Handsome, I'm pretty much decided on a ride to Frederick (this one: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/476398) for our January outing. (haven't decided on whether it'll be the 2nd or the 9th)

If you're up for the cold weather riding and the the hills on Rt.144 we'd love to have you.
(more info about this monthly century series in the Rando Ramble link below)

Handsome, Handsome, Handsome: All stout brewers try to emulate Guinness, as far as I can tell they have all failed. Lots of great stouts out there but only 1 Guinness.

NR: thinking about you last night. I did my typical 23 mile commute(friggin' cold) then added 10-12 more to go to and from the bike meeting. I can't believe you do that and more everyday, kudos dude. You probably have the most miles of anyone in this state.

My Magicshine light(in a current recall) did well last night. Temps were in the low 20's for the AM and PM commutes, battery lasted 2.5 hours. Hopefully they remedy the recall because this beast is bright. I rode on some really dark 2 lane roads and it lit up the road.

How was the meeting?

Didn't know about that meeting.

GB-I will put your Rando on my calendar and try again-

This Saturday I am heading up to York. Friend of mine Bennett, from Virginia, some of you know him, is heading to York to pick something up. So he'll sleep at my place Friday night then we'll head up to York and do a ride from there. I have a route mapped from the Heritage trail down around Pretty Boy and back. Contemplating riding back to Baltimore after we get back to York trail head. I will probably have limited daylight at that point but figure can always jump on the NCR with lights and truck down to Hunt Valley light rail to Falls and then ride up Lake. or Just light up and ride home in dark.

Anybody care to join?

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...29182908689394

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...29190126413570

Meeting: Lots of legaleaze stuff about the 3 foot law, criminal negligence manslaughter charges vs JUST manslaughter, crash vs accident, and other legal jargon issues. Important issues but better for those that understand. I did not. Other legal issues were fines for parking in bike lane(like balto city), arrest for leaving the scene of an accident if there is injury(I kinda figured this was a crime??) and 1 or 2 other items.

Stuff I understood

ICC: Jon Morrison is leading the charge to re-instate bike path along new freeway or bike access onto it
.
Complete streets: All new roads MUST have bikes and peds in mind when they are built. This is already a law but not followed(ie. ICC)

Bikes(full size) on MARC: Don’t hold your breathe though. I have tried over the years to gain access. Since I ride it and know a little about it I am now “the bike MARC” man;-) I’ll try again

***I think the most important issue was the 50/50 vs 80/20 TE matching funds. It is hard for counties to match 50% of project so a 20% match will get more use of the funds. This is especially true for poorer counties. I believe some of this money goes unused. A lawyer said not to spend too much time on this as there may not be TE funds in the near future due to the new congress. He raised a good point.

Trail access after dark. Interesting because a BF member just got a ticket a week or 2 ago. Someone from parks and rec is looking into this but felt parks will be held responsible so they must supply lighting and security. I think this might be best “don’t ask don’t tell”. The police can monitor the trail but if someone passes with lights, helmets commuter type then let them pass.

Funding for advertising 3 foot rule with billboards and signs to educate public.

It was good to meet some of the bike folks, good people. Unfortunately, I don’t think biking is taken seriously by our elected officials and until we have our folks in position, progress will be slow. Apparently many politicians will hold up bills. Why, just because they can.
Side note: Barry is in New York so he didn’t make the meeting. They were hoping he would call as he understands the issues more than most. They were hoping he would call but the conference call really sucked, people had to shout so phone callers could hear. Eventually they gave up and hung up.

Took a little break, starting yesterday--biked from work to my parents' place in Abingdon for a visit, Chinese food dinner and spend the night. RT ~ 16 miles. It was a nice change.

Looks like there's a bit of a snow squall to the west. The prediction is for a relative warm-up through the weekend with precipitation sometime late Sunday, then a possible changeover to some snow. Once that warm front moves through, it's suppose to get even colder than this past week and windy, again. :cry: That squall to the west looks a little closer then Sunday, but what do I know?

It's snowing here in Beltsville, noonish

Snowing a little, here, too--small flakes.

Left for work super late today and I got a little "snow ride" on the way.
Started w/flurries in Mt. Washington and by the time I got in to Owings Mills there was almost a 1/2" on the roads. Welcome to winter.

