Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday 5/25/08: I didn't realize what I had signed up for until seeing Denis and Loic in Schaeffer at 8 am. Probably Denis wanted to show Loic all the parks around the area, The three of us went on the MoCo Epic ride. We did a small loop in Schaeffer, then HMC-BH-LB-LM-SG-CL and back to Schaeffer. Stopped only a few times to take pictures or have snacks. 41.5 miles and 5 hours total time. I call the loop MoCo Epic Minor because some trails in various parks were skipped. Photo credit: Denis

Monday 5/26/08: The ride was organized by MORE and led by Chris. A big group, 16 riders, showed up. The raceboys in the front were pulling pretty fast pace. I took the sweeper's roll and tried by best not to drop anyone. Throughout the HMC/BH out and back only one rider dropped to take an easier pace. A few more left in the Schaeffer parking lot. About 10 of us pressed on for a loop in Schaeffer. We finished in about 3.5 hours and covered about 27.5 miles of trails. Photo credit: Aaron

On the way back to Schaeffer, I got a bee in between my left eye and the riding glasses. The bee panicked, and so did I. Here was the sequence of events (as I can recall):

1. My left eye felt something was getting dangerously close and told the eyelids (both) to go into emergency shutdown mode;
2. The eyelid was stun, firing tremendous pain signals to the brain;
3. My brain sent instruction to my hands: "hey, drop everything and take care of this situation";
4. I ejected the riding glasses with both of my hands, probably with a force that could throw a cow over 100 feet. Meanwhile, my legs were pre-occupied and still kept on pedaling;
5. Riding with no hands and no sight on a trail, to me it's a sure recipe for crashing, and it did happen;
6. I got up, pulled myself together, looked around but couldn't find my riding glasses, hopped on bike and left, fearing there was an army of bees ready to launch.

Luckily I wasn't too allergic to bee stings. I was even able to finished the ride in Schaeffer.

Now my left eye is itchy and swollen.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Project Seven



Project Seven - tentatively scheduled to be completed and fully tested before 2009 Leesburg Bakers Dozen.

Frame only (no seatpost clamp, no EBB): 1,566 grams (3.45 lb)

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Ren Chengyuan (任成远)

Ren finished 18th in the May 3-4 stage in Madrid Spain, still holding 2nd place overall.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Schaeffer Time Trial - White Loop

Full rigid 32x16, 0:17:45, pretty much the same as last time.

I should be able to get it in the low 17. But it's a real challenge for me right now to be in the 16's, maybe in the Fall.

Monday, May 5, 2008

SM100 - Rigid SS or Geared FS

I have been thinking about doing the SM100 on my full rigid singlespeed, 32x18 or even 32x16. Finishing the race is my only target (well, maybe not too far behind Denis is another). But the Death March and the HAIRY descents would probably destroy me mentally and physically. The sweeping truck might find me laying trailside weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I have a geared and full-suspension bike, but I'd rather not to bring that 30+ lb beast to a long ride. The other two are both full rigid SS. I have a steel hardtail frame on the garage wall that can be build up with gears and a front fork. However it's always fun to eye on a new bike - especially when there is a legitimate excuse :)

So here is a preliminary list of choices - all XC full suspension and should be perfect for the SM100:

Specialized S-Works Epic
Ellsworth Truth
Santa Cruz Blur XC
Titus Racer X

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Schaeffer 5/3/08

Rode Schaeffer by myself today around dinner time. I brought the GPS along but left the recording off so I did't have to pay attention to the speed or distance. I held back a little but kept rolling for about one and half hour without a break. The ride turned out to be quite enjoyable.

*** *** *** ***

Replaced the rear G2 rotor on the Vicious with an old/heavy one came with BB7. That seemed to have alleviated the noise and vibration problem.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Shed and Gambrill 05/01/08

15+ miles, minimum stops.

We started off Hamburg, went south through the rock garden and up Lawn Mower, then hooked up to the Gambrill trails all the way to the tea room. We went back to the parking lot via Lawn Mower, the rock garden, and everything, in a reversed order.