That's Amouri!

It's three miles due east along the bike trail from my house to work. But as I have mentioned before, there exist these weekday morning cyclist coffee clubs and a few of the members of my Freezing Saddles team made plans to meet at the Thursday Vienna coffee club at around 7 AM. So, to show team spirit and get a little workout in besides I hopped on my bike at dawn and set out in the 20 degree air at dawn to ride eight miles west - the wrong direction, that is - to have coffee with a group of people whom I had never before met but who are my virtual team mates. Yes, that made good sense.

At Caffe Amouri

I must recommend Caffe Amouri in Vienna for their hazelnut scones and big mugs of dark roast coffee. Yum! Plus, it was good to meet Mike, Mike, Rob, Elizabeth and Chris, and Vincent, as well as the other cyclists who were there. We sat for about 40 minutes and then headed back east. I managed to keep up with the "real" riders through Vienna but I fell to the back of the pack - but not too far behind - once they hit the more open section of the trail. I pedaled hard to keep up (my legs felt it for two days afterwards) but they lost me on the long hill climb up over I66. Thanks to fortuitous timing of a traffic light I caught the group again in Falls Church and rode with them again for the last little bit before we reached Madison Manor.

I hadn't come prepared to bike all the way to work. Instead, at Mad Manor I got off the trail and  biked home, where I took a very quick shower, dressed for work, grabbed by laptop and stuff and (horrors!) drove to work. The best part was that I got to brag to people at a meeting later that morning, including one guy who is a serious cyclist but who retreats to an indoor trainer in the winter (wimp!) about my crazy stunt.

I'm not sure I'll do this again until the weather gets warmer, but it's a good distance for a morning workout - will be nice in springtime.

Marshall Hall Paddle

It was something of a revelation to be reminded how great kayaking can be. My recent paddling experiences have been sporadic and not entirely positive. I didn't paddle at all in January (except for the pool). In December I went on an unnervingly foggy paddle followed by an uncomfortably windy paddle. November was Chickahominy, which I only semi-participated in (and I paddled but didn't camp), and a paddle where my hands got so cold I had to turn back early. It's been one semi-bummer outing after another.

But today was glorious. Five of us (and Tall Tom, Tim, Don, Linda and I) launched out of Marshall Hall in Maryland. It was in the 30's - chilly, but not outrageous. The river was calm and the winds were light. Linda had organized the trip with Don as the leader. I had never met Don before, but I knew that he's one of the nutcase badasses who participates in events like the Florida Water Tribe Challenge, which requires a week of paddling day and night (he said he sleeps every other night), not to mention a 40 mile portage, to paddle all around Florida. So, when Don asked, "is this going to be as fast or slow day?" I knew that what he was really asking was "how much do I have to handicap myself so as not to be completely bored out of my skull paddling with y'all?" He wound up paddling his kayak with a canoe paddle, which I guess made it sufficiently hard to be interesting (or at least bearable).

At the mill

We first paddled across the river and up Dogue Creek to George Washington's grist mill and distillery, a recently restored part of the Mt. Vernon estate (and not continuous with the main property anymore). The place was closed (alas, no whiskey tasting) but we got out and walked around anyway. There were some picnic tables there and so we stopped for an early lunch. Linda always brings food - today it was curried chicken sandwiched. I contributed molasses cookies left over from the shiva minyan. I discovered that three day old molasses cookies,when stored at freezing temperatures in a kayak hatch, get quite hard, They were hard to chew until you worked them a little bit. Oops, They still tasted good.

Lunch break

After lunch we hopped back into our boats to continue on. We had to walk our boats out from shore to get into them, meaning that our boots got filled with water. Cold water. Remarkably, I had been able to keep my hands warm by using both gloves and pogies (and a separate, dry pair of gloves on lad) but the cold water started to make my feet feel cold, which got worse as the afternoon wore on.

