Dirty Biker… #DirtyBikerFS20
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Topic
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A few of you know me, most do not…so this is going to be interesting, fun, and weird…that’s not the dirty part. The dirty part is the grime and mud that some of us willingly ride our bikes through because pavement is fun, but boring (and dangerous) in the winter time.
That hashtag in the thread title should be used to denote rides that qualify as not on pavement, it’s an honor system.
1) To qualify a ride must be more than 5km (3.1 miles) in length, sleaze rides won’t get it done.
2) Any ride type counts, commute, social, errands…the key is using a path or trail that is not paved (sorry, the MVT despite its horrific and ever worsening condition is still paved).The goal here is to recognize those riders (like me) who split their time on pavement and gravel/dirt. I believe in the years past the scoring of the rides using the FS database was binary, a tagged ride counted as 1, and the rider with the most tagged rides was the winner.
That’s awesome, but, let’s make it better. If you want to participate, make a post in this thread after your first #DirtyBikerFS20 qualifying ride, so tagged in the title on Strava. In the post, list the date and the estimated distance off pavement. For each successive ride that meets the criteria, tag your rides appropriately in Strava, then edit your post here to keep a running log of your “dirty” rides and total distance, the idea being that the most miles off the paved surfaces earns a “dirty” award to be given at the closing happy hour. To keep things fair (because it is simply too easy to go ride gravel here in Stuttgart), I will recuse myself from competition, though I will most certainly tag rides and keep a running record of my mileage on dirt as well for motivation.
Helpful would be a photo attached to each ride in Strava proving it…remember, if it isn’t in Strava, it didn’t happen.
Remember, wash your bikes…dirt and mud really wreak havoc on your drivetrains.
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Ride summaries:
01/04, 8km, gravel
01/24, 34km, gravel
01/31, 32km, gravel
02/01, 64km, gravel
02/22, 45km, gravel
03/01, 85km, gravelTotal: 268km
Photos:
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01/04 — River Rd out by Poolesville. Photo stolen from musclys
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01/24 — Early morning on the towpath with friends
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02/03 — Loudoun gravel. Photo stolen from dcv
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02/22 — No action photos, but I rode fast enough to podium
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03/01 — Out and back on the towpathFinal DirtyBiker warm up (in the cold and snow) south along the Des Plaines River Trail, 18 of 42 km on snow covered dirt and gravel/crushed stone.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20570[/ATTACH] This was supposed to be on the Trail, but I loaded the wrong photo and it won’t let me edit.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20571[/ATTACH] Schiller Woods South
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20572[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]20573[/ATTACH] Channeling my inner Dirt
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20574[/ATTACH] I don’t suppose we can include ice and snow covered miles?
#1 – 6.95 km on the Des Plaines River Trail on 1/1/2020. Dirt and gravel was snow and ice covered, air temp: -6 to -1°C.
#2 – 7 km in six segments in Ann Arbor, MI on 1/3/2020. Gravel shoulder along Hogback Rd, Gallup Park, Cedar Bend Nature Area (sharp shooter warning signs), Long Shore Dr, Country Club Rd, and Nelson Meade County Farm Park. Air temp 6°C.
#3 – 5.3 km in four segments in Ypsilanti, MI on 1/4/2020. Again the gravel shoulder of Hogback Rd, a crushed stone and grass diversion from the B2B around St Joseph Village, crushed stone on Frog Island Park, and grass and crushed stone in Recreation Park. Air temp 1 to 3°C.
#4 – 7.1 km in two segments in Maumee, OH on 1/5/2020. I rode the crushed stone loop at Fallen Timbers Battlefield Visitors Center and a series of grass and crushed stone paths from the Maumee Sidecut Metropark to the Fallen Timbers State Memorial. Air Temp 1 to 3°C.
#5 – 29.58 km in four segments near Whitehouse, OH on 1/6/2020. I rode the dirt/crushed stone on the South Fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail (mm 11 to 17), some of the dirt/crushed stone on the North Fork (mm 15.5ish to 9.5), the Hogsback and Star Blaze single track loops in the Oak Openings Preserve (about 7 km), and another loop of the Northwest Territory Trail at the Fallen Timbers Battlefield site (a little more than 2 km). Air temp was 2 to 6°C.
#6 – 18 km on the David S. Ammerman Trail, Clearfield to Curwenville, PA and back on 1/7/2020. Crushed stone covered by 5 cm of fresh snow. Air temp +1 to – 2°C.
#7 –19.15 km on The Greater Hazleton [PA] Rails to Trails on 1/8/2020. Crushed stone covered with 5 to 10 cm of fresh snow. Air temp -1 to -4°C.