274!

So, what tires did you ride?

Not studs. And , it was too slippery when I left to head home, so I took the metro shortcut. The city was almost dry but not Owings Mills.

274 = how many more miles until you reach 10,000.

251 as of this AM.
But damn dude, you are closing in fast. No ride today?

edit: ah! just saw your posting on FB :D

Did 71 out of York yesterday with Bennett. Couldn't do my planned ride back from York, we got a 10am start and it was 4pm when we got back to York-and still had to go help B pick up his daughters stuff. Well enough though as I was cramping on last climb (yes, we found a climb in York) and then when I got out of the car back in Bmore both hams seized up, ouch!! took five minutes before I could move, gotta figure that issue out.

Anyway, excellent ride, only did a couple miles on the rail trail coming out of York and then coming north through New Freedom. With that beautiful Pleasant Valley Rd. paralleling the trail it's a wonder anybody would ride the trail. We went down to Pretty Boy and then back up to York. Nice ride.

Hey Folks:
The race is on. Nr looking @ 15K and GB eying up 10K. Crazy numbers boys.
Today's commute was little spooky. Patches of snow and a little ice thrown in but had traction all of the way. Good thing because I don't have my studded bike ready. I went to rebuild my winter ice bike last week and hit a wall! I can't get my shifters off of the bars. Seems a nut is stripped in the bar ends(mnt bike) so I can't slide the shifters off. I have already taken(read:cut) many of the cables from the bike. I also wanted to put on different bars (trekking bars)but they don't fit!! Nothing is working here. I guess I can cut the mnt bars to remove my shifters but now need to find another bar that fits. Back to the drawing board.
Dress warm , going to be a cold week.

I rode studded this morning--only lost 1 mph. The wind was not much of a factor at that time, but it will be during my approach to Pulaski Hwy on the way home.

@Harry - were you drinking enough?

@charlie - sorry to hear about the shifters.

Barry posted on Facebook that he's got his bike back together since his move to NY and that he can't wait to ride.

Harry,
Your York county riding with Bennett inspired me to dig back into the On Again/Off Again route for some rethinking and tweaking. That ride is a tough one no matter how you rout it, but it's a great ride and I want to try to improve it. So, I did a lot of vertical foot analysis in small chunks, attempting to minimize the nasty climbs by substituting them with trail sections and also attempting to run the hard road parts in the easier direction. I shortened it a bit too. Hopefully, it's a little more fun to ride.

Charlie,
I, like you, have several different bikes and I'm amazed that sometimes I feel like don't have a workable bike for a given day. How is that possible??!! My issues weren't near as bad as yours seem, but I did have problems getting my new studded tires mounted (finally got some to fit the Kogswell- the bike I wanted them on in the first place). However, the tire beads fit my wheels loosely, and were initially popping off. I was exasperated not being able to get them working for this weekend's icy conditions. I was thinking about getting my clothes and bikes ready for winter way back in October, but at that time I couldn't even remember what winter biking was anymore.

Go figure.

Moving day did not go as planed but it's behind me now and done.

My Legislative Priorities:
Allow drivers to pass over double yellow when safe + Idaho Stop (legalize current safe practices and remove an excuse for close and unsafe passing by motorists.)

Anything we can attach Natasha Pettigrew name to. (Close the I thought I hit a deer loophole in hit-and-run)

Remove the highway too narrow to pass exception on our 3' law.

And of course the funding issue.
***********************************

On Funding, the thing people are missing is we have tons of unspent Federal money. Additionally, while the new CLEAN-TEA may not be as dreamy as American Bicyclists once hoped but I'm willing to bet by Maryland current standards it will still be a vast improvement.

Federal policy reads something like after decades of car centric planing we need to encourage Enhancement of the current road network for all users.

While MD's reads something like after decades of car centric planing we will allow a separate bicycling network if the localities want it bad enough so they are willing to pay half and if it is expensive enough to be a capital expenditure and if it is a stand alone project.

So far the localities that have made bike master plans have been disqualified for not being stand alone projects, not expensive enough for capital projects and unwilling to pay 50% for the small portion that is left.

