Big Daddy Mike's Blog

Long Overdue 'Shed and MORE

2011-12-19T12:16:00.003-05:00

I haven't ridden with MORE in quite a while. I don't pay that much attention to what is going on over there, save for Patapsco-Rockburn projects. A lot of the same people are floating around from back in the day and many, of course, have moved on.

My buddy Denis was planning on leading a ride out there called 'Iceberg for Dummies'. I think the average person would look at that 'trail' and say that the name is redundant. Rock, rock and more rock with a layer of rock and snow throw in for good measure. I decided I would throw in and ride with Denis.

There were six or seven rides happening at the same time so the San Flats lot was packed. There were probably 70 people there. Denis lead me and 10 others out of the parking lot at the appointed time. I volunteered to sweep. He handed me a beer and we were off.

Now, for those of you who don't ride or who ride and haven't ridden iceberg, let me just say that it's a trail that was designed as a big middle finger. The 'easy' parts are harder than many people have ever seen. And it's high-consequence in many spots, meaning if you fall, you will land on large pointy rocks.

Despite Denis' cruel intentions, no one was seriously hurt. I think people fell down multiple times and many may not be walking today without major soreness, but we all rode out. No emergencies.

It was good to see a lot of friends. I didn't get up to the 'shed a lot this year and it's a nice way to cap off the riding season for 2011. Denis' mandatory post-ride chimay always hits the spot. If you don't like the French, you don't enjoy life.

Photo credit: Denis, our fearless leader.

Emma, the Actress

2011-12-15T11:54:00.004-05:00

Emma has been acting in plays for a few years now. I should say, acting and singing. She was the lead in the Spring play, 'Honk', an adaptation of The Ugly Duckling. She was great. I mean, OF COURSE she was great! How else could she have been?

That's her and Jeremy's buddy Carter over her left shoulder.

Just last week was the Christmas adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. She had a smaller part in this one as 'Grouchy Grumble', which is the Wicked Witch of the West, basically. And yes, she got to melt. And send the flying monkeys. And do an

evil laugh. When she found out about her evil laugh, she started practicing. It seemed like the most important part of her performance. Needless to say, it didn't strike fear into the hearts of the audience. It was very cute. If she has any evil in her, it didn't come out in the laugh. It was beautiful...

Here's the melted Grouchy Grumble...

I can't remember all of the plays she's been in... One was Seussical and I'm sure I have video and pics from the others. She really seems to have a lot of fun. The kids rehearse for about six weeks. I love to hear her sing, watch her struggle

with her lines, help other kids remember their cues and generally pull off something that I never did.

After the play, we celebrated at Mi Casita, our local authentic Mexican joint. The food really is great. It reminds me a lot of the family-owned joints in San Diego. Matty was in town for the weekend and we had a 7am date for a ride at Patapsco. The grande margaritas left their mark.

This is obviously pre-melted Groucy Grumble. I guess she's looking for Dorothy and Toto.

Pump Track

2011-12-14T13:20:00.006-05:00

About a year ago, word reached my ear that there was a plan afoot. People were mobilizing to build a skills park at Rockburn Branch Park in HoCo. I dragged my kids to a few meetings, opened my big unhelpful mouth and committed to helping out.

After much hard work by some local riders, there now exists a completed phase one of the project: pump track.

I had ridden a pump track a few years back in the neighborhood of Asheville at the house of a local pro. It was difficult and fun. Skip forward a few years and there is RSP opening day, Oct 9. Needless to say, we attended.

Now I'm a big fan of learning. I love learning new stuff any time I can. I'm a geek. And I like bikes. I know that a lot of the fastest riders out there train on pump tracks and/or have them in their back yard. And riding a pump track is cool. Mr. Mark Weir has done a lot to promote pump tracks and they are popping up all over the US for almost a decade now. Riding pump track for multiple laps is quite a workout. I haven't tried to set a record or anything but my current record is 15 laps. I usually string together 3-5. It ain't easy.

I slapped the flat pedals on the old stump fsr and dropped the seat all the way down. Susan gave it a shot and seemed to really enjoy it as well. Needless to say, the kids were all over it. After a few weeks of pumptrackular fun, I realized the need for a purpose-built machine. Enter the dj bike.

One skill that is crucial to going fast on pump track is the manual. I can manual on the trail over various obstacles but a flat-ground manual is not something I have practiced. It was something I was driven to learn on pump track.

Now apparently my drive to learn has caught the attention of, well, everyone around me. Jokes have started about how much time I spend at pump track. Apparently, there will be a yurt for me soon. Everyone I know is completely hilarious...

The kids go with me a lot and they spend half the time riding and half playing on the huge dirt pile for phase two of RSP. It's a great place to learn and watch people rip it and to help others learn. Everyone is patient with each other and the plethora of kids who can ride endless laps.

If you have the time, you should check out Rockburn Skills Park. And if you have some cash money, please donate to help get the rest built. And if you have time in the spring, make arrangements to get out there and help us build the rest of the area. There will be much radness.

See you at pump track... Yes, you'll see me there.

Happy birthday!

2011-11-01T09:38:00.002-04:00

10. Wow.

Today is Emma's birthday. She's 10. I can't believe it. I feel like it has gone by so fast. I'm heading over to her school for lunch so we can hang out. She had a rough morning. Susan bought her a brand new birthday outfit but apparently she wanted roller blades. Jeremy had asked for (and gotten) roller blades for his birthday and apparently Emma wanted roller blades too! She neglected to tell the procurers of roller blades so she was a bit disappointed.

I also found out that she wants to have a party. Tonite. With all of her friends. Ugh. Saying 'no' to that makes me feel like the worst dad EVAR! but it's not to be.

Someone please let me know when parenting becomes easy. For some reason, I have a sneaky feeling that it won't.

Maybe she's feeling better now that she's at school. We'll see. I should get some cupcakes...

Happy Birthday Emma!

The House

2011-10-31T14:47:00.009-04:00

Susan had this great idea that we were going to make some changes to our humble abode. I believe the terms 'upgrade,' 'update,' 'fix' and 'improve' were used and there was some discussion about money (mainly that it would take quite a bit of it).

We talked about downstairs (basement/first floor), the kitchen, the living room, dining room, future laundry area, additional 1/2 bath, slop sink inclusion and I believe she used the term 'media room' which to me meant I would be getting proper surround sound.

The 'talk' culminated in my arrival home one Saturday afternoon from a mountain bike ride, most likely with Wheaton or Seibold. My arrival was preceded by a phone call...

Susan: Hey, are you on your way home? How long until you are here?

Me: Oh about 25 minutes or so

S: Are you hungry?

M: Yeah.

S: Well then I'll make you something.

M: That would be rad. Thanks.

S: Ok, we'll see you soon. The kids are out playing. I've been really busy and I hope you aren't mad. BYE!

M: Wait! What?!

Cleek...

I pulled up in front of the house to see the entire garage entryway covered (COVERED) by carpeting and padding. Susan had pulled up around 550 sq ft of carpeting and tack strips and piled them in a way that forced me to deal with them before I even got in the house.

Subtlety is one of her many talents.

As you can see by the November post below, the project has progressed. Oct/Nov saw the construction of the half bath with pocket door, laundry area, slop sink, heated floors, tile, paint, trim and my goofy gear closet. I ran the speaker wire in the walls and put in the electrical, RCA and HDMI plates in the wall. After that, Susan moved the 'kitchen' downstairs for the kitchen work.

We ordered the cabinets from the internetz and they arrived flat-packed and ready to go. We

shoved all of the living/dining/kitchen stuff into the living room and gutted the kitchen. We removed the cabinets, co

unters, wood floor, vinyl floor under wood floor, trim, lights

and switches. In went the cabinets, light, switches, outlets, su

bfloor insulation, heated floors, tile, paint, range hood and back splash tile. We went without a working kitchen for a record-setting 10 days. Our ace in the hole was the local granite guys. They told me 24hrs and I thought they were kidding. I talked to them at 5pm on a Wednesday, the measurement guy was there at 6pm and the crew installed the rock on Friday at10am. My buddy Dave got the plumbing going and we were rocking. New range and fridge, under cabinet lighting and amazing back splash tile and BAM! We love the kitchen.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I decided to gut the kitchen a few days before Xmas. Against Susan's wishes. When we were expecting 5 guests. For a few days. Yeah...

Shout out to Phil around the corner. I was talking to him about all of the work going on at the

house (our kids are together after school) and he said he had a 40 yard box in his driveway I

could fill up. I filled it up with house debris. He saved me a few trips to the landfill, that's for sure.

After that, it was floor prep time. We pulled the carpet, padding and tack strips. I screwed down the subfloor, stapled the vapor barrier dow

n and we went to town. I had the oh-fee-shul floor nailing gun from Home Depot for two days and did a lot of the finish work, front steps and powder room using my 14g nail gun. More paint, trim and stair nose and the floors were done. And it looks amazing.

I tore up the carpet on the steps from the living room down and just painted the stairs with porch and floor paint. The risers are white and it

looks pretty good. I've been doing trim, painting walls and ceilings, removing wall paper and small electrical stuff for months. I have a few small transitions to finish and a few small projects (front door) then we should be done.

That first pic is the transition from the foyer to the powder room inside the front door. I had to bridge over the doorway, measure backwards then start the flooring and march it to the wood in the doorway. I took my time and was lucky that it worked out perfectly.

The second is the back splash tile, cabinets, lighting and counter. I know, you would have never known had I not told you, right?

Pic numero tres is the 1/2 bath and laundry area under

construction. If you have an eye for it, you can see the 1/2 studs for the pocket door. It's a space-saving design but I would have rather had a properly-framed wall. The tight space required this design.

Number four is the kitchen with the insulation going down for the heated floors.

Finally, the last pic is the almost-finished floor.

Ok, so it wasn't ALL work last year. Here's the kids at their birthday party at Earth Treks last year.

Last year, I also managed to pull through for DCMTB at DCCX as parking captain again, ride the Patapsco Thru Trail with Wheaton, ride up in Fredneck with the guys from Specialized, corn maze, watch Emma play volleyball, see Emma's play, have an anniversary (10th)... jeebus.

Anywho, this weekend is new front door project and a little pump track action.

More to come...

It's Alive!

2011-10-30T11:42:00.002-04:00

Time to get back to the blog. Still a lot going on and my memory sucks so I should really start writing more stuff down.

I'm still working on the small stuff in the house. Death by a thousand cuts. It's mostly done and has been for 8 months.

I'm still riding Specialized Stumpjumper FSR bikes with 650b wheels on them. I think this is my third year on them and I'm still happy.

There's a pump track next to Patapsco now. Mel and her crew did a great job getting that built in a small period of time. More flow trails to come in the spring. I will help.

The SM100 still remains a part of my calendar. After 8 years, I'm 6/8. That first off-the-couch year and 2009 when I was sick are my two DNFs. This year was rad, riding with Matty and Jamie all day. It was Jamie's first and my favorite ride of them all. But then again, I say that every year... more to come.

The kids are riding well. Mtn biking, pump track, around the 'hood. They've both taken up skateboarding. They are growing so fast.

Ugh. I'll get some pics and words up this week. I know everyone is excited...

Homefront

2010-11-28T22:12:00.006-05:00

I've neglected the blog. Clearly.

I'm feeling pretty excited right now. I've been off the bike with few exceptions since the end of September. We've undertaken some home improvement. And now that it's late November, there's finally been a big shot of improvement.

The ground floor has suffered from neglect since we moved in. We never really used the space down there. I think it's safe to say that now we'll be using it quite a lot.

Starting in early October, we started planning for an overhaul of the house, starting at the bottom and work our way up. Susan figured out the general plan and set me to it. We weren't sure how much we could do or how much time it would take. Even costs were questionable, as they always are when you've never done something like this.

So far, we've pulled carpet, pulled drywall, demo'd some stuff, moved plumbing and electrical and removed trim. That was how things started. We added a half bath with a pocket door, expanded the laundry area, built a closet for my gear, enclosed some

cords in the wall, painted, installed heated floors, tiled and grouted. The last slab of work is installing a sink/cabinet next to the dryer, trim and some touch-up paint.

It's been great. A high school buddy of mine actually knows how to do this stuff so he's been teaching me a lot. He's a busy guy and I'm about 4 to 1 on his hours. Taking on the heated floors was cool. He's never done it so I had to walk him through the install. It's really the cherry on the whole project. The heated floor will allow us to avoid using the HVAC system in the winter along with our fireplace.

The first pic is the view from the back room looking into the hallway/laundry area. The grout is

still well but it's light grey. I finished the grout today and laid those last tiles way under that stairway.

The second pic is my payoff. New 7.1 surround. HDMI passthrough switching with up-convert for non-HDMI input(Wii).

Of course, the other payoff is that now I get to start on the kitchen. Cabinets, tile floor, tile backsplash, more heated floor, some electrical (which means more drywall, mudding, sanding and painting) and to find a good place to vent that damnable dishwasher! Drives me nuts. Yes, like my favorite pirate joke.

The last picture is the view from the doorway into the back room.

I've missed a lot of riding this fall but the few rides I've had have been great - dawn patrol with the local boys. I've spent many evenings and every weekend (save for DCCX work and rain garden planting). And Susan has been cranking upstairs with kids, organization and food. She's been cooking like crazy in preparation for the kitchen remodel. It's hard to overstate how much Susan has pulled through to allow me to spend so much time on the project. I work, food shows up, I eat and get right back to work. Susan does all the work that we used to share.

And the kids have been great. When they haven't been great, they've been tough. A week out of school is a lot of work, for sure.

So, we'll see everyone soon (two more months?) when we have the post-remodel party. We have to wait a month to crank on the heated floors anyway... That's gonna be awesome. Yes, we'll be sleeping down there...

Pics of Adam Lockard

2010-02-14T10:39:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pics from our Whitetail weekend.

We miss you buddy.

Susan's Rememberance of Adam Lockard

2010-02-02T14:02:00.002-05:00

Susan posted this to Pat's blog but I thought I'd share...
=================================================

“Pssst, Michael.”
“Yeah”
“Um, there’s this boy riding his bike on the tables outside.”
“Yeah”
“No, I mean he’s riding over them, across them, balancing between”
“Yeah, that’s the kid Adam I just hired”

And from that moment on I was smitten. It was thrilling and terrifying to watch him ride. I loved the confidence in his face. He made it look so easy. But the mother in me wanted to make him stop b/c I didn’t want to see him get hurt.

Adam was the very first person to call me Mrs. Klasmeier. I mean in the serious, like that’s what you call adults kinda way. Needless to say I suggested Susan, but he continued to call me Mrs. I think b/c he knew it made me feel old:)

I remember one time the City Bikes boys all went for a ride out at Patapsco. And they all came back muddy. And all my white towles were brown after they showered. I asked Michael – weren’t they supposed to come out of the shower clean? He blamed Adam knowing I wouldn’t say anything cause he was just a kid. The other guys (adults) should know better – right?

Around the table they all sat. It wasn’t the first or the last time I cooked for a hungry bunch of mountain bikers. And in the the standard tradition I offered everyone a beer. Jesse? Michael? Pat? Adam? His eyes widened. Everyone laughed. “Susan he’s like 17″ I was mildly embarrassed but come on I was in my early 30’s. Teenagers were not common in my house. At that time, I had a three year old daughter and a son who was a few months old.

I asked him if he was driving. He was not. So he was allowed one beer and I gave him some gum afterwards. Afer reading Michael’s blog post, I am beginning to think the Klasmeier’s were not a very good influence on the boy. A beer at our house a beer up at the white tail race. . .
I remember driving up for that race. I had packed a bunch of food for my kids. I think Adam ate most of it. “I love moms” was all he said as I continued to offer him fruit, granola, some crackers, PB&J sandwiches, juice, etc.

I’ll never forget him. Always very courteous to me. Always very nice to my children. And just an all around cool guy. Did I mention his mad bike skills? Keep on ridin’ Adam.

See Ya Buddy...

2010-02-01T17:23:00.005-05:00

I was running City Bikes in Chevy Chase. It was months or weeks after we opened. I know it was really early. Frank will have to remind me... Nothing exciting was happening in the shop. Something caught my eye and I looked up to see somebody hopping from picnic table to picnic table just outside the window on the Capital Crescent side of the shop. I walked outside and motioned for the kid to come over to me.

I had been asked by the building management to keep kids from doing tricks on that side of the building. The security guard had a camera pointed right on those tables. When Adam came over to me, I asked him if he knew that he wasn't supposed to be riding there. He said yeah, that a guard had chased him off a few times. I could tell by the early-teen posturing that he was waiting for me to tell him to f off as well.

I offered the kid a job.

His interview was brief. What did he know how to do, was he willing to take orders... Yeah, I know you want to learn how to work on bikes but you'll learn when we decide you are ready and you won't learn on bikes that people are paying to have fixed. That was his first lesson.

Besides Frank, Adam was my go-to guy. I could always schedule him to work whenever he could and his arrival was flexible, except for the Summer and weekends. He was generally punctual and always smiling and apologetic if he was late. And he knew I would punish him... Moving the cardboard

When I heard Adam was dead, I was in Disney World with my own kids. I stopped right away and started to run through all of the people I would have to tell. The list got pretty long pretty quickly. Former customers, staff, riders, teammates... Adam really was an important part of the City Bikes family. When I was given the responsibility of running City Bikes in Chevy Chase, I was also allowed to make the shop how I wanted to. Most of the people who shopped there in the first three years of the shop remember each other, and the staff. I worked very hard to create a family among the staff members. I talked about backing each other up, taking care of each other, working together, sharing the load, being honest and generally just working hard for each other and the customers would get it. And I think they did.

Adam gave me a chance to mentor a kid. We talked about music, movies, riding, ladies, wrenching and a host of other things. I can honestly say that he was my go-to kid. The shop rat turned shop pro. A really good kid who found his anchor on his bike. Not the best student, but an old soul with a jester's smirk. He would do whatever I asked of him and for that, I only asked what was truly important. I think he learned a lot from the older shop veterans and realized that there was some wisdom in it. For all his wrong turns and cracked frames, the kid learned, and lived and loved.

When Adam went away to school, I was super happy for him. We spent a weekend at a downhill race at Whitetail, hanging out, sitting under the Easy-Ups in a torrential downpour. Since we were sleeping in the bread truck, I decided I would let him have a beer with me after four years of watching us drink beer at the shop. I knew he was drinking outside of the shop but he knew he was not allowed to drink around me.

