Sunday, January 4, 2009

First good ride of 2009

Don’t worry everyone, I haven’t stopped going outdoors since my last post (in August?! Geez I’ve been lazy!). With the new year in hand, I can now proudly say that I’ve been commuting primarily (more than 90% of the time) by bike to/from school/work for my entire working life, starting all the way back in the summer of 1998 (more than 10 years now)!

Today I took a short 17 mile bike ride around Arlington in the 45 degree weather to see how this new year will feel. I took the W&OD to the Custis Trail, then the Mt. Vernon Trail, and lastly Four Mile Run back to my home.

The sky was gorgeous, with the clouds appearing like one of the massive spaceships from Independence Day. Plus the trails weren’t crowded, with enough people to not feel alone but no dense areas of traffic.

Since this was a “get back into the swing of things” kind of ride, my pace was pretty average at 13.8 mph.

I’m already planning my next trip as you read this!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Sunrise along the W&OD

Now THAT’S a way to start off a day!

This morning I woke up EXTRA early to do a 29.5 mile bike ride along the Washington & Old Dominion Trail (a few miles were on the Custis Trail as well).

The ride started just when the sun rose and everything was just bright enough that you didn’t need a bike light. It was nice and cool outside, in the high 60s, but being mostly in the shade, it was a few degrees cooler. The cooler temperature made it easier for me to go faster, as weather conditions were ideal for me to go at my best pace.

With today being the first time I’d taken my road bike along certain parts of the W&OD that I’ve been on so many times on my mountain bike, I definitely noticed many more of the bumps that exist along the path! The noticeable loss in bike weight with my road bike also made navigating a lot smoother and faster. I barely broke a sweat for the first part!

Along the trail I saw my fair share of wildlife, including birds, a cat, dogs, chipmunks, and squirrels. Oh, and people too! Wait a minute, they’re not wildlife! Oh well.

I made my way out to Reston up to Michael Faraday Court, which is a starting point for the Colvin Run mountain bike trail, and then headed back.

With about 9 miles left, I witnessed a cyclist fall over while stopped at a road crossing. He had clip pedals, and the sight of him falling over onto his side only further increased my paranoia of clip pedals. After asking if he was okay, I mentioned to him his effect on my paranoia, which drew a response of laughter. He then explained to me that in more than 10 years of having his bike, today was the second time he’s ever fallen over!

After we bid adieu, I had to notice the fact that at every street crossing, there was always a driver or two that would slow down or stop so that people on the trail could cross, something they aren’t required to do. I thought it was a nice gesture, and I’m glad that there are drivers out there who have respect for us cyclists.

After making it back, I was impressed with the increase of my average riding speed. Normally around 10 mph on my mountain bike with slicks, my road bike average speed for today was at 13.7 mph. I will have to make myself wake up early for an even longer ride, considering how well today went.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tour de Mount Vernon

Ooohhh, ouch! Stupid saddle sores! I need to get a better bike seat.


But other than that, the ride was awesome.


Today I went on a 45.5 mile bike ride, the last before this upcoming weekend’s 50 mile ride for the Shenandoah Valley Bike Festival. Getting through this bike ride without any trouble would be crucial for my success at completing the 50 mile trip. Last year I over-trained and was almost unable to finish due to a sore/pulled muscle in my left leg. Of course, that’s better than 2006 where I actually crashed 38 miles into the trip!


I should also mention that I now own a road bike, a Schwinn 12-speed made in the late 70s/early 80s. The best part is that the bike is actually my size, so I don’t have to hike the seat up way past the recommended level like on my mountain bike. The shifters are manual levers, so in order to change gears I have to “feel” for the right spot.


My route took me first along the Washington & Old Dominion/Four Mile Run combined trail until I got to Barcroft Park. Then I took to the streets to find the northern end of Holmes Run. I rode along Holmes Run until it ended at Eisenhower Avenue near Cameron Run. I made my way over to Old Town Alexandria where I started on the Mount Vernon Trail with one goal in mind: to make it to Mount Vernon.


With everything being slightly saturated by the morning rain, when I rode in the afternoon everything was nice and cooler with the evaporating moisture. One part of the trail was under construction and detoured off road, which doesn’t go well with road bikes, but the rest was pretty well-maintained pavement.


Once I got to Mount Vernon, everything was pretty closed off to bikes. Haha, there were NUMEROUS signs saying “No Bikes on (insert anything)” so I took the opportunity to take a break, then start my journey along the entire trail. The other end of the trail was 18 miles north at Key Bridge, so I set out to get there.


Along the way I passed again through Old Town Alexandria, then made my way to Reagan National Airport where I stopped to take a break at the northern end of the airport known as Gravelly Point. There I could relax for a bit and watch the planes fly just overhead as they landed. After that break, I biked up to Key Bridge and to the eastern end of the Custis Trail to finish the last few miles of the journey.


