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New Route Through CCBC Catonsville
After 4 years of bike commuting from Elkridge to UMBC, you’d think I’d have found all of the possible routes, but I’m still finding more. I consider that a good thing, because it keeps me from getting bored with any one particular route. Also, these days I’m finding myself less willing to ride regularly on…
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Compact
Just got my road bike back from the bike shop the other day. I wore through my second drive train. The bike is 11 years old now, and has a 9-speed cassette, and the new ones are all 10-speed. To make a long story short, it seems that the chainrings for my old Shimano 105…
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Last Gasp
Yesterday morning was likely the last gasp of this winter that never was. When I left for work, it was a nice, crisp 32°F. Freezing temperatures are not unheard of around here in late March, but they’re not common either, and given how warm March has been, yesterday morning felt really Arctic. Of course, today…
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9000 miles
I hit 9000 miles on my road bike this morning, on my way into Patapsco State Park. I was on the service road on the Howard County side that leads from River Rd. to the Avalon day use area. I hit 8000 back on July 12, 2011, so it took around 8 months to log…
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20 Miler
So, I did a 20 miler this morning on the way to work. That’s a good bit longer than my average morning ride. I wasn’t setting out to do 20+ miles; it just happened. I had originally planned to do around 16-17 miles with a few more hills, but I got a leg cramp around…
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Spring right around the corner
I finally broke my February curse this year. I rode to work 14 times, twice as many as any previous February. Granted, this is only the 4th year I’ve commuted by bike regularly in the winter. Bad weather has sidelined me a couple of years in February, and last year it was injury. This year,…
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Ergon MTB Grips Midseason Report
Took my 6th bike ride to work for the month of February this morning. It wasn’t all that cold, and no snow anywhere except for a light frosting on some north facing slopes. But all the same, it was more winter-like out that it has been for most of this year. There was some black…
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Don’t look now
.. but it’s February again. I wrapped up January with 17 rides. The original goal was 20, but I missed the last 3 days of work for the month. Part of the blame goes to a stomach bug I came down with this past Monday. That’s testimony to how hard it can be to ride…
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Stud Test
This morning, at long last, I was able to give my studded tires their first true test. We got around an inch of snow Saturday, followed by a nice glaze of ice, plus a little bit of melting and re-freezing action on Sunday and Sunday night. As a result, I had a nice variety of…
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Mid January Biking Report
Thanks to our continued warm winter weather, I’ve started off 2012 on a biking tear. I’ve already ridden to work 9 times, reaching that mark a week earlier than any previous January. The spreadsheet I use to track my rides tells me that I’m on pace for 259 total rides and 5617 total miles in…