Harry. twitter, hold old are you 14? joking of course.

Anyway my lower back is most sore, really depends on how I move, sometimes it feels fine, sometimes like in the AM it hurts a lot, doc gave me some meds. Follow up therapy appointment on Monday, Doctor appontment in another week or so.

Funny thing about it is if I ride I don't feel no pain, but be that euphoric effect. I did get in 8 miles/1 hour at patasco. Man there are way more hills and rocks than I remember, bike did get a "little" muddy, there were a ton of people out thursday. Ton of gun, it kicks my buddys *****, we were taking breaks every 5 feet.

More news, I recently took another job at the top of the hill in ellicot city @ the international dealer start in 2 weeks, do I smell a 17 miles bike commute??? Me thinks I do, only 2 days a week or so due to wife work and school though. My climbing might improv, ya think?

How unsafe is frederick rd from the city to 695? I know the rest of the route just no familiar with that part, maybe make a dry run tues night and back.

Also I did get my minivan an 06 Kia Sorrenta w/16K, tons of safty stuff,airbags,trac control,abs. Thats good when you have kids, lot safer than a focus coupe.

what is that? I spelled a $$ (w/o the space) and it changed it to a bunch of asteriks

Twitter is so last year, check out Flutter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeLZCy-_m3s

Fredrick Rd. is fine, some don't like the neighborhood but I haven't had any issues.

Yes and no.

I missed the CAT 4 race where teammate Aaron won first place.

I caught the last few laps of the Men's CAT 5, Women's CAT 4, and 15-18 Jr's CAT 5 races.

When I got to Mt Joy, I was totally soaked to the bone. I looked for my teammates and saw Jeff Frost first.

Shortly after that, Aaron, Jeff, and Matt (from another team) who got a ride with Jeff and I sat if Jeff's mini-van to thaw out. Jeff saw that I was shivering and offered me a ride back. At first I tried to be stubborn and insist on riding home, but after more of the water soaked in, I decided that the prudent thing was to take up Jeff's offer. Besides, they were stopping for lunch at the Lancaster Brewing Co. I was ready for a beer!

Here's what I sent over Twitter if anyone attempted to follow (hc203?):

My bad, should have never said the four letter word. I work up this morn @630(to work on taxes:() and thought about you. It was really coming down. How was the brew?


It knows you have a potty mouth.

You really got "it" bad. I like the Ellis as well, Doug's bike was awesome.

:thumb: Gunn is hard for people with original hips:)

I work near Proteus if you want to go for lunch or a nooner ride. We can test out your fit and knee.

The brew was good! I had their house porter.

Easy ride, a little sketchy (to me) but the best and quickest way out of town. It is my main street to the city, ride it often. Sketchiest area is between Westside shopping center and Carey street. Never any physical problems but some verbal issues.

You can use the word ass on BF.

# @hc203 Apparently not hardcore enough. I didn't get the entire ride completed as planned.

yes,hardcore. hypothermia- not hardcore.

The customs are beautiful-but some way too pricey.

Note to self run lights between westside and carey.

also ASS ASS ASS ASS ASS, just seeing if it works.

:roflmao2: It looks like your fine as long as you stay away from those naughty dollar signs. :p

I just moved from the eastern shore to Glen Burnie and while looking around, found the B-A trail is right around the corner from my place. After hearing about it for so long and finally getting a chance to check it out, I was rather disappointed. It's really narrow, has a good amount of on-trail traffic and lots of places where you have to cross busy streets.

As someone who likes to maintain a moderate pace (18-25), is there a preferred spot to travel down the trail where one can find a spot worthy of a faster ride or am I doomed to have to load my bike up on the car and drive somewhere?

And yeah, I tried the search feature but I kept getting the first page of results.

Today I had my first official ride that was over 20 miles where my average was over 15 mph. :beer:

15.6 on this 36 mile route. http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/276371

I wasn't even really working it too hard either. I used a bit of the BWI trail and the WB&A trail. Once you get out of the city, its MUCH easier to get your speed up. Most of my rides at least start/end in the city so I think that is what crushes my average mph. Sometimes getting away from the hills is fun.

I would also like to add that my new carbon fiber bike is MUCH smoother than my chromoly/aluminum bike. My Kona will now only be used to travel to Oriole Games. I honestly never thought that it would make this much of a difference. I did have some issues with my cassette. When buying the bike I was discussing with the shop about my cassette options. I was told the bike came with a 12-25 cassette. I was inquiring about a 11-25. They said that I could go to 11-23 if I wanted but they didnt have a 11-25. I did not want to give up the 25 (and I would have had to pay for the 11-23).