And then he told me how much beer he took from the fridge in the back of the shop... with a big, BIG smile...

Adam Lockard died in a fire on Saturday at 5am in Gunnison, CO. He made it to the ripe old age of 21. I am very sad to see such a life end so early. I am very lucky to have been a part of his life and will always remember him fondly. As I watch my kids grown, I'll be reminded of the boy who grew up right in front of my eyes.

Ride on, Adam. Ride on. We'll keep the rubber side down for you. Well, most of the time...

Here's a brief write-up of our trip to Whitetail. Pics soon... Thankfully Joel takes a lot of pics. Here's Adam doing what he loves best...

Bike for sale!

2010-01-18T15:31:00.001-05:00

Patapsco Thru Trail Ride

2009-07-04T09:59:00.002-04:00

I advertised to my DCMTB teammates a Patapsco Thru Ride yesterday. I had one taker. Seibold.

We actually had Young Buck and Santacroce rsvp but bailed at the last minute. Oh well. Their loss. After hearing from Santacroce at 8:10am, we got on the trail. Riding from Rockburn Branch, we rode on Morning Choice to Cascade, over the bridge, up Nun's Run and proceeded North to connect up to Oella and the trail to the Rte 40 bridge. Socks/shoes off (Seibold forgot socks) and the wet walk across the Patapsco River at the old dam. Railroad tracks to Daniels to the Thru Trail, McKeldin loop and back south.

Typical.

It was a bit wet, we rode a bit fast, we only got lost once and we had AMAZING weather. It was July and I actually said 'Man, I could have worn a wooly. In July.' It was breezy, cool and wonderful. The trails down by the river (cue Chris Farley) were a bit steamy. The trails up on the ridges were much nicer.

We had a great day. There were a few wet spots and the crossings were pretty high. We did the ride in less than 8 hours (7:35) and only had one flat (me). We had a great time. I only checked the map once, I fell over into a small tree for a reason I cannot determine, Jonathan fell into a bush of nettles on the mill race right at the rock wall before the bridge. He was tired and bummed. He picked a piece of wood out of his heel this morning and I pulled one out of my leg from that tree that jumped out in front of me.

As usual, I got numerous Facebook notes and emails saying 'Man, I wish I could've made this one. I'll get on it next time for sure.' We'll see...

This is my 6th or 7th day with 50+ miles and third in three weeks. Is that good? Dunno. Giro di Coppi and 18hrs of Scout's honor coming up. Plus vacation. At least I'm taking the Summer off from school so that helps.

I think Seibold has some pics of the ride yesterday so I'll try to get those from him asap.

I Know It's Been Months But...

2009-07-02T10:14:00.002-04:00

This is still too funny...

Bike? Car? Whatever I Want One.

2009-06-30T09:01:00.002-04:00

I would LOVE to drive around in one of these suckers. I have to imagine that the kids would too. Of course, all I have to do is come up with $35k or so and figure out how to get a bike onto the back of it. I'm sure I have enough duct tape and bungees to make that happen...

Of course, they just filed for bankruptcy. The good news is that the underlying technology company that developed it is still around.

Car free German Town

2009-06-29T09:28:00.002-04:00

Pretty cool stuff. Here's the background then Google or Bing yourself to more details and stories. There's tons out there. Here's the Wiki on the city. Vauban, here I come!

Humanity, Where Art Thou?

2009-06-25T09:22:00.002-04:00

I just finished reading John Dickerson's Heartless in Slate about Gov. Sanford.

Please read the following without a hint of irony: poor guy.

I'm pretty liberal. I don't like a lot of this guy's ideas but I tell ya, I feel pretty bad for him. Of course, I know it's hard on his family, and I wish them the best through this hard time as well, but the vitriol that is being slammed onto this guy with such ardor seems a bit much.

Sure, I've made a few watercooler jokes (He wasn't hiking the Appalachian trail, he was hiked up on some Argentinian tail), but that was just me trying to be clever. Obviously, I'm not very clever, but I digress.

When did imperfect people become fair game for attack? This guy needs our symapthy, not our anger. I defended Clinton when he was having his fun and I think the same standard needs to be applied to Gov. Sanford.

As humans, we should be able to remove the actions from the person. Is he a bad guy because of this? Nope. He should be feeling horrible and we should acknowledge his feeling horrible by saying 'Yeah, you really screwed the pooch on this one' but we don't need to drill him into the ground by calling him names or portraying all Republicans or right-wingers this way. If anything, imperfection is the one thing that all politicians seem to have, and in fact, all humans.

Sure he's a hypocrit. He attacked Clinton and voted for his impeachment. BUT! The man will learn. I don't pity a man for mistakes, I pity him if he doesn't LEARN from them. I hope that Sanford keeps his marriage together and manages to get his life back together.

I hope more people can feel generous with their empathy. I know I need to work on it myself, but you don't have to kick me in the arse about it...

Good luck to the Sanford family. I hope that things work out for you. It's going to be harder than ever.

2009 24 Hours of Big Bear

2009-06-15T09:39:00.001-04:00

Friday was great! Good ride in wet conditions with some good teammates, great dinner, plenty of off-color conversation, mostly at Darren's expense... We were ready to race! We had already looked at the caliber of the other teams and I had decided that fifth was likely our best outcome. Not to spoil the ending, but we got fifth. It was a good thing we pre-rode: there were numerous issues that needed to be addressed on various DCMTB bikes (more later). GrannyGear results here.

Kent jumped on the grenade for the run and went into the woods in reasonable position. The first of three flats contributed to a frustrating lap for Kent. We were solidly in sixth place out of six teams. After Wheaton and I tried to fix Darren's stripped shock mounting bolt, Darren was pushed from his hard-fought-for second slot into fourth. He managed to head into Morgantown and find a replacement before he was due for a lap. It's a good thing that Wheaton noticed that nut because it would have caused a HUGE problem, most likely at night, knowing Darren. And no, Darren, rubber cement will not keep a shock mount nut on a bolt...

(Reminder: PLEASE make sure your equipment is in good working order WELL BEFORE a race.)

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful from my viewpoint. I got pretty frustrated estimating Kent's lap times and ending up waiting in the start/finish for him to come in 10-20 minutes later than expected for the first three laps. Kent's three flats kept us from fourth place. Such is racing. I'm glad that somebody took a look at Kent's tire before his fourth lap so he could have one clean lap. I imagine that was a big relief for Kent.

On my fourth lap, I passed a guy with a double-flat on a tricky section before the super technical g-out/hike-a-bike section. I had my eyes on the wet, muddy, slippery rocks to keep it together so I didn't realize who it was, even after asking him if he was ok and hearing about his double-flats. I shouted words of encouragement and kept slogging it out. Wheaton asked me if I passed the fifth-placed Gripped Films expert team and I said 'I don't think so.' Wheaton pointed to the Gripped Films guy standing behind him so I shouted at him to 'GO! GO! GO!' I headed for the showers and ran into Dave Olsen from Gripped Films heading back to camp and he just smiled. I asked him how he was doing and he said 'Nice pass. That double-flat killed me' and related a story of borrowing CO2 and a tube from somebody. I realized that was him on the side of the trail. We both laughed it off. Such is racing...

In a perfect world, we could have made it to fourth. That assumes that we would have had no other mechanicals besides those flats (and Darren not breaking his bike!) I'm really glad nobody got seriously injured although the jury is still out on Wheaton's mid-shin puncture would. I think it re-opened something from 'Nam as his eyes glazed over and he started shouting 'Di di mau!' Laird put on a top-notch event once again.

The conditions were wet enough to frustrate many people and forced quite a few 2+ hour laps. The DCMTB co-ed open team seemed to have a great time and did well. I had a great time hanging out with everyone. HUGE thanks to Miss Communication for her swimsuit modeling and caged GoGo dancing! That really made the difference! She deserves that crown!

I don't have many pics but I'll get some up later and steal some from others...

Jon Stewart Pulls Through Again

2009-06-10T22:33:00.001-04:00

Please, please, please watch this. Peter Schiff knows what he is talking about.

WV Friends: Thanks Kent!

2009-06-10T19:38:00.006-04:00

We always take Kent up on his invitations to the house in WV. This year was no exception. It's always a great time and Kent and Paula have some fantastic taste when it comes to food, fun and people (me excluded, of course).

It was Kent's birthday weekend. Here's a few great shots of some great people. Jon, Maura, Robert, Kent, Paula and the fam are in here but we missed a few people who were on a hike during this shot.

As usual, we had a great time, met some great people and Foxy got to run around like a free dog all weekend. Boy, was she tired. And dirty. And covered in ticks.

Here's Emma's first bow and arrow shot. I didn't have my camera for Jeremy's.

Here's Mr Jon and Jeremy and some daytime light-up frisbee. We are big on light-up frisbee around these parts. Jeremy managed to snag all the discs so he could practice. Emma and Jeremy are both pretty good disc throwers. Like their momma, they pick stuff up pretty quickly. They are naturally coordinated, thankfully.

There's no way I could avoid posting a pic of the dog. When we went on a hike up around Kent's property, Foxy took off for a few minutes. After Susan calling the dog at length, she decided to show up while we walked along the ridge. At first, I thought it was a different dog. You can see from the pic, she's COVERED in mud.

As many of you know, Foxy is an off-white dog. She has a few brown spots but not from her paws up to her shoulders. She clearly found a solid mud puddle and decided to take a bath. Oh, to be a dog.

We rode over the mountain to hit Stokesville during the VA IMBA mtn bike festival hosted by your boyfriend and mine, Chris Scott. We did a ride up and over Hankey and down Dowell's. I was running out of time so I just rode around on the road. It was a solid 45 minutes although who remembers such things...

Thanks again Kent and friends. Hope to see you again soon.

Pope: Yeah, No Kidding

2009-06-10T13:09:00.002-04:00

This post is also parenthetically titled: Reason number 927 why I'm going to Hell.

Beastie Boys

2009-06-10T12:02:00.003-04:00

I managed to get tickets for the Beastie Boys show last night. Wow. I had a full unobstructed view from the floor about 30 feet from the stage on a little ramp next to the sound board. Punga tagged along.

Great show. Really fun. Biz Markie opened up. Love that guy. He sang Bennie and the Jets about half-way through the BBoys set. He seemed to be having the best time all night. It's between him and Mixmaster Mike. Btw, that guy is pretty talented... Like you didn't know.

More on the evening here. And here.

I haven't seen the Beastie Boys since I was just out of high school in 1992. The Boys are gettin' old. They still rock. The fame and fortune hasn't ruined them one bit.

DCMTB 2009 Team Photo

2009-06-02T09:10:00.002-04:00

What a good looking bunch of people!

Big ups to JoFo for working through our comedy performances to get the shot.

The new kit looks pretty good. I forget who on the team designed it (Tris?) but I likey!

Sign Me Up!

2009-05-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

I'll test it! I could've used it this past weekend...

Stokesville Douthat Stokesville

2009-05-12T12:04:00.003-04:00

Two days. Many miles. Tired mind, body, soul.

I am not Superman.

Pat put up some pics here. Sure was pretty.

Two weeks off before riding that much didn't help me out much. Climbing out of the campground up Hankey, I knew it was going to be a long day. Not just because it was 5:30am and still dark but because my heartrate spiked to 175 or so and stayed there much of the climb. That's bad. Down Dowell's, up to mountain house and past Ramsey's then up to the Shenandoah Mtn Trail all the way down to the Southern Traverse of the SMT. Lunch. It gets pretty fuzzy after that. Little Mare (little, my arse) then into Douthat and the Creasy Lodge. Boy was I happy and spent. Shower, a ton of food and a little sleep.

Up at 6:30am with weird feelings all over my body. Out of bed by 7:30 for a ton of food and packing for the ride back to Stokesville. I felt a little better but knew things were going to be tough. The climb out the back of Creasy is up, up, up the switchback to the ridge trail then up a few times along the ridge to the descent to the bridge before the road ride to lunch. Beautiful lunch by the river then the 3 hour climb up Elliott's. Ouch. I bailed before the Five Hike-A-Bikes on the ridge and rode the road back 20+ miles with some other riders who had bailed earlier. We rode the small climbs and made it into Stokesville campground at 7:30, 40 minutes before the first riders got finished climbing Dowell's and Hankey and dropping into Stokesville.

17 hours total ride time, 23 hours of trip time. Carpenter's rules in effect. Amazing time. HUGE thanks to Chris and Carp for the route and our amazing support crew. I never eat so well as when I'm with the 'burg crew.

I was honored to be invited and I'm glad I went. I am mostly glad I made it back under my own power...

Poplar Island Trip

2009-04-11T10:03:00.007-04:00

Last weekend, we went down Tilghman Island to check out the Poplar Island dredge materials facility. MES is working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Port Administration to rebuild this historic island in the middle Chesapeake Bay. Of course, it was one of the windiest days on the Bay this year. Here's a link from US Fish and Wildlife.

This is the big-arse anchor I can only assume came up from the bottom of the Bay. And the requisite project sign. We're big on signs at MES.

The short, modern story of the island is that it had been whittled down by erosion to about 5 acres from over 1500. The state wanted to do something about it and the materials coming out of the bay channel for heavy shipping needed someplace to go. The Corps, the Port and MES got together and decided to create a new field of science and wetlands restoration. Through adaptive management, the project has thoughtfully fumbled its way to success.

Susan looking out from our Bay-side room at the Marina. The 40 knot winds made for an exciting day.

When the Chesapeake shipping channel gets dredged out, the material gets dumped into a barge. The barge gets pushed over to Poplar. They rig up a few feet of pipe and pump a slurry (90% water, 10% dredge material) into one of the wet cells. The cells are just multi-acre areas of hemmed-in water. After the material gets pumped in and the dirt settles out, they pump out the water and are left with dry land. After a good, hot Summer, the water evaporates and the Corps gets in there and starts testing and prepping the area for construction. It takes a few months to get it laid out, channels cut, grasses planted and open to the Bay for the natural tidal action to create a nice happy animal habitat. Kormorants, terrapins, egrets, blue heron, gulls, osprey, bald eagles, ducks... all the local fauna seem pretty stoked on the wetlands.

Nobody in the world is involved in this level of study and island creation. The 'adaptive management' process allows everyone to learn as they move forward, building on the success of each idea.

Here's another shot out of our West-facing deck at the Marina.

If you want to get involved, you can volunteer to plant grasses in the wetland areas in June through the Baltimore Aquarium. I highly recommend it. It's a great little vacation/day trip with the kids. We went down the night before and stayed at a local marina right on the water with a few restaurants within spitting distance. You could see Poplar from our room. Knapps Narrows was where we stayed and you can walk from the hotel over to the Poplar Island Land Base on Chicken Point Rd. MES operates the land base, the boat to get out to Poplar, all the administrative stuff and the testing. The Corps handles the actual engineering on the project and the Port pays the bills. As you can imagine, there's another dozen or so other agencies down there just to check stuff out including MDE, DNR, CBF for various reasons.

Our MES tour guide. Another important MES function on the island for all of the visitors the island sees.

This last picture gives you an idea of the scope of the work area. Basically, you have all these spits of water bordered by a series of roads. Each cell is its own area during fill but then is cut up into sub-cells after it's full. The foreground is water in the northwestern cell that will be 23 feet above mean low low tide and forested. Still a long way to go on that cell. The foreground road is the southern border of cell one to cell two. The third area of water from top to bottom with the pier is open water. It's part of a private island that used to be owned by the DNC. This is the curve in the kidney-bean-shape of Poplar Island. Center-right and center-top you can see the MES fuel tank complex on the island and an excavator chilling on a barge doing some shore stabilization work.

The St Michael's, Tilghman and Oxford areas of the Eastern Shore are so nice and relaxed. If you haven't made a day trip over there to just chill out and walk around, you should. And if you have a boat, it's an easy day-sail across the Bay. There's plenty of safe harbor and plenty to do. Cycling, kayaking, shopping, drinking... It's not bad!

Pics from the New Trails

2009-03-19T10:07:00.003-04:00

Where are they? Hmmm... Seems like only a few people know were Viper, Pit, Iceberg and Little Salamander/Skink are. Hmm...

We'll, at least you get to see some of the trails including the actual pit (crashes) and Posner going over the bars. When you tell somebody that a step-up jump isn't ready, you think that stops them from trying to ride it?

Over and over again?

Nope. Boy that dirt looks yummy, eh Pos?

Here's some pics of the trails. You are looking for the ones with dudes in jackets, not shorts... Big ups to Nate for the pics. I was too busy getting everyone lost to take pics.

Let me know if you want to see the new trails. I call it the Disneyland ride cuz there's so much fun stuff to ride. It really is a playground.

650b Wheels and My Bike!

2009-03-18T18:58:00.005-04:00

I don't know how much everyone knows about this new wheel size, but there's a lot of buzz around 650b. You've probably heard of the 29r (a 29" mtn bike wheel, same as 700c road) and the standard mtn bike size of 26".

Back in the day (late 1970s), the stony guys that 'invented' mountain bikes in NorCal knew that something big was gonna happen. But for a random Soviet move (damn Ruskies), we'd all be riding 650b bikes. Apparently, when the early boys of mtn biking were looking for good, strong, light wheel sizes, they looked at 650b first but the Soviet (army?) bought up everything from Nokian (I think). So, there were plenty of 26" stuff around and that's how the 26" thing started. A few Asian manufacturer's (Araya?) filled the need with 26" light, strong rims.

Here's more details from His Holiness, Sheldon Brown on the topic.

I wasn't into the 29r thing when it came out. I rode some bikes but there were ZERO full suspension bikes. And since that's what I ride, I wasn't into going back into riding singlespeeds and hardtails. BigDaddy is too old for that. Occasionally, sure, but me likey squishy. The bikes that I did ride didn't really turn my crank. The bikes felt slow, the wheels didn't turn really well and I just didn't think the bikes were responsive enough for my type of riding. I'm not alone in that opinion either.

So when people on the tuberwebs started talking about 650b, I took notice. I heard a few people trying it out, custom fitting bikes with 650b stuff. This guy Kirk Pacenti (a frame guy) got Panaracer to make a run of tires and the US got 650b 2.35 tires. That's what I got.