The last few miles were hard, as the Custis Trail is littered with hills and slopes downward towards Key Bridge, so my work was cut out for me. With my legs getting tired, I had to make a couple of extra stops to catch my breath, especially after each hill attack (as per my style). As the sun set, I turned my bike light on to illuminate the path. Eventually I found the west end of the Custis Trail, which is a junction with the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, and a mile later and a not-so-bad (this time) double hill, I was home.


My legs may be a little sore, but I know I’m in control for this weekend. Bring on the hills and valleys of the Shenandoah Valley!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Asphalt adventure with a touch of mud

What a turn of events, fun but different from the original plan.

The original plan was for Moe and I to drive out to Schaeffer Farms in Germantown, Maryland. But that required having a vehicle, which we realized that morning we did not have access to. So, we decided to bike from my house (near Seven Corners in Arlington) out to the Centerville Power Lines mountain bike trail and eventually to Moe’s house in Manassas.

When we started, there was a light rain, almost a drizzle. It was in the 50s, so we had to wear extra clothing. And turn around for something else. And something else. After the third take, we were actually past the end of the first block from my house! Things didn’t seem all too great for a bike ride along Route 50 (technically US 50) to get to Fairfax Circle. We took as many of the service roads as possible, even taking time to go on a few rocky piles and construction areas along the way.

We stopped to take pictures along the way, especially getting through the area around the Beltway. Merging across lanes can get pretty dicey! As we got farther west, the storm system in the area was letting up, and so the weather improved drastically. After getting through Merrifield, the sun was out and the weather was up to the 60s.

Upon entering Fairfax Circle, we stopped for lunch ($5 for a footlong sub? We’re in!) and randomly ran into Moe’s dad who was there at the exact same time as us. Getting a quick bit of food in our stomachs, we set off again, this time onto Lee Highway (US 29). We took the highway all the way to Centreville Road (Route 28), then after I inadvertently played chicken with oncoming traffic, we took that to the beginning of the Centerville Power Lines.

I had my map of the trail, but no map could even find the path very well. The trail we came to was overgrown, hard to see in some areas (the trail was nowhere to be found in more than just a few places), and generally full of neglect. It was also weird that we were completely surrounded by neighborhoods and felt like maybe we were trespassing. We pushed on, determined to make the trail as fun as possible.

In a few areas there were water crossings, all of which were much deeper than at first glance. A couple of mud puddles were fun to splash through, and the trail split to the left at one point around a substation. But it was really hard to find the trail in some places. Luckily with the name, it was easy to follow the power lines. Unluckily, it was hard to find the exact trail we were supposed to be on, with many instances of us having to get off our bikes and walk through tall grass. My left knee started acting up again, causing great pain at certain parts, but I didn’t want to stop. Also, passing through a split tree almost ended the ride since I managed to bend my back derailleur almost to the point of breaking. I bent it back and it proved no problem for the rest of the ride, luckily.

Eventually the trail came up to Braddock Road and we were supposed to follow the road for a portion of the trail from one set of power lines to another. Not much as far as challenge goes, since asphalt is probably the flattest thing you could be biking on at any time! Needless to say, we anxiously awaited the power lines again, each of us almost running into a tree because we weren’t really paying attention to our surroundings.

Reaching the power lines again, the mountain biking began again. Since many had gone off-roading in their vehicles and the trail generally in bad maintenance, some of the slopes were much more difficult. That was actually a good thing, inserting some challenge into a rather hum-drum trail. Near the end, we came across a stream, about 20 feet across, shallow enough to entice us to try and ford the river. We each tried to get across, but if any of you have ever played Oregon Trail, fording rivers is impossible! We both made it almost to the other end until our momentum was just shot and we had to take a dip in the shin-high water. Did wash off some of that mud, though!

After getting back to the trailhead (if you can really call it that, it’s more like the power line tower next to Centerville Road), we set off to Moe’s. We were both getting really tired, and the rush hour traffic notorious on Centerville Road got dangerous when our sidewalk ended and we were forced to go along the roadway. Also having made plans for later that evening, we determined that we were never going to make it on time and had to stop about 4.2 miles from Moe’s house, getting a ride from his dad.

All in all, together we had done 20.5 miles of biking on the roadway, and about 7 miles biking on the trail. Moe himself had biked to my house before we began, so he ended up with an additional 8 miles for a total of 28.5 road miles. We had taken advantage of the many muddy areas, so we were pretty well covered.

My last thoughts on Centerville Power Lines: it’s easier to appreciate good, well-maintained trails when you try riding on a badly maintained trail like this one.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Getting a little crazier

With the rise of confidence daring may follow, and it sure did today.

