I had been hoping to ride my MTB to work today, but I woke up to unexpected rain showers that hung around for 3 hours. No complaints, as it was a nice, gentle, beneficial rainfall (in contrast to our usual summer deluges) and, in spite of recent flooding elsewhere in the region, our area has been relatively dry over the past couple of weeks. The rain let up around 8:30am, and I headed out on the road bike just before 9. It was my first ride to work in two weeks. I got to check out the newly-reopened Grist Mill Trail in PVSP. The trail had been closed since last October to replace two bridges which had been washed away by floods in 2018. The trail was originally scheduled to be closed for a year, but reopened after 9 months. The new bridges look great. I was able to see some of the work in progress as I biked by on the other side of the river, during the winter when the leaves were off the trees. Based on the size of the drilling rig they used for the footings, I’d say the bridges should withstand any future flooding. Most of the trail has been repaved as well. I only rode as far west as the second bridge, but next time, I’ll ride all the way out to Ilchester Rd.
Category: Biking
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Ride notes
It’s our first day back from Bethany, and while I usually go in to the office on Mondays, I decided to telecommute today so that I could take care of a few post-vacation chores around the house. In lieu of my usual bike ride to and from work, I decided to ride a quick loop around the airport this morning, something I had not done on a weekday in a couple of years. Traffic was not all that bad, probably partially because it’s summer. Ridge Rd still seems to carry less traffic than Race Rd and Hanover Rd, at least for now, as I have a feeling that it is going to be getting more developed in the coming years. There’s already a monstrous townhouse development going up just south of the 295 overpass, although that does not seem to have impacted traffic all that much, at least at the times of day that I pass through. Until it becomes unpleasant to ride, Ridge Rd will continue to be my go-to weekday route to and from Elkridge. The BWI loop itself seemed quieter than the last time I rode it on a weekday, which (I believe) was in 2021 — still during the peak of COVID. Including a quick detour to find a cache in a business park along Aviation Blvd., my total distance today was a little over 23 miles. The weather was in the 70s with a dewpoint in the mid-60s, which felt downright pleasant after spending a week at the coast. I rode my Surly Disc Trucker. My next ride will likely be to work on Wednesday, and if it stays dry, I may try to take my mountain bike.
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Ride/Brew Notes
Today’s ride took me west from Bethany to Frankford (DE) and back, passing through the town of Omar along the way. On the whole, this is a more pleasant ride than south through Bayard, because there is less traffic, and the roads are wider and more bike-friendly. The town of Frankford itself is something of an exception, with more traffic and narrower roads that are not exceptionally well-maintained, but that’s a rather small portion of the ride. My total distance was just under 24 miles, which is about what I set out for today. From Frankford, the route can be extended by heading north to Dagsboro, South to Selbyville, or even east to Fenwick via DE-20 and DE-54.
I’ve been making a glass of cold brew every day this week, and I think I’ve gotten it nailed down to this recipe:
- Pre-moisten 2 new or used paper AeroPress filters
- Set AeroPress up in inverted orientation
- Add 1 heaping scoop (roughly 15 grams) Wellsley Farms Breakfast Blend pre-ground medium roast coffee
- Fill AeroPress a little over halfway with room temperature water
- Stir vigorously for 1 minute
- Press slowly into an 8-ounce glass
- Add ice and top with water
I had been brewing this in standard orientation previously, but a lot of water was dripping through while stirring, which the inverted orientation avoids. I think inverted produced a slightly superior result, but I’d have to do a blind taste test to say for sure. Next time, I think I’m going to try topping off with milk or cream, and see how that tastes.
I also found that using the drip coffee brewer makes a better hot cup with this coffee than the AeroPress method I was using earlier in the week. I’ve been using 4 level tablespoons coffee to 8 ounces (1 cup) water. I’m sure I could get better results from the AP with a little bit of tweaking, but haven’t really bothered fooling around with it.
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Biking Notes
Today, I took an out-and-back trip from Bethany Beach to Isle of Wight Park near Ocean City, MD. It was the first of (hopefully) 2 or 3 rides at the shore this week. My round trip distance was just under 34 miles. I rode my Masi single speed bike, which is my favorite bike to ride in coastal areas, as the flat terrain makes multiple gears mostly unnecessary. It was a really nice day for July on the east coast, but traffic has really picked up along this route in the post-COVID years, particularly near the town of Bayard. Once I crossed the border into Maryland, the roads quieted down, and I was able to enjoy the ride a little bit more. My main reason for visiting Isle of Wight park was to find a “Cache Across Maryland” geocache, plus a bonus cache. I skipped a few other caches in the area because they were back in the woods, and I forgot to bring bug repellent, which is a necessity around here this time of year, unless you really like ticks and mosquito bites.
