# Northern VA Riders, give me the rundown...



## magnolialover (Jun 2, 2004)

Calling all Northern VA riders (Alexandria, Springfield, Ft. Belvoir areas)...

Can someone, or even a few people give me the rundown on what the riding situations are like around those locations, or even DC area? 

I have a job interview in that area this week, and might be relocating soon (if they hire me, which I think they will), and want to know what I'm getting myself into, or what I can look forward to for riding conditions, and or locations.

Thanks for any information you guys can throw my way. Appreciate it.


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## capt_phun (Jun 14, 2004)

Suburban Sprawl. Even if it isn't richy rich yuppies in Mercedes SUV's running you off the roads, its some ******* in a pick-up truck. The ride is nothing special & quite nerve racking compared to more rural areas of VA.


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## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

magnolialover said:


> Calling all Northern VA riders (Alexandria, Springfield, Ft. Belvoir areas)...
> 
> Can someone, or even a few people give me the rundown on what the riding situations are like around those locations, or even DC area?
> 
> ...



hey ML

1) Mt Vernon Trail 35 miles
2) Custis Trail (5 mile connector) between mt vernon and W&OD
2.5) four mile run path (connects W&OD and Mt Vernon on arlington/alexandria border)
3) W&OD Trail 45 miles to purceeville, va

4) bikepptc.org lots of rides all over (md/va/dc) at all levels

5) monday? and wednesday? lunch time rides with the racers at Haines Point in DC

6) tues/thurs hammerfests (Annandale evening speed works (see bikepptc.org)
7) tues/thurs hammerfests in reston with reston bike club

8) waba.org might have more information

does this help?


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

NoVa is a busy place but there are lots of good rides and riders around.

The weather is mild enough that we rarely miss a day of riding.


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## homebrew (Oct 28, 2004)

You will need to head west to hit some hills. If your willing to get in the car you can hit some great stuff past Leesburg or better yet Front Royal (about an hour and a quarter away) and hit the Skyline drive. Mount Weather is a good ride as well. Check out Potomac Peddlers if you want some good area group rides of a more social nature. Lots of mountain bike trails if you drive a bit


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## macalu (Jan 16, 2003)

www.freewebs.com/teamlardbutt


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

The DC area, including NoVA, has an active cycling scene, both for racing and for recreational riding. It's a big metro area, but there are some good road loops close in to DC, as well as various MUTs (and lunch and post-work rides on the road around Haines Point in DC basically every work day). I live in Arlington and I'm not super familiar with rides down around Ft. Belvoir, but I'm sure that there are riders down there who can point you to particular routes once you're situated. I didn't race this weekend, but I did an easy 20 with the team Friday morning before work (and rode to work), did my north Arlington hill loop yesterday (a 5-6 mile basic lap on the road with variations easily available -- mostly relatively quiet roads, about half with bike lanes); today I did about 40 out into Fairfax and back, mostly MUT, but with a few road miles).

There's some really great riding an hour or so drive west of town, and also some nice stuff about an equal drive north, but there's plenty of riding in town too.


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## KWL (Jan 31, 2005)

djg said:


> .....I did an easy 20 with the team Friday morning before work (and rode to work), did my north Arlington hill loop yesterday


Is your team Squadra Coppi? The boys (and girls) in blue pass me often on my morning commute into town.


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

Ride in NoVa is pretty good as MB1 has indicated as long as you can stay off Route 1 in Alexandria. Also, don't count out the MD portion of the possibility.
Simply go across the Key Bridge and you will find some excellent riding.
I used to live in Alexandria and on the weekend I would ride to the Beach drive (good portion is closed to car traffic on weekend) and East West Hwy for DC Velo ride (a fast 30 mile group ride).
Riding on MacArthur Blvd thru Potomac and Bethesda is good also.
I live out in Leesburg and the riding is awesome out here.


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

KWL said:


> Is your team Squadra Coppi? The boys (and girls) in blue pass me often on my morning commute into town.


Yep, that's us -- give a wave next time. Glad to say hi out there.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

djg said:


> ... I didn't race this weekend, ...


With two wonderful races in Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan, you didn't make it out. I was supposed to race the early races both days (i.e., Cat 4 at Syn-Fit and 3/4 at Carl Dolan), but we gave my 2 year old daughter a "big girl" bed on Friday and neither my wife nor I got much sleep on Saturday or Sunday. So, I slept in and did a later race both days. Did the Masters 35+ 4/5 on Saturday afternoon and did the Cat 4/5 on Sunday. Both races were pretty good.

