Yikes. Sorry, I just got in. Your ride leader was out partying :beer:
Weather looks not too good, but then again not too bad either.
I'll be at the start at 9:15. If the riding is crappier than expected I'll do the short version.

:roflmao2: Seriously though, you are and inspiration, can't I get something out of you like calories burned, money saved on gas, something?

How about how much money I saved not even needing Geico! [untrue--still got a cage]

I'll think of something. Deadline? [So, I can procrastinate until then.]

I'm up... have been since 5am. I'm not feeling especially recovered from yesterday, so I'm going to hold you to your word about that 15 mph speed. I'm dumping some coffee au lait, oatmeal au lait, water, and Mike & Ikes down my gullet at the moment. I may have to chase that with some ibuprofen just before I leave.

See ya at about 9:15.

Sheesh...:twitchy:... just looked outside and it snowed! :D

Bob? What ya gonna do? The temps are right at freezing and I'm not sure how much salt is left on the roads, but I'm packed--just need to get lubed [embrocated] & dressed.

Hmm... I don't want to be reckless, but it still seems like a ride day to me. I trust that the roads are warm enough from the recent temps that freezing is unlikely. I'll still be there at 9:15, but you should make your own call on it.

Dude, I'm already dressed! :innocent:

I may start meandering my way there.

BTW, the bulk of the precip is just south in Virginia heading north. I'm kinda excited in a way. :eek: More Mike & Ikes!

EDIT! There calling for 8 inches overnight!

March 6, 2009 at 4:00 PM to "Amber K. Blake" <ablake@baltometro.org>

And the same encouragement goes to all you other peps out there, every one has cool story, Charlie and his folder, GB looking for extra hills on his commute.

Also we are in need of photos of cyclists, bike infrastructure, or facilities in your jurisdiction (Balto Metro area.)

Snow ride. Take it easy. :D

LOL! :lol:

Out in 15 [mikes]. <-- military speak for 15 minutes, in case ya didn't know.

Even though I don't commute now, I still lost over 30lbs commuting alone in addition to not driving saving money on gas.

If you want I'm sure I can come up with a quote along the lines of

"Commuting by bike has made me more aware of my surrounding and happenings in my own neighborhood by slowing down and taking it all in. In addition to that I have lost over 30lbs, I am also more fit than I have even been, Commuting only take 10 minutes longer by bike but the benifits make it well worth it"

Feel free to change,edit or not use it, if you do want to use it I can change into bike/work clothes and get the wife to take a pic

(though I spent all the money saved and then some on bike stuff instead)

Nice :thumb:

Congrats on losing 30 lbs, cool. It's not my decision to include or exclude a quote so all are welcomed. Email me or Amber your full name and a pic and we'll see what happens. (my email address can be found here: http://baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/information )

I always liked the half hour workout in 10 minutes extra of my time so I saved time angle. I hear ya in not saving money but we won't tell the newbes that. ;)

NR, again, good riding with you. Gracias.

We handily finished the Lake to Furnace 100K without any weather incidents. A few moments of snow, but luckily no slippery rds. Lotsa climbing on this route. NR was so tired from his ride yesterday that I barely kept up. :lol:

The Lake to Furnace
01 March, 2009

Baltimore Bike Club (BBC) member, Bob (BikeForums.net nickname - Greater Brown) and I met at Baltmore's Lake Montebello at just about 9am. We both rode from our respective homes to the lake, nearly 8 miles for me.

While riding around the lake for a few loops, I noticed that the wind was out of the north. Also, it was snowing with perhaps a little sleet mixed in--a wintry mix.

Bob and I waited for others to show up, but no one else came even though the ride was listed on the BBC listserv and confirmed to be still on.

The ride was pretty uneventful--a good thing on a day like today. Motor vehicle operators seemed very tolerant throughout the ride.

Outside of the city, the winter precipitation was off and on. At one point it was coming down rather steadily.

At the midway point, we stopped for something to eat--hot subs at Three Brothers Pizza. Bob had a pizza sub and I had a cheeseburger sub with everything splattered with extra hot sauce.

On the way back, we enjoyed a tailwind most of the way and the precipitation stopped completely. It had warmed up, as well.

All in all, it was a great ride. It's always a pleasure riding with Bob. My only gripe [not really--just rattling his cage] is that it seemed like he picked every road that had a hill. Apparently, we rode on one with about a 16 percent pitch. Total climbing was ~5,000 feet, but it felt like more to me, especially after the 7,000+ feet of climbing from yesterday. [It was 6,200 ft if I include my ride to and from the lake from home.]

Activity
Weather:
Performance
Notes
MAP
http://bimactive.com/ba/ui/map_get.p...mapType=street

ELEVATION (FT)
http://bimactive.com/ba/ui/chart_get..._route&units=1

SPEED (MPH)
http://bimactive.com/ba/ui/chart_get...tivity&units=1

Bob, thanks again, for a nicely crafted ride. :beer:

Hey folks; Truly an awesome ride this AM. Drove to the train in C-ville but had quite a bike ride from the train to work. No studs on the bike as I took them off a few weeks back. I was kickin' it old skool. Slip sliding everywhere but enough traction to ride if I took the lane. Shoulders were almost impassable. I had to be very light on the front wheel or I would have gone down for sure. Few cars and they gave me tons of room. When I got to my single track wooded section I was wishing I had a camera to share the beauty of the woods. Needless to say I will be putting the studs back on tonight.
Side note: I bought a new PI balaclava last week to replace my lost 7 year old REI one. The PI was way overkill. It was like wearing a plastic bag over my head. I have find the old one.
NR and GB: Impressive that you rode yesterday. I woke up looked outside and figured you guys were done for the day. Wrong. I am willing to bet you 2 were the only recreational riders in MD yesterday.
Josh: 30lbs, way to go. That will motivate folks to bike to work. Crazy life with my parents(found an nice apt. for them) so the full moon ride may have to wait until April.
Barry: I always say, "My commute is often the best part of my day AND I even like my job and wife." Not many cagers can say that. Except those that hate their job and wife:)

Some nice quotes! :thumb:

Lurkers can chime in too, you know.

