Tussey

Tussey passed away yesterday and is at rest up in the Shed - where she loved to work and play.

Lincoln 2 Lincoln - MetroDC Run

I had a day of continuing education training in Bowie yesterday and wanted to hit DC on the way home so I called Go Kart Mozart to see if he was available.

"Got a bike?" he asked. "No, but I have my running shoes" I replied. A couple of emails later and it was set - a Metro DC run from his home on Capitol Hill.

His home is the beige colored one. Like all Go Kart rides this one had a minor blip. He left his keys at work, so we were locked out of his house. After going through the garage and trying unsuccessfully to break in, he remembered that the neighbor may have keys - she did, and we were in.

A quick change and we were in full running regalia - me slightly overdressed for the close to 60 degree temps. Tony's plan was to do hill repeats at Capitol hill. I said I wanted to go by the White House to meet Obama and, after some prodding, we settled on a full-fledged tour of the Mall. We crossed the Mall near the Smithsonian Institution and ran into Ricky, JoJo, and some friends about to embark on an urban night ride. Ricky had a fixed gear bike he just built up and we all took a turn. I remarked that it looked like a clown bike and apparently this was solidified once I had my turn.

Funny how timing works out. The diversion with Ricky, et al slowed us down enough that as we were climbing the hill up to the Washington Monument we saw the President's helicopter drift by and come to an awkward landing on the White House lawn. We had the best view in the city and one minute later or a couple earlier we would have misssed the whole thing. What a feeling that must be as you sweep in past the monuments in the middle of the city and park it in the lawn (oh yeah, in secured airspace with combat heli escorts).

We made it to the Lincoln Memorial (which was hopping with people). Urban running is a blast, we tried some mild parcour moves, jumping steps, sprinting for green lights, etc. I was hurting a little on the final climb back up Capitol Hill and then Tony took me on a diversion to see Eastern Market, his rental property, and a great espresso bar. We stretched out in Lincoln Park (his neighborhood park) and headed back to his house.

His wife was wrapping up dinner and they kindly invited me to stay. After a nice meal, one Bell's Expedition stout, watching Lexi run the indoor obstacle course, and a stop at said espresso bar - I mainlined it back to Frederick. Easy peasy. (click on map for details)

Lincoln Park to Lincoln Memorial - 8.08 Miles. Definitely a keeper. This route ranks up there with the Philadelphia Art Museum/Kelly Drive "Rocky Run", Hill repeats in San Fransisco, South Beach/Ocean Drive (in the winter), Trail running in Marin County, CA, and that time I amost died running in Palm Springs, CA.

The Great Beer Run

Prologue: My friend Mike recently told me about a good source of micro-brews located in Altoona, PA - the Brew Zoo. Last month he put an order together of assorted ales and stouts which I took part in. There were many beers to choose from, but one that no-one opted for was the Voodoo Black Magick, an imperial stout aged for 6 months in bourbon casks:It went for $130 a case and, with all the others to choose from, this one was left stranded. Something told me if I threw it out to my MD/DC/PA/VA pals, we could split this thing up and everyone would be able to try it. I sent an email and exactly 24 minutes later it was sold out - with many folks left out in the cold. Matt at the Brew Zoo emailed me to say he had another case and in another 15 minutes, that one was sold too.

This post is about my trip out to pick them up. Knowing that there was really no good time to drive 7 hours to pick up some beer I left work Thursday at 4pm. Arriving in Altoona at 6:20, I met Matt and took this photo of their microbrew aisle.
After throwing three cases of fine stout into my backseat, I hit the road for Salix where Mike lives. There was quite a bit more snow in Cambria County and I arrived at Mike's a little before 7pm. So far, the timeline was perfect. Mike and Brenda had prepared some really tasty italian meatball, spinach, portobella pizza on whole wheat crust and we dusted off a bottle of McClaren Vale Shiraz to wash it down. Around 8:30 we headed down to the Windber Hotel, a recently renovated pub with a great draft beer selection and cool atmospherics. Mike and I have a couple draft pints of Victory Storm King stout and some good conversation with owner (who used to work in Huntingdon). The place is really comfortable. Sort of like Boxer's, but with a much larger bar. The owners built the bar out of recycled bowling lanes and restored the tin ceiling panels by hand. In addition to the draft beer selection they have a nice cooler of bottles to choose from.

