Family Bike Shop

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T12:13:00.007-05:00

We hope your year was full of amazing memories and that cycling helped to make it that much better. We at Family Bike Shop thank you for your patronage and here's to a new year with more great memories!

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BFF-Bicycle Film Festival This Weekend!

2009-12-02T10:32:00.002-05:00

The Bicycle Film Festival will be in several cities across America including DC Dec 4th and 5th. If you're free this weekend please come check it out and give support.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T09:26:00.005-05:00

Howdy, Y'all!

Sarah with Willow (Pinkalicious) and Dexter (R2D2) at the Annual Crofton Kiwanis Halloween Parade

DCCX 2009 A Huge Success!

2009-10-27T16:58:00.007-04:00

We are still on cloud 9 from the DCCX Cyclocross race at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC on Sunday! It was a great time with an amazing group of racers, specators and supporters. Family Bike Shop was the title sponsor and we were so happy to be a part of team DCMTB's efforts. There was a record 533 racers including over 60 women racers- A MABRA record! Please check out write-ups from In The Crosshairs, Velo News, Daily Peloton, GamJams, and Gwadzilla. Pics below:

Tyler from FBS @ our new tent

Nice shot of Jonathan racing B Masters- Got 5th podium spot!

Men's Elite Podium

Women's Elite Podium

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DCCX- Presented by Family Bike Shop

2009-10-21T21:13:00.003-04:00

Family Bike Shop, Crofton will be the headline sponsor of a race for the first time ever!

DCCX, organized by Team DCMTB, will take place at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC on October 25th, 2009. Please join us as a racer or a spectator. Whole Foods Market will be on hand to distribute some goodies, host club DCMTB will be cooking up frites, and the DC Dutch club will make special mini-pancakes, all free of charge. Other sponsors include beer from Blue Ridge restaurant, yummy vegan baked goods from Sticky Fingers Bakery, and the Embassy of Belgium. There are no food concessions on site, so bring a lunch and enjoy the free refreshments while watching the premier afternoon events.

What the heck is cyclocross? Find out at our website!

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Moots Demo Day

2009-10-15T09:57:00.002-04:00

Jon C. from Moots came out to Family Bike Shop, Crofton MD on Tuesday with a fleet of beautiful titanium greatness. A group of six got to experience the smooth ride out at Rockburn Park. Here's a nice write-up by Jim, the Unholy Rouleur: http://unholyrouleur-jim.blogspot.com/2009/10/high-zoot-moots.html

MOOTS!

2009-05-12T11:09:00.004-04:00

I'm all giddy about the newest shop news! We now carry Moots Titanium Frames!

Moots is a small, detail-oriented bicycle company in Steamboat Springs, CO. Titanium offers unsurpassed ride quality, allows hand-built craftsmanship detail, and the best long-term value of any high-end frame material.

Moots offers Road, Cyclocross, MTB, 29ers, and Commooters.

We currently have the Compact Frame (pictured above) in the shop. I have a PsychoX (pictured below) on the way for myself.

Stop in and see why a Moots should be yours, too.

http://www.moots.com/

Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

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Shot Ride Cancelled

2009-03-28T05:18:00.001-04:00

Take the week off boys, its raining.
Next week bring your road bikes and your A Game.

-Tom

Watershed Ride

2009-03-19T12:34:00.012-04:00

I rode my new Niner Jet 9 at the Frederick Watershed last Sunday for the 1st time. About 15 riders met up. It was a great ride with great terrain that's hard to find in this area. I couldn't stop similing for the rest of the day. I'll be going back very soon.
Here's some pics:

This ride did tell me that I need to switch my hub for better engagement. I'm ordering an Industry 9 or Chris King this week...

Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

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Snow Ride

2009-03-02T22:03:00.010-05:00

We got around 6 inches of snow here at Family Bike Shop, Crofton. Figured we should make the most of it. So Tom, Jim, Chris, Phil, Sean, and I met at 6:30pm at Arundel tonight. 4 out of 6 on 29ers. Well worth it. Here's some pics:Tom

Phil

Chris

Jim

Tom, Sean, Jim and Phil

Me, Keeping the rubber side down.

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Frostbike

2009-03-01T14:18:00.031-05:00

Jonathan and I headed to Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) annual Frostbike Seminar and Expo last week Feb. 19-22 in frosty Minneapolis/Bloomington, MN. Nice to get away for a few days and even nicer to be pleasantly surprised by all the friendly networking, fantastic seminars, and vendor dealings. We still can't get over how friendly everyone was! From the MN locals to the bike shop owners from around the country, everyone was more than thrilled to hang out, talk, share tips and information. We were feeling the love!

(Pictured L-R: Chris -Bicycle Sport Shop, Austin TX; Jay -Mock Orange Bikes, Ashville NC; Jonathan-Family Bike Shop, Crofton, MD)

Jonathan and I took several course seminars on Friday lead by fantastic speakers who actually work in the industry and had something worthwhile to relate. We actually were able to walk away with several ideas on how to grow our business, some of which we have already started on! We made a to-do list on the airplane ride home.... two pages long!

We partied that Friday night with the local cyclists and visiting shop owners at One On One Cycles. With a few inches of freshly fallen snow on the ground, they opened the shop up 'till all hours of the night with free beer, great conversation and bicycle eye-candy. This place is one-of-a-kind. It has a full coffee bar, cycling-related art on the walls for sale, heads of various hunted animals displayed on the wall, a bicycle "junkyard" in the basement (heaven for any cycling enthusiast and scrounger), and of course bike sales and service. I got to talking with the owner, Gene O., for a while and he told me some history. Among other details, he mentioned that he used to be a pro-racer for Bianchi and a Bianchi rep back in the day and therefore has a cool collection of not-for-sale Bianchi's displayed on the wall... one for each year manufactured (pictured). Apparently, Minneapolis has the 2nd most number of bicycle commuters in the nation (behind Portland). They have a really cool cycling culture there.

QBP was more than hospitable providing almost every meal for us through the 4-day trip and plenty of beer and coffee. On Saturday, QBP opened up their corporate office and distribution center to us as if it was their home/banquet hall/bar! We also got to witness the infamous Pugsly Races where a few teams of guys, some drunk, some shirtless, race Surly Pugsly bikes in 10 degree weather around the QBP building and on their frozen lake. Lotsa fun.

