[huskerdont]

By the way, the county responded to my emailed thanks for clearing the Custis Trail. They said they were going to do an after-action study and that my information would be helpful for that. However, since they said “thank you for letting us know your *street* has been plowed,” I’m not sure how helpful it will be.

Still kinda love Arlington; you can’t really love something that’s perfect.

[huskerdont]

@elbows 134145 wrote:

Apologies if this was covered. I searched and didn’t find it. (Is there an acronym for that?)

ISADFT?

I get the sense that they’re going to let nature take its course for whatever is left.

[huskerdont]

“a custom Smithsonian jersey and bib set”

Can the jersey be purchased separately, or are they just sold as the set?

[huskerdont]

Nice ride in, pre-rain; only saw one other cyclist, and the IoD counter was at 8. Did have another encounter with a suicidal bunny though. I guess with so few cyclists out it figured it had to take its chance when it could.

[huskerdont]

@Tania 134059 wrote:

I laugh every time I watch that. And I’ve watched it several times now.

If hell exists, I’m so going there.

My favorite part is when he gets hit by the deer.

No, not really. My favorite part is watching the riders look down on him as they ride on–as if this were some normal thing and they couldn’t be bothered.

[huskerdont]

I don’t want to hit a squirrel or a bunny, but I seriously don’t want to get hit by a deer at Monster Cross:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37WUuOc_zRQ

[huskerdont]

@kcb203 134022 wrote:

Strange coincidence–I’d never seen any suicidal bunnies there until last night when one scampered in front of me as I was going west about to go under the W&L parking deck.

They must really save it up folks like Tania and me then, or maybe it’s the time of morning we go through. I’ve had many close calls, including missing one so narrowly that it went behind my front wheel and in front of my back wheel, and I’ve no doubt that a bunny is big enough to send you over the bars in the wrong set of circumstances.

[huskerdont]

@rcannon100 134006 wrote:

Actually… you need to do one more thing than call animal control… it sounds like the fox broke skin? You need to go get yourself checked for rabies (sorry). That is unusual behavior for a fox – and unusual behavior is indicative of rabies.

(We have foxes in our back woods in N Arlington. As we walk up the utility road, the fox will walk parallel to us ~ yipping at our dogs as my hound howls back. They have a very strange relationship)

OT, but are you anywhere near the Yorktown neighborhood? We have a fox that follows us when we walk our beagle sometimes too. The beagle is very interested, but we keep them apart.

[huskerdont]

@rcannon100 134008 wrote:

Let’s say you were going to do the C&O / GAP trail and you were going to haul a trailer ~ why type of bike would you use?

I am thinking of trying to train a new dog to use a dog trailer – we would probably stick to residential roads ish – what’s good for hauling??

FYI this is the trailer

[video=youtube_share;VSpFzvGSW1I]https://youtu.be/VSpFzvGSW1I[/video]

I usually use my cross bike, sometimes my single speed. When I’ve tried to use a bike with a disc brake, the brake rotor has interfered with the connector.

Make sure you secure your dog well. We only loosely clipped our beagle (pictured) in the first time.* He scratched his way through the mesh and jumped out, and I turned to look just in time to see him get run over by the trailer tire. (He was okay, but I braked just fast enough that he wasn’t dragged by the leash.)

*Hey, anyone can be an idiot sometime.

[huskerdont]

That’s the section with the suicidal bunnies. Must be something in the water.

I bet it was pretty scary. Foxes are small, but a wild animal is a wild animal–especially a rabid one.

[huskerdont]

@Sunyata 133977 wrote:

This will be my fourth time doing the race (I have done it every year but last year due to the date change and surgery). I have only done it on a hard tail mountain bike. Unfortunately, the one time I tried for the 50, someone crashed and needed medical assistance, so I got waylaid due to that for over and hour and finished after 5 hours (but was not last, so I was happy).

