Sunday dawned as humid as last month, but the hot part was nowhere to be seen, as the previous night's rain kept things cool and misty.
Today would be a learning curve day as I had made a few changes to the bike to hopefully make it more off road worthy. The brake pads were switched out for Kool Stop salmon pads, and my bars and stem were switched for a taller stem and WTB off road bars.
Gambrill Park Rd. (at the north end) has been the easiest road so far to get up on a fixed gear. There are a few steep spots near the top, but I didn't need to go to the highest section to get to the overlook.
Descending on the Blue Trail was a big challenge. I went over the bars twice and on any steep section it felt like I was going to. Lowering the seat helped with that feeling but made pedaling fixed harder. This will require more practice. I'm also pretty worried about my wheels. I need a big beefy set of 36h rynolites or something, and some 44s for the rocks here in the 'Shed. The 35s weren't cutting it for a big boy like me. Gearing was OK as the trail section was almost all downhill. If I was climbing fixed on the trail, I'd want something lower. It was very nice to use legs to control speed in some of the techy sections, but pedal strike was awful.
Verdict? Keep practicing.
| Leaving Lewistown. |
| Across Rt. 15 and heading for the hill. |
| It is nice to see other riders. |
| Mountaindale. |
| Climbing into the 'Shed. As usual, my branch goes up. |
| Through a green tunnel. This might be the easiest route up the mountain. |
| Picture break. Those bars and that stem look sort of goofy, but they get my hands up to about where they would be if I was using a flat or riser bar. I spend about 90% of my time in the drops when I ride this bike. |
| More climbing amongst the shady trees. |
| Finally onto the trail. |
| Yield the trail to locals. Its OK, he was moving faster thamn me. |
| A view of the outcropping from where I take my panoramas. |
| Panorama of the Monocacy River Valley. |
| Riv on the rocks. |
| The blue trail down. I went OTB on the very first technical spot, so I lowered my seat a bit. This meant riding fixed was harder, sort of a standing/posting technique. |
| After going over a log and slamming down pretty hard, the saddle shifted. I had to stop, raise the saddle to get to the bolt, and reposition the seat, then lower the saddle back. |
| Tough trail. |
| Easier trail. |
| Finally down to the road. |
| Catoctin Hollow Rd. ends at Rt. 15, so you have to ride the shoulder for about 3/4 of a mile to get to a frontage road. I hit a couple of other roads and then had a flat on my front tire. A previous patch didn't hold. I swapped out for a new tube and headed back to the truck. |
| Today's Map. |
| Today's Profile. |
Roads Completed 8/28/2005
| Road Name | ADC Map Grid | Subdivision | |||
| AUBURN | RD | 13-C-4 | N/A | ||
| N | BAUGHER | RD | 13-C-4 | N/A | |
| S | BAUGHER | RD | 13-C-6 | N/A | |
| PUTMAN | RD | 13-C-8 | N/A |