It would be good to step back and explain 650b. This tire/wheel size is very normal in Europe. It's mostly for touring bikes and a lot of people put 650b on 700c bikes to allow larger tires and fenders. So we aren't talking about building up an infrastructure like 29 required. Well, 29 required A BIT more for mtn biking...

So, we have 26", 650b (27.5") and 29". I went a bit nuts and bought spokes, rims and tires from Family Bike Shop last week and built up some wheels Saturday night. Breaking a cardinal rule of mtn biking, I put the wheels on for the Sunday morning ride at the Watershed. If you haven't ridden out there, it's rocky. Potentially the rockiest trails on the planet.

And I loved it. I've been riding a 6" travel, 2.3" tired, dual-crown fork bike with 26" wheels. It kicks arse, for sure. I rode the Stumpjumper (2008) FSR Pro Carbon with the 650b wheels thrown into the bike and WOW! It handled pretty well. I should mention that I just rode that bike on the same trails just two days prior and the bike was all over the place. The wheels (and tires, of course) really stabilized that bike. It really changed its manners.

So, I'm not turning into a 650b wheel zealot. It's just a bike. But the 650b thing is a real benefit. I think the fact that I can run 650b or 26" on my bike is pretty money. I can race my super-light 26" wheels on non-technical courses with narrow tires OR I can rock the 650b with narrow tires on kinda technical courses or run the 2.35 up front with the 2.0 in the rear on more technical stuff. And it's all the same bike. All that really changes is the height of the bottom bracket. And that only goes up about 18mm from 26" to 650b.

I know that SRAM/Rock Shox, Hayes/Manitou, Marzocchi and Fox are all ignoring 650b right now. Couple that with the fact that a lot of these smaller builders shouting about 650b are asking for custom offsets and new lowers that would cost Rock Shox or Fox a good chunk of change and the 650b thing seems stuck.

Haro has a 650b bike. Jamis is rumored to be coming out with a bike in '10 or '11. Specialized MIGHT be thinking about tires for next year. White Brothers has a $800 fork (which will leak or creak or just not work within a year of being ridden hard).

These pics aren't great. They do give you an idea of how much clearance there is when the bike is actually ridden. There's some dirt in there and nothing's hanging up. Fork, chainstays, seatstays... It's all good!

I'm just here saying that 650b is worth checking out. If you like throwing your bike around or are short and can't ride a 29r, 650b is probably a better choice than 26. And the GREATEST thing about 650b is that most bikes ALREADY WORK JUST FINE! Of course, you have to find a friend like my buddy Cargo Mike so you can borrow his wheels and see if they work before you spend money buying a set for yourself. Yes, you can borrow mine...

This last pic is kinda sideways: that's actually the seatstay bridge. There's more room than the pic shows but you get the point.

Trail Time - Skink

2009-03-14T17:32:00.004-04:00

You tell me what you think...

Rocky enough?

Where's the trail?

Top left is entrance to the rocky section, heading E.

Top right is one option down, heading E.

Bottom left and right are the other option heading E. I _think_ this is the easy one. It's unridden (until tomorrow) and may remain so. It's not low-consequence but no more crazy that other stuff out there. We only had to rig up one rock. We'll see how it goes!

Slate.com Terrorism Articles

2009-02-25T13:12:00.001-05:00

The articles start today. Good read. Bonus points if you can keep up the whole week. It's worth just reading the first if that's all you got.

http://www.slate.com/id/2208971/?from=rss

Great article. Me likes some Slate.

Jeremy's First Album Cover and Our Grow Operation

2009-02-13T19:06:00.003-05:00

From last week comes a picture of Jeremy playing us a song he wrote.

He's our rising star/meal ticket. We'll see how it goes. Maybe Dave Grohl is looking for a protege.

Here is our fledgling grow operation, as it were. I got some cheap clip-on lights and some flourescent grow bulbs. This set-up should allow us to get an early first crop of veggies. We've got some peas, sunflowers and marigolds going so far. We are going to be planting some cucumber, tomato, lettuce and more peas. There are a lot of seeds in those seed packets. I'll be cleaning out more of my planters this weekend and prepping them for our superdoublesecret planting mix. I'm building an oh-fee-shul cedar planting table tomorrow using some red cedar and some old 4x4s I have left over from the deck.

Is that enough information for you?

We'll be finishing up the wallpaper paste removal from Jeremy's room (current guest room) and preparing for the grey and blue paint and Batman decals for the walls. We've got our work cut out for us. Boy do I hate wallpaper.

I put a sheet of stainless behind the fireplace in the firebox to deflect some of the heat off of the decaying firebrick to keep it from cracking. Again. It looks pretty good and seems to reflect more light into the room. And Susan likes it. It may even reflect more heat into the room. Who knows.

Long weekend so I'm hoping to get a bunch of riding in this weekend. I have to finish up my Modern Public Administration mid-term tonite before I can think about having fun and busting my arse this weekend. If that doesn't get done, there's nothing else to worry about this weekend.

An America I Can Get Behind

2009-01-26T19:01:00.005-05:00

I'm happy. President Obama.

I love the sound of it. It's about time we had some true leadership. Sure, I'll take the Hope, Change, post-partisan stuff too. I'm just glad to have a true leader with intellect, world experience and a thoughtful, calm demeanor.

It's nice to have a president who wants to president of EVERYONE in the US. I even think he'd like to be president of the world if there was such a job and I think he'd do a great job.

Big surprise: I never voted for Bush. Any Bush, for that matter. I'm not much of an idealogue. I'm registered Green. Funny for so many reasons but mainly because I believe we need more of a third party to stir things up in the US. Too much same, same.

But this Barack guy. It's hard to overstate the impact he's had on our country and we are just in week two. He may fail, but at least he'll be honest about it. I think failure would be good for him, at first. It would just make this guy work harder. The last guy acted like he was just unlucky. 'Aw, shucks' ain't much of a leadership style. Plus, I'll say it again. He was dumb. Well-read, maybe, but D U M B, DUMB!

Sack o hammers dumb. Dumb like the US auto industry. They fight success every bit of the way ('Stop trying to make us competitive! We are the US Auto Industry, dammit!')

So anywho... We took the kids down for the inauguration. We watched it from the Lincoln side of the Washington Monument. It worked out perfectly for us. We left Joel's house at around 10am and were in-place, watching the scene at 11:10am. Not bad. That included riding down 16th St with Kemler, Susan, the kids and Dean. Our kids were in the trailer (for ease of transportation) and Dean rode his bike.

We hit the WABA bike valet parking on 16th, right next to my old digs at the League offices. After collecting our commemorative spoke cards, we marched with a few thousand friends down to 20th St, then down to the Mall. Snacks, snuggling and waiting.

Aretha was my favorite. She brought tears to my eyes. And that hat! I have a new-found love and respect for that woman. What a great choice. That Williams piece of music was stirring, to say the least. Perfect.

Hearing Barack flub the oath (thanks CJ Roberts) was perfect. Here's a guy on his biggest day and he has to laugh off a mistake that wasn't his fault. The oath is just the oath, after all, right? Why stress out? The hard part starts immediately afterwards.

By the way: good luck with that. We'll be here. Watching. Hoping.

This is the America I have been waiting for. Just when we go and screw things up with getting Osama bin Laden, screw up Iraq, threaten Iran and S Korea, torpedo the stock market AND banking system AND US economy, we go and show the world what Americans do when it hits the fan: we elect the RIGHT person to fix it all. Somebody who will make us better than we think we should be. Somebody who understands more than any one of us could but not more than all of us together.

Together.

It will be nice having somebody at the top, leading the free world, pulling us together. I'm tired of Bush/Cheney. The world joins me in that.

'The Angler' won a Pulitzer. Bob Woodward published a great article in the WaPo here.

And on a personal note, Obama inspired me to better myself. I'm hoping to help out by the second term. I re-enrolled in graduate school to get a Master's in Public Administration. Wish me luck.

WOW! I Wanna Fly!

2009-01-15T10:12:00.001-05:00

Wingsuit
Uploaded by superchomeur

Conversation

2009-01-13T11:30:00.002-05:00

Me: Jeremy, Daddy's going back to school!

Jeremy: Why?

Me: Because school is very important.

Jeremy: Are you gonna come to my school?

Me: No. I'd like to but I'm going to get my Master's degree and they don't teach that at your school.

Jeremy (super excited): You are going to be a Master?! I want to be a Master! (starts doing Kung Fu)

Me: Well, I'm not learning to be a Kung Fu Master, I'm going to learn about decision-making for the public sector.

Emma (excited): I want to be a Kung Fu Master too! Can Jeremy and I go to school to learn Kung Fu?

Daddy: Sure.

Stolen from Slate.com

2009-01-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

'Bushisms, now that he is on his way out, are mostly part of historicalness.' -me

1. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

2. "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

3. "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

4. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."—Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

5. "Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."—declining to answer reporters' questions at the Summit of the Americas, Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001

6. "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

7. "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2006

8. "See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."—Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

9. "I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007

10. "And so, General, I want to thank you for your service. And I appreciate the fact that you really snatched defeat out of the jaws of those who are trying to defeat us in Iraq."—meeting with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, Washington, D.C., March 3, 2008

11. "We ought to make the pie higher."—South Carolina Republican debate, Feb. 15, 2000

12. "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

13. "And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."—speaking on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007

14. "We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."—Houston, Sept. 6, 2000

15. "It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."—Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

16. "One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."—U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 3, 2000

17. "People say, 'How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?' You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

18. "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."—CNN online chat, Aug. 30, 2000

19. "I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend."—on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2005

20. "I think it's really important for this great state of baseball to reach out to people of all walks of life to make sure that the sport is inclusive. The best way to do it is to convince little kids how to—the beauty of playing baseball."—Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2006

21. "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

22. "You know, when I campaigned here in 2000, I said, I want to be a war president. No president wants to be a war president, but I am one."—Des Moines, Iowa, Oct. 26, 2006

23. "There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.' "—Boston, Oct. 3, 2000

24. "They misunderestimated me."—Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

25. "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."—Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

Welcome to the Future.

2009-01-10T21:29:00.005-05:00

So, it's January so I guess it's time to post some Dec photos. We got a dog. Yes, a dog.

Full name: Foxy Brown Batgirl Klasmeier. She's a mutt and she's the fastest dog I've ever seen. She's been here almost a month and we've got her trained up pretty well. She walks on a leash really well and she spends a lot of time at the dog park with Susan. This one has some energy.

She's fitting in really well and having a good time. She's great with the kids. They seem really taken by her.

She's a hound-lab mix, we think. She's fit and we are going to keep her that way.

She ran away briefly this afternoon and we walked around to a neighbor's house to get her (she wasn't far) and when we got her back in the garage to hang out while we were out front, Jeremy walked up to her and said 'Foxy, don't run away again because I'll miss you and I'll be sad if you go away.' Pretty cute kid. Four is a great age, no doubt.

Here is a pic from Xmas eve before heading over to visit with my family. Pop-pop, Donna, Emma and Jeremy, all clean and ready to go out.

Susan decided to add some flair to the entry way so we got some letter-hooks for our stuff right by the front door. S, E, M, J and F for the family. This made Foxy an official member of the family.

We had an un-eventful holiday season. We saw some friends and family and Susan cooked a lot. She's trying to make the most of her time off. Besides getting the dog and learning to croche (sp?), she's been looking for a job. She's had some leads and she worked a few seasonal jobs in November/December. That girl just can't sit still.

On New Year's Eve day, we went hiking at Patapsco. Of course it was FREEZING out. We were all super-bundled up and it was blowing 30 knots and gusting to 50. Foxy got to run off-leash a bit and we all had a great time.

I'm still lacking a proper set of booties for the mtn bike and two pair of woolie socks didn't help my toes. It was one of those times when everyone hauled back to the car to warm up. Boy it felt good. After running around for an hour and a half, we earned our hot chocolate that day!

On our way out, I hit the skinny right there at Landing Rd and Morning Choice. Jeremy likes those too! We had a near-miss but everyone came away safe and sound (and I cleaned it, uphill). That kid loves him some danger...

Inauguration day is right around the corner and we've got our plans set for hitting the city and braving the weather and the crowds. Should be pretty sweet. We are excited although BO is going to have a tough go of it with all the crap that Bush has left him. Personal responsibility? Yeah, right.

Happy New Year!

Rosaryville Pics

2009-01-06T13:06:00.004-05:00

I haven't been to Rville in years. And Shawn took some pics of me riding the horseshoe. That section of trail is pretty fun. Would've been nice to get something like that in Patapsco but I'm not bitter. Ok, not REALLY bitter...

Yeah, We Know It's Coming...

2008-12-12T20:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know it'll hurt. But not any more than the past few DECADES of crap coming out of Detroit and lack of innovation. You know how many rad cars these companies sell in the EU that we can't get here? Yeah, all the good ones.

It's time for the greedy UAW and poorly-managed Big 3 to re-organize in bankruptcy, like the rest of the irresponsible companies out there.

Free markets. Let's pull the plug on crap from Detroit.

Let's get to the bottom fast so we can turn this economy around. Propping up Detroit is not helpful to anyone.

Normally I love unions and I love 'Made in the USA' for whatever they are worth, but in practice, the UAW and Detroit have screwed each other and all of us over the years.

Bring on more Toyotas and Hondas. I'm not scared. Didja see my SmartCar pic? Daimler product... Work fleet vehicle.

I've heard of big pimpin' but little blue pimpin'?

I'm doing what I can.

I just can't figure out where to fit all my ladies...

LandSpeedRecord and Girls Like Cigarettes

2008-12-10T16:50:00.000-05:00

WAY back in the day, music was my life. The way bikes were my life (until earlier this year).

That meant that somebody gave me a bass guitar and I learned how to play it. And the drums. And the guitar. And write and arrange music. And record music. And play shows and make flyers and stuff.

This started in middle school and ended sometime in college. When I got my first real mtn bike. Hmm...

So back in the day, my buddy Joe lived not too far from me and he had a band and a basement. I spent a lot of time there. I was a roadie. I sat in every now and then. I went to shows with them and carried stuff. I watched the shows up close, sang the lyrics, made jokes and had a great time. Shawn organized some of the shows and I helped him as much as I could. This was the original internet: rock and roll shows with bad flyers that were photocopied and handed around. Lots of phone calls were made (from home!) and people came to shows.

So Joe needed a drummer. Remember Joe? I knew that Marc was a drummer and the two of them made great music with random guitarists and covered Pixies songs (when the songs were new!) and Jane's Addiction songs too. This was before the Music Revolution of the early 1990s. Bad music was everywhere.

Jeebus this is going nowhere...

Joe is now in NYC in GLC (above right). He's in the middle. He's very serious. On the left, I think that's Marc with his hand to his head... heh...

Joe and Marc made music and I was around a lot. Joe's new band doesn't really grab me. They are great, sure, but just not my style. People like them, Joe is happy and that's all that matters. Marc's band I really like. He wouldn't ever say this but I think they are like polished Fugazi. I'm not sure that's by design but they really rock. It's fun enough, loud enough, angry enough... If you don't like them, I hate you.

Hate is a strong word. Maybe I just won't give you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but I don't hate you... much...

Listen to Marc's band here. It's ok for work, but not super loud.
Listen to Joe's band here. They have a show in B-more on the 13th. Sonar. Small chance I make it, it's a busy weekend. Maybe I'll get Joel to go and get him in a fight... That would be funny.

Severn Run Stuff

2008-12-09T18:35:00.000-05:00

As y'all may or may not know, I'm working on a trails project with DNR and MORE at Severn Run Natural Environment Area. So now you know if you didn't.

Severn Run (Google it) is about 1800 acres of underused land right in the middle of Anne Arundel County. MORE and DNR have agreed that data of the current trails is needed in order to have a feasibility discussion for more multi-use trails. Of course, I have a LARGE personal interest in the improvement of this area because I work across the street and live just 8 miles away.

Can you say 'lunchtime laps?' I will be soon!

The whole point of this project is to figure out what is out there as DNR doesn't have resources to get in there and figure that out. They are busy. Check some of this out. I like our Gov and he's going in the right direction.

Ok, so we're having some local meetings about the project and how you (yes, YOU!) can get involved.

We'll be getting in there to hike around and find trails and classify them as 'good,' 'needs work,' 'gotta go' and 'proposed trail.'

After DNR checks out what we put together (late Winter, early Spring), we should be able to surmise how feasible the area would be for new trails. Based on the time I've spent out there, I'm very hopeful. The pics on this page are of the area. There's no map of the area around that I can find. I've got a local engineer guy helping out and we have the county GIS data so we should have a working map up and running in Google Earth in the coming days.

This Thursday, Dec 11, we are having our first meeting about this project at Bike Dr in Linthicum. Show up around 7pm. Yes, beer and pizza. I'm trying not to waste anybody's time and we'll have a LARGE copy of the map to look at.

NEXT Thursday, Dec 18, we are having a meeting at Family Bikes in Crofton. 7pm, beer and pizza.

RSVP for either event please (so we don't run out of food/beer) to me or to Jeff or Jonathan.

Here's hoping to see you out there!

Just a picture recap here... These are pics of Severn Run near Najoles Rd and Dicus Mill Rd. There are trails out there and there are hikers out there (although not last Friday).

If you want to, you can park at the little gate at the bottom of Dicus Mill Rd right near the bridge over Severn Run. They kinda loop around themselves so a GPS would help the first time out. There's no map so GPS might be a good idea.

You can see how rutted some of the trails are. A lot of them are on steep ground and have been either cut or just bedded in about 1 foot, or even a bit more.

The first pic is most likely a future drop (TTF) near the top of the trail system.

Big thanks to Mike and Gretta for coming out to hike with us. There is private property near where we were and I have seen hunters out there all week so that's why we were wearing blaze orange and some hi-viz safety vests I had at work...

Here Comes the Sun

2008-12-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

Every time my buddy Kent eats a grape, he smiles and says, 'I'm solar powered!'

He eats a lot of grapes.

At work, our solar panels are going up. There's about 2 acres behind the building at second floor-level almost covered in panels. Here's a good shot.

It's a good-sized array back there, and on the roof. We'll be 100% off the grid in summer (lotsa sun) and about 60% in low-sun Winter.

