I'm going to hyperlink this here. Found this on the tandem board but it means more to us local folks here. Someone is selling a Bruni tandem on ebay - it has rear suspension. Cool. Just thought some would like to see.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tom-Bruni-Custom...QQcmdZViewItem

Stuart came up with the most succinct description... "truck bike" but ya that was me and it was fun riding with you guys and I always had someone to ride with on the ride which was fun.

Wimp, this is a light set up:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...20987_4380.jpg

:D

I guess I'll have to get me another 30 lights to beat that.

monument ride
1/noracer you riding from essex? maybe I see the 6000 lumen beast in person.
2/cue sheet? just wonder what route we're taking, Rt 1 south?, Rt 3/301?
3/what time are we suppose to meet, what time MIGHT we get back, I need to arrange a sitter.

Man I miss you guys. Almost as much as I miss my bike... I actually found DUST on it.

-D

Josh, from the BBC description:

Sunday, November 16, 2008
all pace long - 8:00 am - 98 mi - Bob Wagner & Barry Childress
START: Monument and Charles St, Baltimore City
We're riding Monument to Monument today. Round trip from Baltimore's Washington monument to DC's Wash. monument. As you expect, roads are trafficky in and out of the cities - but they are relatively safe and well tested by Barry and myself. In-between there'll be nice long stretches of country roads and numerous paved trails. If you want the full century, you will have to go around the block a few times. 13-15 mph pace. Bring lights just in case. Route is: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...nt-to-monument

I checked my turn-by-turn GPS and it shows about 30 minutes to ride to the start from Essex.

Josh, we can meet at the Dunkin' Donuts on Eastern Ave across from the Eastpoint Mall if you'd like. We need to "pad" the travel time by 15 minutes giving us 45 minutes to be at the Baltimore Washington Monument. Rollout is 8am, so that's a 6am wake-up for me, leave my house at 7:15am. I'll be at Eastpoint by 7:25am.

We'd be taking the following roads:

- Eastern Ave
- Erdman Ave
- Route 40 (Orleans)
- E. Monument St
- E. Madison
- St. Paul St.
- Mt Vernon Pl.

The cue sheet for the ride is part of Bob's map. Select Show | Cue Sheet and print it out.

The only lights I'll bring, just in case, will be the DiNottes. The heavy-assed ARC HID is staying home. So, 800L + 400L = 1200L in the front, and the 140L in the back.

Great, I'll be there waiting.

Wind W 22 mph.

should be fun!

Forecast Details from WJZ First Warning Weather
Sunday - Mostly sunny and breezy. Highs in the lower 50s. West winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 mph.

Yeah, it was pretty windy crossing the Naval Academy Bridge today on this ride:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s_20081115.png

I saw an opening in the clouds and had to take advantage of it. I got a nice easy ride in and timed it perfectly, because the skies opened up [again] just as I got back to my truck at the Dixon Observation Parking Lot at the airport.

Barry and Bob,
I never got a chance to thank you for the ride today, well planned and laid of route. Sorry I wasn't able to get in all the miles, my pedal broke and at first I though the spring let loose and it flipped back, I swung by the inlaws thinking I could fix it and catch up sure enough it was broken, see the pic. However with the miles I got in coming to the starting point I still got my century in:)

I guess my legs are to strong (haha) and I need something better than nashbar $22 pedals huh?
time for my ritchey pro pedals, they'll match the stem and handle bars.

barry, what was the gps you were using?

good pedal

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/IMG_9028.jpg

broken pedal

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/IMG_9029.jpg

Anyone got pats number (on the sign in sheet)? he's got my blinke

I want to thank Bob Wagner and Barry Childress for leading this ride today. It's something that I've been wanting to do since I started bicycling and I completed that goal today.

Here's the description of the ride as posted by cuesheetcentral:

Date: Sunday, November 16, 8:00 am
Speed: all pace long
Start: Monument and Charles St, Baltimore City
Distance: 98 miles
Leader: Bob Wagner & Barry Childress

Description: We're riding Monument to Monument today. Round trip from Baltimore's Washington monument to DC's Wash. monument. As you expect, roads are trafficky in and out of the cities - but they are relatively save and well tested by Barry and myself. In-between there'll be nice long stretches of country roads and numerous paved trails. If you want the full century, you will have to go around the block a few times. 13-15 mph pace.Late update: Bring lights just in case. Route is: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...nt-to-monument

Anyway, the ride was not as bad as one would have imagined regarding the winds. Many of the roads were protected by trees.

There were six riders including Bob and Barry. They include Pat, Josh, Harry Campbell, and me.

Josh and I rode to the ride start--me from Essex and Josh from Dundalk. He and I met at a Dunkin' Donuts across from Eastpoint Mall. Even though I padded our travel time, the winds from the West and the traffic lights caused us to be about 8 minutes late to the Washington Monument at Mt. Vernon Pl in downtown Baltimore where the other four were patiently waiting. Josh and I were not the only ones. I believe that every rider on this ride today cycled to the ride start!

Bob did his duties as a BBC Ride Leader in having everyone sign in and Barry gave the safety talk. A couple minutes more and we were on our way.

The ride was a mix of paved trails and roads. Yeah, it wasn't the most scenic of rides, but that wasn't the goal. The goal was to get from one monument to the other. Ride time, we got there in about three and a half hours. Actual time was another story as this was a "no drop" ride and we did stop a few times for people to catch up. Just to get an idea of the time I spent, I left my house at 7:15 am and didn't get back until about 8:30 pm.

