[lossomes]

#3 – Port City, Alexandria, VA

Resilience Butte County Proud IPA

I don’t usually like IPAs, but this was very drinkable. Also supports a great cause in an innovative way. 10/10 will buy again.

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[lossomes]

#2. Caboose Brewing Co., Vienna, VA
Wasser Bohemian Pilsner

My go-to at Caboose. Super reliable and consistently tasty.

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[lossomes]

@TimmyD 184940 wrote:

Fun fact: Caboose started canning this week

2 days ago, to be exact.

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[lossomes]

Mad Fox Brewing Co. (Falls Church, VA)
Kellerbier Kölsch
The beer tasted good so I had another.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2049382462/shareable_images/map_based?hl=en-US&v=1546382125

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[lossomes]

Hey guys – my name is Carlos (lossomes). I’m an every-day, metro-is-never-an-option-cuz-it-doesn’t-work, commuter. I really hate metro, which is how I came upon cycling. I used to be really, really big (320 pounds). Between that and my hatred for metro I knew I had to find something else. Some of my buddies were occasional bike commuters and I thought that was something I could do. I bought a hybrid bike back in 2011 and slowly began my journey. 2 years later I was passed down a LeMond Nevada City, my first road bike. I instantly fell in love with the ride and turned it into my every day commuter. I still have the hybrid and have converted it into my poor weather bike, complete with fenders (which are awesome, btw)!

In 2014 a friend and I decided to challenge ourselves and attempt a century. We signed up for Bike to the Beach DC (b2b), a fully supported century ride from DC to Dewey Beach. We loved it and signed up for the following year right after we crossed the finish line. We’ve since recruited several more friends who have participated in b2b and become avid cyclists as well.

This past year I wanted a new challenge and signed up for the Garrett County Gran Fondo Masochistic Metric, which is as awful as it sounds. I was the biggest person there by probably 40 pounds and drew a lot of skeptical looks, but I finished and felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. My goal this year is to go back and do better. So much of this sport is mental, and my previous experience will no doubt help the second time around. And this time I have a much better idea of how to train.

I was also part of this semi-embarrassing Washington Post article posted back in September, which a shocking amount of random acquaintances read and have asked me about: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cycling-to-work-means-better-health-and-a-longer-life-heres-how-to-get-started/2017/09/08/b48d13f2-72ed-11e7-9eac-d56bd5568db8_story.html?utm_term=.63fabb9c4e1a

I want to apologize in advance for a couple of vacations I have planned that will likely prevent me from getting even a sleaze in. I’ll be in Negril, Jamaica from Thursday, January 18th through Monday, January 22nd. My plan is to get a sleaze in that Thursday morning before my flight, which I’d rate the likelihood as 50/50 considering my flight is at 5:30 am. We get back that Monday night and I hope to get a sleaze in sometime between unpacking and going to bed. I’ve looked into bike rental options in Negril, but I’m not having any luck. I’m sure once I’m down there it’ll be easier to figure out, but if you have any experience renting bikes in Negril i’m all ears.

I have another trip to Chile/Peru planned from February 14-26. I’ll be in Santiago from the 15-19, hoping to sleaze on a bikeshare type bike while I’m there. After Chile we are going to hike Machu Pichu and there will sadly be no bikeshares available. I will post the hike to Strava though, in case anyone wants to live vicariously.

[lossomes]

Got a good feeling about our team number! Hope to meet everyone over the coming weeks.

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[lossomes]

looking forward to year 2 of BAFS

[lossomes]

@hozn 165072 wrote:

I also don’t use a shaving brush and straight razor when I shave, so I suspect I’m not the target market for tubular.

lol

Thanks again for all the advice. I feel much more confident heading to the LBS to discuss this further!

[lossomes]

@hozn 165067 wrote:

If your LBS carries Specialized you might consider the Specialized Roubaix 2BR Pro in a 30/32 size; you can run that tubeless. Maybe that’s a bit more than you want to do for this ride, but you’ll probably never go back to tubes once you do it. Your shop can tape your current rims for you, so this isn’t a huge investment. But it definitely is more involved overall than just sticking with tubes (but [mostly] gone are the days of pinch flats and having a tire that seals small punctures automatically is worth the extra setup hassle, in my opinion). I’m down to around 1 flat a year now for past couple years [where I actually have to take off the tire and put in a tube] and that’s with a lot of off-road riding thrown in the mix too. I think actually in past 12 months I’ve gotten zero flats — I’m sure I’ll double flat tonight.