I was impressed by the QBP building itself which was built to U.S. Green Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. It inspired me to make more "green" changes in my life and at the shop. For instance, I'm going to start looking into tire recycling at the shop, as well as reusable tote bags or recycled bags instead of purchasing new ones for customers.

I think that Frostbike may be an annual trip for our shop. Although Interbike in Las Vegas is super-cool, there's an insane amount of junk to sift through in order to get to the good stuff. Frostbike was clean, concise, and valid. The Interbike dirt-demo is nice, though... and Vegas, well, what happens there, stays there. ;)

Thanks for reading,

Sarah (pictured with Jonathan)

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End of Cross season

2008-12-10T21:52:00.009-05:00

This past weekend marked the end of the Cyclocross season with the MAC championships in Reston, VA. I finished a solid 10th place in the B Masters class for a successful end to my first cross season.

I entered the season with 3 main goals:

1. Have fun. -I did this in spades. From traveling with Jim, and sometimes Trevor; meeting new friends; early morning (getting up at 5am) practices with the Coppi squad; racing at a lot of cool venues; and unexpectedly winning a pie as a preem at the Rockburn Cross. I am totally hooked and can't wait for next year.

2. Learn how to race better. -Cross is a totally different discipline than the mountain bike. There are dismounts, sand, barriers and lots of technical aspects that can take years to master. It takes practice and repetition. I feel that I have made many gains this year and hope to build on them next year.

3. Place in the top ten in at least one race. -Well, it turns out that I did this in 5 of them. Out of 7 races, my best finish was 3rd and the worst was 20th. I only raced cyclocross twice last year and 25th was my best placing. A huge and unexpected improvement.

I raced all but once on my Gunnar Single Speed. The one time I tried gears was a disaster. I plan on staying with the SS again next year.

My biggest disappointments were:
1. My horrible performance at the Tacchino cross. After a great start I had two pretty bad crashes (with a nice bruise on my hip to show for it) and just couldn't get my head back in the game.
2. Missing the MABRA championship race. I was sick. But there's always next year.

Only 284 days 'til Charm City....

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday season.
Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

November 1

2008-11-01T12:19:00.003-04:00

So a bunch of us had a great ride at Patapsco this morning. Trail conditions were fantastic and the weather was perfect. After our ride we went to get coffee and a bagel and bumped into Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps. Sweet!

USA!USA!

DCCX Cross

2008-10-28T18:35:00.006-04:00

Jim re-lives his breakfast

Me as Skeletor:

(pics courtesy of bmpskiers photostream)

City Bikes hosted their second cross race on the Armed forces retirement home grounds in DC this past Sunday. Raced the B masters again and finished 9th. Fantastic venue. Great party. Free beer and food all day long.

Simultaneously, Sarah's mom, Carol Benjamin, was running her 10th Marine Corps Marathon! Way to go, Mom!

We went to Outback Steakhouse for our annual "after marathon dinner" to celebrate and overindulge. What an awesome day!

Demon Cats

2008-10-20T19:23:00.003-04:00

Photo taken by Kevin Dillard. Check out his website. He takes some awesome pictures.

Granogue Cross

2008-10-20T08:54:00.004-04:00

Headed up to the Granogue Cross race this past Saturday with Jim and Trevor. We all did the Master's B race. Jim, monster that he is, broke his chain half way through. Trevor finished 58th. I pulled off a 12th. It was a lot of fun and a great course. Here are some pics.

Granogue watchtower

Jim and Trevor

Men's pro 1st and 2nd

My friend Meg in the women's elite race.

B Master's results

Thanks for looking

Jonathan

Poor Jim

2008-08-28T05:45:00.004-04:00

Jim's wheel after a sweet digger

Jim's wheel after a trialside fix.

Here's some pics for you

2008-08-28T05:38:00.003-04:00

Jonathan

Steve

Fish On

2008-07-19T12:09:00.003-04:00

Sunday on the Severn

2008-06-08T20:31:00.003-04:00

No bike riding this weekend, but I got to spend most of Sunday on the Severn River. A bunch of us went out to Ski Island with the kids and played in the water and on the beach. It was a lot of fun and we are going to make a point to do it more often this summer.

Mike serving up drinks

Aya, Carmen and Dexter

Willow and Sarah

Dr. Dolittle found a horseshoe crab.

Saturday morning Patapsco

2008-05-24T15:58:00.003-04:00

Finally after weeks of rain we were able to get back in the woods. Trevor, Tim and I did dawn patrol with wheels rolling by 6:30. It was a great morning and we had the trails to ourselves. With good weather in the forcast for a few more days the time couldn't be better for getting out on the trails.

Jonathan

Trevor

Timmy

Keeping the rubber side down
Jonathan

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T10:40:00.005-04:00

Sarah here! I had an awesome Mother's Day.... thanks Jonathan! We met my parents for brunch at Stan and Joe's on West St. in Annapolis and then walked around Downtown by the City Dock for awhile. We both ran into many old friends, even ones from high school- wierd! After our walk we headed home... we saw Courtney and Dave (reigning king of RC motors) riding on Crofton Parkway in their Family Bike Shop gear... way to represent, guys! Then I took a HEAVENLY 4 hour nap (thanks again, Jonathan). Anyone who has kids knows that naps are few and far between. I always welcome them and relish in the glory, especially when I don't have a deadline for awakening! I even put on two fans in the room for the white-noise-effect because I have a problem... if I hear one peep from the kids, Jonathan, the dogs, I will wake up even from the deepest REM sleep. Jonathan can tune-out anything. The kids can be barfing up a lung in the next room and he'll have no idea.

Anyway, after my awesome nap Jonathan went out for a ride to try out his new fancy bike, the Jamis Xenith SL. He made a few changes on it, traded out the wheels for his Shimano Dura-Ace set. He thinks he has to change out the cassette again, though. A work in progress to make it "his". The thing is crazy light though... even with his Dura-Ace wheels- 15.5 lbs I think he said.