:cry: I forgot to turn my alarm on and woke up 1/2 an hour late. Looked outside--not enough snow on the roads, which means to me that the salt trucks and plows were out. But, I still had to dig out the truck, so instead I called work to say I would be in at about 11am. Went back to sleep.

Woke up at 7:30. Looked at the streets. Now, they are covered. Ahhh-ha! Snow removal is becoming overwhelmed and likely concentrating on the main thoroughfares. Called into work to say I won't be coming in after all.

I'm thinking of going out and testing the roads on the bike. I may take my hybrid instead of the road bike since I spent a little more time than usual cleaning the road bike up after yesterday. (And it was filllllllthy--ask GB--my chainrings were so black on the inside that they were starting to look like they were anodized! :eek: )

My hardest decision for the bike today will be whether I should use platforms or go MTB.

Snow Ride 200903-01 http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/21048
02 March, 2009


Shhhhhhhhhhsh! I played hookie from work today!

I did this short ride around the neighborhood, but not after playing around with pedal options.

I started with platform pedals, but I quickly discovered that I had a problem countersteering out of the front wheel that was washing out--well I really didn't know whether using clipless MTB pedals would help--it did.

After I swapped pedals and shoes, I did a couple lines up and down the street and cutting through deeper snow in my front yard. YES! this is feeling better!

I lock the front door to my house and started down the less steep hill on my street. Mace Avenue was pretty clear. Just melted snow and slush along the edges.

So, I rode around finally ending up out at Cox's Point where I took these:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0302091136.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0302091137.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...302091137a.jpg

From Cox's Point I rode back toward the house, but decided to ride around the Birkshire Road area for a little bit (but, also to escape the unrelenting wind from the north which was right in my face.)

Returning from there via Riverside Drive, I headed home. It was the right time to do so, because my drive train--she no more workie!

Once in the front yard I took these pics of the bike:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...02091209-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...302091209a.jpg <--There's an air pump in there somewhere
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...302091209b.jpg <--There a rear derailleur in there somewhere, too

I need fenders!!!!

Activity
Weather: WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL MON MAR 02 2009 02:00 PM EST
Performance
MAP
http://bimactive.com/ba/ui/map_get.p...mapType=street

Funny, I woke up this morning and one of my first thoughts was "I wonder if those dudes in Baltimore are riding today" ! I shouldn't be suprised really.

Days like this made me wish I was still commuting, I would have put the knobbies on the mountain bike (still haven't done it) tranfered the taillight and been the only person on the road, then at work everyone would be in disbelief. **sigh**

On the upside I was one of the many idiots on the road @ 530am, going less than 25mph with their hazards on, I did make it all the way there in one piece, although 1.5 hours.

Anyone else going to do Glenelg March 10th? I'm hoping to make it "my thing" since weekend rides are out til may.

95 was great,695 was ok, 97 was ok, Rt 3/301 was worse than my side street couldn't tell if I was in a lane or not.

Today was really cold, roads clear though. The last mile through the woods kicked my butt. I have to cross a 300 yard meadow(agriculture fields) and there were drifts up to and above my axle. I should have just walked but no I pushed on. It's really hard to re-start peddling after momentum is lost. I was spent by the time I got to work. I'm swapping back to slicks and riding the road.
Josh: 1.5 hrs:twitchy:
NR: You got to play in the snow, excellent. I can't see your pixs but fenders actually suck with a lot of heavy snow. Sometimes the snow gets wedged between the wheel and fenders. They are great for slush and water.
kr32: The main reason for riding is my hatred of car commuting and yesterday would have been a nightmare(ie Josh's commute)

It was mostly the slush being thrown up on to the RD that was a problem. It was stuck in the middle chain ring--better the middle than being stuck on either end, I suppose.

I rode this morning ( http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/21054 ). I was toasty in my woolies!

The wool balaclava worked out well. I was able to breath through it, but it started to frost over by my mouth and nose. This became sort of a feature, because I was able to mold that section as if it had a wire in it. I made it follow the contour of the bottom of my ski goggles. It only got stiff around the edge, so I was still able to breath through it with no problem as long as the effort level was not very high.

I've had problems with the Ultegra STI shifters sucking the heat out of my fingers making a finger or thumb go numb over time. This morning, I cut a hole in each toe of a pair of socks and slid the socks over the shift levers and then over top of the brake hoods. This worked really well at insulating my hands from the shifter. None of my fingers got cold or numb this morning. I got the idea, yesterday, riding the K2, where the shifters on the K2 are rubber and have a leather pad over top of the handle as well. I noticed that my fingers stayed toasty during yesterday's ride. I think that I'll add more "insulation" on the bar tops as well.

An idle brain is the devil's workshop.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...303092059a.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0303092059.jpg

:roflmao2:

Your handlebars look like my hot water pipes... you may be on to something. ;)