This past long weekend was Turkeyday weekend. Of course, we kicked the week off right by killing our washing machine. It's about 12 years old and the motor went up. I've been lucky enough to figure out how to fix a bunch of other stuff in the house and I figured out that it was the motor.

Problem is, the motor is the most expensive part of the whole machine. Add that to the cost of a few other parts that I found out it needs (broken stuff) and we were just below a new washer. AND couple that with the current state of durable goods sales (ie: washers) and there were some SUPER cheap options out there. We got new washer/dryer for the cost of a new washer AND they are the super-efficient NEW Energy Star models. Susan wanted front-loading washer 'cuz they are trendy now or something so that's what we got.

We went to William's birthday party at the bounce zone or whatever. You know the place: inflatable stuff everywhere. Kids go NUTS for these things. And the kids went nuts. As did the wife... Pizza, cake and ice cream finished off the event and William got what every little boy wants: something related to Spiderman, Superman or Batman...

Almost forgot to mention the annual Turkeyday ride at Patapsco. About 80 or so miscreants showed up for this annual event. The 8am Hot Lap was quick. Mr Eatough and other local super-fast boys showed up and kept the first hour very fast (for me, not for them). We got back to the parking lot for the rest of the ride at 9am and the photo op... I survived.

Send good thoughts over to Jonathan at Family Bikes. He and Sarah have had a rough week so stop by, email him or whatever to let him know we are thinking about them...

New Trails Coming to Anne Arundel County?

2008-11-26T11:34:00.001-05:00

New Trails Coming to Anne Arundel County?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2008
Contact
Michael Klasmeier

Millersville, MD -- The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts (MORE) have entered into agreement to survey the current state of trails in the Severn Run Natural Environment Area. The process will involve volunteers cataloguing the current trails and ascertaining their viability as part of a sustainable trail system on the 1800 acre piece of land.

Severn Run NEA encompasses the headwaters of the Severn River in the Millersville area. Currently the piece of land situated in the central part of Anne Arundel county and is underutilized. MORE's partnership with DNR is purposefully limited to feasibility for multi-use trails. If the soil and topography are appropriate for natural surface trails, design and construction could begin in early 2009.

'Many hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers head to Rosaryville State Park 30 miles to the south or Patapsco Valley State Park 25 miles to the north. There are no other large tracts of land in the immediate area for these users,' said Patrice Miller, Maryland Advocacy Director for MORE, an all-volunteer group that does trail maintenance and development in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. 'Where there are trail users, there are people willing to act as stewards of the land to ensure it maintains its natural beauty.'

MORE is interested in getting hikers and equestrians involved in volunteering for this project. 'It will benefit everyone in the area to have a sustainable, healthy activity that is easily accessible,' said Michael Klasmeier, a member of MORE and local resident. 'I'll have my kids out there every chance I get. This is something great for the citizens of Anne Arundel county.'

Founded in 1992, MORE is a 501c (3) representing thousands of area mountain bikers. MORE maintains over 250 miles of natural surface trails in 25 parks around the region. Members contribute over 3,400 hours of volunteer labor annually, and have opened or constructed over 80 miles of new trail since 1995. The club leads hundreds of rides each year at local parks. MORE is committed to environmentally sound and socially responsible mountain biking, facilitating recreational trail cycling, educating about the sport of mountain biking, maintaining local trails, and advocating for increased multi-user trail access.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 449,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov.

Patapsco Snow Ride

2008-11-22T09:42:00.000-05:00

RickyD threw a line out this week looking for a ride on Friday. I offered to join him around lunch time and our group tripled in size.

It snowed a bit in the morning while I toiled away at work. I was hoping it would continue, not for the accumulation that might happen, but simply for the magical effect that snow seems to bring to people, especially goofy mountain bikers.

The snow stopped around 10:30. It snowed hard for 1/2 hour then nothing.

I got a call from Kent letting me know he was pulling out of the driveway to meet us. Good omen. As I piloted the auto up Landing Rd towards Rockburn Branch Park, I saw a flake. Then another.

Then a horizontal near white-out. 25 knot winds, HUGE flakes... I pulled in right behind Kent and we both LEAP out of our cars and rejoice at the heavily falling snow!

As Kent pulled out his new electric bike (carbon Kestrel with full Dura Ace) in the heavy snow, I bolted for the heated bathroom to change. When I came out, my bike was covered in snow. After waiting a few minutes for RickyD & Co., we got started on a beautiful ride through the snow-covered woods.

There was no ground. It was only snow and leaves. Pure white with perfect browns. And slippery. Not ice-slippery, but slippery. Especially the logs.

There were falls, there was laughing. There was slowing down. And there was cold.

The snow stopped, the wind cut and we rode. It was wonderful to be out.

After a mechanical delay and cold sunk into the bones, we finished the ride on perfect trails with tacky, cold dirt. It was a great day to be out.

I missed some of the mythical snow rides from last year but this year, this first snow ride was mine. And I got to share it with some good people.

Sue Wins Lawsuit

2008-11-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

Mountain biker bounced from '04 Olympics wins suit

Friday, November 7, 2008; 11:31 AM

WHEELING, W.Va. -- A federal jury has awarded mountain biker Susan Haywood nearly $319,000 in a lawsuit over her removal from the U.S. Olympic team in 2004.

The West Virginian was replaced by Mary McConneloug for the Athens games after an arbitrator overturned USA Cycling's decision to add 15 points to Haywood's total in international rankings.

The arbiter said the award of the additional points wasn't justified.

The Davis resident sued USA Cycling in 2005. A federal jury in Wheeling decided Thursday that Haywood was entitled to the money as compensation for reasons including expenses, inconvenience, mental anguish and anger.

A spokesman for Colorado-based USA Cycling didn't immediately return a message Friday seeking comment.

True.

2008-11-12T09:54:00.001-05:00

Thanks from DNR!

2008-11-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

If you did work in Patapsco in the last year, this is for you, and it's funny...

Barrier Jumpin

2008-11-07T17:53:00.000-05:00

I know it's been two weeks but we've been busy. Marc sent me a link to this photo so sorry for stealing it but...

I'll be uploading more of my DCCX pics for you to steal later. Good shot. Thanks.

The kids are now 4 and 7. Where does the time go?

Smart Car Passion - Road Trip

2008-11-07T08:05:00.000-05:00

We had a pre-bid meeting on the eastern shore for a cleanup project at work and I managed to secure our Smart car for the trip. It's a little two-seater city car with a tiny engine. I put a few hundred miles on it and it's pretty sweet. Not a whole lot of pickup and the shifting is odd but once you get up to speed, it's a great ride!

I moved the seat all the way back and I couldn't reach the pedals. Sweet. A/C, rear defrost, rear wiper, tire pressure monitoring, am/fm/dc, panoramic glass roof, 5 speed auto or auto shift on the steering wheel with paddles or at the shifter on the floor.

I would totally drive one. Once you get in (the door is 80% the length of the whole car!), you forget that the car is small. EVERYBODY wants to know about it even though they dismiss their interest with 'be careful' as if the car itself makes you less safe. It doesn't.

If you have $12k and live in the city or need a second car, I would check it out. I would buy one, for sure. It's rad.

WE DID IT!

2008-11-04T23:04:00.001-05:00

They announced the 11am states when I was on the phone with BK in NV and it was TOTAL CHAOS! He screamed back at me 'WOOHOO I'LL CALL YOU BACK!'

WOOHOO!

Can't wait for Inauguration Day!

Obama

2008-11-04T20:15:00.000-05:00

It's looking good!

I've been texting with my buddy from Google. He's in NV still canvassing!

WOOHOO! (predicted).

Oh My God.

2008-11-03T09:38:00.001-05:00

From Joel: Wassup?

2008-10-31T10:45:00.000-04:00

Thought I'd share this vid from Joel. I'm sure many of you have seen it...

Yes, YOU!

2008-10-30T16:35:00.001-04:00

DCCX Pics - Finally!

2008-10-28T18:53:00.001-04:00

Lots of culling went on... Too many bad shots. I think I deleted close to 200 shots. Now I have to get the other 400 or so out in the world.

Patience, please.

Thank you.

The man, the myth, the guy with the idea for DCCX, Mr MattyD. Thanks man. Pre-reg is my favorite part of the race!

Matty's fam - Pops, Moms and Saint Katie. That's right, it's a family affair.

Nothing says 'ready to party' like Mr Pat in his cow suit. Yes, you must notice the Milkmaid's wig under the helmet and cow's ears. This is no ordinary cow suited-man.

He's also a scholar.

Clearly.

Here's Mr Family Bike Shop himself, Jonathan Seibold, hamming it up while 'racing.' As Bega said, if you have time to acknowledge the crowd, you aren't riding fast enough.

And there were a few of us out there Sunday, for sure.

And we have Uncle Kent Baake...

Always up for some hard work and a good time. I don't think Kent knows how to have fun without hard work or how to work hard without having fun. A great guy, all the time, without exception.

This is how Kent prepares for a race. Smiling...

And of course here's Mr Joe 'New Daddy' Foley. He's clowning for me. And he's in charge of posting results. No thanks. That's actually work. And you can easily piss somebody off.

But we managed to avoid that, to the best of my knowledge. And don't tell me otherwise...

Normally a smiling, relaxed guy, Dave looks like he's got something on his mind.

Homicide.

Easy Dave. It's ok.

I swear there was a race going on somewhere... You wouldn't know it from these pics, eh?

And here's 'Put Me In The Catalogue Mr Hollywood' Mathias.

See how good everyone looks BEFORE a race? It's almost as if we all actually enjoy cycling!

Weird.

I don't have a race report. I lined up cuz this is the only 'cross race I do. I really like this course and Marc does a great job laying it out. The corners are fun to rail, there's always multiple tough sections and you can't really relax too much.

I bowed to peer pressure, well, Bega PA pressure, and gave the barriers the What For. I managed to get over the first barrier twice and barely had a shot at even trying the second one.

Next year, I'm setting up those barriers. Sign me up.

I won a box of chocolates. Those chocolates made their way to work and now they are no more.

I owe many of you a lot of photos so look for emails later tonite and tomorrow. I'll try to get everything out.

And here's Big Joel and Kent.

Huge thanks to my fellow DCMTB'ers for another great race. And thanks to all of you who trusted us enough to plunk down some $$ for a race in DC. I don't think there's a question about next year. We are in. Unless Matty says 'no' or Katie drops the hammer.

Thanks for the frites, Scud. Thanks for the beers Sonoma. Thanks for the other stuff Belgian embassy, especially that Merckx guy. More pics later.

Stu Has Cancer

2008-10-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

It's not just a blog, it's a reality!

Stu is a good guy and ex-bike industry knucklehead, rocking and rolling for Nema in its hey-day. We are cut from the same cloth and I was upset to hear that he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Checking his blog, I realized that he is doing well, still alive and still himself, just without the ability to taste.

Send him an email, send him some love, read his words and remember to love hard. Take care of everyone around you.

Get well Stu! You MF!

Tour de Patapsco

2008-10-20T18:26:00.001-04:00

Success!

Cargo Mike and Darren were a bit late to the start, arriving 15 or so minutes late to Rockburn Branch Park off Landing Rd, just across the street from Patapsco's Rockburn Branch section.

On the trail at about 8:30am at 48 degrees... we were all smiles as the cool air ripped through us as we dropped through Rockburn, across Landing Rd to Rockburn Brach area of Patapsco Valley State Park, the official start of our epic Thru-Trail Expedition. We all hit the skinny log ride, a pre-cursor of many technical challenges that really make this ride an absolute hoot and a chore.

We paralleled Landing Rd on trail as we headed North toward Norris Ln and then linked up with Cascade for the descent down to the swinging bridge. We took the steep chute down to the bridge just south of the bathrooms. Another good iconic trail for what we would see.

After descending all of that trail, we were pretty chilly. The climb up Nun's Run proved to more than warm us up. We got up to the pavement and Darren needed to stop. Why not? We were only 30 minute in, why not stop?

His cleat was in his pedal, he was sitting 15 feet away. Pearce and I tag-teamed the repair, working to free the cleat then re-install it while also checking out the other shoe. This would begin the truly vicious assault that Pearce and I would level against poor Darren almost all day. I'm not saying he deserved it, but it sure was fun.

We bombed the super-rocky section out of the Hilton area to the skinnys over to Charcoal then up to Hilltop Rd. Instead of the usual left to Buzzards Rock, we went right onto 'Not A Trail.'

On the map, that red line took us all the way across the pipeline. Stopped at the top of the field, Jed, Evan and some other supa-fast guys passed us, on the same basic route (although we would find out these guys passed up quite a bit of dirt and fun for pavement). We all remarked how glad we were that we WEREN'T riding with them at their Semi-Pro pace. We were out to have fun.

We had a bit of a bobble when I followed Jed's line around the field instead of following the route I had learned from Poz the week earlier. It was a minor delay and we made the descent to River Rd without much incident. I think Darren got a huge kick out of my need to pull out the map. He laughed rather hard and loud every time I rolled my Camelbak around to pull it out. Pearce was always laughing along...

We dropped onto River Rd and rode up Frederick Rd to Oella Ave past the mill and down onto the Mill Race. There was some sketch as we rode down the stone stairs and onto the bridge. My handlebars are barely above the railing on that thing and dropping off the 2 footer at the end is a skill I haven't tried. There's always next time, yeah?

We took the Mill Race trail toward the first bridge and climbed up the not-a-trail to the old road then dropped down the S K E T C H Y downhill to the Rt 40 bridge. Pearce passed me when I got hung up in a tree (again) and Darren walked. There was a lot of laughing.

We checked out the dam and I walked back to my bike. And a rear flat. After I fixed that, I hiked down to check out the crossing of the river. And Darren broke his chain.

Perfect.

So we fixed that and I determined that we should cross on the dam. I rode down the dam and found a good place to cross. Off came the shoes and the socks and I slid down the face of the dam to the water's edge. With many jokes and much cajoling, Pearce and Darren followed. The water wasn't too cold. It'll be worse later in the year. Darren was very unhappy about the crossing. He likes his feet. Too much, if you ask me...

We rode under the bridge on some grass-covered trail and Pearce slid out right in front of me on a log that was 45 degress to the trail under the grass. I told him to move down the trail 10 feet to wait for Darren. Sure enough, Mr Funnypants came riding toward us, hit the log and went right down onto his side at 2 mph. Pearce and I lost it. He got up with his classic Biggs smirk on while we laughed. Perfect...

We linked up with the railroad tracks for a jarring link up to the Daniels bridge then onto the proper Patapsco Thru Trail. We missed the first turn off the railroad tracks crossing (the sign is backwards and about 30' off and 20' above the trail). We rode down to the next tunnel then turned up the hill on an old atv trail and linked up with the Thru Trail again. We missed a right and ended up at the powerlines a short ride and short steep climb away from the Thru Trail. We got back on it and stayed on it up to McKeldin. We ate a quick lunch about 2 miles south of McKeldin.

We crossed the river into McKeldin then rode up the white trail to descend Plantation trail, which is rad and fast and flowy and fun and totally worth it. We cross the river again, tired, and started our trek south.

We left at 8:30 and started heading out of McKeldin at 1:30. The boys were worried. I was worried. We shrugged it off knowing that there was only one way to get back. More riding.

Could be worse.

We stayed on the Thru Trail and missed the wrong turns that we made on the way north and had some purty sweet descents and climbs. The trail is flat in sections, which we hammered, and the trail has some steep sections that we suffered on and then descended with passion. Much like riding the SM100, we were not going to slow down when the speed came free.

It was awesome. It was fun. We were spent but the trail kept demanding more and we kept sucking it up and moving.

We cut out a bit of railroad tracks and took the Johnnycake bridge across the river back to the railroad tracks back to the Rt 40 bridge with more wet feet. We rode the Mill Race from Rte 40 to Oella the whole way. That's one tough section of straight trail. We cut out a section of steep fireroad for some pavement as we were all feeling pressed for time and estimated a 5pm finish.

We descended on Hilltop Rd to Buzzards Rock, passing our Not-A-Trail turn that originally took us north 7 hours earlier. We dropped into the park to Bloedes Dam, hit the Grist Mill paved trail to the swinging bridge, climbed up Cascade and rode over to Rockburn, crossed Landing Rd and hammered up to Rockburn Branch Park and the cars. We were spent. It was 4:15.

I feel pretty stoked about the trust that Darren and Pearce put in me to lead them around this pretty epic ride on my first shot. I would have done it solo in a heartbeat but I didn't have to. And we had a great time.

I'll be hitting this ride again in November for sure. A lot of people want to rock this section of the park that very few have linked up. The numbers are less than 100, I think. It's not a secret but it ain't exactly easy to link it up. (Joe thinks it's 50).

I would also be remiss if I did not mention the help that Joe and Poz offered me. I spent a few hours looking at maps and asking questions about this ride despite my threats to not do so. It paid off, for sure but I wanted to set expectations low. Darren and Pearce seemed prepared for total chaos... And trust me, I was fully prepared to serve some up.

Alas, we were pretty successful. Put this ride on your list...

I think Darren tried to get a gps track. He didn't. I brought a gps but didn't turn it on. Or it turned itself off. Or whatever. Motionbased.com has a bunch. Search for Patapsco Thru. That link is for Joe's ride. Ours was slightly different.

We did about 50 miles. It took about 7.5 hours of which 1.5 was wasted getting lost, fixing stuff and having too much fun. I don't think I'll have to check the map but once or twice next time. It's REALLY well blazed once you get on the trail north of Johnnycake Rd. There are only a few sections that'll screw you up and there are a lot of trees down all over the place. I think we hopped more than 50 trees total, up and back. Out of the 50 miles, maybe 10 were road or railroad tracks.

I know a few people have the Pickall Area dialed and Joe likes to ride up into Hollofield and bushwhack down to the railroad tracks. With the addition of some trail in those two areas, there is a 100 miler in there. You'd have to do a lot of riding up towards Sykesville (10 additional miles) and ride more in McKeldin and the southern parts of the park but I think it'd doable, especially if you start way down by the aquaduct.

I'm sorry if some of these areas don't mean a lot for you. I don't want to provide a How To for the Thru Trail. If you know where all of the things are in this post, you are ready. If you don't, find some people to ride with and study the Big Map of Patapsco from DNR. It's called the Complete Guide. It's really good.

So, that's it. I'm a member of the Patapsco Park Pilots. I'm stoked.

