), and I've been gradually rebuilding/replacing my inventory of camping stuff with an eye to eventually strapping it onto the bike and going somewhere. The closest I came last year to marrying the two activities was staying in my tent at Assateague State Park for the Seagull Century weekend. :)

Cycle touring
 

MAxine-LOad that 520 up!! That's what it's for.
Here's a shot of my slightly overloaded 520 in August.

Also attached the Adventure Cycling route that I hope to do soon. If anybody is interested in doing it with me or borrowing the map set just let me know. Probably can be done on a long weekend.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/rout...?pg=detail&s=1

That looks like a single day's ride on a long summer day--'cept for the water crossing before and after Ewell. ;)

Well, I don't yet have any panniers (or a front rack) for the 520. But I just found out today that I'm getting an unexpected (and unexpectedly generous!) cash award for all that crisis work that's been turning me into a mental case these past few months. :D So I know where at least some of those $$ will be going!

I rode the Indian Head 100 a few years back, which is in the same area as part of that ACA route. What a pretty century ride that was! I'm sure a "mini-tour" down there would be great. Do you have a date set yet for when you plan to go?

No dates set. They do mention on the map notes that you need to do the tour when the ferry operates, but I believe I looked that up and it pretty much runs all year, not sure.

I have the Arkel panniers, they've been very good so far. I will say that racks matter. I had a Trek rack on the back of the 520 on that Quebec trip and that thing swayed like a ship in a gale. I replaced it with an Old Man Mountain that I had on my tandem.


I've done the Indian Head for the last two years, definitely beautiful but the drive back stinks. It's usually the same weekend as the CWC, makes for a good double century weekend.

Yeah a summer day in Alaska...where the sun never sets

Hey Max. Keep an eye out, plans are brewing.

This just in:

In preparation for the City's bike map we are collecting routes commonly used by bicyclists through a collaborative effort on Google maps. If you have a good bike route you want to share with others please take the time to make sure its on the map. Thanks!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en...a47d16dbfd90b0

Note this is Baltimore City only.

Looks very nice. I'm not certain about NoVa area but the rest looks very good. I was also playing around with a trip through S. MD(like adven tours) but then crossing the bay(Tangiers or Smith Island) then back up through the eastern shore stopping by the ocean. Problem with this is returning over the Bay Bridge.
Harry: How long is this tour, 300-400 miles? If you plan on doing 100+ miles per day it's doable in 3 very hard days. I did those numbers last year(330 in 3 days+a few hours) and can tell you it is rough. You drag yourself into your sleeping bag at night. I find 60-80 miles a day is a good number if you are hauling your stuff and want to enjoy the camp a bit. Beside Barry will be hauling a cooler of beer for us:D
Folks: start looking at your calendars, start building marital equity, this trip is going to happen.
Time: I say lets look into spring(hopefully dry), and before the bugs become an issue. April/May ish. It ain't that far away.

Hey Barry I could have sworn you gave a similar map but it had a lot more routes. What happened to all of the other routes. My route was on the other map(someone else put it on the map).

One Less Car has another map "in the works." I have a meeting with Carol later this week and I will see where that stands with the turnover. Hopefully we can get the OLC map to be Balto metro area so as not to duplicate efforts. This mapping effort has been in the pipeline for about two years and stuff keeps happening, its maddening but at least it is getting more attention.