Another one of your teammates frequents this board. I won't mention his name since he doesn't really let it be known on here.

I saw Joaquin on Sunday at Carl Dolan. Say hello to him for me when you see him and tell him congrats on his 5th place on Sunday. He will know who I am. By the way, I race for Latitude.


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## KWL (Jan 31, 2005)

djg said:


> Yep, that's us -- give a wave next time. Glad to say hi out there.


If you see a slow old bearded guy wearing a TOSRV jersey and riding a bike with moustache bars, give me a shout.


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

fabsroman said:


> With two wonderful races in Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan, you didn't make it out. I was supposed to race the early races both days (i.e., Cat 4 at Syn-Fit and 3/4 at Carl Dolan), but we gave my 2 year old daughter a "big girl" bed on Friday and neither my wife nor I got much sleep on Saturday or Sunday. So, I slept in and did a later race both days. Did the Masters 35+ 4/5 on Saturday afternoon and did the Cat 4/5 on Sunday. Both races were pretty good.
> 
> Another one of your teammates frequents this board. I won't mention his name since he doesn't really let it be known on here.
> 
> I saw Joaquin on Sunday at Carl Dolan. Say hello to him for me when you see him and tell him congrats on his 5th place on Sunday. He will know who I am. By the way, I race for Latitude.


Carl Dolan....this brings up a sad memory for me.
He was a fantastic racer, father and husband.
I was in the race (1998 District TT) when he crashed and died.
I met him in a Tanqueray AIDS Ride to raise money for research to beat the disease while I was working for Tanqueray..
He was one of the nicest people I have ever met and touched so many people......


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

cpark said:


> Carl Dolan....this brings up a sad memory for me.
> He was a fantastic racer, father and husband.
> I was in the race (1998 District TT) when he crashed and died.
> I met him in a Tanqueray AIDS Ride to raise money for research to beat the disease while I was working for Tanqueray..
> He was one of the nicest people I have ever met and touched so many people......


cpark,

You wouldn't happen to be Larry Black from College Park cycles, would you?

One of my current teammates used to race against me back in the mid to late 80's. We raced Greenbelt, etc. against one another and just ran into one another again back in early 2007 when we both decided to get back into racing that year. He is the one that convinced me to race for Latitude.

Anyway, I think I might have put 2 and 2 together at the race on Sunday when Carl's widow and son, with his own two kids, spoke to us before we started, and when the race promoter told us that the race was in memory of Carl Dolan whom died of a heat stroke 10 years ago during a Church Creek TT. I hadn't known that the race was a memorial race for a fellow cyclist and I hadn't known the approximate age of Carl Dolan, but after both speaches, I think I might have figured out who he was. The Carl I remember from the mid to late 80's was a guy with huge legs, blond hair, and glasses. He raced Greenbelt almost every week, was a pretty good sprinter, and was a really nice guy. Both my teammate and I had been talking about him last year as we reminisced about racing against Dave Osbourne and others back in the 80's, some of whom continued racing for the past 20 years straight. We were wondering about what happened to Carl, and I am now wondering if the Carl we remember is Carl Dolan.

Am I right about my hunch cpark?


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

KWL said:


> If you see a slow old bearded guy wearing a TOSRV jersey and riding a bike with moustache bars, give me a shout.


Will do . . . I'll be the slow middle-aged bearded guy.


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

fabsroman said:


> With two wonderful races in Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan, you didn't make it out. I was supposed to race the early races both days (i.e., Cat 4 at Syn-Fit and 3/4 at Carl Dolan), but we gave my 2 year old daughter a "big girl" bed on Friday and neither my wife nor I got much sleep on Saturday or Sunday. So, I slept in and did a later race both days. Did the Masters 35+ 4/5 on Saturday afternoon and did the Cat 4/5 on Sunday. Both races were pretty good.
> 
> Another one of your teammates frequents this board. I won't mention his name since he doesn't really let it be known on here.
> 
> I saw Joaquin on Sunday at Carl Dolan. Say hello to him for me when you see him and tell him congrats on his 5th place on Sunday. He will know who I am. By the way, I race for Latitude.


Sure, I'll be glad to say hi to Joaquin. 

We had a bunch of folks do really well this weekend -- the women on Saturday, Jason, and check out the podium listings for the Cat 3 race at Battenkill. 