Darren's impressions and pics here.

From IMBA re: NPS Access

2008-10-15T16:37:00.001-04:00

Visitors Will Benefit From Rule Change in National Parks
For Immediate Release 10-15-08
Contact: Mark Eller, IMBA Communications Director
303-545-9011

A proposed National Park Service (NPS) regulation change will benefit Americans by improving mountain biking experiences in national parks. The new policy would empower park superintendents to manage trails for bicycles, without sacrificing environmental review or public comment opportunities.

"Bicycling is a good fit for many national parks. It's a quiet, low-impact, family-friendly activity that provides a great way to get adults and kids excited about exploring America's most scenic places," says IMBA Executive Director Mike Van Abel.

"We're very pleased that the NPS intends to update its regulations to better serve visitors." IMBA looks forward to an upcoming NPS announcement on the pending regulation change, and the ensuing public commentary period. Stay tuned to IMBA's website for additional news, and to register your comments with the NPS.

Bicycling Helps National Parks
Expanded opportunities for mountain biking can help energize national parks by attracting new visitors - particularly young ones.

According to the Outdoor Industry Association, bicycling is the top gateway activity that gets kids outside and engaged in a variety of outdoor sports. Visitation numbers are a concern to the park service at all levels and something we are working with our many tourism partners such as IMBA to address. Having worked with mountain bikers on public lands at gateway communities, I know what a great economic impact they can have on a small town," said NPS National Tourism Director Dean Reeder.

"In my experience, we can sustain a balance between resource conservation and appropriate, healthy recreational opportunities such as mountain biking. Mountain bicycling on appropriate trails in national parks will also enhance visitors' appreciation for the natural world, as parks are better experienced on foot and by bicycle than from inside cars and RVs.

Independent scientific studies, including those conducted by the National Park Service, have shown the environmental impacts of mountain biking are similar to those of hiking and less than those of many other user groups.

IMBA's Partnership With National Park Service
Since signing a formal partnership agreement in 2005, IMBA and the NPS have been working together to create and enhance appropriate opportunities for mountain bicycling in national parks. Currently, more than 40 NPS properties host mountain bicycling, on both dirt roads and narrow trails. Each year IMBA leads volunteer work parties to help improve eroded trails and unite trails communities around national parks. Annually, mountain bicyclists contribute almost one million hours of volunteer trailwork on public lands.

"Mountain bicycling is an appropriate activity in many units of the National Park System," says Christopher J. Stubbs, a NPS community planner in Virginia. "I have seen firsthand what bike trails can do for a park. IMBA's folks know how to build sustainable, environmentally sound trails that bring all user groups together. I see a huge potential for bringing a new generation of mountain bicyclists into the park system."

IMBA Has Requested Rule Change for Years
The current policy governing bicycling on NPS trails dates from 1986, and does not account for more than 20 years of research and experience managing bicycling on trails on public lands. The outdated rule is directed at motorized users such as personal watercraft, motorboats, snowmobiles, ORVs and commercial trucking, mining and aircraft. Regulation changes will streamline an overly cumbersome process, while maintaining all review and comment required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

"IMBA first began asking the agency to clarify and streamline this rule in 1992, when IMBA Executive Director Tim Blumenthal met with [then] NPS Director James Ridenour on the subject," says Van Abel. "We hope to see the process for recognizing mountain bike trails will now become more clear and efficient."

Thru Trail: Stepping Up 10/19

2008-10-14T14:58:00.001-04:00

Joe, Posner and others have been rocking the Patapsco Thru Trail ride for a few years now. For whatever rediculous reasons, I've never made it to one of their rides. Nobody showed them where to go, they just figured it out.

With their help, I'm leading (yes, LEADING) a ride from Avalon to (almost) Sykesville and back on Sunday. A few fools have agreed to accompany me with the assurance that they will be no help at all and will not complain about hours of wandering around in the valley that is Patapsco State Park.

We'll be riding from Glen Artney up past CCBC through Hilton, across Thistle Rd, down to River Rd, up through Oella onto the mill race, up the hill to Rock Haven Ave, down to the river again, across the river, under Rt 40 to the railroad tracks across I70, through Daniels then onto the Thru Trail to McKeldin. After Marriotsville Rd, I have no clue where we are heading.

We should reach Marriottsville Rd/McKeldin area at around hour 3-4. I'm waiting to hear back regarding what we should be riding up that way but at least we'll get that far. If we don't make it to Sykesville, this will be an advanced scouting trip for a future November excursion.

The total not-lost mileage should be around 40. It could go above that but we'll keep it conservative this first time out.

Darren's bringing a camera, a GPS and a flare gun, I think... He said something about an EPIRB and a space blanket... If he shows up with a 50lb pack, I'll know how worried he is...

We plan on riding most of the day but here's hoping we are back for a late lunch.

If you want to check out some of the thru-trail routes that others have used, search MotionBased.com for 'Patapsco' and then look for tracks that are 40 miles or more.

DCCX IS COMING! 10/26

2008-10-02T17:07:00.000-04:00

(Great event, seriously. Casual and fun to watch. I'm not even racing!)

DCCX, the only cyclocross race held in the nation's capital, will be
held on October 26 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home in
NW Washington DC. Registration is now open on BikeReg.com.
For the second-annual event, race promoters DCMTB/City Bikes are
building on last year's exciting, successful race and will offer
improvements to an already awesome race experience -- and provide even
more extra-curricular fun for racers, kids and spectators. DCCX joined
the MABRA cross series this year.
Three ways the fun continues from last year:

1. The race is held on a classic, European-style cyclocross course. It's
fast with lots of transitions from grass to pavement to gravel and back.
There are some tricky barriers and roots. Amateur archeologists from
DCMTB uncovered a stone, Paris-Roubaix-style path before last year's
race, and that has become DCCX's signature feature. The layout is great
for first time cyclocross racers and a fast, challenging event for
veterans.
2. The Armed Forces Retirement Home is the site of four National
Historic Landmarks, including the Lincoln Cottage. Lincoln withdrew to the
Soldiers' Home each summer to escape the heat in the White House. It's
difficult to get on the grounds the other 364 days of the year; with a
registration you can drive right in and check out the grounds, and
schedule a tour of the Lincoln Cottage.

3. Beer. Yes, indeed: Racers will once again be able to enjoy a beer
after their race courtesy of Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar in
Washington, DC.
Three ways the race will be so much better this year:

1. We've upped our payout for elite racers. Whole Foods-P St. has
expanded its sponsorship of the event so that the winner of the women's
1/2 race will for the first time get the same payout as the winner of
the men's 1/2 race. City Bikes remains as the title sponsor of the men's
elite race, with both races paying $700 total, seven deep. Other
category winners will get cool loot.
2. Li'l Belgians will be sponsored by the Belgians. This year, as part
of the MABRA series, DCCX is adding a race for kids, and we've pulled in
as sponsors the Belgian Embassy, which will be offering all
participating kids a special (and tasty) prize.
3. Frites! Just adding to the Belgian ambience, we will be serving free
-- yes, free -- frites (that's Belgian for French fries) to riders and
spectators. Oh, and there will be delicious, vegan cookies from Sticky
Fingers bakery and Drink More Water for those opposed to beer and frites.
What you need to do:

1. Register early at BikeReg.com. Last year's race drew 240
participants, including a sold-out 80 for the Cat 4/beginner category.
Given the great buzz that followed last year's event, this year's race
is likely to be even more popular, and so register now to get into the
race of your choice - and get a better call-up. (As of Oct. 2 there were
already 51 Cat 4 racers registered. The field is capped at 100.)
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7143

2. Bring an ID on race day. You may be asked to present an ID upon
entering the base, please be prepared. Also, there will be day-of
registration, but it is guaranteed to be a royal pain in the neck. No
money can change hands on the grounds of the Armed Forces base, and so
you will need to drive back out to an undisclosed location to make your
payment before you race.
3. Remember that Oct. 26 is also the day of the Marine Corps Marathon.
There may be traffic issues. I-395 is open to traffic from the south
(except the HOV lane). Road closures can be found at:
http://www.marinemarathon.com/Assets/Street+Closings+Release+07.pdf

AFRH address is Rock Creek Church Rd, NW & Upshur St, NW, Washington, DC
20011

Course layout can be seen at:
http://tinyurl.com/4r6nve
Use the satellite view. Distance 2 miles. In last year's dry conditions
the top B and masters riders did 5 laps in their 45-minute race. The
winning elite men averaged seven minutes a lap.
Photos from last year's race are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ou98dtbiggs/DCCX

The write up of last year's race is here.
http://www.dcmtb.com/blog/archives/222

Starting order will be based on the most recent MABRA 2008 CX Series
standings, order of registration, and promoter discretion.
The most recent MABRA-Cross standings will be used
to call up the first 2 rows (16 spots), then racers will line up row by
row, as
determined by order of registration/bib number.

There are no call-ups for the 9am/Cat 4 Men race. Racers will line up
by row based on order of registration.

Team/race info:
http://www.dcmtb.com/blog/dc-cx

Thanks Mr Obama

2008-10-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

Obama voted FOR funding for Metro in MD, DC and VA. Article is here. McCain voted against.

40% of federal workers take metro every day. That's 200,000 government employees. Traffic in DC SUCKS! I mean SUCKS! No wonder it's so nice to ride a bike or walk or take the Metro.

I don't know how you can spend any time in DC and not support the Metro. Even if you drive to and from DC every day, you should support the Metro funding. And think of all of the people that WOULD take Metro if there were more stations, more cars with more room and a Purple Line AND an extension out to Dulles?

There's no future in more cars on the road. There's no room.

Going With Solar at Work

2008-10-01T12:36:00.000-04:00

Yup, that's my back in that video. Like my shirt?

Can't Trust It

2008-09-25T16:16:00.001-04:00

I want the Bush Administration to 'handle' the economic crisis like I want another hole in my head.

Like they handled hiring in the Justice Department.

Like they handled Osama.

Like they handled Iraq.

Like Cheney handled Valerie Plame's identity.

Screw bad debt and screw Wall Street. Let 'em suck on it, the greedy bastards.

I don't remember them worrying about all the $$ they were raking in and trying to give it to the Treasury. Nope, they were busy hiding it off-shore and using tax loopholes to keep $1 TRILLION out of the Treasury.

Cartoon stolen here.

Letterman and McCain, Couric, Palin and more!

2008-09-25T15:56:00.000-04:00

Read this!

I watched the Letterman bit and it looked like he was really upset. Click on the pic of McCain and Couric. It's pretty funny but you can tell Dave was upset about McCain not showing up more than he was trying to attack him.

I watched part of the Palin bit and she still looks as dumb as a sack of hammers. Couric looked great and was tough. Palin... what can I say. Forget experience, how about some intelligence! She's been handed a vice presidential nomination and it sure does look like she didn't have to work for it. Standards for leaders in Alaska must be pretty low. I'm sure she's a great mayor but...

FSM save us from this presidential ticket!

Presidential Choice - Shortcut

2008-09-24T16:11:00.001-04:00

Having trouble figuring out who will best represent you in Washington, DC, come Jan 2009? Here's a quick picture that should help you break it down.

Thank you for your attention.

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-17T09:06:00.001-04:00

To all of us!

Today is Constitution day. 17 September 1787 was the 'birth' of the US Constitution. Here's the Wiki on it.

What can that old piece of paper expect on its birthday? Nothing. There's no gift you can give a piece of paper. All you can do is what you think it would want you to do. You'll have to read it to figure that out.

I think a big issue in America these days is lack of respect for each other. Divisive politics and social issues are making two Americas. It's talked about all the time as 'Red and Blue' states, counties, cities, people... It sucks. Even the people that complain about the division talk about it in these terms.

These divisions are what keep America from real social progress. Do we all worry about the lack of healthcare for many Americans? That a national healthcare plan would take the burden off of our US industries and help them compete worldwide? I mean, US industry is cutting healthcare benefits already in order to compete globally and we aren't doing anything to back OURSELVES up? Crazy.

Meanwhile, all of the 'free-market' Republicans are busy bailing out investment banks and Wall Street with $1 trillion dollars worth of loans and US taxpayers now own 80% of an insurance agency! WTF! $1 trillion on a war (almost) to private contractors and underpaid US military in Iraq and another trillion to bail out unadulterated greed.

This from a guy who's been 'saved.' It's a good thing he's not still a coke-head. Even if he was, he couldn't have done much worse. I know a few drug addicts smarter than this knucklehead.

Don't worry, if you need help with your mortgage or if you get sick and lose your health insurance and job, the gov't will be there to... uh... well, they won't be there.

Values. Leadership. Intelligence. It sure would be nice to have some in the White House. I'll take the 'shallow nothingness' of hope to war in Iran. Nobody should talk about war as an option. War is the absence of options. War is the failure of hope and intelligence. The start of a war means we all lose, especially those who lose their lives. McCain should know better. Politics as usual.

We'll be safer if the world thinks that they don't have to defend against a war just to live with a strong America. A strong America doesn't have to go to war, a weak America does. Learn some international relations before you start calling for war.

Tough day for Big Daddy. Please vote for Obama. It's GOT to be better than what we've got now. Please.

Great Op-Ed from the NYTimes

2008-09-15T14:41:00.000-04:00

Making America Stupid
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 13, 2008

Imagine for a minute that attending the Republican convention in St. Paul, sitting in a skybox overlooking the convention floor, were observers from Russia, Iran and Venezuela. And imagine for a minute what these observers would have been doing when Rudy Giuliani led the delegates in a chant of “drill, baby, drill!”

I’ll tell you what they would have been doing: the Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan observers would have been up out of their seats, exchanging high-fives and joining in the chant louder than anyone in the hall — “Yes! Yes! Drill, America, drill!” — because an America that is focused first and foremost on drilling for oil is an America more focused on feeding its oil habit than kicking it.
Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”

Of course, we’re going to need oil for many years, but instead of exalting that — with “drill, baby, drill” — why not throw all our energy into innovating a whole new industry of clean power with the mantra “invent, baby, invent?” That is what a party committed to “change” would really be doing. As they say in Texas: “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”

I dwell on this issue because it is symbolic of the campaign that John McCain has decided to run. It’s a campaign now built on turning everything possible into a cultural wedge issue — including even energy policy, no matter how stupid it makes the voters and no matter how much it might weaken America.

I respected McCain’s willingness to support the troop surge in Iraq, even if it was going to cost him the Republican nomination. Now the same guy, who would not sell his soul to win his party’s nomination, is ready to sell every piece of his soul to win the presidency.

In order to disguise the fact that the core of his campaign is to continue the same Bush policies that have led 80 percent of the country to conclude we’re on the wrong track, McCain has decided to play the culture-war card. Obama may be a bit professorial, but at least he is trying to unite the country to face the real issues rather than divide us over cultural differences.
A Washington Post editorial on Thursday put it well: “On a day when the Congressional Budget Office warned of looming deficits and a grim economic outlook, when the stock market faltered even in the wake of the government’s rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when President Bush discussed the road ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan, on what did the campaign of Senator John McCain spend its energy? A conference call to denounce Senator Barack Obama for using the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ and a new television ad accusing the Democrat of wanting to teach kindergartners about sex before they learn to read.”

Some McCain supporters criticize Obama for not having the steel in his belly to use force in the dangerous world we live in today. Well I know this: In order to use force, you have to have force. In order to exercise leverage, you have to have leverage.

I don’t know how much steel is in Obama’s belly, but I do know that the issues he is focusing on in this campaign — improving education and health care, dealing with the deficit and forging a real energy policy based on building a whole new energy infrastructure — are the only way we can put steel back into America’s spine. McCain, alas, has abandoned those issues for the culture-war strategy.

Who cares how much steel John McCain has in his gut when the steel that today holds up our bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure is rusting? McCain talks about how he would build dozens of nuclear power plants. Oh, really? They go for $10 billion a pop. Where is the money going to come from? From lowering taxes? From banning abortions? From borrowing more from China? From having Sarah Palin “reform” Washington — as if she has any more clue how to do that than the first 100 names in the D.C. phonebook?

Sorry, but there is no sustainable political/military power without economic power, and talking about one without the other is nonsense. Unless we make America the country most able to innovate, compete and win in the age of globalization, our leverage in the world will continue to slowly erode. Those are the issues this election needs to be about, because that is what the next four years need to be about.

There is no strong leader without a strong country. And posing as one, to use the current vernacular, is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.

Big Weekend!

2008-09-14T23:39:00.000-04:00

Redneck fair in Anne Arundel County on Friday night... A bit rainy so no one was there. Got an Obama sign for the front yard. First time for me, with a sign in the front yard.

I was all signed up to race at the Giro di Coppi but we had a wedding on Sat morning and no child care so Susan just took Emma. MattyD got third! Huge. What a stud. That kids rocks!

Saturday morning, Jeremy and I went looking for fossils at Calvert Cliffs State Park down in Calvert County. He played on the beach, I stared at the sand for a few hours. Fun stuff. It's a nice hike down to the fossil beach and Jeremy was a trooper. We ran across a frog getting eaten by an Eastern Water Snake (non-venemous, as if the frog cared). Talk about Wild Kingdom. For us normal folks, that's pretty rare to see that. OF COURSE we have pictures!

This pic is not a bucket eating Jeremy but a bucket-headed hiker, in search of fun. He was banging it with the shovel. Smart kid. I had him stop at least that part of it.

I carried the change of clothes, food, two liters of water, towel, camera and little boy half-way down the 1.8m hike and half-way back. When he wasn't taking it easy by riding on daddy, he was running.

Here's the snake, getting lunch. It was a war of attrition. The snake was just biding its time and the frog would rest, jump, not get away, croak and then try to jump away again. Once every five minutes or so. We didn't see frog-snake on the way back so I'm assuming that Kermit was being digested under a log somewhere in mr snake's belly. Correction: lumpy belly. Here ya go. I hope you aren't eating lunch!

In more pleasant news, my dealer delivered on Friday. I got the goods. Straight off a plane from Seattle. I'm talking the killer hook-up. 4 lbs, delivered. That will only last us a few months.

Of course, you know I'm talking about C O F F E E!

