Loudoun County Dirt Road Ride Dec. 9th Impromtu

[darren]

----Ride Cancelled, I will be riding somewhere on Sat. not sure if I am going to be in Loundoun County Look for the Januaury Jets & Sharks Dirt Road ride!
-D



I will lead this, if my ebay winning frame gets to me in time to build up, or I might just Ride the same bike I road before(but bring a spoke and spoke wrench:-) This ride will be Moderate Faster pace ride with no sweep, unless someone is interested, doing the first half of the ride we did in Nov. with some more stuff thrown in, and taking the shortcut way back to the school. I will update with route and if I get my bike built.

-Darren

[wren]

Sweep! I'll be there, that was a great ride. I should have my new Mud Pig by then, too. Are you thinking about the deadend climb?

And hey, tell us about that ebay score. What do you have coming in?

[drewdane]

Hmmmm... I'm sure the spousal unit will understand if I ditch the pre-birthday party housecleaning for a ride.

Not.

Have fun, guys!

[darren]

Yeah this is the first time I have actually gotten a good deal on something from Ebay, usually pay market price. I was either going to buy a new frame which would cost $$$ but I would make sure I got a warrenty. The other option was to get something that wasn't that expensive. I saw this Jamis Nova frame on ebay, and it hit all the crutial points I was looking for:
-Had eyelets for a rack(I commute on the crossbike, and a fixed gear)
-I wanted steel, after having the Aluminium I thought steel would be more durable, and better ride feel

The bonus kicker was that when you buy a Jamis Nova(it is the same price as my Bianchi AXIS) the frame is made of 631 steel. With last year's model if you bought just the frameset it was made of 863 steel. The guy who got this frame was a warrenty, replacer for his 631 steel Nova, sold it cause it was a little too big for cross.
here is the link, sent yesterday so I Should get it next week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130049902848&rd=1&rd=1

[wren]

That is a heck of a score, Darren! A mere $155?!? Dang, who said there are no more deals on ebay? I love those Jamis bikes, I briefly rode an 853 steel Dragon hardtail on a trip to CA and it was sweet.

On a not-so-cool note, I have to cancel on the 12/9 dirt road ride. We have a mattress being delivered that day and I can't abandon my wife to watch over the delivery guys. I asked for a delivery time and they said "between 10 am and 4 pm, rent a couple of movies and make some popcorn." (Gee, thanks.) My new dirt pig will be built up this week, so I hope to get a ride in on Sunday, 12/10, if that works for anyone.

- Ken

[darren]

I am still in the air for what I am going to do for the ride on Sat. so I don't want to anyone to think I am goin to be there. If Ken is willing, I think we should co-lead the dirt road ride reverse in January I need to put it on the PPTC calendar also I am thinking of hitting this ride, might see some of you guys there. Kelly Smith is a good guy, might even bring out the tandem with some dirt tires on it.


December 30

ATB/B/BB(H) * 36 * VA * 9:30 AM * Middleburg ES (MID)(Middleburg middle school)
Horsing Around. An old favorite winter dirt road ride. See a different side of a familiar area. This route has some tough climbs and a lot of good scenery. We may even see a fox hunt, it's happened before! I'll probably be on a mtn bike but have ridden this on a touring bike with cross tires. [Cold temps can help with ground conditions, but check with the leader if temp.s are really gnarly, say, sub-20^F.]
Kelly Smith [bike_kelly<>yahoo.com] 703/568-0424

[wren]

I'm in for the January ride, any weekend will work. Sign me up for the "medium fast" group - B/CC sweep.

I'm heading out to Leesburg on Sunday for a 7 AM ride, if anyone wants to load up on coffee and join me. Back home in time for Christmas shopping! I'm going to do the first half of the original ride again, with the dead end loop and a short detour toward Aldie. I'll let you know how that goes. My Gazetteer shows a dirt trail that connects the dead end lane to another road, so it might not be a dead end after all. But Google maps just shows trees. Should be an adventure either way.

- Ken

[darren]

are you doing the dead end that we did? That is a good road it goes for another 2-3miles past where we went. Ken let me know how it goes.