Good lordy, I am wiped out. Been a long ass day. Started early - got up at 6:30am, left by 7am after some pancakes, banana and a Power Bar - drove with the crazies on the Washington, DC Beltway (everyone drives 75mph+ in a 55mph limit), and 270 to Buckeystown, MD for the Ed Sander's Memorial Century bike ride at Lilypons.

Got there at warp speed - registered, geared up and was on the Century at around 8:20am. Fast forward...I finished in about 5 hours and 20 minutes (saddle time). There were only 3 rest stops (which was great - few to stop at...). I pacelined the entire thing with some people I met on the first 5 miles. There were a total of 6 of us - 4 guys, 2 women. We all had the same speedset, pace.

The landscape was very pretty, albeit - slightly overcast, foggy....and on the low chill factor. When you bike fast for 100 miles, you stay pretty warm. The course was relatively flat, a few small rolling hills...and 4 major climbs/drops. Overall, challenging - especially the downhills in a paceline - I always get nervous going over 40mph - we got up to 53mph on one of the downhills. I was shaking in my bike shoes. THe paceline kept a consistent clip averaging about 22-25 mph. The course started in mid-western Maryland and travelled over the Potomac into Virginia towards Leesburg (near to where I bike every other night) and back (50 mile loop), then you do the entire loop again to complete the Century. Since we did the loop once - the second was faster. The sun came out - turned into a beautiful Fall day.

After we finished, we sort of milled around and then watched part of the Pro series Cyclecross race that was at Lilypons (simultaneous to the Century). (bites my knuckle) OMG, them A class professional Cyclecross female riders....are...um...VERY um...sexy...and...um...extremely fit. I watched them race in awe. (someone shovel my chin back up into my face).

Drove home, ran a few errands - took a LONG shower (although I don't feel as wiped as the 4 other centuries I've participated in). Went out to dinner with my parents - now just relaxing, finishing up organizational stuff. May be an early night - been a long and early day.

Comments: Post a Comment

Thank goodness it's Friday! And what a great Friday it is. May be a little short - have to go to bed here soon. I am driving to Buckeystown, Maryland (bout an hour and a half drive) tomorrow morn early for the Ed Sander's Memorial Century ride (106 miles).

Work was a conundrum of bi-polar crap from ABBA and just...crap. Went for a quick 15 mile "stretch" ride tonight. Very beautiful, rana few errands, including a Gatorade & tortilla/cilantro/beer run to the store - came home...made some very tasty baked middle eastern style roasted lamb, feta, basil/cilantro compote, shallot, tomato, hummus wraps...with some (too) bitter broccoli-rabi (recipe soon to follow). Spent the last hour making preparations for the trip and ride, and another two hours doing nothing but cleaning/degreasing/re-lubing/aligning my bike.

The weather should be good until late afternoon, may rain. I will start the Century @ 8:30am and hopefully finish around 3pm (5+ hours saddle time, and time per stop, et al.). I'm still unsure what to wear - I have this new bright orange long sleeve jersey...totally loud..and a new set of jet black long tights - I'll look like an advertisement for Halloween......hell...afterall...it is that season. Will have a safe drive and a safe Century. I need to pack a camera...keep forgetting.

Comments: Post a Comment

I had to take a break from the Presidential Debates....the whole thing is supposed to be historical...and definitive, for undecided voters to make a choice between the candidates. What a crock of emu doo doo. For almost the past few hours, all I've heard is nothing but formulaic, over scripted buzzwords, zingers and crowd pleasers. If I hear the word "resolve" one more time, I'm gonna find the Weopens of Mass Destruction myself.

Nothing has changed - both partys and candidates have a clear difference of opinion and an agenda. Just alot of civil, over-polite Politicking and statistics, blessings, wishes, faith requests, blah blah blah....now it will be nothing but 3 hours of "enterpretation" of the debates. Political rhetoric for the sake of political rhetoric. I'm no longer undecided, I'm gonna vote for that freaky old dude who does those silly dances for Six Flags of America commercials.

