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Bikes To Like: Pedro Gringo’s Surly Troll
Avid cyclist and stalwart commuter Pedro Gringo is one of my favorite people from the flickrverse. I regularly check in on his two-wheeled activities, which range from power naps and puppy rescues to mountain biking and gear tests. When I saw his fat bike (see how hip I am saying fat bike?), I knew it… Continue reading
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Utilitaire Curiosities: How We Carry What We Do
Boop bee doop. Reading through the utilitaire posts and tweets got me thinking about the various “bike and haul” setups people have chosen, and also prompted me to analyze my own. I have two primary systems and bikes I use for hauling stuff around. For riding in the city, I generally use one of two… Continue reading
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Utilitaire Rules Update: Pedestrian Allowance
Hi, blog readers! I’ve added an additional provision in the Utilitaire Rules. While the name of the game in the Utilitaire 12 is ride your bike, I also recognize the following things: It’s winter so there may be inclement weather that prevents a person from riding; Some people have jobs that require them to travel and… Continue reading
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Utilitaire 12, Week Two Roundup
That was a chilly weekend! Wouldn’t want the Utilitaire 12 to be too easy. Good to have a little winter weather (at least for the D.C. area) to spice it up. Two updates to the rules. They are listed below and I also added them to the Utilitaire Q&A. Continue reading
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Link Love: History Lesson Edition
How was your week? Did you get in some good riding? I mixed life up by throwing in some run-commutes. It made for a nice change of pace. Also, my perspective is lower to the ground when I run, which makes me feel like I’m in a booster seat when I transition back to the… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Dan’s 1987 Trek 330 Elance
I recently met Dan during a lunch stop on a 200K permanent that Felkerino and I were doing. Dan was riding a populaire with some friends out of Frederick, Maryland, and his group had stopped for lunch at the same establishment. Everyone had placed their bikes wherever space allowed alongside the restaurant. Amid the menagerie… Continue reading
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Weekend “Training” Ride: 80 miles
I like labelling my weekend rides as “training rides.” It’s like having a Get out of Jail Free card. No, sorry, I can’t do my household chores. Rather, I must train. Instead of reading tea leaves, Felkerino and I examined the weekend weather radar and decided that, with a 40 percent chance of precip, Saturday… Continue reading
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Utilitaire 12 Roundup
Utilitairing Week two of the Utilitaire 12. Already? Yes, already, so if you’re thinking about jumping in on the fun, now’s the perfect time! While some football game played, I surfed around to see what kind of utilitairing the tweeps and peeps have been doing. Here is a litle rundown of what I unearthed: Continue reading
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Link Love: Six More Weeks of Winter Edition
Life’s been pretty good in this neck of the woods lately. I even had some time to do a little blogosphere reading. Here are the highlights: Local Blogger Turns One! Tales from the Sharrows, who regularly taps out two posts a day– one to document his commute in to work and another to capture the… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Bob W.’s Kogswell Porteur Randonneur
Bob W. is one of the people who regularly organizes longer rides (centuries) up in the Baltimore area. I have not ridden with Bob (yet!), but regularly follow his travels through flickr. One of his randonneur bikes caught my eye, as he had recently put it through its paces on the well-known and challenging Deerfield… Continue reading
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Utilitaire 12 Q&A
Wow! The Utilitaire 12 just went live this morning, and already people are planning their strategies for completion. Excellent, I say! People asked quite a few questions as well so I’ve put together this post to address them. Note: I will update this page as additional questions arise. Continue reading
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Winter Cycling Challenge: The Utilitaire 12
If you regularly read this blog, you know that I use my bike as my main form of transportation. I’ve found it is the best way for me to travel around the city and get the things I need. I know some of you like bicycling for those same reasons, which is why I’ve decided… Continue reading
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Five Things Friday: Randonneuring Edition
The D.C. Randonneurs have their annual meeting this Saturday, and they’ve also arranged a pre-meeting 106 KM Populaire out of Glen Echo, Maryland. Are you going? If so, perhaps I’ll see you there. The upcoming meeting got me thinking about some of the things I enjoy about randonneuring. I decided to list five of them… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Dan B.’s P-38 Recumbent
It’s time for more Bikes to Like, and you know what’s not been getting any love in this series? The recumbent! To remedy that situation, I called on one of my favorite recument riders, Pittsburgh-based randonneur Dan B. If you’ve ever met Dan, you know that he is one strong bike rider. Not only does… Continue reading
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Paris-Brest-Paris by Tandem
Have you heard enough about PBP yet? Well, hang on just a minute, because I’ve got one more story to share with you. Continue reading
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Link Love: Data, Photos, DIY, and Time Machine Edition
It’s already mid-January. How are your 2012 resolutions coming along? One of my resolutions is to read more in 2012, and while I originally intended that to refer to books, I am currently applying it more to blogs. Here’s what’s been on my screen of late. Mining the Capital Bikeshare Data. Coffeeneur and local cyclist… Continue reading
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My Favorite Cycling Cap: Little Package Earflap Cap
Randonneurs can get pretty attached to their bikes and gear, and I am no exception. While super special gear is not necessary to go out on a bike ride, there are certain pieces that I’ve acquired since I started cycling year round that make me feel good and also make my bike rides that much… Continue reading
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Winter Cycling: Hardcore or Something Else Entirely?
