More bikes and riding

It seems like everybody had a GREAT time at Lodi last weekend. Everyone has been talking about it. It's great that we had a dry course.

This week, I managed to hook up with the AirlineRide guys for the final leg of the trip into DC. I had to skip out at the Capitol but it was great to see Tom, his bothers, sister and son at the ride. The police were great. The DC moto cops REALLY enjoy moving traffic out of the way. It's something that they do ALL THE TIME for POTUS and other dignitaries. They may not be able to solve murders, but they can control some traffic.

We owned Connecticut Ave all the way down to Mass Ave. Here's the traffic-free beauty that we'll see more of when gas hits $10 a gallon!

It's really weird how small this world is. I ran into Paul who was the mechanic on the AirlineRide ride. Paul is an instructor with the League of American Bicyclists (where I was the Program Director in a former life). We had a great conversation the whole way downtown. Here's a shot of Tom and Paul down at the Airline Pilots Association on Mass Ave.

There's a good shot of the Jamis bikes that these poor guys got to ride across the country. They were all planning on riding their own bikes but Jamis came through with some Xenith Team bikes. Can you imagine showing up for a ride across the country with a BRAND NEW dura ace full-carbon ksyrium es bike? These guys were glowing when I talked to them in AZ. They had done a few 160m days (!) and could not shut up about how nice the bikes were.

I'd love to have one of these suckers, for sure! 16lb comfort/speed machine. Yeah, I could handle it...

I got a call from my buddy Scud on Thursday afternoon. He needed some coverage for the IMBA Congressional bike ride at Riverbend on Friday. I managed to scramble my schedule (and Susan's plans for heading to PA with Emma) and Blaze and I cruised out there for the event. They do this ride every month with Congressional staffers and Executive branch people. We rode around Riverbend and took some people mountain biking for the first time. It was great to re-experience all of the feelings that people get when they ride their first narrow trail and ride over that first log. It was fun.

Susan and Emma are in PA this weekend with Susan's mom and grandma. They are taking Emma on her first horseback ride. We have arranged for some photos (of course). I wish I was there. I'm glad that Emma and her mom are bonding. It's something that Susan really enjoys and never gets to do. There are a lot of horses around here so maybe we can get the two of them into some riding together. I'll stick to the two-wheeled carbon horse with disc brakes.

Blaze and I managed to hit the Lewis and Clarke trail for an hour on my new bike. The SX trail, with all of its weight, was fan-freaking-tastic on those things. I couldn't go fast enough to really feel good on that thing, which is weird. I'm loving that coil spring for dropping out of the air. It rides pretty good with that Propedal stuff dialed up and really rolls right through anything that sticks up out of the ground. That and those super-durable, dual-ply tires (at 18psi) stick to everything. Thumbs up. I'll be racing that thing soon enough. It might really hurt but you only live once so try and do whatever you can to come close to shortening it...