ride to the Plains, turn right

I went for a wonderful bike ride yesterday. I went for just over 30 miles, and used my new gorillapod tripod (as recommended by Heather). It didn’t quite stay put during the one section of gravel road that I have to travel on, but other than that, I think it was pretty handy. It was nice to be able to just hit a button to take the photo, rather than fishing the camera out of my jersey pocket first. I rode to the Plains, VA, headed down Halfway Road and then Landmark Road. According to a sign at a fork in the road there is a winery or vineyard on that road (and actually, there was another one if I had taken a left at the fork instead of the right that I took), but I didn’t find it. I think I had about 2 more miles to ride before I would have ended up there. That 2 miles was going to involve a big downhill followed by a big uphill, and then I would have to repeat that once I turned around to go home. I felt that I really couldn’t take a chance with that because I still needed to ride home. So, I turned around at just over the 15 mile mark. I saw several birds, a few of them I couldn’t identify. Eastern Bluebirds have been my favorites to see on my rides. I also saw a woodchuck run into the hole at the base of a tree. There are several wonderful wildflowers along the route that I took. Wild geranium (I think), jack-in-the-pulpit, mayapple, small orange poppies and a bunch of others that I can’t remember the names of. I need to dig out my field guide at some point. There were also plenty of dogwoods, pink azaleas and wisteria. I think maybe Thursday on my day off I might go for a photo ride where I plan on actually getting off my bike to photograph some of the flora. I was enjoying riding too much yesterday to stop to take photographs. I did stop one time to try to take some photos of the mountain view to the west along Halfway Rd, but other then that it was all riding.

Ride stats:

Distance=30.69 miles

Time=2:08:46

Ride Type=training/recreation/get my rearend back into shape/enjoy a beautiful day

Average speed=14.7mph (34.86mph max-when you go uphill, you get to come back down!)

Ascent=5373 feet (according to GPS) I don’t know if that’s accurate, but I can say that I did a heck of a lot of climbing. This was a very hilly route.

Click chart to enlarge.

life in an a-frame, part one

So I think I’ll write a bit about Zach and I’s new home. As I mentioned in another post, it’s an A-frame. Which is just plain awesome, in my not so humble opinion. I have a few photos that I managed to upload. Eventually I’ll have more photos, but my hard drive is full at the moment and I can’t save and edit any of my photos at the moment. A few friends have stated interest in seeing more photos of our A-frame and the area around our new home.

I’ve already posted a few photos of the exterior, and I’ll post a few more today. I don’t have any decent photos of the interior yet, since unfortunately the place is still littered with boxes!

Some of these photos were taken before the Spring leaves started sprouting, but now the woods are starting to turn a nice shade of Spring Green.

This is the view from our kitchen window:

You can see that there are a few deer in the yard. The photo is a little dark since it was taken just as the sun was rising. The deer hang out in the front and side yard too. I haven’t seen them in the front yard, but Zach watched them one morning before I had woken up.

Here is one side of the house. There is an similar extension on the other side, but without a porch and entrance.

Here is a closer up view of the front, with a good shot of the balcony:

There is a sliding glass door that leads onto the balcony. The room that is behind the door is the loft, which you can see down to the living room on either side. It’s pretty neat. We were going to turn that into our bedroom, but our furniture doesn’t fit properly in there because of the half walls of the loft. Of course, our furniture doesn’t all fit in the bedroom either, since we have a queen size four poster bed, a long short dresser and a tall dresser. We’re going to go with a full size bed for our next set. The rooms are definitely smaller in this house than in our old house, but we’re perfectly okay with that. We didn’t use a good chunk of our old house, and wanted a smaller house this time around. Of course, we do miss having a basement and the garage space. We’re going to build a shed to accommodate our bikes, and that will free up the third bedroom in our new house. Back to the above photo- the window at the top is the attic window. The attic is quite large, since it runs the entirely length of the house and is tall enough to stand in comfortably. Right now, we’re using it for storage and also my knitting/sewing/art studio for the time being. Not that I’ve found any time to knit/sew/draw/paint.

Here’s a picture of the back of the house. This one was taken last week, and as you can tell, Spring has finally sprung. Some of the leaves are coming in, and the dogwood trees are starting to flower. Now the dogwoods are in full bloom. I hope the weather turns sunny in the next few days so I can take some decent pictures of them.

I realized the other day that our shed sort of looks like an outhouse. There are a few outhouses on some of the roads that we have been riding on. I’ll have to get a few pictures of those!