Work was barely worth mentioning - it flew by real quick. It was a really busy day. Went on a schweet 41 mile bike ride tonight with a few dwindling members of the Reston Bike Club - we moved at a really fast pace - before it got too dangerous to bike fast (in paceline) while dark. I was pulling most of them on the latter part of the way back - because I had the dual headlamps. Great workout though. Came home, did domestic stuff, paid bills, dinner duties, and started to prepare for my Century on this Saturday (which btw, will only make a tiny post tomorrow night, after my short stretchout ride - need to go to bed early to get up early to drive to Buckeystown, Maryland)

Comments: Post a Comment

I was being silly at work while testing out a new set of software/hardware items - thot I'd save these deranged looking clips (in Flash) of me making faces with an old timey filter. I also did it as an excersize in making sure I could embed a flash item within a moveable blog content area (works). I'll remove it in a day or so - to keep it less annoying (will leave links - pop ups into new windows). Here's one and another quick one.

Tonight, went on a GREAT 42 mile ride after work. It was a nice Fall temperature. Was semi-light on the way out..was dark coming back. But still plenty of people out biking - with lights, obviously. Came home - had some really tasty leg of lamb (courtesy of my Mom). Welp - back to the job classifieds.

Comments: Post a Comment

Rain rain, go away...come back some other day......

Today Tropical Storm Jeanne came through. It literally rained heavy all day long (still raining). We got over 7 inches of rain. Lots of flooding, and a tornado watch. I decided to skip on the bike ride tonight - was torrential rains, too much water on the roads - just too dangerous. So, having no errands to run, and too dangerous to bike - I drove home at 5:30. Took me an hour and a half to go 17 miles. I hate traffic here in the area. If I left at 7:30pm - that drive would take 25 minutes. Which is in addition why I like to go biking - I can spend that time excersizing, seeing the sights, thinking for two hours instead of sitting in traffic grinding my teeth and wasting gas.

The weather should ease up tomorrow. I need to get in a few good long rides between now and the weekend - I have a Century this Saturday in Buckeystown, MD - near Frederick, the Ed Sander Memorial Bike Ride - It's a nice event, but tragic for the reason it exists. Ed Sander was a devoted father and an avid bicyclist - in 2001, he was fatally injured on one of his daily training sessions. The bike ride 10, 25, 36, 50, 75 and 100 mile routes) is to raise money for his (only) son's college fund. The other thing I'm planning on doing is planning/backing up everything on this computer - it's in dire need to be reformatted (will do that the following weekend).

Comments: Post a Comment

Phew! Glad today is over. Mondays are always horrific - at work. But I was (gee - how unusual...har) itching to go on my bike ride. I left and biked to Hamilton and back, 42 miles. The temperature was cool - I wore a long sleeved jersey - it was overcast, threatening to rain. Hardly anyone on the trail - prolly a combination of the possibility of rain and the Redskins/Cowboy football game that was to be on (I live in hard core Redskins football country).

On the way back - it was dark, I was able to test out my new bike lamps - perfect!. It's like driving a car at night - I could see everything for like 100 yards ahead of me - on just the low beams. It was actually kinda cool - speeding at like 25mph in the dark - with these lights on...dodging rabbits. For some odd reason - it seems that all the rabbits come out at night. Ordinarilly, I see maybe 10-15 rabbits per 2 hour bike ride when it's light. When it's dark - there were like 30 of them just on the trip back in the dark. FOrtunately, this time I did not run over one - I abhor the gross sound/feeling when you crunch over a rabbit. Combination of squishy fur/organs and bones crunching, teemed with the eerilly restrained rabbit squeel - not to mention the loss of control of my bike.

Came home, had dinner - my new transparency scanner came today - damn good price on it from Pricewatch.com - $38. Started to set it up - will finish tomorrow night, zero rush. Speaking of things that came in the mail, quickly got all my Fall/winter biking gear from Performance. I'm all set - winter biking jacket, 3 sets of long sleeve biking jerseys, neoprene (waterproof) bike gloves, neoprene bike shoe covers, neoprene skullcap (hat for under my helmet), few sets of neoprene long bike tights. Funny thing about the order that came in - they threw in a few coupons and samples. The funniest of which was for "Nair for men" - i had to laff.