#8 – 9.3 km in a loop along Brodhead Creek north from Stroudsburg, PA in three segments on 1/9/2020. The grass and gravel,crushed stone segments were a combination of the Levee Loop Trail (East and West), the Brodcreek Trail, and the Honeylocust Trail. Air temp was -5 to -2°C. I also had another 1.5 km on the shoulder of PA St Rte 447 which varied from grit covered tarmac to crushed stone, but I was unable to keep track of which was which to add to my total Dirty distance. :rolleyes:
#9 – 12.73 km in three segments in the Hudson Valley on 1/15/2020. Two segments were in Tallman Mountain State Park and the third was along the Old Erie Trail (South Nyack up hill to Piermont, NY) mostly crushed stone with some gravel and some packed dirt. Air tep 6 to 10°C. Temperature 6 to 10°C.
#10 – 5.5 km in many little segments along the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail on 1/23/2020. This one was tough because the trail is paved with crushed stone shoulders. I rode between Hamden and Southington, CT, and about half the length of the trail had been cleared of the snow that fell last Saturday. Unforunately that meant that the show was dumped on the shoulder making it unridable. Where it hadn’t been cleared, it was tough to determine where the shoulder was in many cases. I also rode a short dirt road and across a grass field to get the distance. Air temp 3° to 5°F.
#11 – 11.91 km out and back on the Union Canal Trail and a short segment of the Schuylkill River Trail on 1/28/2020. I started near Blue Marsh Lake and rode into Reading, PA, and the surface was crushed stone. Air temp 4 to 5°F.
#12 – 56.73 km on the York Country Heritage Rail Trail on 1/29/2020. I rode from the northside of York to New freedom, PA and back with a crushed stone surface. The outside temperature was 3 to 6°C.
#13 – 5.25 km in multiple segments of the Cub Run Steam Valley Park Trail System o 1/31/2020. This is near Centreville and the trails are mostly paved, but I rode all the gravel/crushed stone I could find and then redid some to get the distance. The ride was in two segments with a Popeyes lunch stop in the middle. Outside temperature was 5°C.
#14 – 45 km on the W&OD sidepaths on 2/1/2020. I rode from EFC to Smith’s Switch and back trying to stay on the gravel/crushed stone/dirt sidepaths as much as possible.
#15 – 6 km in three segments off the Virginia Capital Trail. First was a side crushed stone jaunt to Bilsburg Brewery near Jamestown, not open until 4 pm.
Second was out and back on the gravel Pigs Point Run. Third and final was out and back on the gravel Farmers Rest Rd. Temperature 10 to 21°C (yes, that’s right!)#16 – 7 km in multiple segments in the Fredericksburg, VA area. I started out riding a couple laps of the 1.3 km gravel path in John Lee Pratt Memorial Park on the Stafford Co side of the Rappahannok. Then on the gavel and dirt Canal Trail north of the Rappahannock Heritage Trail, a wood chip path from the VCR Trail to Idlewild Village, and finishing with another lap in Pratt Park. Temperature was 19 to 21 °C.
#17 – 6 km on Ward’s and Randall’s Islands on 2/14/2020. I got the Pugley’s rear derailleur repaired this morning so I wanted to find some upavement, not easy to do in NYC. The crushed stone bridle paths in Central Park (Manhattan) and Prospect Park (Brooklyn) are both big no-nos for bikes if you are a rule follower, and I didn’t want to ride all the way to High Bridge in Upper Manhattan, to Cunningham in Queens, or to Latourette on Staten Island. When I crossed the Ward’s Island Bridge, I realized that there was lots of grass and no people. so once I finished the Hell Gate Pathway, I rode off the pavement on a combination of grass, gravel, curshed stone, and wood chips for about 2/3 of the circumference of the island pair. Temperature was -2 to -1°C.
BirtyBiker fail, 3/4 – I tried to ride the bridle path in Central Park, but only got in 4 km and was told bikes were only allowed on the paved loop and approved traverses.
#18 – 6.76 km between Sparkill and South Nyack, NY on 3/5. The trail is mostly gravel, starts out as the Joseph B Clack, then Old Erie Path, then Hader Park, and finishes up as the Raymond G Esposito. The trail follows the original corridor of the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, which primarily ran passenger trains from Jersey City to Nyack and used tracks owned by the New York & Erie Railroad between Sparkill and Piermont. The Erie Railroad bought the line in 1942, after which it became Erie’s Nyack and Piermont Branch. Passenger service ended in 1966. Temperature was 9░C.
#19 – 5.5 km trying to stay off the pavement on Ward’s and Randall’s Islands on 3/11. I was riding next to the paved trail on either grass or gravel. I took my studded tires off and was checking out the Pugsley before it heads to the building’s bike room until next winter. Temperature was 20°C.
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