Flock of Cycles

The urban, social riding group is growing up, going non-profit, and just fired up their website.

Flock currently offers a couple of Friday evening slow-paced social rides, a late-night mellow party ride, and the faster-paced, mildly hilly Midnight Mass. These rides focus on fun, building confidence, and encouraging coexistence with all road users. Tall bikes, portable speaker systems blasting an eclectic mix of audio joy, and the occasional charitable endeavor feature heavily in the group's motif.

"Are you a randonneur?"

An excellent post from Vik.

CTC 2011 Planning

It's winter here in the 'Burgh, with another few inches of snow on the way so what better time to fantasize about my plans for Crush The Commonwealth 2011?

I've got some feeble hopes of breaking 32 hours this year, unlike my third-place 37 hours last year, or my first-place 36 hour finish in 2009. So long as I don't screw around at rest stops, maintain a decent pace, and keep my sleep time to a couple of hours, that should be well within my capabilities. If I stay calm through Chambersburg, I may be able to hammer pretty well for the last 150 miles, as the route trends fairly smoothly downhill: ideal for a (*ahem*) dense guy on an aero bike.

With regards to gear, I'm going to try to go a bit lighter this time around. Nothing crazy, but I'll cut down the extra clothing to a spare pair of shorts ands socks, instead of the full change I carried last year. I've got nutrition pretty dialed in at this point: a 4-hour bottle of Perpetuem and 70 oz bladder of water with Camelbak Elixir tabs should get me through each leg. Bike-wise, I'm gonna try out a compact 50/34 crank instead of my prior 52/42/30 triple; by bumping the cassette from an 11-32 to an 11-34, I doubt I'll feel any more pain on the low end than I usually do.

Here's a reasonably accurate route map/elevation plot:


And my basic ride plan:

I wasn't planning on any non-local rides this year, but...

The Big Wild Ride looks awfully interesting.

August 21st, 1200K through some of the exciting bits of Alaska. Yummy...

Chilly commutes are still worth it.

This morning, 6:45 AM or thereabouts, on the way to work. 18 degrees and windy.

(Please forgive the craptastic phone camera quality...)

Happy New Year('s Eve)!

(Yes, I know, it's been months. I was wrong to leave, I'll never do it again, mea culpa, she meant nothing to me...)

After weeks of sub-freezing temperatures, the news that today's forecast included sun and highs in the fifties acted on my winter torpor much like a splash of vinegar acts on a pile of baking soda. Leaping into action, I put out the call to the locals...anyone wanna cap off the year with a nice Red Belt loop?

Dan G., Bill H., and Sean(sp?) answered the clarion call to arms. We congregated at the Jail Trail, then headed over towards Tarentum via Allegheny River Blvd and Freeport Rd. Sadly, I was to find that my oft-postponed drivetrain service had resulted in a state such that I could not really use the lower half of my cassette without disturbing grinding/sawing noises. In addition, the teeth on my chainrings are worn enough that, especially on the middle ring (AKA "the ring I use the most"), the chain has a disturbingly regular tendency to jump off and flail about wildly under load. Ah, well...I've had replacement cassette, chain, and compact crankset sitting in the basement for weeks...guess this means it's time to actually install them. That said, I spent the vast majority of my time in no more than three or four gear combinations; the Red Belt does not have that much variety in terms of terrain, as evidenced by Dan's ability to ride it fixed without visible sign of agony.

The first half of the ride was a bit discouraging, in the "why is the temperature dropping? why is it spitting rain?" sense. However, shortly after Sean had split off to return via North Park, the cloud cover lifted, and we had the delightful experience of being utterly drenched in sunshine for the remainder of the ride. We stopped at the bakery in Sewickley on the return leg, at which point I consumed a truly frightening number of calories in the form of a day-old danish and approximately 24 ounces of peanut butter bar. Thus laden, we decided to omit the delightful climbs through Sewickley Heights and up Mt Nebo, in favor of the traditional flatland return via Coraopolis/Neville Island and the McKees Rocks Bridge.

A very nice ride, all things considered. It's been quite a while since I rode the Red Belt...I think I'll make a point of incorporating it into more of my rides next year.

Many Rivers, DC Randos 600K

Fun. First day hurt me bad, but lots of fun overall.

Details later.