a week late, but a new post:
http://bikingbeerandtoast.blogspot.c.../final-14.html

A good read, you ought to think about contributing to Adventure Cycling's magazine.

Oh, and you must be into Zen Buddhism or something, this bit sounds just like my yoga instructor.

I think about the amazing magic of a modern bicycle- all those smartly placed levers, pulleys and cables easing and exerting forces on one another and the energy in and out of that system. I see my body as an equally magical secondary system interacting with the first- pressing and yielding to produce nothing more than to get back to where I started.

;) ommmm............

Hey Max, did you ride the Flatbread this Saturday?

So now I find out you slipped in another dozen miles after the scheduled ride, eh? That's a classic sign of a serious dependency. Ought to have that looked at by a professional. Perhaps the peaceful state of mind you achieved was due to brain cell dehydration or oxygen deprivation.

I'd been wondering where the post-ride feeding frenzy was going to be all day. But by the time we arrived back at ORR all I could think of was the time when Forest Gump decided to stop running (he'd been running for months) and simply announced "I'm kinda tired... think I'll go home now" to his adoring fans. We treated ourselves to Taco Bell carry out and a couple of high end, need-a-bottle-opener type beers to wash 'em down. I was too tired to even watch Sunday Night Football (and we all know how much energy that takes!)

Anyway, Rita and I thought it was nice of you to escort us to the start/finish parking lot even though it was a couple miles out of your way. But on the other hand without that detour you probably wouldn't have gotten "lost" on the way home.

Andy

Wow, everything is so different and of course....sloooower....
Did this site get hit w/ some malicious code??

Weird. It's so 90's style.

Charlie, what version of studded tires did you run last year? will you ride them again this season? (I'm thinking about getting the 650b Nokians for the Kogswell)

Gray commute this morning. Kinda nice actually.

Hi Baltimore folks. Anyone up for
a ride tomorow from Oregon Ridge? Maybe 2 hours
or so starting around 10am?

I'm in a writing mood:
http://bikingbeerandtoast.blogspot.c...9/11/odds.html

I think these are the ones.
26" Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106, made in Finland. These folks know snow.
Schwalbe has a decent one as well, less tread more studs. The tread is good for snow but kinda worthless on ice. I find ice to be more of a problem. In recent years snow/ice has not been a problem. If one is riding on bike trails, sidewalks and bike path then these are essential. Check out Peter Whites site for a good breakdown.

[QUOTE=balto charlie;10055948]Schwalbe has a decent one as well, less tread more studs. The tread is good for snow but kinda worthless on ice.

I just received my new set of Schwalbe Marathon Winters earlier this week in the mail. Haven't ridden them yet obviously, but they are packed with studs compared to the W106s. In my experience, the tread type makes almost no difference on glare ice. Ice performance is dictated by the size, type and frequency of the studs. Without studs, you're going down on ice. My experience comes from motorcycle ice racing, agreed different than bicycle commuting but still similar. Deeper tread works for you when the ice is covered with loose ice shavings or snow. Since my commute to work uses about 4 miles of rail trail (never gets plowed), I went for the tire with studs farther up the side wall than the W106 to deal with the inevitable snow ruts that will form. Peter White has done a pretty good job of listing the pros and cons of each tire type. Has a sense of humor too. I think I would like this guy.
Andy

This place is like a ghost town. Is it because the new BF interface is SLOW and sucks? or nobody riding any interesting rides.
None for me but I ran the Philly half m yesterday.

Cool! How'd you do? How are you feeling today? How did your race compare to the Baltimore 13.1 miler?

My last ride is in my blog--only 80 miles.

yes to all of the above. Not only is it slower but you have an extra click to get to our page. Our 'topic' is one of the longest and oldest topics on the board. I have a hard time logging onto to folks blogs from work so I often don't.
Harry: half marathon, way to go.
NR: you are approaching 50K for 4 years, gotta be the Mike and Ikes.