Bontrager also makes a nice slick 32mm tire (R3? R4?), though I’m not sure if it’s tubeless-ready. When I rented a Trek Domane SLR Disc, though, it was those 32mm tires that were on there. I don’t remember it being super tight, but the internet forums suggest a 32c tire is probably as big as you can go.

I’ve long been curious about tubeless, but my ignorance has really held me back. Maybe you can help me with a couple of questions?

(1) in the event you do get a flat while tubeless, are you totally screwed? Are you able to un-glue the tire and put in a tube when you’re out in the middle of a ride? Or would the ride just be over?

(2) let’s say i do go with the Specialized Roubaix 2BR Pro 32 tubeless – what kind of difference can i expect when doing regular ol road riding? Would those same tubeless 32 tires still be appropriate for a mountainous road ride (ie: Garrett County Gran Fondo)? What about on a long flat ride, like Bike to the Beach or Seagull Century?

[lossomes]

@Sunyata 165059 wrote:

It looks like these routes are staying on fairly groomed gravel. From a “can you do it and not die” standpoint, I think 28’s would be fine. But from a “is it comfortable” standpoint, I would want wider tires that I could run lower pressure. This is mostly because there is a lot of washboard and holes out there now due to the rains we have had over the past few weeks. So, if you can fit 32’s, I would go that route. But if not, 28’s would not be unreasonable, especially if you can get a little bit of tread on them.

Awesome. Will swing by my LBS this weekend to figure out what fits. Thanks!

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[lossomes]

@hozn 165043 wrote:

I have ridden Pete’s Round Hill gravel route on 28mm slicks and it was just fine. This summer I rode a fair bit of gravel of varying degree of chunkiness on 30mm G-One Speed tires which were fantastic (and maybe what I’d recommend). I wouldn’t hesitate to use a Domane Disc with 28-32mm tires for anything labeled “gravel” around here, though I would also pack 2+ tubes for any gravel event. Then you won’t need them! (While I wouldn’t hesitate to ride on narrower tires, I might also choose wider tires on rough gravel for comfort or just increased confidence/negligence on corners.)

I don’t recall the last time I left my house without a minimum of 2 extra tubes

I always run my tires at max PSI (whatever the tire says on the sidewall). Would this be the right approach to a gravel ride? I think it’s relevant, but I’m 6’6 250lb

[lossomes]

@Sunyata 165037 wrote:

If you can get a copy of the route, I can give you specifics about gravel conditions on the roads you will be traversing. Over the past 8 months, I have done “a few” rides out there…

Thank you so much!
40 Mile
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/1745590622

65 Mile
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/1745558423

[lossomes]

@TwoWheelsDC 165026 wrote:

Oh, that looks like a great ride, so I’m glad you asked!

Anyway, so a “gravel grinder” is just a ride that’s primarily on gravel roads or where you go out of your way to ride gravel roads. Gravel bikes are bikes designed to ride longer distances on gravel…I think it’s more of a marketing term than anything, but “gravel bikes” tend to have geometry that’s closer to a touring bike and room for fairly wide tires, like 32-45 range. Based on my exposure to them, gravel bikes, unlike touring bikes, tend to be setup more like road bikes in the sense that they are lighter and not generally outfitted with racks and all that kind of stuff (with exceptions, of course).

I haven’t been able to thoroughly examine the Parvilla route, but I think the suitability of your bike would be highly dependent on the conditions. Relatively slick 28s or 32s can do fine on dry, hard-packed gravel so long as it’s not too coarse. IIRC, the roads around Waterford, for example, are not particularly gravel-y and generally would be okay on a regular road bike if it’s not wet. That’s not to say that you can’t ride gravel on 25s or whatever, it just gets trickier and potentially frustrating rather than fun.

Regarding tires, I think you can get the Clement X’Plors in a 32. Also, I think the Panaracer Gravel Kings come in 28s. You could use CX tires as well, which are easy enough to find in 28s, although they may have more aggressive tread (slower on pavement) than you need for gravel.

This is super helpful – thank you! I’ve reached out to Parvilla and hope to hear more about the conditions and what to expect.

[lossomes]

Here are some more pics, including the cosmetic blemishes I mentioned

[lossomes]

Every day I commute I tell myself, “this is better than metro.” When the weather is real shitty i make sure to repeat it out loud to everyone I see.

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