Sleep & maintenance

I got very little sleep this weekend due to staying up much too late working on year-end financial reports, insomnia, and early-for-me morning obligations both Saturday and Sunday. Between Friday night to Sunday morning, I got roughly ten hours of sleep. Seeing as how I typically sleep nine hours a night, I was not the brightest or bushiest tailed of the bunch. Saturday morning was the worst since I got three hours of sleep before getting up super early so that I could be in Alexandria by 8am for the Bike Me DC maintenance class at the Belle View location of Spokes, Etc.

The lecture portion of the day included topics such as gearing, brakes, derailleurs, wheels, leveling screws, chain "stretch", removing the rear wheel and changing a tire. My brain was overflowing by lunch time and I'm very glad that I took pages of notes as well as received an instructional DVD as part of tuition cost. I also jotted down the names and part numbers of some useful looking tools.

Park Tool Chain Checker

After lunch was the lab portion of the class and we got to work on our own bikes. To be honest, beyond measuring my chain I wasn't sure what else I should do. I should have tried taking off my rear wheel and putting it back on as well as practice changing a tire, just to see if I could do it, but I can work on that at home. The first (and only, as it turns out) item of "maintenance" I did was check my chain length. One should replace a chain as it nears 1 so the chain doesn't damage the cassette (back gear wheels). According to the tool, my chain was between .75 and 1. I knit my brow and called over the instructor to verify that I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. He agreed with my observation and told me that while I could continue to ride for another month or so, but I should get the chain replaced sooner rather than later. The lady next to me was shocked since she knew that I got my bike in July. I told her and the instructor that I'd put about 1,000 miles on the bike since then.

"Yep, that'll do it," replied the instructor. The lady was flabbergasted at the mileage and then said, "Oh, that's right: you commute."

I struggled getting my bike back up the steep staircase. To be honest, I was struggling before I even got up the first stair, and an associate ran over and carried Rose up for me. He set her up on a stand and showed me how to remove the chain and then how to replace it. It looked like a fairly easy process if it's something that one does fairly often. He patiently explained each step and answered my questions. After attaching the new chain, he checked over the other parts and declared my bike ready fit for duty.

At that point, I was ready to fall over. I decided that since my bike was already at street level, I would head on home. I said my good-byes to the group, paid for some new tools and the chain, and headed toward home. I hit a snow squall on the Dulles Toll Road which gave Rose an impromptu bath. This turned out to be a blessing because the damp made cleaning the grime off her frame that much easier. She's not showroom clean, but she's as clean as she's been since her post Outer Banks scrub. And I don't have to worry about her chain for a while.

Some upcoming events

Stop, Swap, & Save: Sunday, February 12. An indoor bike swap and consumer expo in Westminster, MD.

WABA 2012 Vasa Ride: Sunday, March 4. Per the site, "four hundred riders of all ages and experience levels will gather at the House of Sweden on the morning of Sunday, March 4th for a noncompetitive ride to brave the coldness of winter and traverse DC and Maryland's terrain." There are 59-, 31-, and 15-mile routes for this event. Scott and I are signed up for the 31-miler.

Plus, the Bike Me DC Meetup group has several events scheduled such as a maintenance course this coming Saturday, a "Lost Blossom" tour of lesser known cherry trees at the end of March, and a tour along Skyline Drive, as well as spur of the moment bike tours of the C&O, MVT, and other scenic areas around the DC area. I'm looking forward to the maintenance class. Hopefully, it'll make me less of a bike hypochondriac and more empowered when I know how to fix the squeaks and squawks coming from my beloved velo.

To buy or not to buy, that is the question

Not much in the way of bikeyness this coming weekend, I'm afraid. Tomorrow, I have to be in Spotsylvania at 8:30am for a SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism -- yes I'm one of those people) event. I'm sure it'll be a fun time once I get there, but dressing-up-in-funny-clothes-and-spending-the-day-on-two-wheels has replaced dressing-up-in-funny-clothes-and-spending-the-day-in-a-field-or-fellowship-hall-with-my-friends as my hobby of choice.

On Sunday, I hope to go out with a girlfriend or two to see "The Woman in Black". I'm sure there will be shopping and sushi and decadent desserts at Amphora Diner afterwards.

There has been a bit of bikeyness this past week. Scott still hasn't ridden to work yet, but he's getting closer. He'd ordered a new handlebar which was supposed to accommodate a bar-end mirror. The new bar arrived this week and no dice. It was the same inner diameter as the handlebar he already had. SpokesPerson Adam proceeded to widen the inner diameter of Scott's handlebar and was able to attach the mirror. Hooray! Now I don't have to worry about my nearly-deaf honey bunches of oats being run down from behind. Well, I can still worry, but at least he'll see it coming and it won't be a total surprise to him.

