Does anyone know about any upcoming races in Maryland?

Check here:

Cyclocross
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http://www.bikereg.com/events/Defaul....y=17&btnGo=GO

Proteus Bikes has a cross race coming up in February.

Road
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http://www.bikereg.com/events/Defaul....y=19&btnGo=GO

Not much going on in road.

A little Irish Whiskey before work......I'll think about it. Currently making tea and honey which becomes cold tea by the end of the commute. Going to look for a nice thermos.

I'm interested but think the NCR trail might be clear of snow at this time.

While biking in this morning a car's horn sounded(door lock horn) and engine started. Inside lights were on so I looked as I passed. No one was inside!!! I guess the owner was still inside his toasty home, sipping coffee, starting his car and watching TV. He was multi tasking:-) Again a little snow with very thin cloud cover before daybreak. This is so strange but it is really cool to ride in it.

I had some jack-hole in an older (70s?) car take up a position right behind me at the intersection of Route 7 and Rossville Blvd--like he didn't see my brightly flashing Dinotte tail light. He was forced to follow me, slowly--I took the lane--until the first right hand turn about a quarter of a mile up the hill heading towards Essex Community College where he turned off--he was stuck there due to traffic in the other two lanes.

Not too long after that, another jack-hole in a "sports" car decided to pass me close.

Other than that (hasn't happened in quite a while), my commute was comfortable/enjoyable. There were flurries flying in some spots. I was sort of wishing that it would just go ahead and snow!

At the intersection of Route 1 (Belair Rd) and Putty Hill Ave, someone decided to dump a lot of water, now a big sheet of ice that covered the whole foot of the lane heading up the hill. I had a running start at it getting over the ice and on to clear road with no problems with the studded tires. I wrote MDSHA on Twitter about the ice.

I would be up for the NCR ride though you will need studs, I don't have any. I was on the NCR this a.m for a 4 mile run starting from the bottom trailhead at Ashland. After the one mile mark it is pretty much completely ice, bumpy ice from people having walked in the melted snow before it froze. I had a sugar low after one mile anyway, sometimes happens, need to bring a gel with me next time. I'll have to redo the run tomorrow on a track.

I've heard that the Trade Zone races start in February but no registration yet on BikeReg.

Harry, do you have a bike that has wide enough forks?

C'mon, guys! Studded tires could last you for three or more seasons! They're a blast.

It's not like we'd be moving so fast on them that you couldn't catch yourself. Bob? Harry? Josh?

Ummm...I don't want to exclude Barry, but Barry? Have you ever ridden that monster-truck-bike with studded tires?

I've been trying. see my earlier post. Peter White will not carry them for 650b this year even though they are available. And he's the only source in the US that Euro distributors will deal with. (stupid exclusive dealer status) :mad:

I'm waiting for a response from a Swedish online retailer.

I have never been on studded tires but I have been mountain biking on that thing of mine if that counts for anything.

From my mail box: Does anyone have a suggestion for getting from Towson Town Center to White Marsh mall?

Can someone help? I'm not that familiar with the roads around White Marsh.

I have the Trek 520 touring bike, it has big fat cyclocross tires on it now.

Barry, have them try this route:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...to-White-Marsh

They have to be comfortable in traffic, though.

It's not the most direct. I use much of the same route from work (E. Joppa Rd ) to home.

Not much of a snow ride this morning:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/29215

http://twitpic.com/show/full/x6umm.jpg

I agree that Balto Co was in good shape but you should have ridden in PG Co. They never do a good job on the side roads where I commute . Lots of untouched roads to have fun on. Some were thin ice and some barely had any car tracks. I also went back into the woods where I got Lymes this summer and rode some single track, first tracks! It was a fun commute this morning.

How bumpy is the trail, ride-able or too many footprints?

I guess I'm going to find out, because I'm pretty sure that the BBC will cancel all of their rides for tomorrow and DC RAND is participating in a 200K brevet on Saturday, so I may ride up to the NCR and do some trail riding just to play around on the studded tires.

Anyone want to meet up somewhere?

