Snow Storm Biking

I went mountain biking in the snow through the streets of downtown Frederick.

me

This is what the roads looked like

Joe, Jeff and Anna (back to front)

Audio Books, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Pics

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is pretty but about as nontechnical and flat as a trail can be.  Perfect conditions for audiobooks/ podcasts.  My body is occupied but my mind is fee to wonder so I can concentrate on listening.  I save the music for the times when I am riding hard and need something to keep me motivated.

Before autible.com and my I-pod I would ride with a tape player and books on tape.  The Tapes and Tape player was super bulky filling up two jersey pockets one for the tape player and another for the tapes.  I was thrilled when I found out about audible.com 6 years ago.  Now I can carry multiple books on my I-pod and it takes up a fraction of the space.  I would recommend as a great alternative to music for rides.

I listened to short story’s of the Sherlock homes and took some pictures...

This bridge at the Seneca creek aqueduct

One of the many locks of the canal paralleling the c and o

One of the more well maintained sections of trail

Big rocks

Kelly Acres Compu-Trainer class

Saturday I joined Anna at the Kelly Acres indoor compu-trainer class.  It was my first time doing one of these classes.  It was way more motivating than riding in front of the TV at home.  As Anna described it “Once you see that little cyclist figure representing you on the screen you cant help but feel motivated to ride fast”.

With the equipment hook ups multiple statistics could be measured including watts, speed, total distance traveled and position compared to other riders.  I've never owned one of those watt meters but after riding for a while I could see why it would be pretty valuable information to know in order to compare yourself to others and personal past performances.

In the 15min all out test I came in third (of people who have done it this year) and averaged just under 300 watts.  Hopefully I can improve on that.

photos from Kelly acres blog

On Sunday I road with Jeff Dickey in sub-freezing temperatures on snow covered trails in gambrill state park.  I was expecting it to be pretty slow going but the snow was packed down from others who came before us so it was fast.  It was just the two of us and we did a pretty big loop in under 2 hours. We ate at the mountain view diner after the ride.  Dinner fanatic John Burns would love it.

The C&O Morning Commute

Rode the C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio Canal) with Anna on her morning commute into work…

It’s a hardcore commute; about 35 miles from where we started @ white ferry in Frederick MD to WA DC.  The first ten miles were petty muddy and the temp was 35 degrees (when we fist started @ 6:40).

The C&O goes all they way from DC to Pittsburgh! Has free camping sites along the sides of the trail and it pretty well maintained.  Some of the views are amazing including large rock structures waterfalls and views of the Potomac (Great falls National Park). The trail is flat and straight dirt road that only maintenance cars are allowed on.  Despite being flat and free of rocks I managed to get a flat tire from some broken glass.  Anna was kind enough to wait for me despite me making her late for work.  I turned around 28 miles in to are ride to DC (7 miles shy of getting all the way into the city) for me it was 56 miles round trip and that took me about 5 and a half hours including a few brief stops.  I defiantly would like to ride this trail some more. Next time I will bring a camera along to get some photos of the more beautiful sections.