M-Day night Jonathan's mom came over for a nice dinner then we put the kids to bed and went in the basement to watch the season finale of Survivor! I kinda hoped that Amanda would win.

Check out some pics of us in Annapolis and then a picture of Tom the Wrench receiving his Eagle Scout award! Great Job, TOM!!!!!

Me at City Dock

Jonathan and Dexter

Dexter and Willow

Tom becoming an Eagle Scout

Pics from Lodi

2008-05-07T08:35:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures, courtesy of Gary Ryan, from Lodi Farms

Big Jim

Twisty Trails

Fixed gear winner Rickyd

City Bikes Mike

Big Joel Gwadz

Young Buck Tom

Bridge at night

Roots

Trevor and the Mystery Machine

Start/finish at night

12 Hours of Lodi Farms

2008-05-05T09:23:00.002-04:00

Trevor, Tom and I did the the 12 Hours of Lodi Farm over the weekend. The long and short of it is we won our class, Single Speed 3-man team, and took 3rd overall. Our compound mates Jim and his Coppi teammates got 3rd place in the beginner 3-man class. Nice showing for a bunch of roadies that had never done a race like this.

Lodi is a 12-hour race that starts at midnight and ends 12 hours later at noon. It's a challenging race because of the late start and sleep deprivation. We were all thankful that the rain held out this year. Lodi is always famous for having at least one downpour.

We all rode very strong and Tom continues to impress doing 5 laps and getting us out to an early lead that we never relinquished. Trevor, as always, rode like a locomotive turning consistant lap times over and over. And I got faster every lap finally tying Tom for fastest team lap on my fourth.

Fastest lap of the day went to Cargo Mike racing for City Bikes with Gwadz and Jonathan. He turned 49min on his final lap. The only racer of the day to break 50 mins. That's flying. Check out Gwadzillas, site as he will definitely have some words about the weekend.

Right now I am tired and very sore. As results and pictures start to become available I will post some more.

Jonathan

...and Nonda goes down

2008-04-12T21:13:00.003-04:00

Here's what too much beer on the bike-n-brew gets ya...

Nonda's not keeping the rubber side down.

Nice

2008-04-12T13:45:00.004-04:00

Bruised my tailbone the other day. Tried to ride this morning and could hardly sit on the saddle. Jim had a chainring bolt fall out of his crank so I gave him one of mine and headed back to the cars. This is what happens when you try to ride without all your chainring bolts. Thankfully I was close to the car. Guess I won't be racing tomorrow.

At least I didn't crash.

Jonathan

Finding eggs

2008-03-24T08:42:00.003-04:00

Willow

Dexter

Joseph

Charlotte

Kids with the loot

Camp Hilbert

2008-03-13T08:39:00.002-04:00

Results are finally up. My first Enduro mountain race ever. I got 7th. Not bad. I've done some long races before but usually for distance not time. This was a 5 hour race. Do as many laps as you can on a 6 mile course. The course had lots of cool loop de loops and tight turns with roots thrown in. There were also two big mud puddles. Here is a brief synopsis of my race:

Start/lap1. 45 of us lined up to race at 10AM. I had a great start and went into the woods in 3rd place. Man, it was fast, and my heart rate was way up. Got passed about halfway through the lap and the three guys in front of me pulled away leaving me to ride in 4th alone. Although, the sport group had started 2 minutes ahead of us and I did see them as I passed their tail end.

Lap 2: Still sitting in 4th. My heartrate started to level out and I fell into a nice rhythm. Right at the start of the lap I got passed by another Enduro racer and he led us around at a perfect pace. We kept on picking off sport riders. Our pace was fast and I was thinking how long can I ride like this. Then at the end of the lap he crashed in front of me and I passed him and didn't see him again. End of lap 2 still in 4th.

Laps 3/4. Maintaining a nice pace and really starting to find a nice flow. Everything is becoming familiar and I feel great. I am starting to pass lapped riders and have not been passed so I still sit in 4th.

Lap 5: At the beginning of lap 5 Dave K. passes me and the wheels start to come off a bit. The pro and expert riders race has just started and the trail gets a little crowded and they are much faster than me so I have to let them pass. I'm beginning to cramp a bit and have to back off my pace.

Lap 6: I've been taking breaks between laps and this is my longest stop. Tom has been giving me great support and I pop some endurolites and eat some food. I get going again after about a 5 min stop and can feel the day in my legs. The hardest lap by far. Two crashes and the cramps are getting worse. I was wondering if I was going to be able to make it to the finish. I make it to the end of the lap and can see the end. I still have time for 2 laps and would reach my goal of 8 laps. Short break and back onto the trail.

Laps 7/8: Man I am feeling good again. Cramping is gone and the flow is back. This was my favorite part of the day. I had the trail to myself, and I knew I was going to finish. Came in from lap 7 took a short break and a couple of guys got past me. During the last lap I was able to catch one of them and secured my 7th place finish.

This race was a lot of fun. Much different than the 1-1.5 hour races that I am used to. I had so much fun and will be doing more of these this summer. I think that if I go out a little slower I may be able to maintain my pace for longer. Oh. And I didn't race my single speed. I set the bike up with a 4 speed for something different. I think that the next one will be on the single to see if there is a difference. And finally a big thanks to Kidds' brother Justin and his girlfriend Audrey for their hospitality. Your couch was the most comfortable couch I have ever slept on.

Keeping the rubber side down.
Jonathan

Six Years

2008-03-03T22:51:00.004-05:00

March 1, 2002. Six years ago that day I bought Family Bikes and Skates. We used to do roller skates and Western Union. As soon as I bought the business I got ride of them both. Shut Western Union down(which was part of the reason we moved out of Capitol Heights in the first place) and sold all of the skate stuff to a customer. Good ridance I say.

I'm a one trick pony. Bikes. Like to ride them, sell them and work on them. I've been doing this for a long time now and never really envisioned myself as a business owner. It's worked out though and it has been alot of fun.

Race season is upon us. Trade Zone training races started a few weeks ago. Gotten a couple of top 10 finishes in the B Race so that has been fun. This weekend is the first mountain bike race of the season. Tom, Trevor, Sean and I are doing the Enduro class and Kidd is doing the sport race. Should be fun.