This was likely my longest ride of the week. The next time I get out, I’m planning on riding east to Frankford, which is about a 20-25 mile round trip. If I can get out a third time, I’ll either head north toward Holt’s Landing, or south to Fenwick Island.
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Saturday Ride
Super soupy weather for my bike ride this morning. I rode to Odenton and back, with a quick detour into PVSP, for a total of just over 30 miles. The weather was mostly cloudy and in the 70s, with a dewpoint around 72. I tried out one of my new Sweathawg helmet liners, and it worked great!! I bought two of these, one regular and one ‘X2’ (with a thicker absorbent brow pad). I first tried the X2 in my road bike helmet with the fabric visor also in place, and it was a tiny bit too tight, so I put the regular in and rode with that. I was out for right around 3 hours, and didn’t get a single drop of sweat in my eyes. I’ll use the X2 in my mountain bike helmet, where I expect it’ll fit fine. I tend to sweat more on my MTB, so the extra thickness will come in handy there. I also may end up ditching the visor on the road bike helmet, as it blocks more of my upper field of vision than I would like, and I found my neck getting a little stiff today because I likely was tilting my head upward to compensate. The next time I ride on a sunny day, I’ll try the helmet without the visor and see how it works. Without the visor, I think the X2 liner would fit fine, although based on today’s experience, I may not need it for road riding. Once I’m set on which type I’ll be using more, I may end up buying another of these. They’re well worth the money if they can keep my eyes from burning on warm/humid days.
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Biking & Brewing
I didn’t get out of the house until 9:15 this morning (kind of a recurring theme this week), but had a pretty good, albeit short, ride into work. In spite of a “code orange” air quality alert, it felt more pleasant outside than any of the past several days. I was surprised at how many people were in PVSP this morning, given that it was a Wednesday, and the area got 2″ of rain last night. I guess 90 minutes makes a big difference, as the park is almost always (mostly) empty before 8:00. I hope to buck the lateness trend tomorrow and get out for an early run.
I brewed this recipe this morning with my Lost Dog “Mocha Sidamo” beans, ground at 1 rotation + 6 clicks on my JX (same setting I’ve been using for a while). Poured for 25 seconds, steeped until 1:25 with a quick swirl at 1:00, pressed until around 1:55, added 40 grams bypass. I’ve gotten to where I can brew this recipe, start to finish, in about the same time it takes me to brew a cup of pre-ground coffee in the drip machine. It does require more coordination than the drip machine, but the finished product is (usually 😀) superior. Today’s cup was pretty good, with a tiny touch of bitterness that I haven’t tasted with these beans before. I wonder if the swirl, or the tiny bit longer steep time, made any difference.
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Ride Notes
Well, after a cool start to summer, good old Mid-Atlantic heat and humidity is back with a vengeance. Today was a pretty run-of-the-mill ride in to work along a route I’ve ridden probably a thousand times through PVSP and Halethorpe/Arbutus. The only thing worth noting is that for the first time in 10 years, I have a new helmet. It is a Smith Network road bike helmet. A few weeks back, I also bought the MTB helmet at the same price point, which is called the Session. The Network is maybe a few grams heavier than my old Bell Sweep helmet, but (like the Session) it has a MIPS system that is supposed to reduce rotational impact forces on the head during a crash. Both helmets use the same pads, which will be convenient when it comes time to replace them. The Session has a plastic visor (which seems to be standard issue on MTB helmets) and the Network comes with a fabric visor, similar to a baseball cap brim, which attaches between the front pad and the MIPS shell.
Today was my first ride with the Network. As I mentioned earlier, it was soupy out (mid-70s with a dewpoint in the upper 60s). The first thing that I noticed was that more sweat was dripping down my face than with my old helmet, which had a beefier front pad. This really wasn’t a huge issue, though, as the sweat seemed to wick to the sides and away from my eyes. After an hour of riding, the pad reached saturation and I did start to get some dripping in the front, but this happens with me with every helmet. I also frequently have issues with sweat dripping into my eyes and burning, but had no problems with that today. Weather permitting, I’ll get to test the helmet again during the ride home, which will be shorter but likely hotter.
