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...)