MoCo Epic

http://mocoepic.com/

"The MoCo Epic is a supported mountain bike ride going through many of the major parks in Montgomery County. It is organized by MORE.

3 supported rides will be offered:

- 25-mile, 3 parks: Start from Schaeffer, Schaeffer white trail, Hoyles Mill Connector, Black Hills and return to Schaeffer

- 40-mile, 7 parks: start at Schaeffer Farms, Hoyles Mill, Black Hills, Little Bennett, Lower Magruder, Seneca Greenway, around Clopper Lake and back to Schaeffer via Riffleford or the new bike section of the Seneca Greenway if it is open by then.

- 62-mile (metric century), 9 parks: same as above, but do Muddy Branch and the C&O Canal after Seneca Lake."

 Registration is open. Good job, Denis!

Bee Sting

For the second time I managed to catch a bee between my eye and glasses during a ride. Bee and I panicked. I was going down Fishing Creek at speed so by the time I stopped and released the little guy the damage was already done. The stinger was still there when I finished the ride an hour later :(.

And then 6 hours and 12 hours later:

Garmin Edge 500

Installed on the Titus. Love the new mount - easy to install, better fit, more stable, less parts to break, much better than the old Edge mount IMO.

Brake Issue Finally Solved

I had been having this rear brake vibrating issue for quite a while. Basically when I pulled the lever, the entire bike vibrated violently and emitted high pitch noises like a semi truck stopping in a hurry. I tried organic pads, anti-squeeling compound, multiple bleedings, filing pads, nothing worked.

Finally I couldn't take it any more and got a new set of brakes (Avid Elixir CR) to replace the Juicy 7, hoping the issue was associated with the Juicy, which has a reputation of being loud. New brakes installed, I rode it around the block and the brake was silent. "Great!" I thought.

After shortening the cables I took it to Schaeffer for a spin. BTW, the temperature outside was in triple digit, the two bottles I bought with me lasted only a little over an hour. Anyway, on a fast section, I applied the brake, the vibration came back, and stayed.

I sat in the garage carefully inspect the whole set up. The nice thing about the Elixir vs. Juicy was the top loading pads, which allowed to check the pad/rotor alignment. What I found was that the back side of the caliper was elevated a little too much so the pads were not fully engaging the rotor. Easy enough to fix. I put two 1-mm Ti washers in place of the original adjusting washers to lower the caliper. Tightened everything and gave it another spin - dead silent with tremendous stopping power. Problem solved.

Schaeffer Race Course

From the Ex2 website.

A trial ride on the course trailhead to trailhead took 51:41, SS 32x16. The course minimizes the climbing thus a geared hardtail would be the best for time trial. Expect to see someone posting sub-40. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/40763354

BTW, I plan to be a spectator of this race.

New Look

May not be the best idea to have white saddle and grips on a mountain bike, but I like it.

140 mm Rotor

It is small, about the size of the 34t cog.