Left the Windber around 10pm and made it home safe and sound a little after midnight. Here is my haul from the orginal buy that Mike put together. And here is a bottle of the Voodoo Black Magick at 15.5%ABV it's a sipper (and can be aged for years if you have the patience. Call or email me if you were in on the Voodoo order.

Mike told me that there are two more watering holes of renown in the Johnstown area, one downtown with great food and taps flowing with the likes of Ten-Fidy, Green Flash, Delerium, etc.; and the other a pub that specializes in Belgian ales on draft (6+ taps of Belgians).

With three quality mt biking options nearby and three pubs of interest, I am sensing a late spring weekend trip - anyone?

Playmobil Battle 2

Ice, Ice, Baby

Damn ice! Kept us from our mission today and we narrowly escaped intact:
Tussey proving that "all-paw drive" trumps all-wheel drive on sheets of ice. A little digging and shoveling gravel and we were on our way again.
We made the best of our abbreviated work day with some taste testing - here two quality IPAs. And here, two imperial stouts. Hopefully, next week will prove more productive.

18 Riders, 4 Hours, 11 Miles - Priceless

Nice ride in the Shed today. (photo credit: Jason Stoner)

17 Friends from MD, PA, DC cruised in for a sun-splattered winter ride on Iceberg, Grebeci, and Sally Mander. We were not disappointed.
Grabbed some quality food and refreshment afterwards at Brewer's Alley in Frederick. See you next time.

Happy New Year from Frederick!

Tussey likes fresh trail

Holiday Ride

Great time today with many friends.

DC Tony put a Sand Flats ride together today at 10 am. I Pulled in a little late, but was met with many friendly faces and a full lot. Bek, Skipper, Dave G., Lars Von Chambersburgen, Jules (not Verne), Ricky, better half, and MORE's Stoner. No Tony. We were joined a little later by the White-haired devil of Single Speed Outlaw fame. Todd, aka Skipper, helped me install the front disc pads Speedgoat had recently sent me - the ones that were sorely needed.

Feeling pressure from the ADD crowd and not willing to leave without Tony, I tinkered with my bike for a while to kill time, and then went for a short ride to relieve my GI tract. While crouched, I saw Tony speed past. Upon returning, I realised that we had lost Todd, Dave, and the girls, but the majority remained.

We hit Sally-mander, passed the Fridge, and reconnected with our inner Icebergs. Ran into some folks at the beginning of das Berg, and later Chris Eatough and compadre near Vulture Rock. Supersweet led us to Rock Candy (where we met up with Ernie, Liz and a bunch of dumbasses climbing up Rock Candy), we went up Trail of Tears to Sally-mander to finish.

I learned several things today: From Larry's sleeves, Swobo has got to cut them shorter; From the trail, WTB Weirwolf LT 2.55's fook'in rule; some pro riders still ride 26 inch wheels; From Ricky, red pants don't mean your gay; just because it's wet, doesn't mean you can't ride it.

Great times. I wish everytime I typed Ricky's name it would auto-link to his Flickr site and Larry's blog, and Single Speed Outlaw - can't one of my IT buddies take care of that?

Shed

Sunday was a beautiful day in the Shed. Cub came up and we enjoyed a nice cool ride in the sun.

Saturday, I took Thomas and his friend, Ian, up for a hike. It was only 25 degrees out, but we managed close to a 3 mile hike with some rock scrambling thrown in for good measure.

On the summit.

Ian and Tussey making friends.

Michaux

Nice wintery trip to Michaux with my DC/MD friends. Larry met us there and we enjoyed excellent trail conditions and little to no chance of heat exhaustion, mud, or mosquitoes.
Having destroyed nearly every form of eyewear I have ever owned, it came down to this pair of Bolle glacier glasses from the 80s. They were really dark, cosmetically devastating, and never fogged up.
Disembarking after parking.Some small batch tasties from Troegs (compliments of Brett). We hit a bunch of nice stuff and Lars Von Chambersburgen showed us a new piece from the Michaux Endurance Series 50 miler.
Gliding after riding - at the Chambersburg Pump Track.