Chunky water

We paddled back out into the river and down around the bottom of Ft. Belvoir. The water in this area was incredibly chunky, clogged with sticks, branched, logs, trash and various other flotsam, all washed into the river by melting snow from a recent heavy snowstorm. We came around into Pohick Bay and headed towards the beach at Pohick Bay Regional Park where we would take another break. When we landed at Pohick the sun was out and it had become quite a lovely day. I was plenty warm except for my feet, which had gotten progressively colder since we left the distillery and were now tingly cold. I walked up to the men's room and was happily surprised to find it open. I was doubly happy when I realized it was heated. I wasn't going to spend our whole break in the men's room, but it was nice to linger in there for a minute or two to soak up some warmth. I was feeling pretty good all over, except for my feet, which were still freezing. Then it dawned on me. Not only was the bathroom heated, but the sinks had hot water. I pulled off my boots and filled them with hot water from the sink. After letting them sit for a few minutes I dumped them out and slipped my feet into the now toasty warm boots. Ahhhhhh.

Warm feet are happy feet

From there the trip back was uneventful. Due east across the Potomac, then up the Maryland shoreline back to Marshall Hall. We loaded up, said our goodbyes, and went on our way. On the trip home I feasted on my remaining hot tea and leftover snacks - and a Frappucino I had in the car.

About 13 miles, which is pretty good for an off-season, out of shape paddle.

I'm Famous! Cold Weather Newbies

Reproduced from http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/news-events/blog/cold-weather-newbies/

Cold Weather Newbies

January 27, 2016

Jesse, Grace and Jonathan all ride fairly often (or all the time) in the milder seasons—but had previously opted out of winter. Until this year! For those curious about winter riding, we chatted with these awesome newbies to see how their cold-weather biking is going.

So why bike in the winter?
Some people are baffled by the choice and others feel the answer is obvious. So why are the newbies biking through the winter?
Grace has been in DC for eight years and digs the mild Decembers compared to those of her Michigan home, but still found winter weather reports keeping her off her bike last year—leaving her with a bit of FOMO. “I was disappointed with myself of how often I would Metro in, only to discover the weather was not that bad at all! I'd see the folks on bikes and wish I was one of them. “

For Jonathan, an office location change in the fall made his metro commute more difficult, and he found himself using his bike more often. And cold weather seemed worth braving as, “I loved the bike commute so much (20 minutes or less by bike!!).” Jesse had a similar experience when he switched to a job just a few miles from home and vowed to start riding to work. He figured he “probably wouldn’t ride at all in the winter” until a friend mentioned Freezing Saddles, a local winter riding challenge, and he found his motivation.

So how’s it going out there? Is it matching your expectations?
Despite our reporting work disproving it, most people have a vision in their head of “winter biking”—and it’s one that involves snow, sub-zero temperatures and maybe ice-beards or eyelashes. Is that what it’s been like?
Somewhat surprisingly, their winter experiences have interesting parallels to other bike riding experiences. For Grace, “it was just like figuring out a new route to take. It took me a few days to figure out what combination of layers were the best match for weather conditions, but after doing it daily, it has become routine.” Jonathan remembers to check the weather so he can be prepared for snow the same way he prepares for summer weather. In fact, he’d take a winter snow dusting over a torrential DC thunderstorm any day.

Jesse’s friend talked about enjoying her commute because she biked, which is “not a sentiment you hear very often about commuting in the DC area.” He himself is “starting to have the experience of really enjoying the ride as well.” A somewhat unexpected boon has been that he “feels a certain degree of camaraderie with the other folks out on the trail on those cold dark commutes.” Which is awesome, as this NYC native is starting to reconnect with his roots by using a bike for non-commute transportation, too.

Any good stories to share from the roads and trails?
These three have had their fair share of fun experiences biking in this season.
Jonathan also brought up community, noting that the “especially satisfying part has been the camaraderie that has come from getting myself more involved in the greater DC bike community.  Winter biking has led me to Google solutions for things, and that led me to joining and becoming active on the BikeArlington Forums, which in turn led me to participating in Freezing Saddles.”

Actually, all three newbies are participating in Freezing Saddles, the team-based winter bike challenge. The challenge is operated by an amazing group of volunteers and organized through the BikeArlington Forum, which provides motivation to get out there and ride--making winter a bit more fun.

In the challenge, your team gets ten points for every day you ride, and one point for every mile after that. This leads to a lot of creative thinking about how to get in a daily ride. Jesse travels for work, and managed to find a bike to borrow—but it was dark when he got time to ride and the bike had no lights. But he went for it, and is sure “employees got a rather strange impression when they saw me riding loops around the parking lot at the end of every work day.” For fun photos of similar madness, check out the Freezing Saddles website for leader boards.

