Reflect on 2012

[acc]

Aw Dirt, you made me cry reading about it.

[Dirt]

Honorable mention was a totally stupid mountain bike ride with Jabberwocky in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was late in the day, we climbed to a rocky ridge line with a bad storm approaching. We were dangerously low on water, food, survival gear and common sense. When we got to the top there was a HUGE raven standing on the rock outcropping that signals the beginning of a knuckle busting, big rock, technical descent that is extremely difficult to walk down, much less ride down in the best of conditions. Conditions were far from the best. We pointed the bikes down hill and let them roll. We rode very differently. Jabs was fast and fearless on his all-mountain full suspension bike. (When I say “fearless”, I mean fearless with a bit of a chip on his shoulder ’cause he crashed SPECTACULARLY on this trail a few years ago when we last attempted it). I was on a feather-weight, rigid 29er. I picked my way down… riding a HELL of a lot that I had walked in years past. In the end we both ended up walking only one section … when I say “walked”, I really man “climbed down” because you really needed hands and feet on the rock to make it down that section. Jabs could have ridden it… not me though. The 90 degree turn in the middle of a step-down was way beyond my skills.

We spent just short of 2 hours climbing and about 20 minutes descending. This is arguably the best day I’ve ever had on a mountain bike.

[jabberwocky]

@Dirt 37633 wrote:

We spent just short of 2 hours climbing and about 20 minutes descending. This is arguably the best day I’ve ever had on a mountain bike.

That was one of the best days on a bike EVAR. Theres nothing like the feeling of standing on the top of a goddamn mountain after a 2 hour climb, with the sun going down, a storm rolling in, a nearly empty camelbak on and facing what you know to be a long, technical descent to get back to the car. We both rode awesome. Perfect end to that trip.

I do love that trail, even though it tried to kill me a few years ago.

[Dirt]

@jabberwocky 37641 wrote:

I do love that trail, even though it tried to kill me a few years ago.

I still love the photo from that attempted killing.

[vvill]

Tough for me to pick a favourite ride/event. There were so many firsts this year for me.

Easy to pick the toughest one though: Jeremiah Bishop’s Alpine Loop Gran Fondo. There was much suffering.

[dasgeh]

2012 Highlights:
1) Ryder
2) Arlington Fun Ride, where I 1) led a ride for the first time in my life; 2) with an almost-two-year-old; 3) while 8 months pregant; 4)and finally got to meet many of yáll.

Happy Holidays

[jopamora]

My highlight for the year was discovering this Forum and finally joining after lurking around for a few months.

[PotomacCyclist]

The Air Force Cycling Classic – Crystal Ride was probably my bike highlight of the year. Fun challenge to ride out there. I met Miss America at the expo and then watched the pro races. I nearly got clipped by the rider who crashed near the finish of the men’s pro race. I was standing behind the fence as he came sliding by, on his rear end. At first, I thought I might have caused the problem, but the video evidence shows that another pro racer caused the other rider to crash.

I’m pleased to see CaBi expand, though not as fast as initially planned.

The lowlight of the year? The announcement that the Revolution Cycles City Hub is closing.

[Greenbelt]

Baltimore kinetic sculpture race:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2140[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2143[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2144[/ATTACH]
TJROW:
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Social rides:
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My favorite though, I think was also the cheesiest, but just a ton of community fun.

[video=vimeo;47041817]https://vimeo.com/47041817[/video]

[rcannon100]

Yeah, the Arlington Fun Ride was clearly a highlight! where I brought up the rear, with a nice woman and her son, who road all the way to Rosslyn with an under inflated tire…. and then halfway up the Arlington hill turned to me and exclaimed “You do this every day???”

My highlight is always cycling at Ocracoke – one of those remote beach islands where, once you get there, you park your car and ride your bike for the rest of the week

[IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QV7YfKn5bvM/UHeJgidzQqI/AAAAAAAAAiw/KopL0H5_Qa4/s230/IMG_0249.JPG[/IMG]

Another highlight was any ride to Cap City Brewery for one of those ArlingtonRider arranged happy hours.