We all had a really fun time. It was nice to be back at Michaux and in such good conditions. The snow was light and dry, not crunchy or sqeaky; it gave positive traction and made for that eeriely silent winter riding that I like so much.Never thought I would say that I was missing rocky trails after riding at Michaux, but well, I'm looking forward to some quality rock crawling in the Shed this weekend and the singletrack we hit up North wasn't particularly rocky.

Science Fair Project

State College Thanksgiving

Happy Valley is full of traditions and at one time or another almost every member of my family has lived in State College. My first State College memory is of my father taking us to Rec Hall as children so we could shoot hoops and of him explaining how he used to sneak into the PSU basketball games while he was a student at Loch Haven by sitting on the girls bathroom shitter with his legs lifted up before the game. After their divorce, my mother commuted thirty miles one way from State College to teach in Huntingdon twice a day, every day, for over a decade in order to expose herself and her family to more culture and more opportunities. After she finally moved to State College, my brother became a star at State College High School both in football and in track - earning a well-deserved full-ride to the University of Tejas as a decathalete. My little sister also graduated from State High, SHBS, and was the first among us to start a family. My older sister returned to town soon after graduating college to utilize her degree in fashion merchandising, and then again much later with her husband to raise a family, grow the community, and her Silpada business. I attended PSU; learned to mt. bike, climb, and kayak; began a career, succeeded; began another, failed; moved away, graduated; started another, and now return as often as I can with my family - although there are no basketball hoops in Rec Hall today - I enjoy every trip.

This year was extra-special as my father, his wife, and my sister were all visiting from Idaho; my mother came in from Oregon; and my sister and her daugher flew in from Florida - a full house. Oh yeah, and I turned 40.

One tradition is a family hike and this year we had fun. I hiked two snowy miles in my red Dansko clogs while carrying Henry on my shoulders downhill.

Thomas found an "ice fossil" which he carried for about 1.75 miles and then I broke trying to hook it onto the roof rack.

A couple of cellphone calls later the ride was taking shape. Another tradition is to ride in Rothrock over the Thanksgiving holiday and I haven't missed one in years. Some were short, in the rain; some were long, in an Indian Summer; some were tough, some were easy - all were impromptu.

This year's ride followed the family hike and began, as usual, from the Tussey Mt. parking lot.

Despite the snow, the trails were open and rideable.

We were able to ride up Three Bridges, Longaberger, the entire Tussey Ridge, and back down Longaberger (chasing a six-point buck) two plus hours without much stopping and no waiting.

I am leaving out alot, there is always so much that happens there - great beer (we always go out one night), disc golf with the boys, college football, fun games, great food (turkey day is incredible), etc.

Special thanks to Aaron and his sister, Mandy, for taking care of Tussey for the holiday - she went on several hikes and enjoyed all the attention. Everyone should have a good friend from middle school as they are something else.

4 bergs

Tussey and I hit Iceberg today. There was a little snow on the trail in the morning for the first run, but many tracks made it pretty nice. Ran into the MORE folks doing some major trailwork on Blue. After two laps, I dropped Tussey off at the car - and headed up for two more. Had a nice run on Grebeci with my only dab coming at the bottom of the S-Turn, clipped back in and rode the top clean - Jeez! Seems like a dusting of snow somehow helps.

Great conditions.

3 Bergs

The bar has been raised. Jonathan and Pat recorded three bergs on a single ride this past Sunday - one Grebeci, and two Icebergs. Do I hear four?

Fall Grizvitational

Children of the Corn

Thomas doing some quality straw bale jump'in.

Michele's brother and sister came dow to visit in warmer days. Fall was upon us and in Frederick County that means pumpkin shooting and corn mazes.

The Map.

H&D

Henry leading Blue Team Four through one of the mazes.

Michele and Alex through the eyes of a crazed corn stalker.

Alex riding in comfort.
This is the double-barrelled apple shooter.

Thomas takes the controls.
Takes aim and fires at the distant pirate ship. The apples could actually go all the way to the corn in the background.
Henry caps it all off with a straw bale jump of his own.