Better than a major meltdown (or seize up).

Today was hot. Ride up to ORR this morning had alternating patches of hot and cold air. But, I knew the cold air was doomed as soon as the sun got higher in the sky. Nice group of riders. Dan Artley was trying to push himself a bit to get ready for Bike VA. He designed a real nice route with some good climbs and much needed shade too. There were a ton of riders out today. I wasn't even sure who was with Dan's group. And we were constantly passing riders. At one point I was chatting with another rider and got shouted at because I was too far into the oncoming lane where there were riders going the other direction. Never had that happen before.

I got ahead of the group with another guy as we went up Gorsuch and then got into the Prettyboy hills. We soft pedaled for a bit, but never did see the group behind. I kept up a comfortable pace (eventually alone) not feeling too guilty for it. Got home nicely tired and luckily no cramps on the way back up Jerome Jay. 76 miles.

BF ate my last post:-(
Here it is again. Wedding in the family so many family members came in from out of town. Party was the main focus....then recovery:-) I did ride a short 30 miler on Sunday morn through the hills of Catonsville. Since it was short had to make it hurt...and it did.
@GB: are you going to the Cirque, you haven't talked about it.
@ everyone: Tour Dem Parks on June 13th. Apparently sign-up is much lower than last year. See, they already miss Barry. Anyway spread the word if you can and try to attend. I hope to work it, anyone else? If I work it I might then go to Hon fest if it is the same weekend.
http://www.tourdemparks.org/joomla/index.php

Yeah, BF has been acting screwy with my recent posts too. Dunno.

Charlie, I'm (unfortunately) not going to the Cirque as it is next weekend and I work on Sat and have the Ramble scheduled for Sunday. Alas. I scheduled the ramble several months ago and hadn't checked the Cirque date.
Are you going? or are you planning on riding my ride up to HdG?

Hadn't heard much about Tour dem Parks either this year. I might volunteer again. Peanut butter bagel anyone?

I just got an email extending their "early bird" registration. I think they're trying to raise consciousness.

There was a whole lotta hate on the road home, yesterday:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/33315

No Cirque for me but a friend mentioned that he was going. I was going to tell him to look for a guy in a salty bike cap. I am planning on going on the rando ride as of now. I am however; nursing an achy knee and a saddle sore. I think the knee might be pedal related, might go back to flats. The saddle sore resulting from my recent build: different seat/seat too high adjustment. I actually wore lycra shorts today to ease the sore. This is my first saddle sore in 6-7 years. We'll see how the aches go this week. Tough getting old....

Maybe the heat was making everyone extra irritable.

I had a day like that about two weeks ago; it was weird. It's extremely rare for me to get deliberately hassled on my commute, and there's not even too much sheer stupidity. But that day I had *two* angry driver episodes on the ride in. I remember thinking "WTF? Is it a full moon, some weird alignment of the stars, whaaaat???"

Desitin helps for me, post-ride, once afflicted--that and "going commando" in loose fitting trousers when not on the bike.

It's hard to stay dry during a ride unless you're doing a very casual pace, but I try to stay dry after the ride as much as possible.

I commando(even @ work today;-) just to cure the problem. I might try the Desitin. I should probably just drive a friggin' car to work for a few days....naw, not gonna happen.

:thumb:

Another thing that (I believe) helped me was a seat with a "cutout" just for the extra airflow. I just replaced my worn out and electrical taped el cheapo Performance saddle with an el cheapo Selle Italia Filante saddle. It has no cutout and I'm really starting to miss that feature.

I've been long dormant on this forum - I live in DC (Branch & Alabama, SE) and a combination of factors have conspired to bring me here looking for advice. I moved offices (now has a shower in the basement) and just got my vintage road bike back from the shop. Therfore, I need to start commuting again.

I work in Landover, MD, in an office park next to the New Carrolton Metro stop. I live in DC, just over the line from PG county, a 5 minute walk from the Naylor Road Metro stop. Taking Metro is 3x as long and 4x as expensive as driving my car. I'm all for alternative transportation, but really... come ON. I think it's about a 10 mile ride if I go straight there. Anyone here familiar with the roads inside the beltway & east of the river? I'm still looking for a good route that won't get me killed. I've been driving a few routes, but it's a bit hard to judge, and it's kind of hit-or miss if I'll actually find anything good.

Here's what Google says:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...&z=13&lci=bike

Cirque's this weekend? Thanks for the heads up. I'm planning on dropping by the Met Branch Trail opening celebration Saturday, so probably the Cirque on Sunday.

Sorry can't help but try this group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BikeWashingtonDC/
There use to be a guy on there that lived in Landover and knew the roads well. If Bikewash can't help then drop back and I'll try to hook you up with him. He has since moved out of state but should be able to help.