And then another highlight is any ride to the Bike Valet at NATS park!!!

And then there are the Friday morning rides to the #FCC

Ah, and I finally biked all the way out to Purceville (that time starting from Ashburn).

Then there was Bike to Work day biking in with some Arlington locals.

And then there was the Marty Gras parade.

Okay, it was a good year on the bike!

[Steve]

My highlight of the year is also about joining the forum, but more than that I guess is getting to the point where I wanted to participate more in advocacy and cycling as a community. It has been a great year to learn so much about so much (transportation, urban design, bikes, gear, etc.). Between the forum, the ABAC, and the washcycle, over the past year I think cycling, especially in terms of transportation, has really gone from something I enjoy to something I am passionate about. As a result of all this, rides like the Arlington Fun Ride and the No U-Turns ride were a great time for me, and highlights of the year.

I can’t thank everyone enough for the free education and motivation, though I’m fairly sure it has killed my productivity at work…..

[jrenaut]

@Steve 37680 wrote:

… getting to the point where I wanted to participate more in advocacy and cycling as a community….

Yeah, right there with you. In fact, I’m meeting a friend of my brother-in-law tomorrow night to talk about a possible next career doing something like urban planning. Right now I have a really good work/life balance and coworkers that I like at a company that treats me really well, but my actual job is pretty stupid. And every time I get an idea that would be really cool, it gets killed as soon as I get excited.

But riding around the city and talking to people here and on Twitter and seeing all the problems we have balancing cars, bikes, and peds, balancing the needs of different socioeconomic classes, balancing new development with tradition and quality of life . . .

Bike lanes are often made out to be a symbol of the young, white gentrifiers pushing out the long-time black residents. For me, they’re a symbol of a city that takes the quality of life of its citizens seriously. Of course I say that as a white guy who moved into a brand new row-house-to-condo conversion in Columbia Heights back in 2007, just after I got married.

But we’re staying in the city, and my older daughter goes to a public charter school five blocks away. The younger daughter should join her next year.

I’m kind of losing my point here, but you all have helped me see that the planning decisions that a city makes are really important to the lives of the people who live there, and I want to get involved.

[Megabeth]

Last year, the first part of the year had me off the bike because my arm was still recovering from “Seagull Centurygate 2010”. I did get some great riding in towards the end of the year, but, I knew in 2012, I needed to come back to the sport with a vengeance. I suppose I did that. Here’s what I did this year…

– Philadelphia Cycling Classic – Rode the Manayunk Wall three times. Was only one of a few women that did it all three times. (And, a lady on the side of The Wall said, “See, look, she’s smiling. That’s how you should do it!” Little did she know that was my pain face!)

– Air Force Cycling Challenge – This year’s course was shorter than last year’s course. So, earning the gold medal was a little easier. I was a little bummed about that. You see, last year, I had one lap to go to make it but my bum arm wasn’t going to let me get around the course one more time. This year, while riding w/ Tim and DaveK, they kept making me go faster and faster. Tim was my “bottle boy”. He’d dart up Air Force Hill, fill my water bottle, so I could keep going. Unbeknownst to me, were keeping me on a pace to earn the gold medal at the pace I would have needed to earn it on the longer course last year. They helped me earn a Gold Medal+! And, I did a cranking 60 miles non-stop. (Thanks, guys!)

– Church Creek Time Trial – participated in my first 40k time trial after only learning about it a week before. Got to wear a time trial helmet, fold myself in half w/ aerobars and use disc wheels. (Thanks, Tim!) Was a nervous experience but finished up and decided I would do it again next year. Didn’t come in first, but I didn’t come in last. That head wind during the final third of the ride was BRUTAL.

– Bike DC – I’m QOM of the GW Parkway. Woo!

– Contes/Fresh Bikes ride – had my most consistent year of going out on the weekly ride and dramatically improved my time to complete from the previous years.