We redid the service area this winter to make it a little more efficient. It turned out great. Stop by and check it out. Bike season is upon us so get those bikes out and ready to go.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Rollers

2008-02-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

Rode the rollers this morning. I used to ride them a lot more often but since we have been training at the shop I have been using one of these instead. It is a great trainer but what I really want is one of these.

Anyway, I got up early to get my ride in today because I am going to play poker tonight. I was a nice change of pace. Nice to have my workout done early. Really wakes you up and is a good way start to the day.

The 11th annual Stop, Swap and Save bike swap is this Sunday in Westminster. I have a couple of tables and hope to get ride of some stuff. This a great way to spend the day with lots of like minded people and hopefully find some good deals in the process. Stop by and say hi if you go.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

RIP Sheldon Brown

2008-02-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

The cycling world will truely miss you. Official announcement at Harris Cyclery.

Jonathan

Laziness

2008-02-03T09:04:00.000-05:00

The hardest part of having a blog is keeping it updated. At least for me. Its not that there hasn't been anything going on. Quite the opposite. We took a vacation to Vermont to visit my sister and do some snowboading. Five days on the mountain at Killington. Lots of bike riding. And plenty of work.

I don't know how many people actually take the time to check out this blog, but for the three or four of you that do I will try to be more dilegent in the future so there is something to read or see. In the meantime here are some pictures taken with my new camera.

Hiking our bikes up an icy hill in Ellicott City

My sister, Elizabeth, and I at Killington, VT

Following Jim, The Unholy Rouleur, up Main Street in Annapolis

Well the Super Bowl is tonight. The Patriots vs. the Giants. I think that the Pats are going to blow them out and I hope they do. I also hope that the commercials are better then they have been the last couple of years. Anyway, enjoy the great weather and go out for a ride today before the big game.

Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

Hey You! Yes You!

2008-01-21T18:17:00.000-05:00

Want to be fast? This Thursday night at 7pm (be here at 6:45pm) we will be holding an indoor trainer ride here at the shop.

...And you need to come, Kapish?

We will be watching a Spinnervals workout, bring your bike, a towel, any food you like and water. Trainer Rentals are $5.

Be here or be slow.

-Tom

PS its more fun when there are more people so bring your friends!

Weekend Riding

2008-01-21T08:09:00.000-05:00

Well winter has returned. Very cold riding this weekend. Especially on Sunday.

On Saturday we decided to move the shop ride to lovely Elicott City. Tom, Trevor, Dave, John, Jim and myself all met up at a Dunkin Donuts off route 103 for a 7AM ride. We shoved right on time and immediatly hear @#$%^&* coming from the group. Seems Jim brought the wrong pair of shoes. Dam. He did the only thing that he could do in that situation. He asked for the keys and waited at the car. At least he was right in front of DD.

The rest of us headed out and did a nice spin in and around E.C. avoiding all of the ice and snow that was on the side of the road. After a much needed coffee/get warm stop we headed back to the cars, via the climb up New Cut road, where Jim was waiting patiently. Hopefully his bad luck had run out now. After his crash 2 weeks ago in Patapsco I'd say he has payed back the cycling gods of Howard County and deserves some love the next time we head out that way.

Sunday the boys from the Rite Aid professional cycling team tagged along on a Latitude ride from the 424 park and ride. Even though the temperature was about 20 degrees with winds gusting to about 25mph about 40 people showed up to ride. Once we got going I warmed up quickly. It of course helped that there was a tailwind. I was only able to ride with everyone for about 15 miles until I turned off. Had to get home to finish packing for vacation. Tom pealed off early with me and immediatly that lovely tailwind turned into a wicked headwind. After pulling Tom back to the cars we ended up with about 32 very cold windy miles. The Rite Aid guys were great. I wish that I had had the time to do the whole ride.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Shop Ride

2008-01-11T18:17:00.000-05:00

Back to our regularly scheduled program. Wheels down from the shop at 7AM sharp. Appox. 38 mile around the Severn loop. Some fixed some geared. Hope to see you there.

Jonathan

New Year's Rides

2008-01-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

Three rides in three days. Awesome. After Saturday's ride with Jim, I was able to get out on 12/31 and 01/01/08 also. Beautiful weather both days. On Monday, Trevor and I met up at the Dorsey Road plane observation lot on the BWI trail. We rode our fixed-gears most of the way down the trail to Severna Park. Stopped at the Big Bean coffee shop on the trail for a cup and headed back. About 28 miles.
This morning I had several choices of group rides. I decided on the one that had the biggest group, a less frequented road for me, and at a time that fit into my family schedule. After a nice New Year's brunch at my in-laws', I met up with Chris Nystrom and his crew riding out in Ellicott City. Alot of us rode fixed, about 23 miles. Nice rolling hills and one steep climb up Bonnie Branch Rd.
This is a nice time of year for me. As much as I love being busy at the shop, it's nice to have a little down time for unwinding, re-evaluating myself and the shop, riding without racing schedules... just being able to ride and relax. I've been doing alot of cross-training recently and I'm really enjoying riding fixed. Also looking forward to going snowboarding at Killington, VT in a few weeks with the family. My sister's an employee at the resort so we'll be lucky to have a few free passes.
Looking forward to seeing you on the bike and in the shop.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Wet Morning Ride

2007-12-29T13:59:00.000-05:00

So Jim and I were the only two who showed for the ride this morning. The roads were a little wet but we both had fenders so we didn't get wet at all. The temp. was just about perfect too and no wind. We rode for about 1.5 hrs. and at one point almost went over to Caribou but decided just to stay in town. Glad Jim made it out. Oh yeah I almost forgot. He also killed a squirrel. The poor thing never had a chance.

I have been riding my fixed gear lately. I didn't spend to much time on it in 2007. Such a blast to ride I think that I will ride it more in '08. Plus I have a fixed mountain bike now so I might as well be all fixed all the time.

Tomorrow we may take Dexter to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. It will be his first movie at the theater. The movie itself is supposed to be pretty good. I hope so. I think that he will have a good time either way and probably be overwhelmed.

Hope everyone has a good weekend heading into the New Year.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Heres some shots from last weekend at Rosaryville.

