Monthly Archive for March, 2006

03.05.06 Colt’s Neck

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DT
on March 6, 2006
in Bikes and Dirt
. 2 Comments

Sunday I managed to get in some much needed time on the dirt. After cleaning house in the morning, I drove over to the ice rink in Reston and pulled Vanessa out of the car. Once I got the clothes situation sorted out (there was a great deal more wind than I expected) we were off. Take a left just before the entrance to the main trail and you get a nice little side trail that takes you over to the street where you can pick up the W&OD. This is the way to go if you want a 98% dirt ride and it’s also the way to go if your riding the Colt’s Neck loop backwards. Anyway, back to the ride…I took the carriage trail which follows along side the W&OD.

If you live in this area you know what the W&OD is, if you don’t, it’s the Washington and Old Dominion trail. It’s a really nice and long paved path, great for commuting or just getting in a 40 miler to ODBC. The carriage trail is basically the W&OD, only it’s gravel, has ups and downs instead of being flat, and it sits right next to the paved path. It’s more for the equestrians (hence the “carriage” trail), but it’s great if you want more of a work out and your not into that whole flat path thing. So a couple of miles on the carriage trail and it’s time to finally duck off into the woods. From here on out it’s pretty much singletrack and doubletrack.

What a ride! Just me and Vanessa, the dirt, and a beautiful clear day. We took it slow and easy, checking out the sites along the way. Ended back at the car with something over 10 miles, no mud on the bike, and a nice burn from the last few hills. Took a few pics of the trail, the new creek crossing the FCPA is putting in (damn nice!), and even some Loose Cannon PRBs. Check out the gallery:

DT

We got the Beat!

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DT
on March 2, 2006
in Life
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Don’t know if anyone out there is interested in reading anything from the Beat Generation, but I was always a big fan of that genre of books. Well it looks like a public library bought Burroughs archive collection. What’s this mean? It means that for the first time, the public will be able to read any of the 11,000 or so documents that make up the archive and up until now were unavailable for viewing. Check it:

Allen Ginsburg/Corbis

DT

Riverbend - 02.26.06

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DT
on March 2, 2006
in Life
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So after some funky weather last week, both Kristin and I were looking to get outside and do something. We wanted a place we could take the Busterman without having to worry about too much traffic, but still get in a nice hike and some fresh air. That cut out Great Falls Park due to the amount of traffic. Right upstream from Great Falls is Riverbend. We drove over and parked at the Visitors Center and went right out on the Upland Trail. Hardly any traffic on the trails at Riverbend with the exception of the riverside trail that takes you all the way in to Great Falls, so it was nice for Buster to get off his leash and have a good romp. He does really well off leash at this point. He listens and if told to stop he stops so I can put the leash back on if traffic is coming. He also doesn’t really stray far, never more than 20 yards without stopping and looking back or waiting. I think an advanced obedience class might be in order. Time to teach him heal instead of just saying “come here”.

Anyway, he had a grand time running through the streams, playing in the dirt, and we got a nice 2 hour hike in at the same time. Well worth the visit!

DT

TNS 2.28.06

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DT
on March 2, 2006
in Bikes and Road
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Oh boy, this was one to remember. We just barely made 10 people on Tuesday’s ride. Initial plans had included ideas such as riding in from the normal spot and taking the long way across 14th St. and looping back around to Georgetown so we could hit Birreria Paradiso. This changed as soon as we learned of the plans of some other friends. Initially I guess they were thinking of meeting in front of the White House and doing a nice little road ride, ending up somewhere for some Fat Tuesday festivities. Well the only place I knew of having anything Mardi Gras related was Clarendon, who evidently had a kick ass parade at 8pm. When the other group of people started having people jump ship, they decided to hook up with the TNS crew.

The heart of the crew was there, plus some. Spearmint and Stoner (the heart) were joined by Gary and Braun (both on their way to being regulars), with Chris, Ricky, and Butch also coming in. We were 8 strong leaving Falls Church. No problems all the way into Georgetown to the beginning of the Capital Crescent Trail where we met up with Markie. Now 9 strong we continued up the 7 mile long (?) CCT to Bethesda. The CCT is a nice long gradual climb that will work you good. Once we all got to Bethesda, the next route was decided. I was all for riding back down the CCT since it’s all downhill from there, but the others wanted to make it into a nice loop.

We ended up taking the Georgetown Branch Trail (gravel path) to Chevy Chase (going right past the City Bikes shop) and hooking up with Rock Creek Park. At some point we hit Beach Dr. and Ricky has the first mechanical of the night, a flat tire. A quick tube changeout (quick = 15 minues or so) and we were ready to go on. Ricky took Markie’s tire lever and this where all the fun is traced back. Let me mention here that Ricky had Victoria tires. We continued on before jumping off the streets and onto the paved path. Once we hit the trail is was swoopy river paralleling trail. We hit a bridge and bam, the 2″ ledge to get on the bridge brings Spearmint’s Victoria tires to an air exploding end. Steve being used to much bigger tires and with no warning of the ledge plowed right over it. So we stop again while it’s Steve’s turn to fix his flat. After a fair amount of arm wrestling to get the tire back on the rim we pulled out again. This time only about 20 feet before Steve has a revelation…shit, it’s a double flat! Thinking we were almost there, he was going to ride it out on the rim, but meeting up with everyone he got the pressure to just fix the flat.

At this point Markie takes off for his place in DC to grab an extra tube. Good thing as my spare tube ended up being a 700c Shraeder valve…WTF? Steve goes to take his tire off and what do you know…Markie took Steve’s tire lever. After playing around Gary gave him another lever. Then a long tire patching process took place. The process never did take, but it was successful in bringing in the cold! It was at this point my toes decided to stop feeling. Markie finally makes it back with the tube and a new tube is installed. Ah finally, only an hour after we had our first flat and we are finally finishing up the last couple of miles. Markie leads us out and goes a side route to take the C&O Canal to Georgetown, but being cold, 10pm, and everyone wanting a little food and drink, everyone bypasses the C&O for the one block street ride to M St. Five minutes later we were building the bike tree and starting to warm up inside. It’s here we picked up another hearty soul. He was from College Park and works at Proteus bike shop. He pulled up on his Jamis Rush Hour, which is a pretty cool stealthy looking bike. He decided to join us for beers.
After being there for only 2 minutes, Kristin made it to the downstairs bar. She had just come from her glass jewelry class. She joined the crew for a couple of beers before heading home to the Busterman. Meanwhile everyone enjoyed the fine brews on hand and the gourmet pizza. I got the Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale, Loose Cannon from the beer engine (hand pump), an Old Rasputin Imperial Stout, and finished things off with a triple belgian suggested by Thor (Val Dieu Tripel I think). All were very good. Guess I’m going to have to have a beer review section now! Sometime around my imperial stout, almost everyone decided to pack it in and head home. Spearmint, Gary, and myself stuck around for another pint and more discussion with Thor. After that it was just a quick jaunt back to the cars to finish off the ride.

By the time we got back to the cars, Spearmint’s odometer was reading 38 miles, so if I add the two miles or so my house is from the starting point then that’s a solid 40 mile ride. Not bad if I do say so. It was a nice night for riding, a little on the chilly side if you stopped too long, but it was nice and clear and traffic was low. Click on the pic to check out the gallery.

DT