But Grace’s story might be my personal favorite. She recalls a recent, bitterly cold and windy ride across the Key Bridge into Arlington: “No one else was around—with the exception of a weatherman from Channel 7, who was being filmed gesticulating wildly at a thermometer. They moved to let me pass and he told me to "Stay Warm!" I told him it would "take more than this to keep down Bike Arlington!" I was probably warmer than he was!”

4 First Steps for Winter Riding
Advice for New Riders, from New Riders!

1. 1.    Accept that winter is happening.
2. “Back home, winter is a fact of life. You then prepare for it with warm coats and boots and make peace with it. The same goes for winter biking! If you plan ahead (warm gloves!) you can have some beautiful rides on open trail/road and arrive at work feeling like a champion!” –Grace
3. 2.    Prepare for cold and dark weather.
4. “It seems daunting, but it's really not too bad!  Invest in the basic equipment (including lights!) and give it a try.” –Jonathan
5. 3.    Use layers you already have.
6. “I am a tremendous cold wimp. I hate the cold, and so a big concern was staying warm. I would encourage people to invest in gear to stay warm while riding. It doesn’t have to be high end cycling gear. My winter attire is a mix of cycling-specific clothing, re-purposed running clothes and stuff out of my regular closet. And if you’re still cold, pedal harder!” –Jesse
7. 4.    Make sure laundry is done.
8.  “Riding in winter requires a little bit of advance planning, because I only have a certain amount of true cold weather gear for really cold days, so I have to make sure that laundry is done.” As someone who has limited cold weather layers, I appreciate this tidbit from Jonathan.

So three cheers for Jesse, Grace and Jonathan for biking through their first winter! Huge thanks to them for sharing their insights.

Freezing Saddles Update

OK, so when I signed on for Freezing Saddles, Bike Arlington's friendly competition, I vowed I wouldn't get carried away. It was just a casual bit of encouragement to ride through the winter. I wasn't going to care about points, or standings, or anything.

Right.

I mean, yes, it is serving the intended purpose of being effective motivation to keep me riding through the winter. I've biked to work more frequently in January than in September. But I've also gone a little nuts. I mean, not so nuts that I went out riding during the blizzard, the way my neighbor SJC did. I saw him out schlepping along on his bike when I was out XC skiing on the W&OD trail w Gina (of course, we were skiing in a blizzard - but that's not important right now). But, yes I did go out riding the next day, even though it required me to carry my bike three blocks to get to a plowed trail (yes, in car-hating Arlington they plow the bike trails *before* the streets).

For a brief moment I'm #1 on the weekly leaderboard!

The Monday after the blizzard most folks were smart enough to work at home (except for government employees, who didn't have to work at all). I biked to my office. I did the three block carry again. The W&OD trail was clear, as I had discovered on my previous day's reconnaissance ride. The Custis trail hadn't been plowed very well and I wound up walking my bike up the hills, finally bailing off the trail and taking the streets for the last mile to work. My Monday commute even briefly put me in 1st place for the week for my Freezing Saddles team!

Other representative crazy rides:

• Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn, 15 degrees, snowing - to get a bagel and coffee.
• Loops around the parking lot of the Leidos facility in Long Beach, Mississippi to get in my qualifying mile for the day.
• Some random park in New Jersey, maybe 20 degrees and windy, just to nab another state (there's a prize for most state ridden in during Freezing saddles!).

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Am I having fun? Yes! Am I building a sense of camaraderie with my team mates, none of whom I've ever met? Yes again! Am I leaving my car in the driveway and biking to work, as I should? Yes! Yes! Yes!

Decked out for snowy riding

Infected with the Cycling Virus?

My childhood coincided with the chaotic tail end of the 1960’s, a time when idealism had long since faded into the drug-fueled cynicism which would soon transform into the hedonism of the 70’s. Hippies and Yippies were much in the news, and not in a positive way. I remember as a child fearing that I would grow up to be a hippie as if it was a disease you would catch. I currently once again have a similar fear of becoming infected with a disease, except this time it’s bicycling.