Comments: Post a Comment

Stayed up way too late last night - and woke up too early. Was tired all day. "Slept in" until 10am - then went out on a quick 48 miler. Came back home after a few quick errands, napped on the couch while cheesy movies played. Mowed the last of the lawn - nice temperature out. Took a shower, then started to make the Paella feast for the parents. It went quick - to cook it took zero time (everything was pre-prepared from last night). It was the best Paella I've ever cooked. I need to modify my recipe that's posted on my cookblog.

After dinner and cleanup, I spent the evening cleaning/lubing my bike head to toe - took 2 hours, then installed the new lights. Thing I don't like is that the lights add about a pound and a half weight to the bike, battery and all. But I gotta be safe.

Tomorrow is mundane..I mean Monday. Will see how the wrath of ABBA will pan out. It's always a crap shoot.

Comments: Post a Comment

03/07/2004 - 03/14/2004 ::: 03/14/2004 - 03/21/2004 ::: 03/21/2004 - 03/28/2004 ::: 03/28/2004 - 04/04/2004 ::: 04/04/2004 - 04/11/2004 ::: 04/11/2004 - 04/18/2004 ::: 04/18/2004 - 04/25/2004 ::: 04/25/2004 - 05/02/2004 ::: 05/02/2004 - 05/09/2004 ::: 05/09/2004 - 05/16/2004 ::: 05/16/2004 - 05/23/2004 ::: 05/23/2004 - 05/30/2004 ::: 05/30/2004 - 06/06/2004 ::: 06/06/2004 - 06/13/2004 ::: 06/13/2004 - 06/20/2004 ::: 06/20/2004 - 06/27/2004 ::: 06/27/2004 - 07/04/2004 ::: 07/04/2004 - 07/11/2004 ::: 07/11/2004 - 07/18/2004 ::: 07/18/2004 - 07/25/2004 ::: 07/25/2004 - 08/01/2004 ::: 08/01/2004 - 08/08/2004 ::: 08/08/2004 - 08/15/2004 ::: 08/15/2004 - 08/22/2004 ::: 08/22/2004 - 08/29/2004 ::: 08/29/2004 - 09/05/2004 ::: 09/05/2004 - 09/12/2004 ::: 09/12/2004 - 09/19/2004 ::: 09/19/2004 - 09/26/2004 ::: 09/26/2004 - 10/03/2004 ::: 10/03/2004 - 10/10/2004 ::: 10/10/2004 - 10/17/2004 ::: 10/17/2004 - 10/24/2004 ::: 10/24/2004 - 10/31/2004 ::: 10/31/2004 - 11/07/2004 ::: 11/07/2004 - 11/14/2004 ::: 11/14/2004 - 11/21/2004 ::: 11/21/2004 - 11/28/2004 ::: 11/28/2004 - 12/05/2004 ::: 12/05/2004 - 12/12/2004 ::: 12/12/2004 - 12/19/2004 ::: 12/19/2004 - 12/26/2004 ::: 12/26/2004 - 01/02/2005 ::: 01/02/2005 - 01/09/2005 ::: 01/09/2005 - 01/16/2005 ::: 01/16/2005 - 01/23/2005 ::: 01/23/2005 - 01/30/2005 ::: 01/30/2005 - 02/06/2005 ::: 02/06/2005 - 02/13/2005 ::: 02/13/2005 - 02/20/2005 ::: 02/20/2005 - 02/27/2005 ::: 02/27/2005 - 03/06/2005 ::: 03/06/2005 - 