– Arlington Fun Ride – This year I volunteered at one of the aid stations. Had so much fun watching people roll in – all smiles, all fun!

– Nations Triathlon – first olympic tri. On the bike, I ranked 29th (of 171) in my age group and I was holding back to keep some legs for the run. (Don’t ask about the run.)

– Alpine Gran Fondo – a week after the tri, I did a stupid ride. The 70+ mile version of the Alpine gran fondo w/ 7700+ feet of climbing. I swore, during it, I would never do it again. Uh, yeah, I’m signing up again for next year.

– Riding in other places – I rented a bike in San Antonio and explored their new river trail. And, I rented a bike in Michigan and pedaled a scraper bike up some really interesting ski resort hills. And, explored new places outside Stokesville, Virginia where the hills are plenty and the corn grows high.

– Second Annual Thanksgiving C&O canal biking/camping trip – Packed up our bike with about 800 pounds of camping equipment and had another great ride and camp along the Potomac. Looking forward to the third annual ride…

– I also climbed Kilimanjaro this year, but not on my bike, so that doesn’t count…

– And, finally, I’m going to round out the year with the Hains Point 100. Come join me!

All of these things did not get done with a solo effort. I’ve been able to ride with so many wonderful people this year and I thank you all (for your drafts, encouragement, introducing me to “power tap insanity”, ability to push me into doing things resulting in me cursing loudly, etc.) And, a special thanks to Mark – my one-man pit crew, bike mechanic, domestique, rice bar maker, and sports psychologist.

[TwoWheelsDC]

2012 was my first “serious” year of cycling. I started riding a decent amount in 2011, but mostly just the summer/fall, and my riding really tapered off in the winter. But 2012 had a lot of milestones:

–using bikeshare to get around Paris for a month

-finally bought a road bike

-BikeDC was pretty cool

-did my first century ride (CASA River Century)

-my most epic ride was probably in the mountains of NC, where I rode from NC into SC, then to Georgia, then back into NC for my biggest climb ever, a Cat 2 with 2300 feet of climbing in 10 miles

-rode 60 miles the morning of my wedding day

-GOT MARRIED

–got to bike in Vancouver and in Alaska on my honeymoon

-several BA happy hours and working the BA booth at the ArlCo fair

-50 States Ride

-rode the Civil War Century…definitely a challenge with 7k feet of climbing

-convinced my wife and father-in-law to ride the Tour of Richmond. They did the 59 mile ride and I went pretty much all out on the 102 mile route with a moving average of 17.7mph with 3700 feet of climbing. Next year I’m shooting for a 19mph average!

-bought a house in Arlington and started commuting full time

-bought my first ELITE crabon bike, stable now has 3 bikes

[Vicegrip]

For me it was all highlights as real riding is new to me this year and overall quite tame considering the riding experences of many otheres here.

Middle of a ride on my old entry level mountain bike a little thought popped up, “Ya know, I really like trucking around on a bike”.

First ride on my new crabon bike. 10 min in I knew I was at the beginning of a good thing with lots to learn and refine. I bought my road bike without ever even test riding it and having not ridden a drop bar bike since I was in my late teens.

Getting my bike, body and kit good enough that I find myself “forgetting” that I am powering the bike. The bike is making the light oil ssssss of the chain along with the sound of wind and tires on pavement. My mind drops all else behind. Not thinking about cadence or if my heart is thumping or I am hot or cold or this or that body part is grumpy. I look down at a spinning crankset that is powered by “a” set of legs rather than my legs. I look around and soak in the world as it rolls past me. Shifts happen as needed without thought, the autopilot portion of me maintaining a cadence, power and speed that feels both fullfilling in pace and almost limitless in abundance. The steep hills are anticipated as something to attack with known reserve power rather than a task simply to make it to the top. Skills improve enough to understand and start to feel nuance in the bike, the rider and the road taken.

For 2013 I plan to mess it all up and figure out how to ride to work in Tysons corner without learing to hate everyone in a car. :rolleyes:

[Author]

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