Abigail Mark

Kid's Bike Rodeo in Frederick this Saturday

Virginia's Great Country Roads

We went for a drive today tracing some of yesterday’s 105 mile road ride route. Stopped at Philomont Country Store. Then took a tour of Oatlands Manor. It was Thomas, Henry, Carter, me, and four young women. The place is really nice and we had the best tour guide ever. She had the boys helping with the tour. Because of their good behavior they got to go around the ropes in the library and sit on the couches, hold Mr. Eustus’ racehorse hoof inkwells, and then after the tour was over she asked us to come back in 5 minutes. We came back and she showed us the basement, kitchen, and two cellar caves – “off the record”.

As we left, we saw the intro. talk for the second tour of the day, there were like 20 people and some crotchety old lady as the tour guide – we lucked out.

From there we drove to Middleburg, VA and hit the butcher shoppe for some local smoked ham and turkey which we made into sandwiches.

The road route is really amazing (kudos to Dkeg), I can’t wait to ride it again.

4th of July solo road ride

Ellicottville, NY Weekend

Untitled by pabiker at Garmin Connect - Details

2011 Parkway Bike Safety Rodeo - Saturday, June 4th noon-4pm

Kids Bike Ride w/ MORE

Tuesdays in MoCo - these are a fun time and for any kid who can ride two wheels.

Monday Night Wheel Base Ride

This is just one reason why Frederick, Maryland is such a great place to live:

Click on that photo to see the road and no cars for like 10 miles straight!

Easter Weekend

Visited Tony at Captiol Hill and found an Easter Extravaganza at Lincoln Park - the kids had a great time.

Tony and I did a fast 60 mile DC road ride on Easter morning from Georgetown.

Shot BB guns with the boys in Annapolis later in the day.

Marks -vs- Food

The Mark boys took on a Man -vs- Food challenge today.

At Chick & Ruth's Delly in Annapolis, MD we took on a 6 pound milkshake.

In the epic struggle of Mark's -vs- Food - today the Mark boys prevailed!

Panda Cone Party

We were fortunate enough to host the 2011 World Championships of Cone in our basement this year. After drinking their pre-competition Mt. Dew (thanks to my wife) the 2nd and 3rd grade boys were ready to roll.

Can't is the Cancer of Happen

A wise man recently said: "Can't is the Cancer of Happen" and there were alot of reasons that this trip shouldn't have happened.  It's a two hour drive and I had to be home by five would be one of them.  The major storm dropping 2 inches of rain on Altoona would be another.

Tony showed up for the party only after reading the directions

All week the isobars and radar didn't look good for Sunday so we moved our regular Sunday ride to Saturday.  An early 7:30am departure from Frederick in misty rain had the others a bit concerned.  Todd started a "For the sake of discussion..........." conversation in Starbucks complete with horrible-looking radar images on Tonys i-phone.  The weak of heart, less optimistic, or those who hadn't heard a BStimate before might have been swayed by their semi-convincing argument.  To his credit, DKeg, took the bull by the horns and got us rolling as we narrowly averted a wet, slippery, and misty ride in the Shed.  Dkeg has seen both the rainbows and the unicorns on several occasions.

Rattling Creek is an easy two-hour drive from Frederick and features 23 miles of the best singletrack in PA with very little climbing and just enough rocky stuff to keep you on your toes. For the most part it is fast, rolling, picture-perfect singletrack in a remote location with beautiful mountain creeks and an overall wilderness feel.

Shawn banging 7gram rocks

Shawn joined us on the road and we all hit the parking lot simultaneously.  There was a light mist and a few patches of snow remaining on the ground.  While it didn't look ideal, it wasn't raining, wasn't freezing, and we were going to ride regardless.  It was great to have Shawn alone, being semi-local, he knows the trails better than I do, which took a little pressure of me and meant we really didn't need to worry about maps.