Today, Felkerino and I ventured out for a 120-mile training ride from D.C. to Brunswick, Maryland, and back. Training for what? I don’t know. Training to be fitter for the spring brevets, I suppose. And to justify all my winter gear purchases over the years. About half of our ride was completed in freezing or… Continue reading
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Link Love: Getting Reflective Edition
It’s been a great week out there in creative writing cyberspace, and I have some excellent content to share. What are you waiting for? Read on! Reflective Vests. Gypsy by Trade, who currently calls Alaska home, writes about the importance of the reflective vest. He even made his own. Reflective vests– so critical to wear, so… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Christian M.’s Terraferma
This year I had the pleasure of meeting Christian, who completed his first Super Randonneur series in 2011. I came to know Christian through his bicycle. There was something about the creamy orange paint that caught my eye; it looked like a delicious orange pushup. Intrigued by the bike’s careful setup as well as the… Continue reading
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Rides for All Seasons
Or so it’s felt the last three days. From temperatures in the 60s, 40s, and today’s dip into the 30s with snow, it’s been quite the climate roller coaster here in the Mid Atlantic. Saturday – Last Train from Clarksville 201K Permanent Saturday’s too-good-to-be-true weather had anybody who ever pedaled out and about. Felkerino and… Continue reading
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Link Love: Happy New Year Edition
It’s been a couple of weeks since I did a link love post, but the blogosphere has been busy in the meantime. People have posted some good stuff for us: Bike Find. Spokes of a Wheel writes about a lovely vintage child’s bike from the 1970’s that found that found its way from Switzerland to his… Continue reading
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We Interrupt this Commute for a Spin Class
Welcome 2012! Brrr! If you’ve been out and about in D.C. the past couple of days you know that we’re being treated to some fine winter weather. Temperatures in the teens, and highs barely eking above freezing. There should be a winter law where all the traffic lights in the city go to flashing red,… Continue reading
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More 2011 in Review: The Rides and the Photos
The past couple of years, I started photographing more of my rides. I like having the tangible memory of an outing. I’ve always written ride stories, but this year, I enjoyed capturing commutes, weekend touring rides, brevets, meetups with friends, and miscellaneous errand running. I spent a fair amount of time cycling in 2011, in… Continue reading
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2011 in Review: The Rides and Photos
January Our neck of the woods did not receive much snow this year, making January a rideable month. We did have below-average temperatures, though, so some rides were chilly. These two shots are from a sub-freezing sunny century Felkerino and I did in early January. My ankles felt so cold that I thought they could… Continue reading
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2011 in Review: All Rides Lead to Paris-Brest-Paris
Now that 2011 is coming to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the year, as many people do. For me, 2011 was all about Paris Brest Paris, not just because of the event itself, but also because of all the careful planning and diligent pedaling it took to get there. In early 2010, Felkerino and… Continue reading
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Happy Randonneurmas Link Love
Hope everybody is doing well as we head into the holiday weekend. I’m currently drying out from an evening rain ride that was more than I bargained for. Now please do not make any remarks in the comment section if you claim to be one of those people who just loves riding in the rain.… Continue reading
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Famous D.C. Bike Blogger Rendezvous (Tales from the Sharrows)!
Do you live in the Washington, D.C., area and did you commute on Tuesday? Yowza, was the weather nice or what!? I love commute days like this. Low winds, temps going into the 50s, and sane traffic flow. Gotta appreciate those days. Did you know that famous local bike blogger and tweep, @sharrowsDC, is selling… Continue reading
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Century Ride, Burley Trailer, and Santa Hats
Even though the holidays are quickly closing in on us, Felkerino and I made a joint escape from our chores on Saturday to do a century ride. We then made up for our day at play by doing car-free errands on Sunday, including a few with the Burley trailer. Crofton, Maryland, Century Ride Saturday, Felkerino… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 