As we waited for the widening and attachment (is it just me or does that sound kind of... rude?), Scott took a TriCross Sport Disc out for a spin.

Specialized TriCross Sport Disc a.k.a. buttah (but in a manly way)

He was just as smitten over this bike as I am about the Dolce. Unlike me, though, he has to weigh new bike versus new hearing aids. Insurance won't cover the hearing aids; maybe he should see if they'll cover the bike as "preventative care"...

Impromptu Mid-Winter Bike Ride, part deux

When last we saw our intrepid heroine, she had departed company with her social ride group and snacked before heading back to her vehicle and real life.

I rode more slowly on the return trip, which wound up still being above the trail's speed limit in a few places. We must've been hauling on the outbound trip. I took in the beauty of the deeply wooded areas, the swampy areas, and the open-to-the-Potomac areas. Despite my camera being non-functional, I remembered my cellphone camera and stopped along the way to snap a few photos.

I noticed a structure on the Maryland side and had to take a look. After a little Googling, I discovered that it is Fort Washington and the adorable little Fort Washington Light.

Fort Washington

 There's a much better picture over here on Wikipedia. My phone can do only so much.

As I neared Alexandria, I noticed little white buoys just off the waterfront of a small park. I went off-road to the edge of the water see what they were marking and realized they were actually gulls. It may be time for an eye exam... The ducks were enjoying  the beautiful weather as well.

Potomac ducks & gulls.

At that point, I was across the river from National Harbor.

Tell me those gulls don't look like buoys.

And I had a pretty good view of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

No jumpers today. (Was that tacky? Probably.)

Eventually, I made it back to Alexandria and used the handy compass to find my way.

Pick a direction, any direction.

As far as I can tell, the MVT sort of disappears through Alexandria. I was mostly on roads with bike lanes or sharrows and that was pretty cool. Well, mostly cool. Bike lanes that are in the door zone give me the willies and I wind up riding on the far left or in the actual traffic lane. Riding on the actual streets of Old Town was damn cool, though. People and cars and other cyclists in a bustling area. Not great big swaths of far off inaccessible strip malls or MUP nothingness. This country mouse found it exhilarating.

I wound my way back to the Marina and called the hubs to let him know I was on my way home. He was disappointed that he hadn't been able to join us, but wants to train up so that we can ride to Mount Vernon together. We both thought that riding from Sterling to Mt Vernon and back would be decent century training; although, by the time we're ready for that it'll most likely be summer and the trails will be too clogged to safely ride. But, we'll see what happens.

Impromptu Mid-Winter Bike Ride, part un

The Bike Me DC meetup group held an impromptu mid-winter bike ride from the Alexandria Marina down to Mount Vernon. I'd never been to Mount Vernon (or the marina for that matter) and jumped at the chance to see new sights and sites.

Alexandria Marina

I miscalculated how terrible traffic would be -- not at all terrible, in fact -- and wound up arriving half an hour before everybody else. Ah well. When the six other participants arrived, many of them complained about the cold. Buh? It was mid- to upper 40s which is poifect! Once we got moving, everybody was fine.

My camera, on the other hand, was not fine and I have no photos from the outbound leg of the trip. It was, however, exciting to see the bottom end of the Mount Vernon Trail, even if it was clogged with pedestrians. At one point, our fearless leader decided to cross the GW Parkway and ride through wide open neighborhood streets. My heart leapt into my throat and my brain screamed cyclists DIE crossing the GW Parkway!!! Obviously -- I hope it's obvious -- I did not perish while crossing the road nor did any of the other cyclists in our group.

I did nearly kick the bucket while climbing one of the hills through the neighborhood. I have no idea what street we were on and was completely lost, but I did not get off my bike to push. I used the granniest of granny gears, stopped halfway up the hill to gulp air and keep my heart from exploding, and finally made it to the top where the group had patiently waited for me. We eventually returned to the trail and our fearless leader warned us about the hills and switchbacks and blind corners ahead. He told us all it was good gearing practice. I dead-panned, "I didn't know there was going to be a test on this ride."

We survived the switchbacks, and thank goodness for his warning! If I'd been flying along that end of the trail by myself, I would have most likely sailed off of the trail and into the woods faaaaar below. After climbing and climbing and climbing, we finally made it to the end of the trail and the parking lot of Mount Vernon. I was the only one who hadn't seen the grounds and everybody else had to get back home for some reason or another and we parted ways. I didn't actually tour the grounds as I'd forgotten my lock and I didn't feel like renting one. After a quick lunch of a banana and a Honey Stinger Waffle, I turned my bike around and headed back north.

To be continued...