Regular readers of this blog (both of you!) know that I have a mixed relationship with cycling. Starting this past year I have been spending more time cycling and have been enjoying it – but I really despise the Lycra®-clad cult that cycling has become.

This winter I decided to sign up for Freezing Saddles, a contest sponsored by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to encourage people to keep riding through the winter. The contest runs from New Year’s to the spring solstice. About two hundred fifty people are participating, organized into twenty semi-randomly assigned teams (the organizers do make and attempt balance known long-distance riders, newbies, and such across teams). Riders earn points based on the number of rides and miles ridden. Every day you ride a mile or more you earn a bonus of ten miles. Well, it’s been really motivating. One morning I had to be at work at 5 AM and it was 15 degrees out – and I biked to work. Some of my other workouts have been replaced by training rides around my conveniently hilly neighborhood. Plus I try and get out as close as possible to every day, even if it means just doing a so-called “sleaze ride” – a ride of just over a mile taken for no purpose other than to snag the bonus points. This week on a business trip to Mississippi I managed arranged to borrow a bike and got rides in after work on two days (rides outside the DC area, even in warm climates, count!). Let me tell you, it is DARK in southern Mississippi at night. The first night I set out intending to ride the local roads but as soon as I got past the lights of the parking lot at our facility it was pitch black, so I turned my no headlight, no reflectors, Walmart cruiser bike around and instead rode a mile worth of laps around our parking lot. The second night it was drizzly but somehow a little brighter out so I rode laps both around our parking lot and the lot of the adjacent building, 1.2 miles in all.

Laps Around the Lot in Mississippi

Here’s the most shocking moment. At heart I’m still mostly a paddler. In the warm weather whenever I bike on a trail alongside the river I always long to out on the river rather than alongside it, but when I’m kayaking I never wish I was on my bike instead. Well, on a recent cold evening found myself riding into DC. A couple of days earlier I had gone kayaking; the discomfort of winter paddling gear was fresh in my mind. As I rode over Key Bridge I looked down at the river and – gasp – realized that given the cold weather I was happier cycling than kayaking. The horror!

Holiday Paddles

So, it's Christmas week and my biggest problem while kayaking is getting overheated. This time of year usually means numb fingers and ice on the deck. This week I had to make sure I had ice in my water to keep cool! I'm not complaining: I'll take too hot over too cold any day.

Christmas Paddlers

Trip 1: 12/25

Ralph organized a trip out of Truxton Park Christmas morning. I was surprised that he got a pretty good group - evidently I'm not the only one for whom Christmas morning isn't a big deal. I guess these were the folks who celebrated Christmas Eve, had no family locally, or were just generally humbugs. In addition to Ralph the group included Tall Tom, Tim, Tom B, Dave I, Linda and me. Just about everyone had a Santa hat. Tim didn't wear a Santa hat but decorated his boat with mistletoe. That left me as the one true humbug who wasn't sporting anything Christmasy. I have to admit, I don't know why I find wearing a Santa hat too Christmasy. I mean, is it any worse than Christmas Eve when  I happily participated in Christmas caroling at Westover Beer Garden? I do enjoy planing the Christmas music, though have to admit that when I sing Christmas carols I hum my way through the "Christ our Savior" parts.

Christmas Music at Westover

Anyway, we did about an eight or nine mile trip out of Spa Creek and down the Severn River into Lake Ogleton (which is no longer a lake). The key thing to note about the trip is that it was increadibly foggy. I was comfortable going out only because I was with people who knew the area well, because there were times when you couldn't see squat. I hadn't brought my GPS, so I really would have gotten turned around if I had been on my own. As we were coming back into Spa Creek we had to stop and wait for a bit . We heard a powerboat. We couldn't see him at all, but we figured he was heading towards the same channel we were. So, we just sat by the channel marker (well outside the channel) and waited until he loomed into sight out of the fog like a ghost ship. We then we followed him in.

Then One Foggy Christmas Day ...

Back in the fingers of Lake Ogleton the fog had been a lot thinner. Dave, an old Coast Guardsman, explained that it had something to do with the temperature differential between land and water. Anyway, we could see and be seen and exchanged lots of "Merry Christmas!" wishes with folks on shore - including a woman who ran down her dock with a toddler in tow to wave at Santa. Cute!

