Lance Armstrong unveils his new commuting bike shop

Lance Armstrong unveils his new commuting bike shop

That makes me wish Lance was from Baltimore.

"Runnin' With The Devil"

YouTube - David Lee Roth "Runnin' With The Devil" Vocal Track

David Lee rules Van Halen has never been and never will be as good as when he was rockin the throat!
I hung around this guy years ago that could do the perfect D.L.R., Pat Truit Ocean City local and exceptional wild man, Billy Carlile did a nice version too.

Living Class Rooms

Yesterday I did a demo of green woodworking at the Living class rms in Balt. it was allot of fun, nine girls about ten years old well behaved and funny, full of questions. Kids love this stuff, touching the wood and feeling the moister in it, splitting a log apart and seeing the inside and then making some shavings with the draw knife, exciting stuff. Little kids are inspiring, their energy and interest in things even though the attention span is short it's easy to get them back into it.

It's a unique school that gives back to the comunity and shows the yout's natural things in life that most of us take for granted. These pics are from over the summer, unfortunatly I didnt get any yesterday , but I do go back again in Febuary and twice in March.

House

-WOW -

Alot has happened since the fall. Tons of good riding went down, then we bought a house and I got some chunks in my knee. We sorted it out so we had thirty-some days before we moved in.

We really wanted to do the floors and paint before we moved any furniture in, it worked out pretty good.There was also some roof shingles that had been worn away by a limb and some banged up flashing that was letting rain water in just enough to stain and lift the paint.So I definatly wanted to patch that stuff before the remnants of any hurricanes or the soon to come winter storm blew through.We striped the paint off the trim in one room,it would have been nice to do it all but there just wasnt enough time.

It was totally worth it,looks killer. All of the woodwork is Yellow Pine.

I was able to work out the chunks in my knee just about the time I got my new frame then the weather changed and the time change made riding real hard to squeeze in. I still have only gotten a few rides but man I like it, the twenty nine is so fast, I read a discription the other day "riding a 29er is like riding in a bike not on a bike", yeah like that. I had some pics but cant find them , Ill post some.

We spend so much of our hard earned money on insurance these days, my parents wernt burdened with this excesive spending for somthing that "might happen", I am not talking just about health either.I try not to think about how much moore comfy I could live not paying as much as I do for somthing I never use.But I know nothings gonna change when the politicians are paying out equally to each party. hillery is fourth in recieving the large sums, wasnt she suposed to fix health insurance when bill was in there?

Here is a bike tool for the rider. wewe

64mm turns 100, never disapionts.

Stay Calm

Carry On

.

I just read that Sheldon Brown passed away last night.
Lifes horrible reality, it always sucks so much more when it is a good person.
I guess it wasnt that long ago I discovered his site, five years or so, I got so much info from him about single speeding and good bike set up, how to, and so many parts to look at, that gave me a better understanding of how it all works, a true bike guru.

IRON CROSS V

YEA 62 miles of sweet ahhhh ummm biking fixed 44x19 killer trail smokin dirt rd single track on a road gear and rollin fine no mech's under sixhrs cool people way supportive marked well open course means every day obstacles great weather bike is dusty dirty again! chainisdry body soaked and mellowfeelalive Quickbeam fixed rules racers walking through singletrack?

and look at all the swag!

over nighter

The other week I went on an over night er with Joe and crew, we left from his house in Fredrick MD after downing a beer around two o'clock.This was my first fixed pannier ride and I was pleasantly surprised how well my bike handled the climbing, there wasn't any thing real steep but I have rode my crosscheck with gears, panniers loaded, and the hills were tougher. This set up just seems to roll on. I'm talking about long and gradual and short steep here. Not steep and long. A pic of the set up all clean and ready to go.

We biked to the C&O canal,14 miles and then about 30 to our camp spot,It was so nice to know that for the rest of the day and most of the next all I had to do was ride my bike, this was exciting.

The view from my tent, You could here the trains way off in the distance too.

Andy's set up, it looks cool and he was carring next to nothing it appeared cause the hammock is the tent, bed rest, ect. The weather was perfect even on the hot and humid side, usually when I do theses bike trips it's freezing out. That night we rolled about three miles to Sheperdstown for food and Beer.We ate outside and listened to a Jazz band that was playing inside, some of it was real nice. Then proceeded to seek out another bar, score, a grotto from 1790 complete with a back alley lined with trees, picnic tables with candles and college chics. There we had to throw down, it was a Rouge, a real Dead Guy,after many a round with him I left happy and feeling good about myself and was fine with leaving him to pour on.

It was a fun ride back to camp and I think there was some Dog Fish Head, Honey Rum consumed around a burning fire pit.

Getting ready in the morn.

Looking south on the Potomac River

Looking North

I like the way the three points line up on the fork crown and the top tube, really it's not a picture of the computer.

one of the more elaborate Locks on the C&O this is at where you cross the bridge to Harper's Ferry. Looking up stream.

looking down stream.

We got back to Joe's and went to a Festival the city of Fredrick was putting on and had a few Brewers Alley beer and some ethnic foods and I headed out with a total of 100 miles in 24 hours, all our panier's and bikes were covered in C&O dust it was great , Joe put a good trip together on short notice, we are getting better at this.

Hold Onto Your Mugs - Beer Prices are Heading North!

Hold Onto Your Mugs - Beer Prices are Heading North!

If you get the Clipper City news letter you may have read this.
If not it's good to know, helps to keep me from getting pissed at the "MAN".

I rode with the Outlaw crew Sunday, a ride dubbed the 1903 adventure ride. Thirteen of us headed out to ride paved and dirt roads around Frederick Maryland, my longest fixed gear ride, sixty six miles, on my bike computer.It was painful bliss nearing the end. I couldn't wait to see the parking lot where we started, then as I rolled in I felt a horrible thing, I was afraid to get off my bike, I envisioned rolling around on the smooth asphalt with leg cramps.
I was good though didn't even seize up that night. I basically drank ate and peed the whole ride through.Fun ride,good people nice views, long climbs and even longer descents the last one being gravel road loose and very fast,through the Catoctin Mountains.It seemed to go on forever.
Then this evening Sieverts took me on the 2007 Baltimore city adventure ride, we left from his house on the geared CrossxChecks spinning big meat and riding a lot of wooded single track trails around the colleges north of the city,a ton of fun, it was super fast paced with lots of obstacle's and surprises, Robert E Lee park was really fast and mixed in some lower loch raven too. I really like going from paved rd to single track, back and forth, it keeps you on your toes.
Sorry no pics, I would like to post a pick of the Quick Beam, I really enjoyed riding that Sunday.

But I saw this it's a great answer to mounting a rack. I have used the thin metal clamps that have a little bit of protective rubber, it still eats the surface of your frame up and the metal clamp fatigues and breaks, also a pain in the ass to get that tiny nut threaded on to the tiny bolt.