August 2012
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What I Learned Bike Touring from Wytheville to Floyd, Virginia
Today Felkerino and I headed off to Floyd, a southern Virginia town that abuts the Blue Ridge Parkway. A scenic and challenging day in many ways, it brought home a few themes about bike touring. 1. If the route isn’t working, change it. Continue reading
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Bike Touring from Blacksburg to Wytheville, Virginia
The weather: Sunny and dry Miles ridden: 92 Mountains: Three, one being the notable Walker Mountain ten miles outside Wytheville. Continue reading
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Into the Teeth of the Virginia Highlands
The past two days of riding have brought home the fact that all rides are not created equal. Felkerino and I plotted our 70-mile days, climbing away from Clifton Forge, over Dolly Mountain to Covington, and across Hay’s Gap to overnight in Paint Bank. Continue reading
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Bike Touring Southern Virginia on the Lead Sled
Felkerino and I are off bike touring in Virginia this week. We began our ride in Waynesboro and are winding our way south to Wytheville. Day 1 we rode to Lexington, a quaint historic town. Yesterday, Day 2, we arrived in Clifton Forge, part of the Alleghany Highlands region. We’ve employed the mountain Cannondale tandem… Continue reading
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Colorado High Country 1200K: A Breathtaking Trip Out West
The Colorado High Country 1200K is a 90-hour, four day jaunt through about 750 miles of the great states of Colorado and Wyoming. Felkerino and I rode it last month and this month I wrote my story about it. Continue reading
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Using Shared Infrastructure Sharingly: Chris on #BikeDC Speaks
After several weeks of #BikeDC Speaks posts from the women of the #BikeDC community, we are back this week with a guy’s point of view on riding in the D.C. area. Chris is another familiar face from #FridayCoffeeClub and, if you ride along MacArthur Avenue, you may spot him there as well. During his years of commuting… Continue reading
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BicycleSPACE and the D.C. Murals Ride
After all the heat and humidity we’ve endured over the summer, this past weekend we received a welcome reprieve. Especially Saturday. Warm sun, light breezes, pleasant temperatures. Far too gorgeous of a day to stay inside, Felkerino, his daughter, and I joined BicycleSPACE’s mural ride to see where it would take us and to simply… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Rick R.’s Trek Elance 300 (650B Conversion!)
It’s all about bikes this week, and today features a guest post from Rick R. about his Trek Elance 300. A North Carolina rider, Rick completed a full Super Randonneur series with the D.C. Randonneurs. Felkerino and I rode many miles with Rick (and Christian) on this spring’s Warrenton 300K. Felkerino and I joked that… Continue reading
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Summer Commutes on the Velo Orange Mixte
I tend to have an overall preference for diamond frames, and never considered myself a mixte sort of person. However, a couple of years ago Velo Orange was selling off a batch of their mixte frames at the attractive price of $300 so I mixed up the bike stable by adding a mixte to it.… Continue reading
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I Get By with a Little Help from My Gym Friends
When I first started going to the gym, I did so because I wanted to strengthen myself for cycling. Then I wanted to strength train because I completely freaked out about getting older and realized the importance of weight-bearing activity. Later I continued my gym visits because I enjoyed the challenge to my body and… Continue reading
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Getting Better All the Time: Leslie T. on #BikeDC Speaks
Leslie T., superhero transportation cyclist, and I go way back to the days I first began riding with the D.C. Randonneurs. If there is a way to get there by bike, Leslie will figure out it. When work requires her to travel, she takes a bike along. Vacation? It usually involves a bike. Getting around… Continue reading
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The Appeal of the Run Commute
Because I have a fall running event coming up, I’ve inserted a couple of run commutes into my weekly commute diet. While cycling is my primary mode of commuting, mixing it up with run commuting has proven quite pleasant. Not surprisingly, my running route to and from the office varies from my bike routine. First,… Continue reading
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Reviving the Lead Sled: our Cannondale Tandem
Due to unforeseen circumstances (to be discussed in another post), our Co-Motion tandem will not be around for a while. In the meantime, Felkerino and I still want to tandem together so we decided to put our original brevet tandem, a Cannondale mountain frame, back into service for some summer rides and any upcoming fall brevets we do. Because… Continue reading
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Cycling-Specific Commentary: Ride Safe!
If you regularly ride a bike, you know that people will say some weird stuff to you. Stuff they wouldn’t say if you were, say, walking. Or, let’s say, in a car. This week, the phrase I kept hearing whenever I left my office with my bike in tow was “Ride safe!” Me: “Have a… Continue reading
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Time for a Road ID
This past week I bought a Road ID. Initially, I blamed my purchase on all the Road ID ads run during the Tour de France coverage for filling my mind with how much I needed one. Marketing, I tell you! Really, though, I can’t blame the Tour ads for my recent purchase. I decided to… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 