Almost There

This is an image of most of my GPS tracks in Frederick County for the past three years. I started riding the roads in Frederick as part of a "touring at home" philosophy. Since various constraints seem to keep me from traveling too far from home to ride, why not learn my home terrain with detail that few others could equal? If I can find the time, I should be able to wrap things up this fall. Pretty cool, huh?

46

Another year older and deeper in debt. At least I got a bike ride in. James and I went over to the Brunswick area and had a nice ride finding bridges in various states of disrepair. Then we found some ice cream and beer. Then home to a nice family evening. Life could be worse, so I'll be thankful for what I've got.

Pump Track Tuesday

Only Eric answered the call to come out and ride in tiny circles in the fading summer light. I had the afternoon off and dug a bunch. Eric showed up with a 26" Surly and and old school GT BMX and became the third to ride the complete circuit on about his third lap. I still fail at the third berm on the uphill side counterclockwise. Keep working. When it was getting too ark to see we adjourned to the deck and enjoyed a couple of cold ones. You should have been there.

Fixed/ Free without a wheel flip.

It looks like SRAM is tackling one of my dream desires in the fixed gear world. A hub where you can convert from fixed gear to freewheel and back. In my dream, of course, you can do it just by stopping and flipping a switch or lever. On the SRAM you apparently have to dismount and turn a screwdriver a couple of times. Still, it shows folks are working on good ideas. The SRAM Torpedo single will have the same gear ratio whether fixed or free, but you could have two ratios by running it with the now fixed compatible Schlumpf Speeddrive for a two speed fixed free drive train.

If you want all fixed, but still want variable gears, look to the new Sturmey-Archer hub, a reworking of the classic ASC three speed fixed hub. There is a push to name it the "Sheldon," after cyclings late guru, Sheldon Brown. I hope they do so.

Photo Ride

The Bicycle Escape and the SSOFT sponsored a photo ride in scenic Frederick County. Eric mentioned he was bring kids, so I thought it a good time to get out the tandem and bring the Princess Stoker along. We originally had two cameras, but battery issues left us one, so I let Emily record her impressions.

She done good!

Oh My!

Salsa Fargo. Adventure bike lust going on. Stand back. My Karate Monkey dreams just took a huge hit. Must start saving now.

A Flat Ride.

Not the terrain. The tires.

James from Ride Lugged organized another fun fest to take your road bikes to places beyond the ken of most road bike riders. It was a nice ride to, through and from the Watershed. Climbing and gravel and streams and singletrack and sketchy downhills.

Marvelous.

Kudos to Mel and Christine who met us up on top of the mountain with cool water and cold beer, and joined us for part of the ride.

Lots of flat tires (none of them mine) gave me a lot of recovery time. My only mechanical was a broken chain just before the beer stop. Quickly fixed.

Photo by Joe Whitehair