A buddy is a bit of a coffee snob and he says that he found the WORLD'S BEST COFFEE near his place in Seattle so whenever he's out there, he brings me back 4 pounds. It's good. It's not the darkest stuff in the world, but it's pretty damn good. We grind it for drip at home in the morning before heading out for work and I have some espresso with a co-worker around 9:30 or 10, just to make sure the morning is as productive as possible. Yeah, I have an espresso machine at work. It's the 'burbs so we'd have to drive for 1/2 hour round trip to buy it so we have no choice. People make fun of us at work... they think we are brewing ground up tires...

And of course, nothing in my life happens without some sort of child story. How am I going to work E or J in with a coffee anecdote you ask? Jeremy INSISTS on running the grinder in the morning (he'll come running if I try to grind without him) AND he has to 'mull it' before it gets dumped in the coffee dripper thingy. In J-world, to 'mull' something is to 'smell' it. And he puts his whole face in the grinder to get the full boquet. He's a master. Jedi master...

Speaking of which, we went to see the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie today with the kids and it wasn't horrible. I actually liked it more than all 3 of the prequel movies, but that's not saying much as they pretty-much sucked, 1, 2, 3. It was more fun and less drama. I read a few reviews to get myself psyched up to see it and all of them said 'it sucks' so my expectations were low.

Plus, I had Jeremy on my lap yelling 'YEAH! GET HIM!' at the movie, which is rad. Especially when EVERYONE in the theatre can hear and I can hear them laugh at him too.

Saturday night (I'm all post-modern with my timeline in this post, like it?), we went to my sister's house for ribs and beers. Bro-in-law's son was in town from the UK and my sis had some friends over. It was mellow and fun.

I cut Jeremy's hair again, threw him in the tub, read some books and threw E&J in bed. I got some new music, played guitar, wrote this post and now it's off to bed. It's late for a school night.

I'm listening to 'Whip It' by Devo right now. How f'in cool am I... After finishing the pic-posting, Dinosaur jr is playing right now... And I'm out...

Comedy: Still More Instructive That Regular Media

2008-09-14T09:24:00.001-04:00

Spend Five Minutes, Please.

2008-09-11T20:43:00.001-04:00

They're Here!

2008-09-11T19:27:00.000-04:00

I'm a slacker. I got the brakes today. They are hot.

Many thanks to Jonathan Seibold at Family Bikes for getting them for me. Maybe he's gonna hate me for telling, but all I do is just text the guy and he lets me know when the stuff comes in. Not sure if that's some secret communication strategy for me or what but I guess I'm regular enough. Anyway, it's a nice touch. I don't like buying stuff online. I'm glad that FBS got to check them out. I'm not sure if this is a stock item for them. At $200 a wheel, they ain't cheap.

I haven't gone downstairs yet to see if the rear hose is long enough to reach under the bottom bracket on the way to the rear mount but the night is still young.

Avid/SRAM says they are stronger than Juicys with better modulation. If that's the case, I'll be in good shape on the bike. Plus, the red will go nice with the brown and orange. And when I say it 'will go nice' I really mean, this bike will be one sweet ugly monster on wheels...

Ride report soon when I don't feel like I just got run over. Pretty early for the first Fall sickness but it's just a cold. Should be gone tomorrow.

Oh yeah, did I post up about DCCX reg being open? I guess I did.

DCCX Reg Open!

2008-09-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

DC's only cx race is coming! Details:

DCCX race registration is live on bike reg:
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7143

Other race info listed on the team website: dcmtb.com

This race was a ton of fun for everyone. Forget racing, it was just fun to hang out and watch! The race is SUPER spectator friendly.

I'm Getting Caught Up

2008-09-09T15:07:00.000-04:00

I wish we could focus more on the issues of the actual presidential candidates but here we are, focusing on the newcomer. I'm actually more confused about McCain's positions as he has changed quite a bit from when he was a 'maverick' now that he is 'Candidate McCain.'

Read up. Palin's dealio.

And for the first time, I have contributed to a presidential campaign. I just can't see a positive outcome if we don't get Obama elected president. I'm checking in here to get some ideas and get started putting in some time for Obama. I hung my head in shame when that knucklehead got elected in 2000 and 2004 (thanks Florida!) and I just can't stand seeing America go down the wrong road again. We have problems and we are far from perfect as a nation and a country but I'd rather see a hopeful leader with positive, uplifting policies that may not affect me personally too much but would seek to improve the lives of those who are wanting. Greed is no good and not helpful (see: our current economic situation) and I'd rather curtail the effect of greed on our economy than protect corporations instead of working Americans.

I'm glad that we are going to have such an exciting election. I'm glad it's close as I think that close elections (generally) make better leaders (notable exception: current president).

Good luck Mr Obama. I'll do what I can.

McCain and Palin

2008-09-08T10:24:00.000-04:00

McCain was a maverick, like his seat-holding predecessor before him, one Barry Goldwater. One of the father's of modern American conservatism. Goldwater is largely credited with removing control of the Republican party from the east coast members. It's the GOP you see today.

But he's a maverick no more. Getting the nomination for president has either forced him or allowed him to move to the right and support policies that earned him my respect in the past. I'm all for campaign finance reform. I thought he was principled, like Hillary. Now I realize that he just REALLY wants to be president.

It was smart to chose Palin as he got the attention that he was looking for as well as exciting his base. He cannot win without his base (neither can Obama). Electoral politics is simple at the national level: do enough stuff to please your base so they'll vote for you but do enough stuff to anger your base to get independents to vote for you. There's no other way to win with 1/3 of the electorate split between R, D and I (or small 'i').

Palin makes me nervous. I don't trust anyone who misrepresents themselves and it seems like her home paper has some concerns about her rhetoric. If they are worried, I'm downright scared. She took the 'bridge to nowhere' money from Congress and spent in on other stuff. And it's not a 'bridge to nowhere,' it's a bridge to the airport in Ketchican. But the road TO the bridge to nowhere is still being built, as AK would have had to give that $$ back, had they not built the road. So they are building the road to a beach. Seriously.

I still think this election is wide open.

And I don't like Biden, either. I went to see him speak on Capitol Hill about 10 years ago at a small event (at a bar) and he said 'Trust me, I'm serious, I mean this' about a million times in 15 minutes. That makes me nervous. I brought that up to a friend of mine the other day and then I saw a little article about this issue in Newsweek near the front. I think they counted these types of phrases from his nomination acceptance speech at the convention. I guess I'm not the only one to notice...

Plus, he's from Delaware. Is Delaware still a state?

'Hi, we're in Delaware.'

My biggest memory from Delaware is being in an accident with a buddy of mine from college, pulling a dead woman from her car that was leaking gasoline and having the state police tell me 'oh yeah, this happens all the time at this intersection' on Rte 13 north.

Great. Thanks. Delaware = death.

Boy, this really got off the tracks. Did I mention I'm voting for Obama?

Very simple: it would send the best, most positive message to the rest of the world about the US.

You've got your reasons, I've got mine. Things won't change that much even if you put a trained monkey in the White House.

Don't believe me? How about the last 8 years? See!

Welcome Little Foley

2008-09-07T20:27:00.001-04:00

For those of us who care, I am pleased to announce the arrival of Joe Jr (aka Sam) Foley. Reports are good. Pics of cute baby here.

Congratulations!

New Brakes On the Way!

2008-09-04T20:26:00.000-04:00

What a coincidence. I looked in to getting new brakes for my new bike and it seems they are available. Jonny-boy over at Family Bike Shop got some on order for me and they'll be here tomorrow. I'm stoked.

I've been running the Juicy brakes from Avid (SRAM) for a few years now. Four? I think I got them the year they came out. I have a set of Juicy 5s, had 7s on my other bike, had some Carbons on the 06 stump and now I'm stoked to be waiting on the Elixirs. There's a ton of info out in the world about these. SRAM launched them at Sea Otter this year. Here's Bike Mag's review. PinkBike got their hands on them. That'll keep you busy and make your mouth water. Stronger than the Juicy brakes and lighter? I'll take it.

New caliper with less moving parts and seals, new lever with tool-free lever adjustment and pad contact. New lighter rotor. Even upgraded conical washers! Stainless! Woohoo!

PinkBike has lots of good pics of weights and the pad spacer with integrated bottle opener. Another coincidence, I planned on a few beverages while installing! Bonus!

Same bleed as the Juicy brakes. The pads are new with vented pistons... I'm just regurgitating the specs. I'm excited.

The Maguras that came on the 08 stump pro carbon are crap. They work until they don't. I had a few fade issues at the 100 on Sunday. At the end of a long day, that's the LAST thing you want to have to deal with. The only reason I know what brake fade feels like is because I have ridden Maguras a few times over the past years... Too light and not built for big boys. I know that Specialized knew that when they spec'd the brakes. It's a small price to pay for a rad bike.

$200 per wheel ain't crazy either. That's with carbon lever! Nice work SRAM. I may be technically sponsored by SRAM but only because I wouldn't run any other brakes... And lord knows their not checking up on me...

Support Continued Energy Tax Credits

2008-09-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

When Congress does something right... From Wastenews.com.
============================

U.S. wind energy capacity surpasses 2-gigawatt mark

Sept. 4 -- Installed U.S. wind energy capacity has blown past the 2-gigawatt milestone, achieving in two years what had taken two decades.

Wind provides 20,152 megawatts of electricity generating capacity in the United States, enough to serve 5.3 million American homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Wind power supplies about 1.5% of the nation´s electricity, but is well ahead of the curve for contributing 20% by 2030, said Randall Swisher, executive director of the AWEA.
In 1985, the United States had 1,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity. The industry surpassed the 1-gigawatt, or 10,000-megawatt, milestone in mid-2006. It has taken two years to double that capacity.

My Spoon

2008-09-03T12:51:00.000-04:00

I just finished my oatmeal lunch. I walked over to the sink to clean out my bowl and wash off my spoon. I looked down at my spoon as I rubbed the stubborn uneaten oatmeal off of it and realized something odd about this spoon.

It's just a spoon. It's silver, of the tablespoon size as opposed to what the kids call 'little spoons.' It's a bit fatter at the handle than the scoopy part and has a bit of a raised, twisting pattern with a few raised flowers for extra grip, in my opinion. Subtle, not flashy. A working spoon, nothing of beauty but a bit of flair.

I've had this spoon for a while. I remember that it matches an old set my parents had. Mom probably bought it at Sears back in the late 1980s. It's that kind of spoon. I wonder what she did with the rest of the set, minus one spoon. Probably took it to a local church. She does that a lot.

I remember when I 'stole' this spoon from my parents. I'm sure we had all used this spoon many times at Casa de Klasmeier in Arden. After college, I rolled out to CA for some fun in the sun. This spoon was one of the last things that I grabbed as I over-packed my 1986 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade for the long haul across the US. It was 1996. June.

In San Diego, I ate with it. It traveled to work with me at Bikes USA (gone now), Speedplay and Bikes By the Bay (also gone). I made hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with it. Spoons are better for PBJ, by the way. It's all about spreading the PB with the back of the spoon and scooping the jelly. Don't try this at home, I'm a pro.

I made a few hundred more PBJs at Calmar Cycles and Trail Head Cyclery in San Jose. I never got sick of 'em. I'm a big strawberry guy when it comes to jelly and I like the big chunks. Skippy Super Chunk is my favorite PB but it's nice to go creamy every once and a while. Boysenberry is good. Whatever is on sale is also good when you are a broke-ass bike mechanic. Oh, and wheat bread... Never white.

This spoon has been camping at races. It followed me to more PBJ at the League on K St then to City Bikes in Adams Morgan and Chevy Chase. It stirred quite a few cups of coffee, too. I wiped it off on a napkin after licking it clean almost every day. I almost never washed it and it didn't care.

It lived with me in Takoma park through three roommates, surviving the move back from CA to MD. My future wife moved in and it witnessed me living in sin. I'm sure we've both used it. It moved from Takoma Park to scenic Crofton. It even survived new silverware. Did I know it was special or old or well-traveled? Maybe, but I never thought about it one way or another before. It's just always been there. And now kids. I bet the spoon never saw that coming!

These days, the spoon has a relaxed life in my desk drawer at work. It rests in my orange plastic bowl, also destined for legend. It scoops grounds for espresso and soups for lunch. It stirs oatmeal before and after the microwave then delivers warm goodness to my belly.

It's a spoon. It's a spoon that I've had for a long time. I don't think I'd be terribly upset if I lost it as it would just be time for another spoon. I can't even imagine what this poor spoon thinks of me...

Long Live the Spoon!

A Little Politics

2008-09-02T13:44:00.000-04:00

I'm not voting for McCain. No biggie, especially not in MD. I did read an interesting article about his choice for VP. It's here. The author is a Democratic consultant and is surely biased but it does reflect how I feel about the situation. The whole issue with Ms Palin and her personal life means not a thing to me in this election. I find it odd that many Republican pols are crying about her morals and how upright she is in her personal life but what the American people see is bankrupt morality with Sen Craig, Katrina, Iraq, anti-choice, politics in the DoJ and generally irresponsible leadership from Bush/Cheney. I don't know how anyone could vote for McCain in this election. I think the guy is amazing and I have a lot of respect for him but I don't want him to be president.

Give me a scholar for a leader, not a soldier. Soldiers are used to cure the failures of leaders.

Whatever you believe, vote your conscience. Don't forget to vote. This election will be very close. Not in MD, of course, but in America.

I'm voting for Obama. I wish there were more alternatives but this will work.

Shenandoah Mountain 100

2008-09-01T16:14:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was the 10th annual Shenandoah Mountain 100. 100 miles and 14 thousand feet of pain. Pics here and here. Thanks to Punga for the first album of DCMTB riders at CP4. Jonathan Bruck took the rest. Results are up. 10:30:07 for me. Scardaville pics here.

Alastair and I rode down on Saturday morning to meet up with the DCMTB advance team. MattyD and Katie headed down on Friday to ensure that we had a spot for camping. We knew this was going to be a big year. Not only was it the 10th anniversary, but there seemed to be a buzz around the event this year.

I have heard rumors at races all year about who's coming to this event. And the rumors were that EVERYONE was going. And it sure looked that way. 550 people. The only reason it wasn't more was because that's all Chris asked for on his Forest Service permit. I know he's worried about too many people in the woods and the support required for that many but from a rider's perspective, nothing suffered with all of those people there. From the middle of the pack, things looked as good as ever. Thanks again, Chris.

Sunday's wake up call came too early, as usual. This year, we had the special pleasure of an increased knucklehead contingent, setting off fireworks well into the night and making plenty of noise down in the pavilion. I'm not some stud that can drink all night then get up and ride for 100 miles so I don't really have an appreciation for that anymore. Say what you will, I'm just not into it. I'm glad that Susan decided to keep the kids at home as it would have been an absolute nightmare trying to get them asleep and keep them asleep this year. As it was, I didn't sleep much but that was from just being too keyed up.

But I digress...

It was warmer just before dawn this year as opposed to year's passed. It was appreciated. MattyD, Alastair, Kent, Prince Harry, Alex, Evan and I suited up and headed down to the start. No shivering this year. And Chris joined in the race! Cool. We took up a chunk of the front line with Eric, Anna, Gwadz and Wheaton joining us on the starting line. That's 8 DCMTB team members. Cool.

The race start was only slight more of a CF with all of those people scrunching down to 14 feet wide to snake out of the campground and over the iron bridge. I rode with Prince Harry and Alastair for a while until the dirt. MattyD caught up and I took off just a bit. MattyD caught up with me on the first climb up to Cookie. We stayed pretty close with Roberts with Roberts and I riding the downhill together. We caught MattyD before the Lynn climb and rode the sketchy lower part together, cleaning it all. MattyD sat in right behind me as we passed walkers and cushioned ourselves so that people getting off wouldn't cause us to put a foot down. It worked and we continued up to the first switch back about half-way up. We both ended up getting off. We got in line and walked the rest of the way up the rocky switch backs. I flatted at the top of Wolf Ridge before the descent really got going. I flatted right where some dude was already changing a tube. While fixing my flat, another guy flatted. First guy left then another guy flatted. Tough spot. Weird, for sure.

I caught up to Joel who was stuck behind some roadies on the descent. At the bottom of Wolf on the fire road, I took off and stuck in behind two guys cooking on the road. Nice speed and nice rest. I caught Wheaton right before the aid station. He said that Matty was 5 minutes ahead. That would last for the rest of the day. All I could do was chase up Hankey Mountain, kill it on the descent into 3, climb up to and out of Ramsey's Draft up to the Dowell's descent into 4 then try to find some guys to work with on the road up to 5. I was on my own from 4 to 5. It sucked. I later found out that MattyD and Kent worked together up that section. If I didn't flat, I probably would have been close and might have been able to make all three of us faster but there was no way for them to know where I was. I made it up to 5 after Shawn let me know that I was still about five minutes behind him.

After a few pieces of pizza and a coke or two at 5, I headed up the rest of the way up Shenandoah Mountain for the fire road and meadows climb. Just so you know, there are 13 meadows up on Little Bald Knob. 13. I counted this year. I was all by myself and it was all I could do to keep motivated. I was actually counting each meadow like The Count from Sesame Street. Out loud, at the top of my voice you would have heard 'Ten! Ten meadows! Ah, ah, ah.' It was getting bad. But I felt pretty good. I was just trying to keep my mind off of the climb. It worked.

Two dudes jumped in front of me on the descent. I tried to cut one of them off going into the woods and dude asked if I minded if he rode behind his buddy. I blurted out 'Sure, but you guys better haul ass. I've been stuck behind knuckleheads all day.' Dude said, 'Don't worry about us' and took off into the woods. I ended up having to worry about them about 3/4 of a mile in. They graciously let me pass.

And I continued to haul the mail down the Chestnut Ridge. I was in a hurry. And it was fun. Really, really fun.

I passed a few more people coming down the rest of the descent into checkpoint 6. I stopped for some HEED and headed up to the final climb up Hankey Mountain, again. I didn't break any records heading up but I made it and got onto the fire road. I cranked around the fire road and caught up to a pair of horses at full gallop on the trail. They called me through and I passed quickly. They told me they were racing me to the bottom and I hollered 'Right on!' and kept hauling it. I dropped into the last singletrack through the campground and tried to holler but I couldn't find my voice. I kept trying and on the third try managed a proper 'WOOHOO!' It feld good. I was happy.