John

Lee

Tom

Ride: Saturday 12/29/07

2007-12-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

Meet us at the shop Saturday morning for a road ride! We will be leaving at 7:30am. 1hr. to 1-1/2hr. ride. Alot of us will be riding fixed. Come join us to work off that Christmas ham and those Christmas cookies!

-Jonathan

RIDE! Saturday!

2007-12-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

Come out tomorrow for the Saturday shop ride.

Most of us monkeys will be on Fixed Gears! So make sure you don't miss out on some sweet bikes!

Snow Ride

2007-12-06T17:44:00.000-05:00

Yee Haw I love riding in the snow. It was so bright we didn't even need lights. Ended up with 8 of us. Here are some pictures.

Didn't keep the rubber side down tonight,

Jonathan

Frozen Trails and Gears

2007-12-02T21:23:00.000-05:00

Started off the weekend with an early 6:30am ride at Patapsco State Park with Jim, Trevor, John C., Tom, and Bob. It was nice and cold and the ground was frozen solid. The kind of ride where those with gears on their bikes have them freeze after creek crossings... another nice thing about riding SS (my new 1x4 setup did get a little stiff). We did a nice loop about 10-12 miles long. It was Jim's first trip to Patapsco and he was on his new 29'er SS. A Redline Monocog Flight. Stopped for some coffee on the way home and had enough time to make Sarah some breakfast and play with the kids before heading off to work. Perfect morning.

The shop seems to be picking up for the holidays and we had a good day. We were able to decorate the shop which brings the festive feeling out in everyone. After work, Sarah and I took the kids to CPK for dinner and let them play in the always crazy mall playground.

Sunday we went to breakfast with Santa and got the kids pictures taken. After we got home I think I read about 10 books to Dexter and then feel dead asleep on the couch. I never take naps and I slept all afternoon. I think I got a 4 hour nap in. I must have been tired.

All in all a great weekend.

Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

Shop Ride

2007-11-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

Shop Ride is tomorrow at 7:00 am leaving from the store, be there or be square.

Tom

Sunday @ Patapsco

2007-11-19T07:55:00.001-05:00

The kids allowed Sarah and I to sleep-in this morning (8:15am is sleeping-in when you have kids) so I awoke to my phone ringing. It was my buddy John saying that there was a ride going out at 9:15am. Wow! One hour to get dressed, loaded up, get to the shop to grab my bike and stop for some breakfast to be able to meet. Well, I pulled it off and it was worth the rushing around.

Met up with John, Melanie, Bob, Di and Tracy. We had an awesome mellow ride of about 15 miles. Even with all the recent rain the trails were in great shape and everyone had fun. There were tons of people out and we rode by many different groups of friends.

Over the weekend I switched my SS to a 1x4, so this was the first ride on that setup. It worked great and it was nice to have a couple of gears to play around with. I still need to dial the gearing in, but I think I will enjoy this change for a bit.

This Thursday is the annual Thanksgiving day ride. We're meeting at the park-n-ride at Patapsco at 8:15am and riding with about 80 people. A great social ride. Good way to get ready for turkey later in the day. It's one of my favorite rides of the year. I can't wait. Hope to see you there!

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Our New $Money$ Shop Area

2007-11-14T16:33:00.000-05:00

We're very excited about the new shop area! We've been working for almost a month now destroying, remodeling, reorganizing and restocking the bicycle build and repair wing of the shop. We'll have 4 complete benches complete with Pedros tools for any repair, tune-up, overhaul, etc. that you can throw at us! Today we had Jim driving the Pedros van visit the shop... a big deal! Jim replaced some old tools, gave us a goody bag and spread peace and love "tool style" all over Family Bike Shop. Thanks, Jim! Pictured to the right- Jonathan, Lee and Tom chillin' in front of the Pedros Love Van.

Mention this blog and get $50 off your overhaul thru Dec. 31, 2007 (Sale: $150, Reg: $200).

See ya at the shop!
Sarah

Reminder--

2007-09-06T21:08:00.001-04:00

The Saturday morning ride will be leaving the shop at 7.00 am. We're expecting a slightly larger group this week so you don't want to miss out! Jonathan Seibold himself is rumored to be attending (pictured left). Rumor also has it he will be riding the bike pictured but reports are unconfirmed.

Ceya there.

Tom

MTB ride

2007-09-02T19:24:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the short notice, but Nonda and I are planning on riding at Rosaryville tomorrow (9/2). Feel free to join us, we're meeting at the shop around 7:15 am tomorrow. We'll be hitting the trail around 8 if you want to meet us there. Shawn also plans on being there around 9ish.

Ceya there or at the shop tomorrow. Happy Labor Day.

Tom

(32-20)

Saturday 9/1 Ride

2007-08-31T14:05:00.000-04:00

On Saturday 9/1 (tomorrow) we will be having a ride from the shop leaving at 7:00 (meet around 6.45). Call the shop for details otherwise we'll see you there!

Tom

Liberty Jamboree 4

2007-08-05T13:11:00.000-04:00

So I won this stuff in a Black Jack game Sunday.

A Punk Bike Enduro style race, the Liberty Jamboree, was hosted by Jim and Pedal Shop/Old Dominion Brewing Co. /WUSS* at his in-laws house in Marriottsville. About 30 riders gathered to race/ride. The winner of the previous year, the Single Speed Outlaw, wears the coveted yellow jersey for the start of the race. The jersey then goes to the person who wins the next stage. Oh yeah... this jersey hasn't been washed since 2004. It's part of the tradition.

Points are received by placing in the top 5 of each stage. For extra points you can snag a "punk", a laminated flyer worth 10 points, hidden at various places along the course.

Once the racing has finished, points are added and the top ten placers play one hand of Black Jack using their points to bet. Kinda like final Jeopardy. The winner of Black Jack gets the prize.

I was in third place with my points behind the Outlaw and RickyD, bet all my points and won the Black Jack hand. So now I have the yellow, smelly, unwashable jersey and a sweet plaque to hang in the shop!

Thanks to Jim and his family for hosting an awesome event. It was my first time and I can't wait to come back next year.

Gwadzilla has some words about the ride also.