Spreading like a virus, the fun of mountain biking at Fountainhead was again had by myself and Moe, with Peter joining us for his first trip there.

The temperatures were hot, reaching 80 degrees on this sunny day. We were ready for it, with extra amounts of water being carried. And I was wearing a knee brace for my left knee, to help until it fully heals.

Moe and I took a much quicker pace than we ever had, with Peter following us as closely as he could. He stepped up to the challenge, especially with encountering everything for a first time. The heat took its toll on our group, with more water breaks having to be made and Peter sharing part of his lunch with the woods early on in the trip. Farther along the trip, my left knee started to act up a little bit, and Peter’s left hamstring started giving him some trouble. But we kept on.

Getting to the “playground”, we decided to try everything out and add a little of our own to the mix. Peter learned to do the teeter-totters with the rest of us, and we had some fun. I turned my attention to the 40 foot log that had been too difficult to cross with determination. The log was between 6 and 8 inches in width that you could bike on, with diagonal ramps leading up to and from it. I got a good amount of speed and tried it, kept my balance, nearly fell off near the end, but made it! I felt so accomplished that we made a video of my second crossing of it. Then Moe built his own jump using a few logs and pieces of wood and tried it with success. Then I tried it. I forgot to pull up on the front and nearly flipped forward, doing an unexpected balance on my front tire with my back side almost coming over the top of me for a quick second! That was a quick lesson on taking jumps.

We came across a casualty along the path, with a man having to walk his bike back to the start after having broken off the part connecting his left pedal to the rest of the bike. People are really tough on their bikes, including myself.

Also along the trail we came across an obviously Washington Capitals bird, whose chirping was reminiscent of the “Let’s Go Caps!” cheer. We may not be in the playoffs anymore, but it’s clear there are some hockey fans in nature!

Among other random things, the lesson of wearing gloves was learned first-hand by Moe, whose hands fared much, much better through the trip than did mine or Peter’s. The frequent bumpiness was quite hard on the hands and wrists, so I will be using gloves next time I venture out on a mountain bike trail.

Having infected another person to Fountainhead’s greatness, I think it’s time to try another mountain bike trail, at least to mix things up a bit. There’s plenty out there, and we’re ready for everything that can be thrown at us!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Fountainhead: Round Two

Wow, what a difference some experience on a trail makes!

Having had so much fun the first time around and having spread the word about how awesome Fountainhead’s mountain bike trail was, I returned to the trail with friend Moe.

The weather was a bit warmer, with the sun having decided to come out and the temperature in the low 70s.

So, we got our bikes and equipment all set and headed to the trailhead, when we noticed Moe had forgotten his helmet. Helmets being required, and the trail being difficult, we set out to get another helmet…

…(series of events unrelated to mountain biking)…

…a few hours later, we were back at the trailhead, Moe sporting his new helmet. And we were off.

I noticed right off the bat that things were easier. My experience of having been there along with the trail being dry (as opposed to the moist first trip of mine) made getting around a lot quicker. I also quickly noticed that my bike ride of 48 miles not too long before had affected my left knee more than I originally thought, and it acted up. Going uphill became much harder since my left knee was still recovering from a strain, so there was a lot of walking up the hills.

It was Moe’s first experience on the trail, and he loved every minute of it. When we got to an area (I call it the “playground”) with teeter-totters and a 40 foot log you had to try and bike across without falling off, we decided to try going on them. Moe started us off by making it through both teeter-totters eventually. I was too scared my first time to try going on them, but after a few practice runs of almost falling off, I made it over both teeter-totters eventually. Basically you had to bike up one side, get past the midpoint, then keep your balance as gravity took over and set you to the ground so you could ride forward and off. The first teeter-totter was 1.5 feet wide, and the second was 1 foot wide with a steeper angle. The log was a different story, with neither of us being able to make it more than a few feet before bailing. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time playing here.

Back onto the trail, we ran into a couple of other bikers on the trail, all much more experienced than we were. Haha, we had to stop many times while watching them pass through the most difficult parts without a sweat!

With Moe having gone fast through a certain part, I stopped to take a leaf out of my back tire. Suddenly I heard rustling in the leaves a few feet from me and looked up to see a black snake move at a speed of 10 mph away from me along the trail! I shouted out to Moe to get his camera, and he started inching closer to it to get a picture. As he got closer, the snake started shaking its tail just like a rattlesnake, showing it’s discontent. I’m thinking the entire time of all the times I’ve watched shows like “When Animals Attack” as Moe inches closer for a better picture, when the snake decides to move away from both of us at its same quick pace! We found out after our trip that the snake was a black rat snake, a non-poisonous snake that mimics a rattlesnake with its tail for self-defense.