I cranked through the bottom part of the campground, turned into the finishing slot, rang the gong and grabbed my pint glass at 10:29. I was ten minutes behind MattyD. So close. I was only 2 minutes behind Roberts.

Fastest time. Last year, I wanted to finish under 10:30. This year, I wanted to ride with MattyD and have a good time. I got to do both. I started out slower, kept a great pace throughout the race and only pushed it at the tops of climbs and at the end of the race. I had power at the end which is a big goal of mine.

I want to see how many people DNF'd this year. I talked with a few people who had concerns about the number of novices were out there. I think the race got a lot of new people this year and I'm just hoping that it ended up being a good thing. I talked to a few racers out on course and half-way through, they were surprised at how hard it was. One guy had already done four 100s this year. And he was really worried at mile 60. People don't realize that there isn't somebody at each checkpoint waiting to shuttle you back to camp. They think that they can just opt out at any time. And for some reason, a lot off people think that it's all down hill from mile 75. Ouch. Did I mention 13 meadows? That's 13 climbs up to each meadow and that doesn't count the fire road climb just to get up to the meadows part of the climb. All after mile 75.

Whatever. The race is amazing as ever. Support crews at each aid station are worth their weight in gold. They almost hurry you out of the aid station with your camelbak and waterbottles full, lube on your chain and a handful of food. They are great and we all owe them a huge 'Thank You!' I thanked every one of them (I think, things got a little blurry).

Great time, thanks again Chris! See you next year? NO WAY!

Ok, maybe just one more time... Pics are (from top) our host Chris Scott of Shenandoah Mountain Touring, Evan, MattyD and Wheaton.

OMG - Tara Llanes!

2008-08-28T22:14:00.001-04:00

I'm listening to Obama accept the nomination...

But I just saw this. I'm gonna cry... And the SM100 is just a few days away now. Bwahahaha!

Way to go Tara! I'm honestly very, very moved. I never thought she'd be back on the bike. Wow.

Riding the spin bike

Building a Rain Barrel

2008-08-15T13:40:00.001-04:00

A friend asked me about building a rain barrel. I Google-doc'd him some information and I decided to post it up here. No point keeping the best rain barrel recipe a secret!

I researched all of the directions that are out in the world and this is the fastest, cheapest, easiest way to get a rain barrel. If you don't have a drill or a jigsaw, I pity you. Get 'em!

The directions aren't really well-written yet but I'm going on vacation tomorrow so it'll have to do for now.

Rain Barrel Directions

You'll need:
barrel - good luck, try a car wash (check the MSDS of whatever was in the barrel)
3/4 to garden hose brass fitting (two if used for runoff diversion)
two 4" in-sink screens
flexible downspout diverter (optional, kinda)
2 2' long 4x4s (or something to keep the barrel off the ground)
3/4" bore for putting holes in the barrel
jig saw or saws-all
drill
punch
screwdriver
6-8 stainless screws, 1/2" to 1" long
any type of garden hose on/off spigot you want to use, brass, plastic, whatever
make sure it mates up with the 3/4 fitting listed above
plastic paint (Krylon Fusion) to match your decor - use dark color as sunlight will grow algae in your barrel
1/4" or close drill bit to drill drain holes around top lip of barrel
cresent wrench
black sharpie marker

Directions:
1) about 4 inches from bottom of barrel, drill hole using 3/4" bore into barrel
2) thread brass fitting into barrel with the hose-sized side out
you may have to 'encourage' the brass piece to start threading with a hammer - tap gently
finish threading the brass piece in with the crescent wrench - turn until flush plus 1/2-3/4 turn, don't strip it
3) thread on your spigot - this is a good place for teflon plumber's tape if you have it
4) place the screens over the threaded holes in the top of the barrel and draw a circle to trace the size of the screen onto the barrel (there are usually holes in the barrel already)
using a jigsaw or saws-all SLOWLY cut INSIDE this circle but a blade width or three
be CAREFUL! you need to get ride of that piece sticking off the top of the barrel but you need a sub-4" diameter hole for the screen
5) repeat the cut on the other threaded piece
6) using the punch, put 3-4 starter holes in the outer rim of the drain screens
7) put the screens over the holes and start the screws by hand
self-tapping screws work best
it's hard but just put on it and the barrel will allow the screws in
if you slip and put a hole in the drain screen, it's trash
you can run the screen pointing up or down, it doesn't matter - pointing up is easier to clean
8) drill a few holes from the outside rim of the barrel to the inside rim of the TOP of the barrel
these holes should NOT penetrate the main part of the barrel but will act as drainage if any water should pool on top
9) put some water in the barrel to test it - the goal is no drips
10) put the 4x4s down where you want the barrel to live
cinderblocks work well also, whatever floats your boat
11) install the downspout diverter onto your downspout and aim the end of it at one of the screens
12) wait for rain
13) use water for plants, car washing, squirting neighbor's cat...

if you have a problem with simple barrel overflow, you can install a drain with a hose to drain the overflow to a location of your choice
there will be A LOT of water coming off the roof in a downpour so use something 3-5" in diameter

Here's a calculator to figure out how much water your roof will throw off. Most storms in the Mid-Atlantic are 1" or less. While you are there, figure out how much rain barrels cost (plus shipping) and you'll see the benefit of making your own.

I figure that I spent a few hundred $$ figuring this all out. I wanted to make it more complicated but decided to KISS. The entire budget for your project should be around $25. Of course, that assumes that you can get the barrels from the car wash...

Here's some stuff from Co-Op America about rain barrels. Send me pics if you make one.

Funny Pic

2008-08-15T13:26:00.000-04:00

Stolen from Project Laundry who stole it from somewhere else, this picture makes me laugh.

Underwear is pretty-much always funny.

Going Green for Me

2008-08-02T08:37:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty excited about the whole 'green' movement going on right now. And I'm pretty stoked that it's coming at the same time as $4 gallon gas. Of course, I'm not stoked about all of the people around the US getting pinched right now because of the economy but it's not like we didn't see this coming.

When I first got bitten by the bike bug as an adult, I was going to college at Salisbury and my roommate Dave had a mtn bike. Darryl down the hall was a mechanic and had grey stumpjumper (steel of course) with Suntour 8 speed microdrive all around. I still remember 'I hate that Shimano stuff.' So funny to think back on that now, but I digress.

I bought a bike with the money I made working for HomeFix on Winter break 1992, setting up sales leads for a company that got into a lot of trouble 4 years later. I rode my bike around, off-road, on-road, bought a few upgrades and remembered what I really loved as a kid about riding bikes. I rode bikes a lot as a kid...

I figured out pretty quickly that if you live off-campus, getting to class was way easier if you just rode your bike. Duh. Back in those days, you brought your saddle/post into class with you...

I got a job at Bike World in Ocean City while I lived in Ocean Pines with some buddies. When I got back to school, I worked at Salisbury Schwinn. I learned a lot about bikes. I started racing and bought a Sworks Steel frame and built it up. Rad.

There was no 'militant cyclist' crap like there is now. At least, not in my world. I got out of college and moved to San Diego. I rode to work a lot. I moved to San Jose. I rode to work a lot. I rode my bike a lot. I raced a lot. I had fun a lot.

I decided that I needed to go back to school. I moved back to MD and started working part time at the League of American Bicyclists and started grad school at UMCP. I started opening the mail, answering the phone, drinking it all in. I listened to every conversation I could, read every piece of everything that I saw. I learned. Quickly. I got promoted quickly after finishing my class. I delved into bicycle education based on the whack-job John Forrester. He credits himself for inventing bicycle safety but he borrowed heavily from other's work. I was thrust into working with NHTSA, FHWA, Safe Kids, USA Cycling, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rails to Trails and a ton of local and regional organizations. I was exposed to the most influential non-car transportation-type people out there. And I drank it all in. And I rode my bike a lot.

I learned that there were fundamental problems with the way that the US had developed and was developing. Car-scale development, lack of 'sense of place' as a contribution to many societal ills, obesity, socio-economic social justice transportation movements, positive benefits to employers with bike-commuting employees... endless stuff.

After Susan and I got married and started a family, we found somewhere we could afford out in the 'burbs and brought our one car and made it work. We both still worked in DC and had HELLACIOUS commutes. She rode the bike to the train station in the morning, I drove Emma and dropped her off. She drove home from the train station and picked Emma up and I rode home later. We rode around the neighborhood every chance we could. I found a lot of ways around driving. I found a lot of short-cuts and paths that allowed us to avoid driving.

Al Gore dropped 'Inconvenient Truth' on everyone and things changed. I'm glad. And I've always had environmentally-helpful tendencies. In high school, I went vegetarian for all the right reasons (and girls). I stayed after school when we started a paper recycling program in middle-school and pushed mail-bins around the hallways collecting and sorting paper. I feel like I've always 'gotten it.'

But I always have been cheap, too. I think that's the main reason that I appreciate a lot of the 'green' stuff but also think a lot of it is crap. I have seen a lot of white people talking about the environment while people in, say, the Anacostia watershed suffer. Prius ain't cheap! Inner-cities with predominantly mono-race situations get highways that cut off bus routes and isolate communities. From Detroit to Portland (yes, Portland), Washington, DC, to San Jose, I worked with some social-justice people who saw bikes as the way out. So many people couldn't afford a car but needed one to get a job. So how do you get a job if you can't afford a car to get TO the job and there's no busses or you have a 8-lane suburban conveyance device (highway) cruising in front of your house. It's hard for me to ignore the entirety of the things that I've learned when thinking and talking about these things. It's really fun while out drinking with me...

Roads should be for people, not for people in cars. Be nice to the planet and your neighbors.

So, all of that to say that the main reason that I support 'green' stuff and recycling is because I'm cheap and I see that it CAN be less-expensive to live low on the totem pole. Why buy potting soil for your plants when you can compost? Why use potable water to water your plants when a billion or so people don't have safe water? Why pollute the Chesapeake Bay when you can just cut down on your driving (cheaper), use a water barrel and leave your grass long? Complaining about high gas prices and sending your $$ to people that funded Bin Laden? Ride your damn bike. You KNEW that that stupid SUV you bought got crappy gas mileage but you 'needed' it. The Federal Gov't passed a law that allowed people to write off their heavy vehicles in one year instead of the usual five for smaller cars so you were greedy and bought a few Hummers.

To borrow a phrase from Jawbox, we protest our complicity.

Bush says 'go shopping' after September 11th and many of us were dumb enough to listen. We send our country(wo)men to fight in Iraq AND Afghanistan but we don't plant our Victory Gardens or change our lifestyle a bit. Oh, people bought little USA ribbon stickers and yellow ribbon stickers or other stupid displays of blind patriotism but everyone kept driving, kept buying.

And the mortgage market lowered its standards to sell more and more bundled securities to Wall Street and here we are. It's all tied up in a nice big fat crap sandwich that all of us are chewing.

This is why I never got through grad school. I can't hold a single thought in my head without it running over. Apologies to those with the patience or time to actually read this well-intentioned rambling.

In other news: I GOT A NEW BIKE!

I Am A Huge Whiner!

2008-07-31T19:50:00.002-04:00

My community Homeowner's Association (HOA) is all up in my grill for my rain barrel.

For a few months now, they have been requesting that I remove it. Somebody complained I guess.

I've been quiet about this but I'm getting to the point where my silence is my biggest liability.

In MD, the state enacted new stormwater regs for this year. They are on MDE's website. EPA has its NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) for point sources and even Anne Arundel County has new stormwater regs for this year (pasted below cuz I couldn't find a link quickly). Recycling, upcycling, LEED, Green Infrastructure, Low Impact Development... It's all the rage right now...

So they object to it on some typical narrow-minded grounds that it doesn't 'match the aesthetics of the community' or something like that. They are trying to quote convenants in the HOA that basically prohibit people from keeping piles of building materials in my yard (??). The only rule that is remotely close is something that permits irrigation related stuff:

"No water pipes, sewer pipe, or drainage pipe shall be installed or maintained on any Lot above the surface of the ground, except hoses and movable pipes used for irrigation purposes"

I thought a 'water pipe' was a bong.

They liken my rain barrel to a 'bird bath' (yup, decorative object). Let me guess how many birdbaths there are in my neighbor's yards? 20? How about those hose caddy things that you roll up your hose into? Yeah, they are everywhere, made of the same stuff that my barrel is AND THE SAME EXACT FRIGGIN COLOR! Do I complain about those? Nope. Are they 'aesthetically pleasing?' No way. They are utilitarian and people find them useful and they sit where they are most useful, the same place I put my rain barrel.

Did I mention that I haven't had to turn on my spigot this year? Small victory but I'll take what I can get.

And the barrel is made of almost the same stuff as my vinyl siding and they are the EXACT SAME COLOR! You tell me. The pic on the right is my water barrel next to my house and my neighbor's downspout. Am I nuts or does it match? I bought the EXACT COLOR spraypaint and did two coats! Who does two coats anymore?

This is not really killing me, but it's just so typically absurd and short-sighted. Here are pics from my neighbors' front yards. That's the foreclosed house down the street. nobody taking care of that. 3' high grass in the back yard. And guess what? The HOA can't do anything about it cuz the BANK OWNS IT!

Sure, me with my rain barrel is not going to have a huge impact, but how about EVERYONE having one in the area! Imagine the press the community would get! Imagine people actually wanting to live here and turning around the housing market in one small pocket! Imagine the leadership position the board could take and make this area look amazing! And think about all of the crap we could help keep out of the Chesapeake Bay!

But... they don't like it, so it has to go.

I'm going to keep up the fight until I get threatened with fines. I'm waiting on a 'cease and desist' letter that will be my second-to-last straw. After that, it's a private hearing with the Board. Look up 'pro forma' if you don't know what it means. It means I'm going to prepare something, make a case for my stupid rain barrel and then have them say 'no' because they already have told me 'no' and they can't let somebody show them they are wrong. Who the hell are 'they' anyway?

They are my neighbors, and they are just looking out for my property values... Sure.

AACo Stormwater wonky-stuff below:

§ 4-2-310. Stormwater management and erosion control.
(a) Definitions. In this section, the following words have the meanings indicated:
(1) "Stormwater management practices" means practices recognized by the Office of Planning and Zoning for the permanent reduction and change of drainage patterns of stormwater runoff from structures and other impervious surfaces, including, but not limited to, living roofs, sidewalk infiltration planters, permeable pavers, bioretention installations, cisterns and other permanent diversion and infiltration methods. The Office of Planning and Zoning shall provide a list, updated annually, of the stormwater management practices that qualify for the credit.
(2) "Qualified improvements" means physical improvements made to a residential or commercial property that have been approved by the Office of Planning and Zoning.
(3) "Qualified property" means a new or existing commercial or residential property on which qualified improvements are installed to reduce stormwater runoff from the property.
(b) Creation. There is a credit from County real property taxes levied on residential and commercial property and any improvements thereon that install or implement permanent stormwater management practices.
(c) Calculation. The tax credit shall be 10% of the cost of materials and installation for making qualified improvements, this credit not to exceed a total of $10,000 over the five-year life of the credit.
(d) Eligibility and duration. A qualified property is eligible to receive a stormwater management credit for each year for a period of five years against the taxpayer's real property tax if:
(1) the credit is not combined with other tax credits;
(2) the Office of Planning and Zoning certifies that the property is a qualified property;
(3) the taxpayer must apply for the tax credit within 45 days after improvements are completed, and must apply each year to be eligible for the credit; and
(4) the qualified improvements are not completed pursuant to a requirement in any State or local law.
(e) Effective date. The credit shall be effective for the taxable year following the issuance of the notice of assessment by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation for the qualified improvements.
(f) Form of application. An application for a stormwater management credit shall be made to the Controller on a form provided by the Controller's Office; demonstrate that the qualified improvements meet the requirements of this section; provide a statement under oath under the penalties of perjury as stated in § 1-201 of the Tax-Property Article of the State Code, that the improvements are in working condition and regularly maintained; include acknowledgement that failure to maintain said improvements shall also entitle the County to pursue a refund of the credit plus a penalty equal to 200% of the credit; that a condition of receiving the credit shall be that officers and employees of the County or the administration may enter onto the site of the improvements for the purpose of making inspection in furtherance of this section; and include any additional information the Controller believes to be necessary to determine if the taxpayer is eligible to receive the credit.
(g) Grant. The Controller shall grant the credit if the application meets the requirements of this section and the taxpayer is current on all taxes owed to the County.
(Bill No. 85-07)

HL Mencken

2008-07-31T10:43:00.000-04:00

My cousin Harry (dad's cousin so great cousin?) is a HUGE HL Mencken fan. It's a Baltimore thing. An old-guy, conservative Baltimore thing...

Like most of us Mencken is inconsistent, passionate, opinionated and sometimes brilliant. I'm not going to hold him up as some ideal or perfect guy especially since he's had some not-so-nice prejudicial-type opinions and writings leveled against him but I don't think that means that he should be totally dismissed. I, personally, allow for inconsistencies and ugliness is everything and everyone and do my best not to judge as I certainly don't consider myself worthy.

Wow. All that drama just to post up a great Mencken quote about democracy which is hugely accurate these days (from Wiki):

"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

"The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." (Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920)

WOW! In MD, Even!

2008-07-30T10:43:00.001-04:00

From MD DoT. Wow. I never thought they would ever do anything like this. It'll probably fall down on the implementation side but at least things are starting out right...
========================================================

Dear Friends and Supporters of Trails in Maryland,
I am very excited to let you know that MDOT is leading a strategic planning effort to guide development of a bicycle and pedestrian trail network that connects people to the places in which they live, work, and play. The plan will chart a course for Maryland’s state and local agencies to implement a seamless, multi-use trail system that can be used for transportation by bicyclists, pedestrians, runners and others. MDOT is committed to continue working with our local and state partners in this effort and we want your input in the plan development process to ensure that your plans, perspectives, needs and visions are included.
We have created two easy ways for you to provide input:
First, I invite you to complete a simple online survey. Click on the following link, which will take you to directly to the survey at the SurveyMonkey website. It will take just a few minutes to fill out.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?s...OXS3_2fQ_3d_3d

Second, through our project website, we provide an opportunity to use Google Maps to give us geographic information about where trail improvements and linkages are needed. Go to the website using the link below. You will find instructions there and a link to the Maryland Trails Google Map.

http://www.mdot.state.md.us/Planning/TSIP/trails.html

In addition to completing the survey yourself (and giving us ideas on a map), I want to encourage you to forward this invitation (by email or in newsletters) to your friends, colleagues and fellow members of bicycle, pedestrian or trail interest groups in which you are involved. The survey and map will remain open from now through September 30, 2008.
For more information about the project, I have attached a project announcement flyer that explains this exciting effort. You can also visit our project homepage at http://www.mdot.state.md.us/Planning/TSIP/index.html.