I ran on it (tried) to this week, okay from Ashland up to mie 1 then gets icy and bumpy, probably okay for studs otherwise I imagine you would fall and break something.

I'm looking into studded tires so I have one less reason to ride. I'm not willing to ride down Lake Ave at 6am on ice, can't afford broken bones.

So, Schwable has some, Continental, Innova. I can't imagine there is that much difference, maybe width and 120 or 240 stud count.

You sure put some red dots on the screen today. How was the trail?

It sucked!

Footprints in the snow:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/29240 Part 1
http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/29241 Part 2

http://twitpic.com/show/full/xfkss.jpg

http://twitpic.com/show/full/xfl92.jpg

I warned you that it was icy, frozen footprints must have been bumpy as heck.

I was doing my 6 mile run, ahem-run-walk, warm up in car-run-walk-at Lake Montebello this morning.

You'll never guess who I saw doing loops? There were actually a couple of brave cyclists out there. I may try it tomorrow on the fixie.

Let's see... ummmm, Janet? And, perhaps "Teacher" Bob?

Woohoo! Crisp ride in this morning! Not much wind--had to open my jacket:

http://twitpic.com/show/full/xnkd4.png

yeah, coldest commute since last winter. studs need to come off but it was too cold this morning to mess with them. No biking for me this weekend but did brew a batch of Kolsch.

I figured the bike trail was gonna suck. They usually do after folks walk on them.

Unscheduled stop at Performance Bike Shop, Towson:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/29293

Gives these guys your business. They were great at getting me back on the road!

Today I did a very strange thing: I rode 20+ laps around Lake Montebello.

I was hoping to meet Harry to ride our fixed gear bikes, but I think I screwed up his morning scheduling.
He couldn't make it. So, on a whim I set out to see how many laps I could do without
getting bored and annoyed. I was surprised.

The first thing I realized is that it's difficult to keep track of how many
laps you've ridden when you don't have a cyclo computer. So I devised an
artificial memory system using a binder clip. I'd flip up one "arm" of the
clip for the first lap and the second arm for the second lap. Then the first
arm down for 3 and the second for 4 laps. Then I'd move my Dinotte light
cable from the right side of my stem to the left to designate 5 and begin
again with the binder clip. Perfect.

I was the only rider there at around 3PM. My half hour watch alarm went off
as I was nearing my 8th lap. I was enjoying seeing the recurrent faces in
the oncoming ped lane. There was a woman dressed entirely in black Lycra
including a sinister black balaclava. She was running at what seemed like an
impossibly fast pace and she kept it up the whole time I was out there.
Running is hard and she was amazing to watch. A kind-faced Asian man smiled
and nodded hello to me each and every time I passed. Geese were making silly
noises announcing their arrivals and departures and the striated ice on the
lake made a blurry reflection of the sky. Then a few other bikie types
showed up and I got distracted.

I started measuring my speed against theirs. I'd glance across the park and
note their position every time I passed a particular light post. I was
closing in. I began trying to predict how many more laps it would take me to
over take them. This is probably common mind games for the usual suspects
riding Montebello, but I was a newb and excited. I imagined myself as fast
as a Janet Goldstein and as focused as a "teacher" Bob. When I'd get to the
only headwindy part of the loop I'd rise up and accelerate into it. I
finally pushed a few more yards and I was in their draft. Strange. They
weren't trying to pull ahead of me at all. They looked like they were just
enjoying their ride.

I chatted for a bit. Nice guys. Then pulled ahead hoping to warm up my toes
a bit. I was just finishing up a lap when it hit me that I'd completely
forgotten about my binder clip memory tool. Hmm... How many laps then? I was
guessing at a number. The asian man was gone and I hadn't noticed when. The
runner was chatting with a friend and cooling down. The kids poured out of
Montebello elementary. It must have been around 20 laps. I reasoned that I
ought to ride one more lap to be sure. I rode two instead and then headed
back to Hampden stopping at the donut shop on the way home. A good ride.

GB great post! You are a better man then me as after three laps I get really really board.