Harpers Ferry

Sunday I met up with an internet Axe Murderer aquaintance, and we did a nice ride from Harpers Ferry to Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

We took the hilly roads on the way there and the pancake flat C&O canal towpath on the way back. About 28 miles of good times.

Great Frederick Fair

Friday found us at the fair. This is the view of the midway from the ferris wheel. It wasn't as crowded as I expected, but there were plenty of people there. Lots of good food, displays and rides, as well as the usual crappy games. We managed to spend a ton.

Birthday

Yes, I had a nice birthday, thank you very much. I took the day off and went for a long ride.

Wool Jersey

Gary at Gaansari just let me know they are getting a jersey made. Old school wool. $85 SS. $95 LS. +$25 for XXL. Cool. Gee, I would wear a XXL. You know, my birthday is coming up........

Lunch Ride

I did a nice lunch ride yesterday. Just the thing after several days off the bike. The weekend was shot for riding due to soccer and ET.* I took a spin through some newer Frederick neighborhoods, Waterside and Worman's Mill. Talking like a pirate the whole time. I might do the same on Wednesday, unless I go to The Great Frederick Fair for lunch that day. My wife has plans for that evening so no club ride for me.

* ET= Evil Tractor. I spend more time fixing than mowing. I'd never recommend an MTD product to anyone.

Reminder

Monday, September 19th. is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Uh, Matey.

Cool Tour

I've mentioned before about my interest in biking in Japan. I just found a site with several interesting reports. This one is of a tour around Kyoto.

Wed. Club - They took it easy on me.

On tonights ride there were only four of us, and daylight is getting shorter, so we took a nice easy loop around Woodsboro. We left town on Gravel Hill Road, so I could mark that one off my List

Seriously

Is there any better reason ride bikes more than being able to enjoy this guilt free?

Latest Fixing Frederick ride here.

Katrina

I've withheld any observations on the response to Hurricane Katrina, because I haven't felt we've been hearing the whole story from either the media OR the government. I was involved on the immediate response to Hurricane Andrew, and there were so many things, both good and bad, which were never reported.

I hoped to hear a lot more stories like this one from an Air National Guard pilot, instead of an incessant blame game.

Labor Day Weekend

Well, we had incredible weather over the Labor Day weekend. So nice that I felt somewhat guilty for enjoying it while so many are suffering down along the Gulf Coast.

I didn't get out on the bike, but Sunday the kids and I headed up to a friend's in West 'by God' Virginia for a day of playing, fishing and kayaking in the Capon River, and an evening of playing music around the fire. My meager banjo skills were soon left behind (there were a bunch of serious musicians, and there was me), but I discovered Emily is a born harmonica player (having me for a dad must give her the blues).



Thanks Jim, we had a good time.

I will be riding more this week.

Sidebar changes

I've made a couple of changes to the sidebar, by fixing a couple of broken links and adding a few.

Patrick Costello's Plunkthumping has moved to a new server and changed to The How and Tao of Folk Music. Lots of good banjo and guitar stuff there. Teach yourself how to play.

I added a couple of new bike blogs.

Fixed Impressions is another fixed gear rider who likes a lot of offroad riding. He also does a pretty neat music show weekly. It's worth your time to download.

"Do Everything" Bike is another site which promotes the sort of "bike philosophy" I'm leaning towards. Simplicity, Versatility, Just ride.

Ripzalot is a mountain biker living in Switzerland who spends a lot of time riding around taking really great photos. Check it out.

A Year Round Bike Blog is a site from Japan which also has a lot of good photos. And some cute dogs.

I pulled the "What I'm reading" and "What I'm listening to" sections, because I wasn't updating too often. I'll just drop in a blog entry if I think its worth mentioning.

What I am listening to right now is the current download off WFIX - (Fixed Impressions).

C ride my Ass.

The club ride last night was under unusual conditions. Lots of gusty winds and scudding black clouds with high white clouds and sunshine visible through the gaps. Very interesting light conditions. It seemed like everybody but me was feeling charged up and everyone blasted away at a B pace (or so it seemed to me). It was a struggle to keep up from the first hill on Dublin Rd. I lagged a bit, but held on, and it is good to be challenged once in a while. 24 miles. Rolling hills.