Apart from the usual juggling I've been nursing a very slow recovery left over from last year and, although I'm doing ok, I'm still not 100% (not that my 100% is anything all that special, but it's what I'd like to have back). I'm signed up for Murad and might look for something earlier if I'm there.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

djg said:


> Sure, I'll be glad to say hi to Joaquin.
> 
> We had a bunch of folks do really well this weekend -- the women on Saturday, Jason, and check out the podium listings for the Cat 3 race at Battenkill.
> 
> Apart from the usual juggling I've been nursing a very slow recovery left over from last year and, although I'm doing ok, I'm still not 100% (not that my 100% is anything all that special, but it's what I'd like to have back). I'm signed up for Murad and might look for something earlier if I'm there.


djg,

What category do you race? If you are in the 4's, I will see you at Murad in the race.

As far as the 3's are concerned, we won both Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan. Might have been because your guys were at Battenkill, but who knows. LOL


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## cpark (Oct 13, 2004)

fabsroman said:


> cpark,
> 
> You wouldn't happen to be Larry Black from College Park cycles, would you?
> 
> ...


No, Im not Larry. You are right about everthing on Carl except his leg size.
I don't recall them that big. In fact, I used to joke with him how my legs are twice as bigger than his and he can still out-sprint me......
If you were racing against Super Dave in the 80's, you are definately in a different class than I'm. I don't think I could hold his wheel in his bad day.
I do remember that that tragic day vividly. It was like 102 degrees with the heat index of 115+. I used it as a warm up for the District 20 TT in Richmond. I was suffering like everyone else when I spotted Carl (in DC Velo Skinsuit) ahead of more than half way through the race. I was super motivated as I pressed on to catch him. As I passed him I tap on his shoulder and said, "let's go Carl!" The look on his face was like very numb with no expression. After I finished the race and I saw an ambulance heading back for a fallen racer in the opposite direction. I waited for him and my other teammates but didn't get to see Carl. I knew imediately that the fallen racer was Carl because I'd have never pass him if he wasn't having a bad day. I went home thinking that he would be ok. Little did I know that was the last day I'd see him.... I still look at the photos now and then thinking about that tragic day.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

cpark said:


> No, Im not Larry. You are right about everthing on Carl except his leg size.
> I don't recall them that big. In fact, I used to joke with him how my legs are twice as bigger than his and he can still out-sprint me......
> If you were racing against Super Dave in the 80's, you are definately in a different class than I'm. I don't think I could hold his wheel in his bad day.
> I do remember that that tragic day vividly. It was like 102 degrees with the heat index of 115+. I used it as a warm up for the District 20 TT in Richmond. I was suffering like everyone else when I spotted Carl (in DC Velo Skinsuit) ahead of more than half way through the race. I was super motivated as I pressed on to catch him. As I passed him I tap on his shoulder and said, "let's go Carl!" The look on his face was like very numb with no expression. After I finished the race and I saw an ambulance heading back for a fallen racer in the opposite direction. I waited for him and my other teammates but didn't get to see Carl. I knew imediately that the fallen racer was Carl because I'd have never pass him if he wasn't having a bad day. I went home thinking that he would be ok. Little did I know that was the last day I'd see him.... I still look at the photos now and then thinking about that tragic day.


Sometimes, I wonder about our sport. The first month I got back into racing I raced the Crystal City Classic Masters 35+ category that was open to 5's (i.e., I was a 5 because I was too poor in law school to renew my license so I lost my Cat 3 category). That was where I saw Osbourne for the first time in almost 20 years. I couldn't believe he was still racing. That race was extremely painful and I ended up finishing somewhere around 20th, maybe 21st if memory serves me correctly. The one thing I will never forget is being on Keith Mitchell's wheel when he went down. At first, I was glad that I didn't go down with him, but when we came around again he was still laying on the asphalt exactly how he went down. I'll never forget that he didn't take his hands off the bars as he went down. I'll never forget that he suffered a massive heart attack and died that day. That was a horrible day.

The next year, we have Clark hit his head on a pole and suffer a serious injury, not to mention all the other injuries I read about last year.

That story about Carl is horrible. I personally hate Church Creek. A teammate and I had to work it last year, and after that I rode it, not raced it, and felt like complete crap. If it wasn't for my teammate pulling me along for 20+ miles, I don't think I would have made it back to the parking lot.

As far as racing in the 80's was concerned, I had a lot more time to train back then and was a lot faster as a junior than I am right now as a 4. That is what happens when responsibilities increase that are not associated with cycling.


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## djg (Nov 27, 2001)

fabsroman said:


> djg,
> 
> What category do you race? If you are in the 4's, I will see you at Murad in the race.
> 
> As far as the 3's are concerned, we won both Syn-Fit and Carl Dolan. Might have been because your guys were at Battenkill, but who knows. LOL


Who knows, but good on em for the wins (also Jason did the 1, 2, 3 race at Dolan ).