Frank isn't Bi-Polar, he's Bi-Winning

He rolled us out Doc Smith, which is so good in this direction; and then up the gradual Fawn Kill trail to Shale Run, Grimm, Lukes, and then the super-fun Wolf Pond.  By this time, the mist was clearing, the temperatures were rising and we were able to hand out at the hang-glider launch and eat the proscuitto sandwich I had brought along.

I've got one speed - GO!

As we crossed the road to begin Rocks Ridge, the sun was actually trying to peek out.  Rocks Ridge was riding really well and we were able to session both lines at the little rock out-cropping.

We bombed the Matter Trail and then linked up to Rattling Creek Trail via Dry Run.  Rattling Creek trail always pleases.  This early in the season I was a little too tired to hammer it the way I like, but it is so well laid out and beautiful it is hard to appreciate how much time, effort, and skill went into designing it.

Todd's stripes are a reflection of his tiger blood.

The switchbacks at the end are textbook perfect and little stream crystal clear with trout fry swimming in the sandy patches between boulders.

We jumped on Hopback and rode it back to the lot.  Now it was warm, a little windy, with the sun trying to break through the cloud cover.  We were all a little spent and with my yet undisclosed timeline we opted to skip the loop (another three miles of trail) and head to Al's of Hamden for pizza and beer.

Larry's Map

Als is amazing.  I had a tasty mini-stromboli, but it's really the beer selection that is so impressive.  They had three hand pumps going, maybe forty other beers on draft, and then a hundred or so more available by the bottle or can. 

Frank and David dropped my off at the Black Hog for my brother-in-laws birthday dinner, where I found the whole family outside waiting for a table - perfect timing, perfect day.

-Thanks for all the photos DKeg.  You can link to more of his great photos here

Family Fun Day

We hiked a trail on private land that at friend told me about last year and what a cool scene!

Henry stockpiling sticks for some fort-building

Michele in a room with a view

The beginning of the fort

Hiking back

Tons O' Riding

This past weekend was the winter-motherlode of riding.

Friday was Frederick's first friday from fifth ride featuring 10 raging road riders ready to ride in the high 60's with sun - it was fun.  Followed by the first Elm Street porch party of the year.

Saturday friends, much smarter than I, pulled me away from a road ride in winds that were high down to Elizabeth Furnace in the GW for a mountain bike ride.

Sunday morning we had a birthday party in Gaithersburg with friends, a trail hike in the Shed with more friends, and then more fun with the boys at home.

Monday morning was a Shed ride in the snow.  A classic technical test piece in challenging conditions.  My friends from Michaux and Rothrock came down to join the fun.  10 miles of super tough riding yielded much fun, albeit little sun.

 Tony on Double Stuff, F2 in the Shed

Winter climbing with the boys

Thomas, Henry, and I took Jason, Mehta, Doug, and his daughter, McKenzie to a local crag for some good kid-climbing on a beautiful December day this week.

Snowy MTB ride on Iceberg

Perfect conditions this past weekend on Iceberg.

MTB Weekend in Virginia

A bunch of riding this past weekend on the ridges that ring the Fort Valley in Virginia near Elizabeth Furnace. We rented a stone cabin and rode singletrack from the front porch for two days.

We had great food, beer, wine, music, company, and played stump (game you play with a framing hammer).

Cagney & Lacey - Rothrock State Forest

The Specialized is riding well.

Little Miss Mark is here

6 lbs, 12 ozs & 19 1/2 inches long.

The boys are loving it.

2010 MoCo Epic

Sponsored aid station 7 at the MoCo Epic yesterday.  This was the last aid station on the longer (62 mile) route.  Helped out by Mic from The Frederick Bicycle Coalition, David from the Singlespeed Outlaw Factory Team, Tom and his three children (Isabella, Ian, and Sadie?).  Tons of fun.

We were well-provisioned with everything a rider could need.

The official sweepers were our last customers.

And then we were off to the Grand Ole Opry, I mean after-party at the Holiday Inn.

This is how the mtb'ers roll in MoCo, MD