Jonathan

*Washington Underground Singlespeed Society

Relaxing ride

2007-07-23T22:08:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-07-12T17:02:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-09T15:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-06T21:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-05T09:15:00.001-04:00

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

2007-07-03T21:25:00.000-04:00

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

12 Hours of Cranky Monkey

2007-06-25T09:34:00.001-04:00

Trevor, Tom and I raced the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey at Quantico Marine base yesterday. It was lots of fun and very tiring. We won the SS class and took 7th overall. Our best results to date!

We were camped with teams from City Bikes mountain bike team, and Gripped Films. Every team in our compound made it to the podium. That's a successful weekend! Results should be here soon.

The folks at EX2 Adventures put on fantastic events. Everything was run smoothly and the volunteers on the course were amazing. Thanks guys and gals. We will be back next year.

Now I have to go to work and then get some rest. When I have some pictures I will post them up.

Keeping the rubber side down.

Jonathan

"Wednesdays at Wakefield"

2007-06-21T07:10:00.000-04:00

WOW! That's all I can say. For the last 3 years or so I have done this Summer series Wakefield race promoted by the Potomac Velo Club with mixed results. I have finished in the past anywhere from 10th to 19th place. Well, last night I put it all together and pulled out a second place finish! I still can't believe it. It was a great race.

The race is like a sprint. My class (single speed) does 3 laps of a 3.5 mile loop that takes anywhere from 16-20min. per lap. In last night's race there were 24 competitors lined up at the start just before 6pm. My time was 52:15. Comparing to last years racing, I have shaved off 7min. in my total racing time. It's nice to know that hard work really does pay off! Check out more pictures taken at the race by Gary Ryan.

This weekend I'm racing again at the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey at Quantico Marine Corps Base. The Family Bike Shop team racing in the 3-Person Single Speed Class consists of myself, Trevor, and Tom (an employee and first time racer!). We're looking forward to another great race. Look for a post on the results next week.

Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

Back from Lodi

2007-05-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

Well we got third in 3-man single speed place this year. It was a great race and a fun time was had by all. I give a more detailed report in the next day or two. Now its time to try and recover.

Oh and Patrick got third in the solo single speed class. He made up 3-4 places in the last 2 laps. Studly.

Jonathan

P.S. Thanks to Rickyd for the results sheet pic.

Moab and Lodi Farm

2007-05-05T16:13:00.000-04:00

Just got back in town from 2 days in Moab, Utah and 1 day in Fruita, CO. Great riding with John(who had just turned 50), Timmy and Trevor. John's wife Debbie sent us all out there for his birthday. That's a great presant.

I leave for 12 Hours of Lodi mountain bike race in about 2 hours. We start racing at midnight and it goes to noon Sunday. Trevor, Bob M and I are doing the single speed class as a team. Patrick is going to be doing the single speed solo class. It should be a lot of fun. Its suposed to rain but hopefully it won't.

When I get back next week I will get some pictures posted from our trip and the race. Wish us luck.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Saturday (5/5) Ride

2007-05-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

Tom here. It's looking like there will be a ride tomarow leaving from the shop around 6.45. We're possibly looking at a two-two and a quarter hour ride. Ceya there.

Tom the Wrench

Saturday (4/21/07) Ride

2007-04-20T21:53:00.000-04:00

We will be riding on the road tomorrow... probably for about 2 1/2 hrs. If you are interested, please meet at the shop at 6:30am.
See you then!
Jonathan

Wednesday Night Ride

2007-04-18T22:47:00.000-04:00

Tom and I decided to go for a ride after work tonight around 7pm. The sun was in the process of setting so we had our lights with us. We had a great time on our fixed gears with slightly wider tires on allowing us to tour Crofton on and off road. I grew up in Crofton and as a kid my friends and I rode our bikes everywhere, so I am extremely familiar with the town. Back then, there was alot of farmland and open area which was a great escape, especially on a bike. As Crofton has grown, most of that space has been developed. Although, there are still some great trails, fields, and nooks, if you know where to look. We rediscovered those on our night ride this evening.
It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend. Everyone get out there and ride!

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Saturday morn ride.

2007-04-13T20:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry to put this up so late. We are meeting at the shop at 6:45. Anyone wants to ride 2-2.5 hours come on down.

Jonathan

Saturday Ride

2007-03-30T17:58:00.000-04:00

Meeting at the shop at 6:45 AM. Hope to see everyone there.

Jonathan

Ride Saturday

2007-03-23T19:04:00.000-04:00

If its dry in the morning meet 7:15 shove off at 7:30 from the shop. If its raining I'm sleeping in. Have a good weekend.

Jonathan

Locks of Love

2007-03-21T17:21:00.000-04:00

Sarah here! The big news is I finally have a new hairstyle. For anyone who knows me or has seen me at the shop, you know that I pretty much always have long red hair. I was finally ready for a change. I decided if I'm going to do it I may as well do it right- cut it all off and donate it to Locks of Love! Miracles Hair Salon, next door to the shop, participates in this program and the haircut is free of charge with your donation! I ended up donating 12.5 inches! Donna (due with baby #2 in 3 weeks) at Miracles did a great job with the cut. Check out the before, during, and after photos...

See you all soon- I work at the shop most Wednesdays and Fridays and usually have baby Willow with me (now 3 months old!).

Wind and Corned Beef and Cabbage.