Still paranoid about seeing the snake, every time we ran over a stick that rustled some leaves we thought of it. It still didn’t stop us from having a good time, though. Getting near the end, we pedaled non-stop through the finish and were proud of ourselves. Fountainhead was still a challenge, but I’m much more confident about it.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Bat Ranch: Caver’s Paradise

I’m sore, tired, relaxed, sunburned, and have a 2 foot long gash on my back. What a weekend!

This weekend I joined fellow cavers from the Madison University Student Grotto, Virginia Tech Grotto, and even a few from the Front Royal Grotto and Athens Speleological Society (from Georgia) for Spring Fling at the beloved Bat Ranch in the southwestern part of Virginia. The Bat Ranch, in short, is a guy named Mike’s home in the mountains that cavers love to visit, thus the name. There are 3 caves on the property, a field for camping, a fire pit, and even a stream that runs around the property.

I can’t say everything of what went down (haha, you’ll have to go there to find out!), but I’ll try and organize it into a few categories: caving (duh), camping, labor, tubing, and the fire pit.

Upon each person’s arrival, another tent was built. Eventually we covered most of the field in at least 20 tents of different shapes and sizes (even a few that you could stand up in!). It was a city set up in an instant! Most were staked down, as it would be windy from time to time, though one actually ended up rotating itself! Would’ve been a kite had a sleeping bag not been inside to weigh it down.

The fire pit was constantly swarmed with people. The menu of the weekend tended to fall under the choices of hot dogs and smores. Many were eaten of each, and let me tell you, you need a full day for your digestive system to recover after that! Since the stream was close to the fire pit, many (including myself) chose to jump into the cold mountain water, as was the custom. It’s quite exhilarating, I must tell you! Oh, and we also burned a chair, which was remarkably well-built to still stay standing until the very last of its frame fell apart.

As a show of good faith and thanks for letting us stay for free, we did some labor for Mike. It involved gathering logs and cutting down a few trees (on Mike’s property) to prepare for the next few months of firewood. We made short work of a couple of trees, sawing, breaking branches off, carrying the sticks and log pieces and throwing it all into a pile to dry out. This type of group effort is one of the factors in the Bat Ranch continually being a great place to visit.

While some went hiking, and others went caving, another group (including myself) went tubing down the stream. Luckily it was only a 5 minute walk to get to the upper part of the stream that would take us to the Bat Ranch in just under an hour. Talk about convenient! A fleet of inner tubes and people entered the water, at the mercy of the stream’s ever-changing currents. The stream had a few tricks up its sleeve, with shallow waters that caused you to scratch your back, rocks and logs almost hidden until you came right up to them, natural dams from fallen trees, and branches sticking out that had to be circumnavigated. I thought I made it out okay, until others saw the 2 foot long cut that I had gotten from one of the branches. I didn’t feel it since the water was cold, but it was definitely there!

And not to be forgotten, the caving! And of all places, I got to go see my favorite room in any cave, the Moon Room in Tawney Cave! Getting permission from Mike to go along with the key required to unlock the gate at the entrance, myself and 7 others (Lee and Kelton from M.U.S.G., Will and J-Watt from A.S.S., and Jeremy, Remington, and Chelsea) proceeded into the cave. Upon entering, we were met with a large room covered in flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites. After finding a fun 20 foot climb and subsequent tube slide that was very steep, we proceeded to follow the stream to my beloved Moon Room. Standing in the middle of the room and looking up, there was a round dome cutout from the ceiling at least 80 feet above. The room also echoed very well and standing in it would make one feel as if they were in some underground temple. There were interesting formations to look at everywhere in that room. After enjoying the scenery and seeing Jeremy fall victim to an all-versus-one mud fight, we decided to find the other entrance to the cave, a sinkhole! Climbing over a bunch of breakdown, then to the bottom of a hole, we found a stream passage that stretched a long way. Along that walk, Will looked up at the ceiling and noticed a portion of it that reminded him of the Cathedral Room from Pettijohn’s Cave in TAG (Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia caving region). It stretched up 100 feet from us, and looked like the inside of a Gothic cathedral with the lines of flowstone. Truly amazing! After continuing for a little longer, we came across a pole that was probably drilled by someone making a well. After going past that for a little bit, we decided to turn around and leave the cave to join everyone back at the campfire.

Sunday morning was bittersweet, as we had to take our tent city down and clean up after ourselves. A lot of us, including myself, had sunburns from both the sun and being in front of the fire for too long. I found a few more cuts and bruises, but that’s the name of the game. I’ve now been to the Bat Ranch 6 times, and don’t think I’ll ever stop going!