Sincerely,
Sylvia Ramsey
Manager Community Enhancements Programs
Office of Planning and Capital Programs
Maryland Department of Transportation
Sramsey1@mdot.state.md.us

Bye Bye mp3

2008-07-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, so technically I still have an mp3 player...

I got rid of the Sansa c240. Actually, it got rid of me. It decided to format itself and erase all the songs every time you turn it on. Great feature. I was unaware of the 'auto-erase' as it said nothing about it in the little instruction book with which it came...

After changing jobs, Susan and I got new cell phones. She wanted something 'sexy.' I wasn't sure what that meant but I knew that it meant something different from the crap-phone she had. And it really was crap. But the service and phone were free so whaddyagonnado?

I found a special online from Verizon Wireless for these phones. I, like others, am dubious of multi-function anything so it was with trepidation that I started a relationship with LG. Susan was/is happy with the phone.

There's a music package that comes from Verizon Wireless for $20. It's a cable, software and a microSD card. I guess that's a good deal considering a 2g card is now $15-20 retail damn-near anywhere and probably cheaper online. Despite this enormous barrier of cost for me to start using my phone as an mp3 player (heh), I still managed to quickly find a way to avoid the $20. I already had the 2g card from the m240 so I formatted it in the phone, dragged some music onto it on the laptop, reinstalled and began rocking. With the addition of a 2.5mm to 3mm adapter for my regular headphones, I was up and running for $2.99. I still love Radio Shack. Best Buy, Circuit City, no thanks. Radio Shack is always empty and they pretty-much always have what I need. I honestly haven't been in a CC or BB in at least 2 years. That probably doesn't bode well for Radio Shack but some of the staff knows me (probably not good) and they always entertain either me or the kids. What more could you ask for? Maybe a liquor store right next door?

By the way, for those of you familiar with the rockamole stories of Jeremy and Emma, Radio Shack is called the 'lightsaber store' and the liquor store RIGHT NEXT DOOR is called the 'lollypop store.' I love those kids...

Susan is enduring day 4 of survival school with BOSS. She's on the 7-day field course with two co-workers. She's a stud. I think she's nuts. It's friggen July and she's in the desert of UT. With nothing. Crazy. Yes, her life insurance is paid up...

So, to sum up, I'm stoked about my new phone/mp3 player from LG. It's blue. I'm not sure if that makes it rad or not. Let's go with 'rad.'

Jeebus, How Can You NOT Love Google!

2008-07-29T13:30:00.000-04:00

Everybody Knows...

2008-07-25T07:34:00.001-04:00

We've been talking about this a bit around the DC area...

I was going to stay out of it but Jon Stewart is my hero.

Plastics Plastics Everywhere...

2008-07-23T16:05:00.000-04:00

http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

I'd like to sail across the ocean on ANYTHING and would do so on this sucker for the same reasons. I wonder if they are looking for volunteers for the return trip or if they are going to recycle the boat...

Marc is Fast

2008-07-23T11:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know Marc Vettori. I have raced with him and had a few small conversations but I wouldn't say that I know him. All that means is that I don't have any funny stories about him.

But Joel knows him. And so does MattyD and the boys. I randomly clicked on his blog from Gwadz and I now know that he is funny. Not that I thought otherwise, cuz I don't know him.

He's funnier than me, for sure. Read something here. You may laugh. He'll probably pass you at a race. He may pass you a beer at a race, it sounds like...

Time to Give Back: This Means YOU!

2008-07-23T08:55:00.001-04:00

From everyone's buddy, Scud... I only wish I had more to give. Good on ya, Scud! (He's the one in the middle).

============================
Ok sorry to be a pain to your email but I have really gotten serious with this. I have raised over $1000 so far and now have my sights on at least $2500. I am going to ride at least 200 miles and shoot for 240 (10 miles an hour average). I have also kicked in $100 as well. Right now I am 6th overall fundraiser out of 100s that have signed up. I would love to get the Booty Cup for the most raised. I have specifically sent a 2nd or some cases a 3rd email to you because a. I think you want to help me and this is the friendly reminder you wanted or b. any amount $10, $20,$50, $100 or $250 would be appreciated. Lance and his Foundation are doing great things. They really helped me when I found out about my tumor that ended up being benign. I also have been reading all about what Margaret and I can do to make sure her cancer stays in remission or better yet gone forever. The foundation has really turned up the heat to get more funding for Cancer research. Help me help them!! Please help me out. If you do not want to be bothered, you will not hurt my feelings but please reply to this email and say no thanks. That way I will not continue to remind you. I have until Aug 18th to secure the Booty Cup. Help me and Lance out please!! Also if you know of anyone that would want to donate please forward this email to them.
Scud Here is the link to donate: http://hob24.convio.net/goto/scud.cancer.ride

Fomer Life

2008-07-18T09:59:00.000-04:00

In my previous life, I used to do some work with NHTSA. One of the things in which I was involved was the Bikeability Checklist. I also created some content for the Pedestrian and Bicycling Information Center at the Highway Safety Research Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.

There's some walking (pedestrian) stuff in there as well. Joel's posts about Safe Routes to School stuff made me think of that. There are some great tools to help get your communities to embrace walking and bicycling.

Of course, most people are just to busy to bother, but it's worth a shot and at least you won't fail for lack of good resources, right?

Safe Routes to School programs have a lot of claimed founders. Here's the FHWA federally-funded site. In my experience with Safe Routes, this is the US originator. Marin County Bicycle Coaltion, Deb Hubsmith and Patrick Seidler deserve A TON of credit for this. Patrick Seidler is president of WTB, by the way. This is the BikesBelong/DC-based Safe Routes bunch, including Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Active Living By Design.

If you ever wanted to know about how to safely get around, get active or deal with the local community, there's pretty-much every bit of information available on those sites.

Enjoy!

C'mon EPA!

2008-07-18T09:32:00.000-04:00

The Chesapeake could really use this...

Groups want nationwide limits on water nutrient pollution (from Wastenews.com)

July 18 -- Five environmental groups filed a lawsuit July 17 to force the federal government to set new limits on the nutrient pollution that triggers harmful algae blooms.
The public interest law firm Earthjustice is representing the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida, St. John´s Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club in the case, which will challenge a decade-long delay by the state and federal government in setting limits for nutrient pollution.
When it rains, run-off from factory farms, fertilized landscapes and agricultural operations pour fertilizer and animal waste residue into Florida´s rivers and lakes, according to the complainants. These contaminants nourish algae blooms and therefore are referred to as "nutrients."
The water in which the algae blooms becomes oxygen deprived, and the result is what is known as red tide or a dead zone in which fish and aquatic life cannot thrive.
The lawsuit has nationwide implications. Currently, Florida and most other states have only vague limits regulating nutrient pollution. Today´s legal action seeks a court order requiring that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency impose quantifiable -- and enforceable -- limits for those contaminates in Florida.
The EPA gave Florida a 2004 deadline to set limits for nutrient pollution, which the state disregarded, according to Earthjustice. The EPA was then supposed to set limits itself but failed to do so. The EPA recently approved a plan that would have limits, at best, being proposed by 2011.
Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in federal court for the Northern District of Florida. It is available at www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/complaint-and-exhibits-fwf-v-usepa-07-17-08.pdf

What? Nothing to see here...

2008-07-17T15:34:00.001-04:00

POST EDITED FOR OBVIOUS REASONS...

New At-Home Recycling Program

2008-07-16T12:05:00.000-04:00

From Wastenews.com.

WM now offers CFL, battery recycling to householdsJuly 16 -- In its first direct-to-consumer offering, Waste Management Inc. has launched an online service to recycle universal household waste, including compact fluorescent lamps and batteries.

The Think Green From Home program, http://www.blogger.com/www.thinkgreenfromhome.com, allows consumers to order universal waste recycling kits, which include prepaid postage labels. The United States Postal Service has approved the kits to safely ship discarded CFLs and batteries. Waste Management hopes to eventually include household electronics in the service.

It is Houston-based Waste Management´s first service offered directly to household consumers. Typically, the integrated solid waste management firm, the largest in the United States, deals on a municipal and commercial contract basis.

"With the 2012 deadline for the use of CFLs, customers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to properly dispose of household universal waste and the Think Green From Home program makes recycling this waste as safe and convenient as possible," said Rick Cochrane, senior business director for Waste Management´s LampTracker program.

The federal government has banned the sale of incandescent bulbs starting in 2012.

Hot 'Tufa Action!

2008-07-06T20:25:00.001-04:00

How many times can I use that title line. Only time will tell.

In the interest of continuing to pursue my membership in SOPWAMTOS, I have officially made my own planter. I was doing some research on the sedum plants that I like and I came across the recipe for these fake stone planters made of something called hypertufa. It's fake tufa rock. Not sure exactly what that means but I thought that would be cool. I don't make sense most of the time...

So after checking out a few situations, I figured I would make a planter out of vermiculite, peat and Portland cement. It ain't easy mixin' and for a first-timer, the various websites keep you nervous about too much water in the mix. I think I put a little too much water in the mix... We'll see how it goes. I won't know for a few days. I have to watch it and mist it with water a few times. It's like baking. It's not so much the stuff so much as it is the chemical reaction of the stuff. In this case, it needs water.

In addition to the hypertufa trough planter that I made, I've been tearing into the production of rain barrels. I've got the production down now with found materials and up-cycling of some stuff. I got one for my parents and now their neighbor wants one so I'll be hooking that up next week. Once I get my homeowner's association to stop bugging me about the rain barrel, I'm sure there will be a lot more in the area.

I'll get some pics up when the trough is done and when my latest plantings are fully rooted. My new interests are killing my wife I fear.

If I show up at your door or try to pay for a race entry fee with a nice potted plant, you'll know why.

2008 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey Results

2008-06-29T16:05:00.001-04:00

Raul, Ilana and I got together for a 3-person co-ed team for the race. Ilana and I got 3rd in duo last year. The course was longer, more difficult but a little less exposed. Of course, it was in the 90s yesterday. It was so hot that my jersey was wet from sweat BEFORE every lap.

That's hot.

These goofy technical fabrics don't work when it's that humid and you sweat like a pig. Or rather, when _I_ sweat like a pig. Peeling that jersey off at the end of every lap felt great. My jerseys weighed 2 pounds when I was done every lap.

All four of them... at 10.5 miles each... in the heat.

I thought I would go out and do a double after the run but I suck at running and Raul was kitted up when I came into the start/finish. Instead of just handing me a bottle as I requested, he said 'You want me to go?' and I said 'Yes!'

The laps later on felt a bit better on the later laps. I took JoFo's advice and geared down for some of the climbs (granny gear) and pushed it on the less-steep climbs and flat stuff. No brakes on the downhill sections, of course. The heat was serious so keeping the body temp down on the climbs was a good call for me.

It had rained a bit the last few weeks (didja notice?) and the course was SEVERELY rutted out in some sections, a little muddy in a few sections and really tacky on most of it. Last year, it was so dry that it was VERY sketchy in the turns. I really leaned on a lot of the turns and the off-camber stuff but I wasn't coming loose at all. After my first lap of not checking my tire pressure (22psi), I bumped it up to 38 and probably could have run even more with no problems. The higher-pressure helped me carry speed through the rolly sections. I ROLLED past a few people at the bottom of some climbs because I carried so much speed into it. It wasn't my power, it was my momentum conservation.

Racing against the other City Bikes co-ed team of Mathias, Drajem and Lynn was a lot of fun. Plenty of trash-talking and laughing in the pit. We managed to beat them by only a few minutes. Barry and his team (2nd) ended up closing in on us after a really bad first lap (broken chain, flat). Of course, that's racing, right? Your equipment has to work.

We were all working together to make sure that everyone was healthy. I don't just mean my dcmtb team, but everyone out on the course. I was prepared to stop and help every person I saw stopped out on the course. And there were a lot of people 'taking a rest' out there. I asked every person if they needed anything and encouraged them to keep moving, especially when I heard the thunder. Luckily, the storm passed to the north of us.

Tough day. I got a kiss from Scud on the podium (jealous?) and a new '1st Place 2008 EX2' pint glass to add to the collection. I have quite a collection of t-shirts and pint glasses and we've started rotating some out of service.

Big ups to my dcmtb teammates for a great day. I think Tommy Vaughn had the fastest lap in the 55 minute range. I think my fastest lap was just under an hour but I'll have to check the results to be sure. I wonder if they are up yet...

Thanks to Jim Harman, Bike Lane and all of the other sponsors for a great event.

That 4th lap hurt...

Hot Green Roof Action!

2008-06-27T13:11:00.002-04:00

I was up in scenic Harford County, MD, last Saturday at the landfill (work-related) and I stopped by Emory Knolls Farm which is just around the corner.

The picture on the right is the primary workspace for all of the horitculture-type stuff going on. It's got a solar setup as well as a green roof that is pictured below, left. There were a ton of bugs flying around the plants when I was up there. That's a good sign for sure.

I have some green roof related duties at work and had heard about Ed Snodgrass and his farm and I was really interested in seeing it. A quick email later, I had an appointment to check it out.

Ed does green roof plants. Big surprise, his website is http://www.greenroofplants.com/. There is some pretty cool history of his family and this farm on the website. Click on 'about us' and start reading.

I have been on a gardening kick recently, probably from my green roof research, so I really geeked-out at Ed's place. My buddy Kent does solar stuff and I have learned a lot from him which helped inform my conversation with Ed.

Ed has got his entire back-lot operation off the grid. There's a big container next to his greenhouses with three 800 gallon tanks inside. The container is insulated and on this 85 degree Saturday, it was downright cool in there. The solar panels on top of the container power his pumps that bring water up from the well. Some float switches keep it from overflowing and he's got a small battery bank to store up some power for the low-sun days. The pic to the right is inside the container.

One cool thing he showed me was that he uses the straight current off the cells to power stuff, no inverter. He says that he gets much higher levels of efficiency that way. He's pointing to that in the picture. That's a big container of water behind him...

This is one of the green houses where Ed grows his plugs of sedum plants. Sedums are hardy succulents with great drought tolerance that grow in low-nutrient soils. Many have a significant tolerance to temperature change as well.

Ed has provided green roof plants for quite a few projects including plants for the Maryland Department of the Environment, Radio Shack World HQ in TX, US Dept of the Interior buildings and more. Almost all of them are listed on Ed's website.

If you get some time, check out the principles behind Low Impact Design for stormwater management. If you live in a watershed, you should understand your impact. This isn't touch-feely-hippy stuff, this is money-saving, intelligent stuff.

The American Society of Landscape Architects has a nice roof that has an interesting innovation. The plants are under some grates that allow you to walk around and hang out on the roof in the middle of the green roof while the plants, just underfoot, keep the roof cool and slow down the run-off when it rains.

Of course, you can't expect a guy like Ed to not be creative, right? He's known as 'Mr Green Roof' and he is passionate, for sure. Here is a shot of an old bathtub with some llama bones and his plants growing around it.

Hit me with questions. See y'all at the 12 hours of Cranky Monkey tomorrow!

Good article from WaPo about rock gardening, which is what I'm trying to do at home...

Father's Day Present

2008-06-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

Emma woke up on Saturday, came downstairs a few minutes after Jeremy and shared bee-cereal with him for breakfast. (Bee cereal is honey nut cheerios - it has a bee on it).

After breakfast, they wanted to go outside and play. Jeremy wanted his pirate bike (his Hotwalk) and Emma asked for her doggy bike (her hotrock 16 with (duh) doggies on it). I took the training wheels off last summer and she has not been interested in riding it once. I put down my coffee and walked down into the garage with them. I handed Jeremy his pirate bike, buckled his helmet and he rode down onto the sidewalk, turning to wait for his big sister.

I handed Emma the bike and she asked me if I could take the pedals off (to be like Jeremy's bike). With my coffee cooling upstairs and the sleep still in my eyes I told her 'No' and waited for her reaction. 'It's OK, daddy, I'll just ride it like a two-wheeler.'

She pushed the bike to the edge of the garage, pushed off, pulled her feet up and coasted to meet up with Jeremy.

She balanced!

With my mouth agape, I walked out of the garage, shirtless, coffee-less and shoeless to see her push off after her brother, put her feet on the pedals and ride away down the sidewalk.

She did it. She was finally riding without training wheels. I called to Susan, whom I heard walking around the kitchen above, and she came running out with her camera to watch Emma ride up and down the street while I stood in the middle to direct traffic, mostly naked.

Her brother stayed squarely behind her, rubbing his front tire to her rear tire to make a funny noise. They both laughed as they piloted their little machines around the street, Emma beaming with self-confidence and pride.

I am so proud. Best father's day present ever.

Susan has the pics on her camera. I'll try to grab those later...

I am so proud.

I Want An Electric Car

2008-06-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

I think. I mean, if I MUST have a car, it should be electric. Hell, I'd drive a golf cart to work if I could get one that could go 35mph...

Good news here at least. The future of the Hummer brand? Is that even a question?

I remember the Hummer backlash from a few years ago. Something like 'Real soldiers are dying in their Hummers so you can play soldier in yours' or something.

Obviously, if you google 'electric car' you'll see A TON of stuff out there. And don't forget the Automotive X Prize. I think the winner gets $10m so why don't they call it the 'Automotive $10m Prize'? I guess they are trying to teach algebra or something. 'Solve for x.'

Whatever. I'm still riding my bike to work as much as I can. I hate mountain biking. I had to DRIVE to work today so I could RIDE MY BIKE on the dirt after work. I was totally thinking of how to ride my bike to work, ride home then drive to Patapsco but it just doesn't make any sense.

My commute (in case you care) involves me riding the road bike (.7m) with the trailer on it to drop Jeremy off at daycare, leaving the trailer there then riding to work. Usually on the way home, I have enough time to go home, change and pick up the Bontrager to get the boy. I'm not sure how that Burley rear triangle clamp is going to work on carbon in the long-run so consider this a test!