Relaxing ride

Sarah here! For weeks now, I've been hounding Jonathan to go for an afternoon ride with me. Unfortunately, we have been so busy at the shop that we haven't had the time. Well, today we finally were able to make it happen!

With the kids with our babysitter, Cait, and the shop staffed properly we planned to head off on our ride at noon. Finally, at about 2 PM, after a rush of buisness, we loaded up the bikes and headed over to the B&A Trail parking lot in Arnold. From there we hopped on our bikes (me on my new Giant FCR3 and Jonathan on his Gunnar Crosshairs) and rode down the bike lane along Rt. 450 and into Annapolis. We had a sweet tailwind that pushed us over the U.S. Naval Academy Bridge but I knew that it would be a nice struggle for me on the way back. On our way downtown we took a little tour around State Circle and out past Ego Alley to the harbour.

We decided to eat at Middleton Tavern on their outside patio for lunch. We shared a half dozen oysters on the halfshell, which were awesome! I haven't had those in a while... a real treat! Jonathan enjoyed a Waterman Sandwich (Roast beef, Black Forest ham, and smoked turkey grilled with cole slaw and Swiss cheese on pain au levain bread) and I had Cuban black bean soup and grilled chicken over a house salad... yum! Sure enough, our ride back to the parking lot was into a headwind and Jonathan gave me a little... well, ALOT of help up the last hill. It was a great mid-week, afternoon date!

Cancelled races and power outages.

Yesterday was Wednesdays at Wakefield. Trevor, John and I decided to take a chance on the weather and we drove down to race. About halfway there, it started to rain and it didn't look good. We pulled into a rainy Wakefield at 5 and the race had just been called. Bummer.

The traffic getting back from Northern VA is terrible at this time so we decided to go to Kilroy's, a local bar. After a few beers and some wings I had the great idea of hitting up Rosaryville for a ride. John and Trevor agreed, so we headed out. For as much rain as was present in VA, it was dry in MD. We had a great lap and the night was salvaged.

Thursday morning, I got a call from Craig at the shop and he said the power was out. Great! A beautiful day and no lights. At this day and age with everything computerized, I can't even run the shop. Apparently, a transformer had blown early in the morning and by 1:30, with still no power, we decided to close the shop. But all was not lost! I got in touch with my friend, Brendon, and we went out in my boat wakeboarding. It was a great day on the water and a nice treat to be able to get out during the week.

To top off my day, Sarah, Dexter, Willow and I had a wonderful evening in Annapolis. We started it off at Pusser's for dinner and Painkillers. Then we headed over to Storm Bros. Ice Cream for dessert. A great way to cap the day.

All in all, a great couple of days. Hopefully the weekend continues with the nice weather and we are busy at the shop!

Keeping the rubber side down.
Jonathan

Patapsco Petition

I took this from City Bikes Mikes website. Please even if you don't ride there take the time to sign this. It will help those of us that do. Thanks

Patapsco Skills Area Petition
I'm going to be bugging everyone in the world about this shortly.http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Skills_Area_Support/I want to try to drum up some support for a legal, responsible, well-designed, fun to ride, natural surface replacement for Lewis and Clarke. I've written stuff on this blog about the ongoing situation at Patapsco regarding those jumps and skinnies and this is the next step. It's the reason I'm up so damn late posting. I should be asleep.Please send this link along to your friends who ride and those who don't. I think there are some real problems in the DNR regarding the disconnect between the public and the bureaucracy as well as between the staff at the park and the Resource Planning staff in Annapolis. I've been stuck in the middle of it with MORE and Jeff and Eric for the last few years and it stinks. There are a few great people, but things aren't working right.Please send me email if you have questions or post comments if you have questions.Here's hoping this democracy stuff works...

Keeping the rubber side down
Jonathan

Amazing Video

I just saw this video on You Tube. Never seen anything like it before. Make sure to watch the whole thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Jonathan

Rippin' up the Rose

This 4th of July we decided to do a mountain bike ride at Rosaryville State Park. At 6:15AM in the morning I was able to convince Shawn, Tom, Tim, Tim P, Trevor, Mike S, and Patrick to join me for the ride. We left the store at 6:30 and we were in the woods by 7AM. Early for a holiday, I know, but we had the trails to ourselves for awhile.

Almost immediately and simultaneously Tom dropped his water bottle and got a flat. And wouldn't you know it, he doesn't have a tube or pump with him! Even better, he rides a cyclocross bike so none of us have a tube for him either. So he heads back off the to car where he thinks he can fix the flat.

The rest of us head on. We decide to hit the TTF (Technical Trail Features) area while we wait for everyone to rejoin. The trail has about 9 log rides, some jumps and dropoffs, and a few beams. Lots of fun. Everyone tried a few things, some of us made it all and there were quite a few crashes, but luckily no one was hurt.

As we started back on the regular loop... more mechanicals. Larry's and Trevor's crank arms both fell off. Go figure. Luckily for us their crank arm bolts were intact and we had the tools to fix them.

From this point on I had the most fun I have ever had at Rosaryville. It is a very fast non-technical single track loop of about 10 miles. The TTF area is about 6 miles from the end, and for that whole six miles we just flew (although we did stop once and chat with Dave M. and his MORE ride). Three or four of us took turns leading and we sped through the woods, wheel to wheel like a train, it was great! If anyone had crashed there would have been a pileup for certain. When we returned to the parking area, the lot was full. Ours were the only cars when we had arrived at 6:30.

There was time for one more lap so we decided to mix it up and do it counter-clockwise. Trevor took the lead and set the perfect pace. We did the whole trail non-stop with 8 of us just flowing together the entire way. I don't think we had more than 12 inches of distance between each bike, just flying. About 8 miles in, we picked up Rickyd and Chris P. So now we had a train of 10. Fantastic! We pulled back into the parking lot having done a 46 minute lap with no stops, no mechanicals and only one crash. Trevor's perfect lead, the flowing pace and great banter made it an even better ride. I can't think of many ways to have a better morning.

Tom did eventually get his flat fixed and finally caught up with us as we were starting that last lap. When he got to the shop later that day he immediately bought a CO2 kit and spare tube. Good thinking kid! Next time you won't be forced to miss out!


Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Monday Ride

Got out for a midday ride on Monday with Mike K. He was out for about 75 miles but I didn't have that kind of time. I joined him for a loop through Annapolis and up the B&A Trail and ended up with about 45 miles on a beautiful day. I have to admit my legs were pretty trashed when we got back. I think that we rode a little harder than it seemed. The weather was perfect though and it was good to have someone to push me along as we rode.

Tomorrow is July 4th and I will be riding with a bunch of friends at Rosaryville State Park. There is a fantastic 10 mile singletrack loop out there. It is great for riding or hiking. Check it out sometime if you need something fun to do.

Hope everyone has a fun 4th and gets to enjoy the fireworks.

Keeping the rubber side down.
Jonathan