After a few rides, I decided to count the teeth. It had an 11-23 on there. I took it back and they put a 11-25 on there like I had wanted in the first place! no charge......... I got the cassette that I wanted in the first place and I was a very happy customer. :thumb: and Go O's!

So what did you get? If you're going to pass me like I'm standing still, I'll need to know since I won't be able to read for myself. :)

If the weather holds out next week, I'd like to travel the full length of these routes should anyone be interested in riding with company.

Or if you see a guy on a grey Cannondale CAAD9 in either an ABRT/Latitude or Hammer kit, feel free to say hi. I don't bite.

It is a Fuji Team. I wouldnt say I am much faster :( , but it is a nicer ride. Maybe just a little faster up the hills due to the drop in weight.

rizz,

The B&A has a 15 mph speed limit and as you've now witnessed, it can be loaded with all kinds of other users. If you want to go faster, you'll need to ride the roads.

Since you are in Glen Burnie, you may want to check out the Severna Park Peloton (SPP) bike club. They ride the roads in that area. They'd be a great resource for determining which roads to use. They usually have a club ride on Saturday morning starting at 7:30am at the bridge that crosses over the East West Hwy (they call it "the rusty bridge") or they meet at the ranger station further south on the trail.

Their website is: http://www.severnaparkpeloton.org

Interesting route. I'll have to check out the WB&A sometime. I've never been on it.

Rizz, I'll second NoRacer's post -- there is some decent road riding in the area. You can use the B&A Trail as a jumping-off point for a lot of it; follow the trail down to Annapolis and points south, or over to Sandy Point State Park. When I lived out your way, I used to do a route that started from Robinson Road that wound around the Severn River area. It was about 40-couple miles, as I recall.

If you just want a ride without thinking too much about traffic, head north on the B&A until you get to the BWI Airport Trail. It's a 10.5 mile loop, and while it is just as narrow as the B&A, it tends to draw *far* fewer of the "kids and strollers" crowd (except for right around the Dixon Observation Area, but you can avoid that part if you want by staying on Dorsey Road.) The BWI Trail also has road crossings, but, especially on weekends, traffic is negligible, and for most of the crossings, the sight lines are pretty good. The BWI Trail also has a few more hills (well, bumps in the road, anyway -- :) -- "hills" compared to the very flat B&A.)

http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/bwi/index.htm

Edited to add PS: If you hit the B&A Trail very early on the weekends, you'll see a fair number of go-fast guys (and a few girls) zipping up and down.

Does look like a nice ride.
Here's a link for the PG Co. part of the trail. I have heard(Spokes??) that they are going to build a bridge over the Patuxent River for this trail. I assume this will connect the PG County section to the one you rode, here's a link to part of the trail in PG.
http://www.pgparks.com/places/maps/wba-2002.pdf
nba: does the trail in AA co(where you rode) go south of Patuxent rd along Bragers rd? Or does it end at Pax rd?

I haven't been reporting on this trail as I tend to report problems or completions and I don't do much in progress reports but from what I remember from the last MBPAC meeting PG County is willing to pay for half the cost of the bridge and AA is not but both counties have or will have their portion of the trail done up to the bridge. If the economic situation improves I am confident that AA will have a change in heart about this bridge. If not they will hear from me. ;)

Seems I got the info from East Coast Greenway. It agrees with what you stated AND what I stated??? Here's part of an email I got:

".....MDOT has brokered an agreement to finally build the WB&A Trail bridge across the Patuxent River, which will connect the AA County and PG County sections of the trail and complete a huge section of the Greenway through Maryland.
Rumor has it that AA County is balking and may need a little persuasion to fund their share........ "

Why would MDOT agrees when one of the sides has not ponied up the $$. So I guess it is not a done deal. Then again, maybe it is, just folks playing politics.

That North Ave section must be scenic. Is that a 36 mile ride one way? Must be. Did you get a ride back or do an out and back?

Back stepping a bit, funding of bike projects is a combination of local and Federal Funds. While places like Portland, OR use a 20:80 match (local pays 20%) per Federal policy, Maryland requires a 50% match from the locals. Not to mention that Thunderhead Alliance reports that Maryland spends some of the lowest percentages of Federal funding on bike/ped projects. So I am working on changing State policy in administering Federal funds to make this bridge (and other bike projects) a lot more palatable to AA County and to other counties as well.

So while pressure on AA county is good, it should be noted that accommodating cyclists in Maryland is harder then in other parts of the country because of State Policies.

Hartford Ave and North Ave are good "incentive training" roads to ride faster. :p

I'm helping my Physical Therapist train for a century ride and we went out for a 40 mile ride Sunday (ran in to GB on the way too which was nice.) Anyway this is the 40 mile route I came up with which I thought was kind of cute as the more country like roads were all in the city.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-Country-Urban