I completed the short course twice, and was sub 2 hours each time for that. I expect to finish between 4 and 4.5 hours this year for the 50. I will probably keep my regular, fairly aggressive MTB tires on the bike, but I do have a rigid fork this year, which I am hoping will make for an easier time up the two “big” climbs. If for some strange reason, things dry out, I may put cross tires on the bike. But somehow, I doubt that is going to happen.

I am pretty slow, so if I can hope to finish around 4 hours, then most anyone can do it too.

So from your experience, you seem to feel that a mountain bike with MB tires is warranted. This makes me wonder. The videos don’t seem to show too much that a CX bike couldn’t handle, but I’m not as comfortable on my CX bike as I am on my MB. (For one thing, it’s probably a bit too large for me for trail riding, and for another, the steering is squirrely by comparison.) I’ll have both bikes so can make the decision on the day; luckily I’m old enough to be in the category that just lumps them all together so I can switch as needed.

[huskerdont]

@KWL 133984 wrote:

I felt foolish clacking around on my studded tires for the first half of my MVT commute this morning. Then, after clearing the Humpback Glacier I came across the Sporadic Ice Fields of Upper MVT and was very glad to have them. It was 38°F when I left the house, but it must be much cooler along the Potomac. The slush from yesterday was ice. Melted runoff was a sheet of ice in many place.

It got down to 31 where I live in Arlington. Not enough to freeze the puddles, but definitely enough to freeze the leftover rain and snowmelt in places where it was thinner. Foiled my attempt to take the single speed so took the CX bike, but I did see road bike tires out there @ 6:30 and they seemed to be doing okay (Custis route into DC).

[huskerdont]

@vvill 133882 wrote:

I rode last year on a geared CX bike, which was fine. It’s not technical at all, with only moderate climbing (~2500-3000ft over the 50 miler) though obviously the off-road terrain will sap your power. Probably the hardest bits to ride through were the longer mud sections but it was nothing compared to say, Hilly Billy Roubaix. I think I had a PDX up front, and some sort of skinnier file tread in the rear.

I screwed up my pacing/nutrition/hydration and blew up after the first lap. Part of it I blame on my Garmin (which froze and wouldn’t start up) which led me to guestimate how many miles I’d done based on feel and as a newb to longer offroad events, I was way off… I almost quit when I realized I’d only done one lap. My first lap (excluding the lollipop between the two laps) was about 100 mins, the second was almost 2.5 hrs (and you lose minutes at the start of the first lap as the crowds of riders filter out). I remember not even smiling when my team mates cheered me home.

I signed up for SSCX this year. Easier to pace myself, less much to clean, and around 1.5kgs lighter than my geared bike. I’ll be on the stock 50/22 gearing and content with anything sub-4:30 after last year’s debacle. Sub-4:00 I imagine I could do if I had a good day and good prep. Will probably run the same tires as last year.

If the weather turns up a super muddy course I’d consider switching to MTB, but I’ve never gone fast on that and it’d be more just a long, slow ride.

This is the main steep (not long) climb I remember. Won’t be surprised if I end up walking it.
https://www.strava.com/segments/3452071

SSCX would be fun, but my single speeds are a Fuji Feather and a 1965 Schwinn Varsity, so choices are geared CX or geared MB. Maybe I need a 7th bike. I think I need a 7th bike.

[huskerdont]

Thanks to all. Looks like I’ll stick with my loose plan. Will bring the Camelback and both bikes, use the bike that seems to work with the conditions that day, with preference for the CX if possible. (Have not been there so didn’t realize there were hills.) Figuring on four hours tops, though I’m getting on in years so who knows. Really looking forward to it.

[huskerdont]

@Tim Kelley 133832 wrote:

Neither bike will be the right the choice. The CX will be faster in some places and the mtb will be able to plow right through other parts.

In 2014 I was pushing pretty hard but didn’t break 3:00 hours.

In 2015 someone else was pushing pretty hard and we did about 3:25

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10798[/ATTACH]

Thanks, that’s quite helpful on the time. I figured 4 hours tops. This time of year, even though I ride every weekday and some weekends, I’m not used to 50-mile rides.

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