I dropped down from 3 to 4 for my so-called (just by me) comeback on the road last year. I'll see you at Murad man.


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## ElvisMerckx (Oct 11, 2002)

*Small world ...*

Who did you ride for as a junior? I was on NCVC in the mid-late-80s.

Though I don't recall ever meeting Carl Dolen, I started racing Greenbelt back in the summer of '85, met Larry Black at about that time too. I raced alongside Super Dave at Westgate starting in about 1986, and, more recently, Dr. Clark was a great teammate and riding partner.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

ElvisMerckx said:


> Who did you ride for as a junior? I was on NCVC in the mid-late-80s.
> 
> Though I don't recall ever meeting Carl Dolen, I started racing Greenbelt back in the summer of '85, met Larry Black at about that time too. I raced alongside Super Dave at Westgate starting in about 1986, and, more recently, Dr. Clark was a great teammate and riding partner.


When I started in late 1984 and in 1985 I was unattached. I raced for College Park my 14 and 15 years (i.e., 86-87) and for the Baltimore Junior Team my 16 and 17 years (i.e., 88-89). I gave it a go the first year I was in college, but I just didn't have enough time to train. I actually had to read the textbooks at that time and actually had to spend time outside of class studying, unlike in high school.


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## ElvisMerckx (Oct 11, 2002)

fabsroman said:


> When I started in late 1984 and in 1985 I was unattached. I raced for College Park my 14 and 15 years (i.e., 86-87) and for the Baltimore Junior Team my 16 and 17 years (i.e., 88-89). I gave it a go the first year I was in college, but I just didn't have enough time to train. I actually had to read the textbooks at that time and actually had to spend time outside of class studying, unlike in high school.


Similar story here. I went off to college in '87 and raced a bit, but eventually coursework, beer, and women took their toll on my racing. I was pretty much done by 1990. Fast-forward through college, marriage, family, and a steady job, I eventually began riding a lot more and even racing again since 1999.

You're younger than me, but we probably went head to head in a few races way back when. Do you happen to remember a junior team based out of Rockville with blue jerseys that was sponsored by Bianchi? I've been racking my brain for years trying to remember the name of that team.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

ElvisMerckx said:


> Similar story here. I went off to college in '87 and raced a bit, but eventually coursework, beer, and women took their toll on my racing. I was pretty much done by 1990. Fast-forward through college, marriage, family, and a steady job, I eventually began riding a lot more and even racing again since 1999.
> 
> You're younger than me, but we probably went head to head in a few races way back when. Do you happen to remember a junior team based out of Rockville with blue jerseys that was sponsored by Bianchi? I've been racking my brain for years trying to remember the name of that team.


Century Bikes was the team, but they were out of downtown Silver Spring right on Bonifant Street if I am not mistaken. One of the guys I race with right now on Latitude, Lance Lacy, used to race for Century. There were a couple other guys on the team named Frank Negri and Kurt Sindelar (sp.) that were your age. There was another guy I remember named Phil that was probably in your age group, but he wasn't on that team. Phil was out of Olney, maybe Howard County. Century Bikes also had a guy on the team that was a year older than me named Michael Spangler (sp.). He was an awesome time trialist, and they might have had another kid on the team named Jeff who was my age. I'm not really sure if Jeff was on Century, but I think he was. He lived in Potomac and actually went to the same orthodontist that I went to.

Have you noticed that junior racing isn't quite what it used to be? I remember traveling to Allentown and Bethlehem, PA and New Jersey for races and the fields were packed. If I had to guess, I would guess there were 75+ of us on the line at the start. I have yet to see something like that in a juniors race nowadays. It is kind of sad and I am just hoping that it is because I am not paying attention to the junior races when I go out of town, but I doubt it. Then again, maybe they see how banged up we get when we wreck and decide that we are out of our minds.