3,000 miles in about 40 days... no problem! :p

So, which one of you rides a yellow Lemond?

I was on my way home from work one day, and passed a guy riding down Roland Ave. Approximately 4 hours later, I was returning from a visit downtown, and saw the same guy on Roland Ave again, catching a water break at the light.

I just had to say, I'm jealous of your ride!

Wouldn't be me. I ride a blue 2005 Giant TCR carbon--past couple days w/lights and race blade fenders. I would be in the Towson area heading southeast.

Wet morning ride in, but I stayed warm, which is all that really matters, until I get to work and change into dry clothes.

I'm still slow but avoiding injury so maybe I can progress. My time was actually one minute faster than Baltimore, literally 1 minute and change. It was a flatter course, just a few minor hills on the back end.
I haven't really trained consistently but will try again for the next. I was in one of the last corrals so I had to pass a lot of people which made me feel faster. Again, my average HR was up in the high 160s with a lot of time in the mid 170s and spiking to like 182. So even though I only do a 2:20 half m the effort level is analogous to a two hour climb-on the bike-for me.

I rode in the rain this morning down to the gym for my spinning class and weights. Thought about hopping in the car and then thought of you guys. My REI raincoat is really not a rain coat, not water repellent at all. Note to self-new gear for Christmas. Anybody recommend a good rain coat, cold weather jacket? I just ordered some Sidi winter shoes-KA CHING!!

NR-To answer your question. My legs felt pleasantly sore on Monday, no sharp pains in the knees or anything, but they did hurt a bit today after riding back from the gym.

Harry: showers pass is considered by many to "be" the rain jacket. Very pricey. I don't own it so can't really say. Check these lobster style glove overmitts. Wish I hadn't bought my mountaineering gloves last spring. These are orange w/ reflective tape.
http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-t...in-covers.html
Tried to post yesterday with some very funny remarks but BF sent them into the abyss.
Another squish squish day commuting but better than yesterday.

There are many styles of Showers Pass jackets. I spent $125 on mine.
http://www.showerspass.com/products....roduct=Touring

I am hoping to get off work this saturday. If I can, I'll ride up to Carol and Walt Russell's BBC ride.
Who's riding what this weekend?

I'm planning on doing the BBC Bob Moore ride on Thursday and then on Friday the 9 AM ride from City Hall. Not sure what I'll do over the weekend.

I'm aimless.

I can't go long, because I don't want to show up at my parents' house for turkey dinner exhausted and wanting to take a nap.

I don't want to drive anywhere to get to a ride.

So, maybe the solution to this dilemma is to do a ride up toward Edgewood/Abingdon with a backpack of clothes making my parents' house the final destination, have dinner, sleep over, then do another ride from there in the morning, sans the backpack, to ...(?)

I'm open to suggestions.

Whatever I do, I should make up my mind soon.

By the way, if you guys are having problems with using Internet Explorer 7 (or earlier), I suggest switching (if you are allowed to--at work, I'm not) to FireFox. BF behaves correctly under FireFox (and, it's free).

Happy Thanksgiving to all the MD peeps!! Sorry I've been so off the radar of late; life has just been . . . well, sucking the life out of me. :0

GB, no, I didn't do the Flatbread ride -- in a classic "dog ate my homework" moment, I set my alarm, went to bed, woke up and was disoriented to see that it was dimly light outside and already 7:00. I eventually figured out that I had managed to set the alarm for 4:00 p.m. instead of a.m. *sigh*

I did my feasting last weekend in Pennsylvania, so I'm just hanging out today. I think I'm going to ride down to Annapolis, and maybe Thomas Point. My little sister is having her big 4-0 birthday (today, actually), and she's coming down tomorrow afternoon to spend the weekend with me. So, the weekend agenda looks like lots of beer :) but no bike :(

Just finished a T Day ride with a couple guys, 14 miles through Mt Washington. Smith Ave. is a ***** after running a 5k.
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Bob, I'll check out that Saturday ride.