2007-03-20T08:03:00.000-04:00

I had to work on Sunday so I wasn't able to race in the morning. So instead of heading down to Trade Zone, Jim, Tom and I headed out for a round the Severn River ride. It was a pretty cold morning and very windy. Unfortunately, we read the wind wrong and had a tailwind for the first half the ride and were straight into the headwind coming home. It was so windy that when we rode over the Naval Academy Bridge it was difficult to ride in a straight line. We had to lean into the wind just to avoid getting blown into traffic. Good times.
I seemed to spend most of the ride on the front pulling those 2 around as Jim is out of shape after a long winter and Tom prefers to hang in the back. The best part of riding was all the noise that Jim was making. Between his asthma and the cold air I thought that he was going to die on us. I think that he may have even left some of his lungs along the side of the road.
We ended up with about 40 miles in just under 2.5 hrs.
After work on Sunday, Sarah and I packed up the kids and headed over to my parents' for some corned beef and cabbage. I have to tell you, it was the best I've ever had. My dad is a great cook and he outdid himself this year. The Irish soda bread he made was awesome, too.
So even though I had to work it turned out to be a great day. We are getting extremely busy at the shop and the season isn't even in full swing yet! Get those bikes in for there for tune-ups so when the weather really breaks you are ready to ride!
Oh, and if anyone wants a part time mechanic job, come on by the shop and talk to me.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Snow Ride

2007-03-08T17:09:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a great winter for snow riding this year. Last night we got what will probably be the final one of the year. Great ride in fresh powder with a frozen ground. John, Trevor, Timmy and I went to Patapsco. John had to bail out early due to a failed light. Trevor forgot to charge his light, so it went out about halfway through. We all tried to ride without lights at that point, attempting to use the moonlight off the snow. Went well until Trevor had a nice "yardsale" crash (his gloves even popped off!). We topped the night off with beer and wings.

Look for more up-to-date blogs here, complete with photos, in the future!

Bring your bikes in now for quick turn-around on tune-ups and overhauls. Mention this blog and get $10 off your tune-up thru March 2007.

Keeping the rubber side down.

It's a girl!

2006-12-28T22:10:00.000-05:00

Willow Elizabeth Seibold has finally arrived! Born December 15, 2006 at 2:15pm, 8 lbs. 3 oz., 20.5 inches! Mother and baby are fantastic! Thank you for your support and well-wishes during this exciting time!

C&O Canal

2006-10-24T08:16:00.000-04:00

2 days.
190 miles.
85 the first day, 105 the second.
one 6 mile road detour.
7 guys aged 16-49
3 fixed gears
4 geared bikes(pansies)
45-50 lbs of gear per bike(tents, sleeping bags, stove, etc.)
6 of us camping(Timmy, the girlie man, stayed in a hotel)
2 major mechanicals(one support hook sheared off of a pannier, at mile 2. fixed with some ingenuity by Trevor. One derailleur into spokes, broken hanger and twisted chain. Converted to a singlespeed by me.)
3 flats(one a double flat. one we couldn't get the tire off the rim for 20 minutes)
1 long dark tunnel(the Paw Paw tunnel, with a shortage of light to get through)
lots of great conversation and stories.(with embellishment)
2 crashes(one of which a half a mile from the end, which resulted in a severly bruised elbow, that required x-rays to be sure it wasn't broken.)
7 sore asses.
too many other aches and pains to mention.
1 lost pair of sunglasses(mine)
1 lost shoe cover(mine)
Pizza and beer at the end.(Pizzaria Paradiso)
Couldn't get much better.

Jim's Blog has a much more in depth write up.

Kept the rubber side down,
Jonathan

24 Hours of Allamuchy

2006-08-29T22:21:00.000-04:00

This past weekend the Family Bike Shop Single Speed team did the 24 Hours of Allamuchy mountain bike relay race. It was held at a boy scout camp in northern New Jersey. Our team consisted of Timmy, Trevor, Bob and myself. We had the only single speed team in the race. Most people were riding geared full suspension bikes. This would also be the first time I was riding my moutain bike since crashing and hurting (breaking) my rib a month ago.

We had 3 goals at the beginning of the race. 1. finish in the top 5 of our class, 2. finish in the top 10 overall, and 3. complete 20 of the 10 mile laps. Well, we accomplished them all! We were 5th in our class, 8th overall and did 20 laps. That's 50 miles a piece for 200 total miles.

We arrived on Friday night and got camp set up. After an awesome steak and potato dinner that Trevor and his father (our only support crew for the weekend) prepared we sat around our campfire before heading off to bed early. Around 2:30 in the morning we were awakened by a crazy thunderstorm. It went on for about 6 hours and we all got soaked. Not a good way to rest before a 24 hour race. Thankfully, the rain stopped about 8 AM which allowed the course to soak up the water. It wasn't done raining for the weekend, though.

The way a 24 hour race works is the start is at noon on Saturday and you go non-stop through the night til noon on Sunday. There are solo racers, two person teams, 4 person teams, 5 person teams that must have at least one female in them, and corporate teams of 6-10 people.

Our planned order of riders was Timmy, Trevor, Bob, then me. We had a great start with Timmy turning in the fastest lap our team would do all weekend at 56 minutes. He was the 4th place rider overall after the 1st lap. Trevor was next and went 1:07. Then disaster struck as during Bob's lap his chain tensioner broke and he lost about 35 minutes trying to fix it and doing a lot of running. He came in at 1:37. This put us in a huge hole but luckily it was early in the race so we had lots of time to catch back up. I was next and my first lap was a 1:06. The course was a combination of fast smooth single track and agressive rock gardens with a good climb thrown in every now and again. On the single speed there were even some sections I had to walk.

On our second rotation Timmy goes crazy again and does his 2nd sub hour lap coming in 59:30. Trevor and Bob get the last daylight laps of Saturday. My 2nd lap gets to be a night lap. Everything is going well and about half way through my lap one of my lights goes dead. Thankfully, I have a backup, but it makes navigating the rocks a bit harder. I do a 1:17.

Third rotation. We all ride at night and the times get a little slower as we are beginning to tire. It is very difficult to get any sleep at all. An hour or two over the whole night is all we can get. Bob turns the fastest lap this rotation at 1:07. I do a 1:20 for my slowest time of the race.

Forth rotation. This will be the last of the night laps. Of course I get stuck doing three of them and this last one is in the rain which starts up again 5 minutes before I go out. It makes the rock very slick but my time comes back down to a 1:17. Bob once again fastest with a 1:09.

Fifth rotation. It is now a race to see if we can get to 20 laps and, boy, am I tired. At the beginning of this round I really don't feel like having to do a 5th lap. My team has other ideas though, and with the daylight everyone is feeling refreshed and riding faster again. Just my luck, when it is my turn the rain that had stopped after my 4th lap decided to start again and it was coming down even harder. I was feeling good, though, and did my second fastest lap at 1:10. Bob was once again fastest doing a 1:02.

Overall, a fantastic race weekend. We accomplished what we set out to do. The team was great and we all motivated each other and kept each other going.