03/13/2005 ::: 03/13/2005 - 03/20/2005 ::: 03/20/2005 - 03/27/2005 ::: 03/27/2005 - 04/03/2005 ::: 04/03/2005 - 04/10/2005 ::: 04/10/2005 - 04/17/2005 ::: 04/17/2005 - 04/24/2005 ::: 04/24/2005 - 05/01/2005 ::: 05/01/2005 - 05/08/2005 ::: 05/08/2005 - 05/15/2005 ::: 05/15/2005 - 05/22/2005 ::: 05/22/2005 - 05/29/2005 ::: 05/29/2005 - 06/05/2005 ::: 06/05/2005 - 06/12/2005 ::: 06/12/2005 - 06/19/2005 ::: 06/19/2005 - 06/26/2005 ::: 06/26/2005 - 07/03/2005 ::: 07/03/2005 - 07/10/2005 ::: 07/10/2005 - 07/17/2005 ::: 07/17/2005 - 07/24/2005 ::: 07/24/2005 - 07/31/2005 ::: 07/31/2005 - 08/07/2005 ::: 08/07/2005 - 08/14/2005 ::: 08/14/2005 - 08/21/2005 ::: 08/21/2005 - 08/28/2005 ::: 08/28/2005 - 09/04/2005 ::: 09/04/2005 - 09/11/2005 ::: 09/11/2005 - 09/18/2005 ::: 09/18/2005 - 09/25/2005 ::: 09/25/2005 - 10/02/2005 ::: 10/02/2005 - 10/09/2005 ::: 10/09/2005 - 10/16/2005 ::: 10/16/2005 - 10/23/2005 ::: 10/23/2005 - 10/30/2005 ::: 10/30/2005 - 11/06/2005 ::: 11/06/2005 - 11/13/2005 ::: 11/13/2005 - 11/20/2005 ::: 11/20/2005 - 11/27/2005 ::: 11/27/2005 - 12/04/2005 ::: 12/04/2005 - 12/11/2005 ::: 12/11/2005 - 12/18/2005 ::: 12/18/2005 - 12/25/2005 ::: 12/25/2005 - 01/01/2006 ::: 01/01/2006 - 01/08/2006 ::: 01/08/2006 - 01/15/2006 ::: 01/15/2006 - 01/22/2006 ::: 01/22/2006 - 01/29/2006 ::: 01/29/2006 - 02/05/2006 ::: 02/05/2006 - 02/12/2006 ::: 02/12/2006 - 02/19/2006 ::: 02/19/2006 - 02/26/2006 ::: 02/26/2006 - 03/05/2006 ::: 03/05/2006 - 03/12/2006 ::: 03/12/2006 - 03/19/2006 ::: 03/19/2006 - 03/26/2006 ::: 03/26/2006 - 04/02/2006 ::: 04/02/2006 - 04/09/2006 ::: 04/09/2006 - 04/16/2006 ::: 04/16/2006 - 04/23/2006 ::: 04/23/2006 - 04/30/2006 ::: 04/30/2006 - 05/07/2006 ::: 05/07/2006 - 05/14/2006 ::: 05/14/2006 - 05/21/2006 ::: 05/21/2006 - 05/28/2006 ::: 05/28/2006 - 06/04/2006 ::: 06/04/2006 - 06/11/2006 ::: 06/11/2006 - 06/18/2006 ::: 06/18/2006 - 06/25/2006 ::: 06/25/2006 - 07/02/2006 ::: 07/02/2006 - 07/09/2006 ::: 07/09/2006 - 07/16/2006 ::: 07/16/2006 - 07/23/2006 ::: 07/23/2006 - 07/30/2006 ::: 07/30/2006 - 08/06/2006 ::: 08/06/2006 - 08/13/2006 ::: 08/13/2006 - 08/20/2006 ::: 08/20/2006 - 08/27/2006 ::: 08/27/2006 - 09/03/2006 ::: 09/03/2006 - 09/10/2006 ::: 09/10/2006 - 09/17/2006 ::: 09/17/2006 - 09/24/2006 ::: 09/24/2006 - 10/01/2006 ::: 10/01/2006 - 10/08/2006 ::: 10/08/2006 - 10/15/2006 ::: 10/15/2006 - 10/22/2006 ::: 12/31/2006 - 01/07/2007 ::: 10/03/2010 - 10/10/2010 :::