Tonight is TMD's "First Thursday in the Park". Last months was lots of fun with excellent music and beer. I am 50/50 on whether I go or not. Trying to get the wife down there, might be riding from Towson for this one.
http://www.wtmd.org/events_new/first_thursday.html

NR I think you should buy an Epicdesign saddlebag for your July excursion to OC AND commuting. A "big" bag that fits all bikes. Plus I can look at it and see if I want to but one:-) It could be a versatile commuting bag. Fits every bike w/ and w/out racks. Great for you CF boys and girls.
http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com/

Can't do it, dude! I have to get something orange for Aberdeen. I also have to wear an orange vest! :rolleyes:

I believe he has orange seat bags. Let me talk to him and we'll see what we can do to set you up.

1st Thursday concert started out well but mother nature dumped a load in the middle of the first group's set. Did get a Resurrection Ale down before the deluge. We went to a deli nearby to wait it out. Lots of cyclist hanging out. Cool bookstore/coffee shop w/ a gaggle of bikes out front. Nice to see the bike population growing in the city.

We'll have some nice newly paved roads, too--at least on the east side, in prep for the IZOD Indy car races. If the race is Baltimore's for 5 years, then the race track roads will be kept in great shape (one would hope).

Cool ride in this morning (cool as in temp at 61F). Didn't have much to eat after yesterday's ride (115 miles for me), so this morning, I pigged-out in our cafeteria.

I'll need a nap soon.

p.s., BiM is acting up again and I can't process the 90+ mile recording I made :mad: , so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that. In the future, I guess I'll have to keep splitting files around the 50 mile mark.

Good time yesterday with the Rando ride. Thanks for waiting for me and the electrolyte "drugs". I would still be around the Susquehanna river without them. When IO started to cramp @ mile 70 I knew I was in trouble with 50 more miles to go. Ended the ride with 126. I gotta say that Satyr Hill was placed at the perfect place on the cue...mile 105!! When I got home I ate a huge plate of pasta/chicken/broccoli. Wife felt sorry for me. No beer tho'. This may be a first:-)
Ride this AM was slow..... but wonderful temps. Didn't think I would ride but did. backside is a little sore.

:thumb: on those lovely temperatures this morning. Ahhhhhhhh. But it made me want to just keep riding right past work . . . :innocent: (Hey, maybe that's what I'll do on my very first day of retirement, LOL!)

So, as I was diligently working away last night on the next BBC newsletter, I saw that GB's July Rando Ramble starts in my backyard. (And he even put in a plug encouraging the 13-15 riders to show up!) Based on the conversation we had at the Bike Alliance happy hour, if I were the paranoid sort, I would think maybe he's trying to lure me out, you know, like when you open the can of tuna or rattle the treat container to get the cat to come out from under the couch. :lol:

^^^^^^^^^
You should come out.

Barry... you should come out, too!

Maxine, you are such the cat's meow! ;)

My update: I am still in town and my bike is still broken :( I've been working on trying to make the best of LAB's #1 ranking on policy for MD including some very strong wording to LAB. I've spent the last 5 years trying to unravel all the political double talk around accommodating cyclists in this state and I really want to get the double talk out before I leave otherwise it's going to be another 5 years for the next person to figure this stuff out. Anyway I walked (2 miles) up to the Baltimore County District 2 shindig. On the way up I stopped at DD and someone commented that there was a gathering of anti-cars, I'm like what? Oh it's antique cars, my bad (I live in such a fantasy world some times.:o ). Once there I had some constructive talks with Jon Cardin and Vicki Almond (running for County Council) and will have a meeting in the near future.

Met a lot of people running for office and I sort of get a politician overload at some point and I just say give me your literature. So I open this guys pamphlet and the first thing I see is Rails to Trails and my eyes popped out, so all you Balto Co folks check out Ted Levin for County Council.

Oh and there was some coverage of Beach Drive in the Washington post which I think would make an interesting bit for a rando ride: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042901530.html

I was thinking, just as I hit "submit reply," that that might have been an unfortunate metaphor. :p But really it was the first thing that popped into my head -- my female cat has a habit of sneaking into the store room if I don't shut the door firmly, and the *only* way I can get her out of there is to rattle the treats. I just had to do that again the other day!

Very funny!

NR, I will probably come out for the Chesapeake Beach ride, even though I'll no doubt be dropped like a bad habit. :) Getting in consistent long rides between now and then is going to be a bit of a challenge. My pool team made it to the qualifiers for the national championship; the scheduling of those matches is complicated, but the bottom line is that it causes weekend havoc at the end of June. And then I'm off to Niagara Falls for a 5-day camping trip over 4th of July! (Maybe I'll throw the bike on the car . . . )

^^^^^^^^^
These rides are no-drop.

I've been getting up early these days doing 20 or 30 at 6am with a couple other guys. Did that Tuesday through Saturday. Feels good to get that in so I can work.

Took my sons down to the BWI trail yesterday for a hot ride. Crazy that I have to drive twenty miles to take my kids on a ten mile bike ride, just to be safe. We ride in the neighborhood but it can be quite perilous, crazy.

And in my opinion the BWI trail aint that sweet. Couldn't hear my son over the traffic noise, one nice spot up by that farm. NCR closer but was trying to simulate road surface that we'll be riding in Holland, and NCR quite boring for the lad.

When is that Chesapeake Beach ride? Rode down there last weekend.