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## ElvisMerckx (Oct 11, 2002)

fabsroman said:


> Century Bikes was the team, but they were out of downtown Silver Spring right on Bonifant Street if I am not mistaken. One of the guys I race with right now on Latitude, Lance Lacy, used to race for Century. There were a couple other guys on the team named Frank Negri and Kurt Sindelar (sp.) that were your age. There was another guy I remember named Phil that was probably in your age group, but he wasn't on that team. Phil was out of Olney, maybe Howard County. Century Bikes also had a guy on the team that was a year older than me named Michael Spangler (sp.). He was an awesome time trialist, and they might have had another kid on the team named Jeff who was my age. I'm not really sure if Jeff was on Century, but I think he was. He lived in Potomac and actually went to the same orthodontist that I went to.
> 
> Have you noticed that junior racing isn't quite what it used to be? I remember traveling to Allentown and Bethlehem, PA and New Jersey for races and the fields were packed. If I had to guess, I would guess there were 75+ of us on the line at the start. I have yet to see something like that in a juniors race nowadays. It is kind of sad and I am just hoping that it is because I am not paying attention to the junior races when I go out of town, but I doubt it. Then again, maybe they see how banged up we get when we wreck and decide that we are out of our minds.


I knew Kurt and Frank for sure, and the other names are definitely familiar. Last I saw Kurt he'd taken a dramatically different course in life than most of our peers at the time. It was kind of a pity because he was a really good rider.

And, YES, I've been very disappointed in the demise of the junior ranks. I remember racing in fields of up to 100 riders it seemed. In races where the fields were really huge, one of our team strategies was to hammer off the starting line and we kept up the pressure until we shredded the field down to a safe number of riders. Dang, this has been an awesome threadjack down memory lane.


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## fabsroman (Jul 14, 2006)

ElvisMerckx said:


> I knew Kurt and Frank for sure, and the other names are definitely familiar. Last I saw Kurt he'd taken a dramatically different course in life than most of our peers at the time. It was kind of a pity because he was a really good rider.
> 
> And, YES, I've been very disappointed in the demise of the junior ranks. I remember racing in fields of up to 100 riders it seemed. In races where the fields were really huge, one of our team strategies was to hammer off the starting line and we kept up the pressure until we shredded the field down to a safe number of riders. Dang, this has been an awesome threadjack down memory lane.


Isn't this world a small world. I met Lance again in 2007 at a race at Mount Saint Mary's. We talked at the starting line and he introduced himself as Lance. He has really short hair right now and tattoos on his arms, which isn't the Lance I remember from the 80's and I thought he was a lot younger than me. He took off like a rocket when the whistle blew and I was hurting like heck to hold his wheel. I look back and we have a gap on the field and he flicks his elbow for me to come through. I told him there was no way, while I was thinking in my head "this young kid is crazy". I ran into him again at Kelly Cup Bike Jam and we raced together again. We were both racing at the front and we were both 5's at the time. This was in 2007. I started talking to him after the race and he told me he used to race as a junior in the 80's. Then lightning struck and I asked him if he used to race for Century because I knew a Lance back then that used to race for Century that had long hair and was into hard rock music, and I brought up Kurt. Lance's eye's widened and he said it was him. When I told him my name, he remembered who I was. My parents, even my mom who only came to a couple of races, remembered Lance and they remembered him as a very nice guy.

Lance and Kurt were training buddies, and Lance says the same thing as you about Kurt. It really is a shame.

As far as Kurt and Frank are concerned, neither of them liked me because I usually beat them. I posted faster times than them at TT's. If my memory serves me correctly, I used to beat Lance too, but he is faster than me right now. Anyway, Frank ended up riding me to the ground in a crit up in Howard County called Dobbin Center. I was still with College Park at the time and some of my older teammates laid into him at Greenbelt for it later on. He had been doing the same thing to me at Greenbelt by cutting me down in the corner from the outside. He also ran me off the road in a Greenbelt race as I was about to pass him in the sprint for first place. Luckily, I was able to keep the bike up in the grass. I was 2 years younger than them and a lot smaller than I am now, not that I am big right now by any means. My memories of Kurt and Frank aren't warm and fuzzy ones, that is for sure.

Having Lance as a teammate right now is awesome.

Are you racing now, and if so, for whom? The next race on my calendar is Fort Ritchie, or Bunny Hop. Can't remember exactly which one.


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## ElvisMerckx (Oct 11, 2002)

fabsroman said:


> ...My memories of Kurt and Frank aren't warm and fuzzy ones, that is for sure. Having Lance as a teammate right now is awesome.
> 
> Are you racing now, and if so, for whom? The next race on my calendar is Fort Ritchie, or Bunny Hop. Can't remember exactly which one.


Lance sounds very familiar. I just can't place his face. I was actually pretty good buddies with Kurt for a while, Frank and I were more indifferent to each other.

Yeah, I'm doing a bit of racing still, but only 'cross. With two kids and a serious job it's tough for me to find the time to train for more than a 1 hour effort. I'll be racing for Evolution this fall -- Cat 3, 35+, killer Bs.


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