Some of the stops we made--other than at the Washington Monument--included a rest break at a coffee shop, lunch at the main Post Office in DC where there is a food court open on Sundays and another stop at a gas station somewhere around mile 75 for more fluids and food.

As you can imagine, because of the stops, we got caught out in the dark, but riding in the dark was no issue for most of us. All but one of us had lights and some of us had spares to lend the one who didn't.

Somewhere around mile 86, Josh bails out at Hammonds Ferry Rd. He rides to his father-in-law's house nearby to get a ride home to Dundalk, because he was having problems with his pedal and he wasn't expecting to be out as long as we were. He needed to get back home to his family.

Pat started falling behind again. He was ready for the ride to be over. Bob kept him company as Barry, Harry, and I forged ahead. We made it in to town and decided that a beer sounded good, so we stopped at a restaurant--some place that sounded like shooters? looters? :innocent: We had a beer and stuff to eat as we watched... ummm, football... yeah, that's right, football. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Wait a minute, I'm not married, what do I have to worry about. :D

From Hoot... ummm, I mean that restaurant, we made our way to Pratt St where I bid the other two goodnight as I headed down Pratt following it to Patterson Park, then Eastern Ave, Dundalk Ave, etc. until reaching Essex.

Now, I'm doing laundry and charging batteries to get ready for tomorrow morning's ride in to work. While waiting on those items to complete, I'm here writing to you folks.

It was a great day and a goal reached.

Hope you enjoy my story.

P.S., Bob, you need a cell phone.

-------------
By the way, here's some links to pictures I took with my camera phone. The first is the monument in DC and the next two is how we piled the bikes together at the Post Office in DC so we could chain them all together while we ate lunch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...1116081249.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...1116081307.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...116081307a.jpg

I'm sure Bob will be able to supply it to you over PM.

Josh,

I've got your PB Superflash. I think you may have saved a life (literally) by giving it to Pat.
I can put it in a mailer and send it to you. Or if you're in either Hampden area of B'more city or Owings Mills you can pick it up.

My photo set on flickr. (not in order)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2797683.../11/16/detail/

And here a link to my photos.

http://web.mac.com/harrycampbell1/iW...nt%20ride.html

I'm glad to have done the ride. No need for a full report as Isaius has that covered. I will admit to not being completely enamored with it the whole time, lots of traffic lights, stop signs, etc. but that's urban riding, and maybe it would have been a bit more pleasant if slightly warmer and less windy conditions. But hey, I have to fight the puss factor whenever it creeps up on me, like the momentary idea of taking the lightrail home. I was shaking when we came out of whatever bar that was that we were in where we weren't watching football. Hey Isaius and Barry, let's go, hypothermia is kicking in. Spinning up Charles I hear Barry say "You're killing me" and I said you must be kidding. I don't know where he went going east on 33rd, maybe to do a few laps at Montebello.
Good to ride with you all. What's next?

Isaius-Thanks again for the brew an grub, owe you one.

What's with that ridiculous expression on my face in the coffee shop?

Sounds like a great ride guys. Wish I could have made it. Perhaps next time.....in the depths of winter:winter2:

I'm already on it.

This is a fun one. Very few lights/stops. Nicely protected for a good winter ride.
The idea is to ride the entire NCR trail, but at no more than 10 miles at a stretch.

Here's what I've got:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/223907
(check out the cue) :)
Still very much under construction though.

December? -GB

Thought you guys may be interested in this and will help explain what I do. A couple illustrations for Bicycling Magazine from a few months back. Not sure if you get that mag. I think they send it to me for free. The shadow three image is about falling into the rut of training in only zone 3, and how that will just sap your enthusiasm. The article talks about pushing into 4 and even going down to 1. The other one is on learning how to ride in the pack, something I need to work on.

Sign me up. I rode the 80m round trip last March for my birthday run, new ritual, though not sure I would do the whole trail again, boring. Have ridden that 80 three times total. Your concept for breaking up the monotony is brilliant. Only December day that I know I can't do it is Dec, 6th as that will probably be when we celebrate my son's birthday.

Garmin Etrex Vista, I really like it.

I also want to say I had a blast Sunday, it was fun meeting you and riding with you.

Barry, that's the gps I've got. I'm going to have to ask you about maps and such, which ones you added to the unit since it comes with just that base map.

I'm also on a Mac and Garmin seems to be lagging with Mac friendly interface.

How do you feel the elevation does? Mine has been all over the map. I used it in Death Vally and it was to the exact foot of the pass I climbed, but in dense foliage it loses reception.

I'm glad I was able to help him out.

Thank you,hang onto it, I'm sure we'll catch up at some point. If Isasis sees you before I do you can always give to him.

I'm in for a december century and there after, I know we talked about doing our own civil war century before, I got sick/personal day to burn. would mind an earlier start 7am?
also next time can someone let me know my helmet and balaclava are crooked, i looked like a ****er in the pics.:)

Anyone know anything about the garmin 305? can I upload routes to it and have it guide me?, if not I guess I'll just have to get a garmin 705 :thumb:

side note: Noracer, I saw you on Rt40 today, I saw the light and was thinking whats that motorcycle doing in the shoulder? sure enough it was you and the death star, super bright in the daylight.(4pm)

Probably due to the disgust over the leaking coffee cups. You had one, I had one, and others in the shop had them as there were many people sipping from a cup within a cup.

The wind was outrageous around the Washington Monument. I placed my bike with mounted iBike along side of the building had a peak wind speed of 27 MPH with the bike not moving.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/...b6eb41bc_m.jpg