Big thanks to Trevor's dad Rolland. He stayed up most of the time, made sure that the fire stayed stoked, cooked for us, and made sure that when we did get a little sleep, that we got up and didn't miss our laps. We couldn't have done so well without him.

Keeping the rubber side down,
Jonathan

Broken Ribs?

2006-08-09T11:10:00.000-04:00

Hi. Yeah, I know it's been awhile.

Here are some of the things that have been happening:

-Business is still cranking. It will be our best year ever! Thanks everyone!
-I took a week off and went on vacation. I had the opportunity to do a ton of fishing... striped bass (rockfish), bluefish, fluke, tuna and even shark fishing for the first time. It was great! My father-in-law caught a 300lb blue shark. Sweet.
-The Wilderness 101 mountain bike race came and went. I had to skip it this year because of work. Trevor, Timmy and John participated and reported the hardest race of their lives.
-Raced the Cranky Monkey series instead and had a nasty crash. I think that I broke a rib but I am to stubborn to go to the doctors and get an x-ray. So I have just been resting.

Team Family Bike Shop is preparing to race in the 24 Hours of Allamuchy mountain bike race, August 26-27. It is a team relay race. Our team(Trevor, Timmy, Bob and myself) have a good chance of doing well. Hopefully we can get a podium finish.

The best riding of the year is coming up right now! After the crazy heat wave we've had the temperature is finally cooling off and the humidity is dropping. All of the end of season century rides are starting up at the end of August, culminating with the Seagull Century in Salisbury, MD on October 7.

If you need any work done on your bike before then come on in and mention this post for $10 off a tune up!

Trying to keep the rubber side down,

Jonathan

Church Creek Time Trial

2006-06-18T21:17:00.000-04:00

So this last Saturday I decided to do my first time trial in about 4 years. It was put on by Team Snow Valley out in Cambridge, Md. The course is a 25 mile loop that takes you through the Blackwater Refuge. Totally flat and very windy.

I had decided that I was going to race on my fixed gear so I had spent the last few days getting the bike ready. Installing the aero bars and putting on a bigger gear. 48x16 instead of the usual 42x16 that I ride.

I got to the race and got to see some old friends that I hadn't seen in a while and look around at some of the other racers bikes. Lots of fancy time trial bikes and guys with aero helmets. There were definitely going to be some fast times out there.

The start of the race was 4 miles from registration, so it was a nice warmup. I was scheduled to go off at 8:43:30. Oddly enough I didn't have any pre race nerves like I usually do. I was totally relaxed. I guess it was because there was no real pressure on me.

When I got to the start I found out my old friend, Arch, was going to be going off 30 sec. before me. He couldn't get his computer to work right so here I was doing a repair for someone a minute before our start. I got it fixed and got ready to go.

The first 2 miles was great. I was flying along at about 26mph and all of a sudden the wind hit me in the face. I knew right then that I wasn't going to do the time that I had hoped for. Riding in the wind with one gear takes a lot out of you. But I plugged along. Going faster when the wind would shift and slowing down when it was in my face.

I ended up getting passed by a few people but I was also able to pass a few that had started ahead of me. In the end I finished up with a time of 1 hour and 5mins. I wasn't last in my class, Men's 35-39. I definitely wasn't first. The results aren't up yet, though, so we'll have to see.

I hustled back to the car, hurried home, showered, and got to the shop by noon. Of course it was a busy day so that was good too.

All in all it was a great day.
Keeping the rubber side down,

Jonathan

Gambrill Night Ride

2006-05-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday night a group of us got together for a night ride at Gambrill State Park in Frederick. Below I posted some pics. We had a good time riding getting in about 9 miles. Only one flat (thanks Trevor) and no other mechanicals.

After the ride we went to Brewer's Alley for $1.50 pints and some awesome pizza. All in all a great night can't wait to do it again.

Keep the rubber side down

Jonathan

Gambrill Night Ride

2006-05-23T14:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful wife Sarah. She makes my life easy and helps a great deal at the Shop. I couldn't do it without you baby.

12 Hours of Lodi Farm

2006-05-14T22:48:00.000-04:00

Well the race didn't quite go as planned. Trevor and I picked up a third and decided to do Single Speed 3 Man team. After two mechanicals in the first four laps that put us about 40 minutes behind the leaders we settled in. Had a great time, the team got 12 laps in which was our goal. We placed 4th in our class and 24th out of 76 starting teams. The course was fast, fun and twisty. Can't wait for next year.

Keep the rubber side down
Jonathan

Lodi Farms

2006-05-05T21:30:00.000-04:00

Packing up for the 12 hours of Lodi Farms mountain bike race. Midnight Saturday until noon Sunday. My friend Trevor and I will compete in the Duo division where we got 4th place last year. Hopefully we are prepared to represent Family Bike Shop again. I'll post an update on the race next week.

Repairs are crazy right now at the shop. And bikes are going out the door almost faster than we can build them. Anyone out there need a job. Stop by and see me.

Keep the rubber side down.
Jonathan

Riding in the wind

2006-04-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

So I got back to back days on the bike Sunday and Monday. Sunday was a solo round the severn ride and Monday Shawn and I went out for a nice recovery ride. Both days were full of wind, wind, wind. And it doesn't seem to matter what direction you are riding in.

Business has been brisk and it looks like I will be having to get up early in the morning to get my rides in.

Repairs are starting to pick up but we are keeping up and the wait is only a day or two so get those bikes in to get fixed up. Mention this site and get $10 off any tune-up.

Keep the rubber side down.
Jonathan

Pic from this weekend.

2006-03-21T19:26:00.000-05:00

Jonathan: Clearing Root Hill at Avalon

Hey everyone.

2006-03-18T21:26:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the new Family Bike Shop blog. We will be using it post all kinds of stuff about the shop. Rides, sales, get togethers, new product releases etc. So check back on a regular basis for all the info you will need.

Business has already begun to pick up so if you need to get your bikes in for repair make sure you don't wait to long. The longer you wait to bring your bike in the longer you have to wait to get it back and with the weather getting better you will want to be riding.

Get ready for a great season and see you all soon.

Jonathan

Logo

2006-03-15T21:52:00.000-05:00