The other hard thing is to get at is what SHA is doing and then in the same breath MDOT makes difficult for anyone else to do the same.

*****
NYC: Besides getting over a bad cold, it's good to be back here. I'm about a mile south of of Prospect Park so a nice location for me but damn I am going to miss you guys.

riding
 

@NR-yah I hydrate fine and I even stuck to heed and perpetuem plus snacks with salt etc. I have bad circulation in legs and that may be part of it but may just be muscle fatigue. I do so few 60+ mile rides and just so happens that my cramps start at 60. So need more long rides plus think I'll try some pottassium suplement.

I may have run short on nutrition because around New Freedom I felt a tad bonkish and then went down from there. So, more food, more salt, more fluids-maybe Guinness would help.

@GB-Yes Your route was the inspiration though we spent very little time on the trail. Missed a turn coming out of York so we stayed on the trail for maybe 8 miles-bore. I felt great on the hills at PBoy but there was one coming into York that I cramped on-Reynolds Mill I believe.

I'll look for your post on Jan Rando-I may be hiking in Shenandoah on Jan 8-9th.

Tonight's ride home was a little nippy:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/59651108

Last night was brutal. Winds were right in my face or hitting from the side. Sucked either way. And really really cold.

Studs are essential today. Most roads are clear but intersections are all iced over. I drove today:o

I rode, again... left the studs on:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/59682702

Ouch. Those cursed NW winds were getting into my psyche this morning. I was trying my best to think of them as just the same morning winds I always get, but they seemed a little more personal this morning.
The crossing guards I pass every morning looked miserable, hopping back and forth from frozen foot to frozen foot.

No rides on the studs yet for me.

Hey Barry how's it going? You were truly missed at the task force meet last week. They decided to wait for another year before tackling the 3 ft law. They offered some reason that make sense. Want to see how drivers react with the current ad campaign to the law.
Seems few folks are truly aware of the 80/20 vs 50/50. Schaeffer from MNPPC will be leading this. I might help. I told the group that I thought there was still unspent monies but no one really seemed to know.
For soem, of your legal chages they are getting a lawyer to come up with proper wording.
Later man, Report back on the NYC biking.

I kept looking at my bike thinking...I have time......no I don't! SO I decided to "steal" my sons commuter bike(old rigid mnt bike which he stored in my garage for winter) and slap on the studs until I remedy my mnt bike. Hope to wrench this Sunday, we'll see. My daughter graduates from college this Saturday(she finished in 3.5 years!!!) so this may dominate the entire weekend.

No studs!! This am while drove in, I saw a bunch of ice. Was just out at noon and saw none, where did it go? I'll be back on bike tomorrow. I always feel something is missing if I don't bike to work.

Phantom commute
 

@GB-What is your route up to Owings Mills? What time do you leave? I don't have a commute and finding it hard to get motivated to ride in a.m. Idea of spinning or trainer all winter makes me ill, rather freeze than die of boredom. Send me a private mssg.

I bailed on yesterday's ride home spending the night at work--didn't feel like battling the wind, again, even though I had better clothing choices this time, but by the time I addressed the tasks for the day, it was getting late.

I'm way ahead of schedule, so no worries:

http://twitpic.com/show/full/3g4avy.png

dag dude, sleeping at work.

So you missed this AMs commute, 18F at the start but no wind. It wasn't too bad, Mondays ride home was worse. I was dressed well. MARC train was 30 friggin' minutes late though. I was so cold for the second ride but did warm up eventually, around mile 4. I had more wool on me than a sheep. Gloves were really good, mountaineering gortex covers, thick poly inserts and my thin wool liners. I still have one more layer of warm clothing to go to if the temps go lower but it's only mid December:eek: We haven't even hit February. Gonna be a long winter.

I left the climbing gym last night and there was a commuter bike parked out front. It had those wind breaking mitts(pogies like kayakers use) attached to the drops. Looked very interesting. Since I use 2 bikes it won't work for me(hassle to remove, I think). You guys might be interested in them.
http://winter-cycling-gloves.com/expedition-pogies.php

Also, I tapped the Belgium Dubbel last night. This was made many, many months ago in anticipation of Christmas. Mighty fine I might say, Brewers Art look out!