An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

Monday I participated in a Presidents' Day bike ride led by my bike friend Judd. Last year's ride apparently was very long with many stops. This year he kep the number of stops down by focusing on a theme: Presidents with a Connection to Illinois (which happens to be Judd's home state). While the ride was not scheduled to start until 10:30, there was a pre-ride plan to meet up for breakfast at 8 AM at the regular Monday cyclist breakfast meetup at Lazy Mike's in Falls Church. However, the day dawned with a passing band of rain - drizzly and grey. I wasn't really keen on riding several miles in that stuff and then being wet all day, so I decided to skip breakfast and wait out the rain - Judd decided to do the same, by the way. So, having gotten up in time to get to breakfast at 8 AM, I found myself with some time on my hands. I got involved in working on my taxes and before I knew it I was running a little late getting out the door for the ride. As I hustled down...

I took up most of my outdoor activities for the simple enjoyment of doing them, and I still enjoy doing all of them solo; however, an unexpected benefit over the years has been that I've become part of communities of similarly obsessed people: kayak weirdos, bike weirdos, and so on. If drinking in a beer garden counts as an outdoor activity, then add my friends from Westover ;) I got to appreciate the community aspect of my activities several times this weekend. Sunday morning was the first Lee District pool kayak rolling session of the year. When the kayakers show up at the pool in January we usually haven't seen each other in a while - group kayaking trips usually taper off after October, and right now the river is too frozen for any paddling at all (I suppose the Bay is still kayakable, but the launches may be iced in). So, the first pool session is something of a reunion of sorts with as time spent floating and catching up as rolling. This year was particularly poignant f...

A number of years ago I used to organize a kayak outing the weekend of my birthday (which is also the weekend before Thanksgiving). That's usually just about the tail end of sane kayaking season. At that point it's cold enough that dry suits are needed, but not so cold as to chill you to the bone. Looking back on in the archives of this blog, the trip seems to have fallen by the wayside (or at least wasn't written about) after 2012 . Well, I started this year having to revive myself, so I figure why not revive a kayaking ritual as well? Six paddlers (Al L., Susan G., Jim G., Larry I., Rob P. and I) met at the traditional location, Mason Neck. It wasn't a super-cold day, but high winds were in the forecast, just like 2008's paddle . So, as we have done in the past on windy days, instead of heading out into the river we stayed in the more protected waters of Belmont Bay and the Occoquan River. We kayaked up the river as far as Occoquan Regional Park, where there...

Veteran's Day weekend initially shaped up to be a pretty bad one. I had been planning to go on the Chesapeake Paddler's Association Chickahominy trip but, truth be told, I had a mixture of eager anticipation and dread about the trip. Anticipation becuase it's always a big crowd and therefore a good time; dread because it's always cold, and I don't like cold. This year was promising an extra-freezing experience, with lows in the 20's. I had reserved an electric site and so I figured I could tough out the nights with the aid of an electric blanket, but I really wasn't looking forward to being cold all weekend. The forecast was unpleasant enough that a hardier camper than I had arranged to stay at Cat's vacant apartment in Richmond on Friday to avoid the coldest night and had gotten a few others, including me, invited as well. As an aside, Cat's condo is in a building that was originally built as a synagogue, and so I had my jokes at the ready. "We...

Coffeeneuring Ride #5: FCC on Veterans' Day Where: Java Shack 2507 Franklin Rd, Arlington, VA and Northside Social  3211 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA Date: Friday 11/11/17 Beverage: Decaf skim latte from Northside, maple muffin from Java Shack.  Total mileage: 9.5 Miles Details: Regular readers know that there are morning coffee meetups around DC pretty much every weekday. I decided to stop by the Friday Coffee Club at Java Shack in the Courthouse neighborhood of Arlington. It being a holiday, they apparently decided to open later than usual. Another cyclist regular and I got there at 7 to find the door locked. A few minutes later the pastry delivery guy arrived and we followed him inside, where we discovered that they hadn't even started brewing coffee yet - it was going to be a while before we would be served there. The shop owner, feeling bad, gave us each a muffin gratis. We hopped back on our bikes and rode over to Northside Social, which was open as usual....

Someone who saw my Accordioneur patch in a photo in the FB Coffeeneuring group asked whether biking with an accordion was even possible and so I decided to document a combined accordioneuring / coffeeneuring ride. Here is my full rig. The accordion is in the backback, the french press is in a water bottle cage, and the stove is in the trunk bag. Fingerless gloves are recommended for maximum playing dexterity, though lightweight glove liners can be worn it needed. Many accordionists advise against high visibility clothing since it makes you an easier target, but since there is only infrequently vehicular traffic on the W&OD I figured it was safe to wear the yellow jacket. Having arrived at my "Coffee Outdoors" location (no coffee shop would allow me in with an accordion), I proceed to heat the water. As an accordionist it is important to handle the flame yourself since your "friends" will tend to light the wrong thing on fire. Accordionati Rule ...

Last year I explained that the cycling world has a lot of fun (or gimmicky, depending on your mindset) little challenges, one of which is Coffeeneuring. Promoted by the Chasing Mailboxes cycling blog, is a "relaxed cycling endeavor" requiring you to take seven rides to seven different places to get coffee over the course of about seven weeks. I got jazzed about it last year. Not so much this year. In fact, I thought it was over November 7th, but when I realized the deadline was November 19th, I got a little more motivated and may yet make the seven rides. Here's what I've done so far: Coffeeneuring Ride #1: Rare Bird, Falls Church Where: Rare Bird Coffee Roasters, 230 W. Broad St., Falls Church, VA Date: Saturday 10/14/17 Beverage: Decaf skim latte Details: While the cat is away, the mice will bike rather than drive to the farmers' market. Valerie had things to do so we skipped our usual Saturday morning "date" at the Falls Church Farmer's M...