Trip #2: 12/27

I had been looking forward to this trip. A chance to circumnavigate Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge in winter without cold fingers and toes. Unfortunately, warm weather isn't necessarily good weather. We arrived to find the wind was blowing more than predicted and more than any of us expected.(1)

We decided to give it a go anyway. Bogle's Wharf, where we launched, is in somewhat protected waters and we figured we'd paddle to the south end of the island, peek around the corner into the part of the island that is open to the Bay and decide at that point if we wanted to proceed.

It was a workout paddling into the wind and I have to admit that I must be out of paddling shape as I was definitely bringing up the rear of the group. I can explain that Rob was in his super-fast (if tippy) Epic, and that Tall Tom had a longer boat and more natural horsepower. Unfortunately I have no excuse for being slower than Suzanne, who was paddling exactly the same boat I was. Except that maybe I'm weaker than a little girl. New Year's resolution: strength training.

Anyway, we grouped up at the southern point of the island and decided that, (a) we could all handle the conditions around the exposed side of the island, but that (b) none of us really felt like a "survivor" paddle that day. So we turned around and went back. So, we did a seven mile out-and-back rather than a ten mile circumnavigation. Oh, well.

After landing and loading our gear we figured that as long as we were there we might as well explore some of the nature trails. Unfortunately, the trails are all quite short. The longest one was about 1.2 miles, round trip. Still, we enjoyed the little bits of hiking - need I even say that once we were off the water the wind dropped off, the sun came out and it turned into a gorgeous day?

Anyway, when we had exhausted the trails and the visitor center we headed into Rock Hall to try and find lunch, but alas, on a Sunday in December everything was closed. So, we parted ways and headed for home. I was hungry so as I drove I kept a lookout for someplace where I could stop and eat. I wound up stopping in Chestertown where I sat on a park bench in the town square and ate part of the lunch I had packed, and then ducked into Dunkin' Donuts to pick up a coffee and a muffin for the drive.

All in all, a lot of driving for not a lot of paddling, but a nice day hanging out with some good friends.

Notes:

(1) One of us checked the forecast the night before and pointed out the forecast of wind and fog to the group, but let's not go there.

You Will Be Assimilated

A while back my friend Cyndi had told me that the cycling community is huge compared with the kayaking community and that as I got into cycling I would find people who shared whatever kind of cycling I was interested in: road touring, mountain biking, gravel rides on odd number Tuesdays, whatever. To date I haven't really found this to be the case - or maybe it's too true. I joined a cycling Meetup but every ride is instantly over-subscribed. I joined Potomac Pedalers, but most of their rides are beyond my capabilities. There are so many cyclists out there that I never seemed to see the same people twice. Plus, the cycling world seems to be heavily populated with poorly behaved "Lycra Louts" for whom Spandex bibs are religious garments and who obsess over every aspect of bicycles and bicycling down to the weight of their spoke nipples.

Not for nothing does Pearls Before Swine have a recurring obnoxious bicyclist character.

I have known for a while that there were groups of cyclist who meet for coffee at various locations on various days, but I always had the impression that they were attended primarily by people who stop by for coffee after having knocked out their daily century rides - maybe that was influenced by knowing that Cyndi, who is that kind of person, is a coffee club regular. However, kayaker Gina, who now lives in my neighborhood and is an avid but not extreme bicyclist, assured me that the groups are friendly.

So, Wednesday morning I left early and somehow my EFC to Virginia Square ride picked up a detour to Shirlington. I arrived to find a couple of cyclists, including my neighbor Steve C. (who is a hardcore) there. I joined them and soon more people trickled in. About 15 in all, including kayaker Gina. Everyone was very friendly. When I admitted to being something of a newbie and casual cyclist they reassured me that anyone who enjoys cycling is welcome. I think it helped that (a) I had already signed up for the wintertime "Freezing Saddles" competition, showing my commitment to cycling, and (b) despite the fact that I profess to be a newbie, I do know something about what the sport - and was dressed in appropriate tribal attire (baggy shorts, no Spandex look for me, thank you very much).

The bottom line is that my 3 mile, 20 minute commute somehow stretched to ten miles and two hours, but it was fun and I will certainly be back. Have I been assimilated into the bike borg?