A day or two ago, I ordered a couple of helmet liners from SweatHawg to use with these helmets. They are supposed to attach to the velcro points inside the helmet (in place of the pads) and help to keep the sweat out of my eyes. They’re also washable, so I’m hoping they’ll be easier to keep clean than the helmet pads. I’m a little bit worried about how they’ll affect fit and ventilation, but I am optimistic that they will work out.
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Ride Notes
2023 marks the 15th anniversary of when I started using a bike as my primary method of commuting to work. Nowadays, I only go into the office once or twice a week, so I’m not bike commuting nearly as much, but I’m happy that I’m still doing it, and I almost never drive my car to work any more. In fact, I’ve been able to save some money by ditching my annual parking permit in favor of pay-as-you-go daily permits.
Today, I rode through Catonsville, which I haven’t done much lately due to the Grist Mill Trail closure in PVSP. With school out for the summer, there’s less traffic on the roads, so I rode through Ilchester and out River Road to Oella, where I picked up the #9 Trolley Trail. I then rode Edmondson Ave. out to Ingleside Ave., found a geocache off Harlem La., and headed to UMBC via Prospect Ave., Short Line Trail, Kenwood Ave., and Wilkens Ave. I’ve ridden on all of these roads before, but never this exact route. The weather was cloudy, windy, and drippy. I wouldn’t call it rainy, but it sprinkled almost the entire time I was out. I ended up putting my rain jacket on when I stopped for the cache, as I was actually getting chilly. It definitely was atypical weather for the first day of summer. My watch tells me I rode 17.33 miles, which is a couple miles longer than my usual commute through PVSP and Halethorpe/Arbutus. All in all, not a bad ride.
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Today’s Ride Notes
I’m trying to start using my long-neglected blog kind of like a daily journal. We’ll see if I keep up with it.
Ever since COVID hit back in 2020, I’ve been doing more weekend bike rides, combining them with geocaching. Prior to that, I used my bike almost exclusively to commute to work. I still commute by bike, but not nearly as much as I used to, so these weekend rides are a good way to get some more biking in.
Today, I rode a 32 mile loop, which included some areas where I hadn’t previously biked: BWI Trail to B&A Trail, then back to Linthicum via Marley Neck Blvd., Fort Smallwood Rd., Hawkins Point Rd., Pennington Ave., and Ordnance Rd. Ordnance through Glen Burnie is not a route I would typically recommend, but it was doable early on a Sunday morning. The rest of the ride was great, and I found 5 caches along the way. I rode my Masi single speed for the first time in several months. The bike had been out of commission because the valve stem on the rear tube had broken, and I was out of tubes that fit the wheel. It took me a few months to get around to buying new tubes, putting one on, and reinstalling the wheel. Also, last year, the bike shop rebuilt the front wheel, because I had been breaking a lot of spokes. I wanted to take a few longer rides on the bike before I take it to the beach later this summer, just to put the wheel through its paces, although I’ve taken several rides on it already. So far, so good.
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Beach Ratio
I’m back at the shore this week, and as always, have been exploring the area a lot by bike. For the past couple of years, I’ve brought my single speed road bike. It’s perfect for the coast, because everything is flat, so there’s really no need for multiple gears. At home in the Patapsco Valley, I ride a 42/20 gear ratio. I kept the same ratio the past two years at the shore, but it was way too low for the flat terrain. On a long, flat stretch with a tailwind, I felt like I was spinning like crazy and not going anywhere. This year, I changed to a 42/16. I already had a 16-tooth freewheel sitting around, so all I had to do was put it on the bike and take a link out of the chain (a SRAM PC-1 that is at least 7 or 8 years old and still going strong). It made a huge difference. It takes a little bit more effort to get going, but once the bike is moving, I can go a lot faster and cover longer distances more efficiently. With a good tailwind, the gearing still feels a tad low, but I think that if I went any taller than 42/16, it would make uphill slopes and headwinds a bit of a chore. I may change my mind again down the road, but it seems pretty good the way it is now.
The only thing that might be a pain is when I get home and have to switch back to 42/20, because I’ll need to add a link back to the chain. I may just keep a second chain around that I can swap in and out along with the freewheel, but either way, I’ll need to break both chains to swap them on and off the bike. Sounds like a pain either way, but if it’s only once a year or so, it might not be too bad. I guess we will find out.