We have a lot of wildlife here, but not a lot of small wildlife. We’re trying to figure out what big animals live in the woods. We’re pretty sure we’ve heard some kind of wild dogs in the woods, but they weren’t howling so I’m not sure if they were coyotes. They could have been foxes. I think there are probably bobcats. Not everything in the woods is big though, we just know we don’t see many squirrels and haven’t seen a single rabbit yet. I heard a common nighthawk last night, I think. And two nights ago I watched as bats swooped through the air chasing bugs. I’m sure I mentioned this in another post, but it really is peaceful here.

april 20th, 2008

I’m connected back to the outside world via the internet again! Of course, I haven’t had a moment to sit down and update my journal. I really need to make myself write even when I’m tired, so I can remember what the heck it was that I thought was worth writing about.

I’ve started my new job, and I really enjoy it. I’m still learning all the ins and outs of the reporting software and which form to use for each particular moment, but I know I’ll figure it all out. As always, I love my patients. Everyone I work with seems really nice too. Once I’m settled in and feel comfortable with everything at the hospital, I’m going to pick up a few extra hours working at a nursing home.

I haven’t been on the bike as much as I’d like. I did end up racing a few weeks ago at Tysons Corner Circuit Race. There were 31 starters in the women’s cat 4 race! That’s a big race for me. I managed to hang with the pack for most of the race, but I wasted too much energy at the back of the pack because I was timid. I eventually dropped off the back and time-trialled it for a few laps until another girl caught up with me and we worked together for the remainder of the race. I ended up in 20th place, which I was actually pleased with considering the field size and my extended time off of the bike due to moving and job search stuff.

Thursday, I rode for about an hour around the neighborhood. I explored some of the side streets and rode past the winery. I was feeling really weak though, and it was just a struggle to pedal forward at a slow pace. It did feel nice to be outside though, since it was absolutely beautiful outside. Yesterday, Zach and I went for a nice tandem ride to The Plains. He had a bunch of stuff to do before leaving for a work related trip so we only rode for an hour and a half, but it was definitely a very nice hour and a half. It was another beautiful day, and I remembered to bring along my camera which was good because we saw this snake curled up in a tree:

i finally hopped back on a bike

Zach and I went for a really wonderful tandem ride on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and sunny, maybe a little chilly. I think we ended up wearing knickers rather than tights. W e rode from the base of Bull Run Mountain to the base of another mountain at Bluemont, VA. It was about 44 miles round trip according to the map, but we both though it felt like 70. I guess all those rolling hills on the way made it feel that much harder! We’re planning on doing similar rides each Sunday, and make it a little bit further each time. It shouldn’t be as hard each time, since we’re both getting back into shape after way too much time off our bikes due to moving. Anyway, this route was very peaceful, very little traffic, and the roads were in pretty good shape. There wasn’t much of a shoulder, but there was so little traffic this didn’t seem to cause us any problems. The scenery was beautiful- rolling hills, picturesque pastures and farms, horse country, old stone houses, old stone walls, really old log and mortar houses and barns (some standing, some not), mountains off in the distance and many varieties of birds, some of which I’d never seen before. I had a heck of time taking photos that really captured the beauty. All my photos seemed to flatten out the view, or make the mountains smaller than they appeared in real life. Not that these are exactly big mountains to begin with, but they are still quite beautiful, and I just couldn’t capture their true essence. Of course, I only had my point & shoot with me, and I was on the back of tandem rolling down the road, so that didn’t help with the picture quality.

Sunday, we went mountain biking at a private farm. I don’t remember the name of the farm, but it was apparently open for people to preride the course for the Leesburg Baker’s Dozen MTB race that will be held there in a few weeks. The race is full (375 riders!!), so Zach and I won’t be racing, but it was cool to be able to ride the course. Our cyclist neighbor took us out there and we met up with his friend and his friend’s wife, who rode with me. The guys met up with a few other guys in the lot and had a small little group going. The course went along the Potomac River and through wooded areas, pasture and a pine tree grove. The pine trees were obviously planted there, they were in perfect rows, but it was a neat effect riding through them and having the trail jog at different points through different rows. I rode the Surly, and was geared perfectly for the trail, which made me happy. I was a little worried I’d be pushing my bike through way too many spots. I did however learn that I need to find some confidence to go over steeper log piles. I had some kind of mental block that made me basically freeze as I was heading up the pile and have to unclip and push up over the top. I know this is completely a mental thing and I can actually do it. We only did one lap, the guys did two. I met a few of the other women that were hanging around in the lot after our lap though. Everyone seemed really nice. It was a really neat trail, and I’ll be sure to register for the race next year assuming I don’t have any work conflicts.

Wednesday I went for a ride that consisted of the first part of Saturday’s tandem ride. I turned around at Aldie, VA to avoid US 50. That stretch of road isn’t too bad especially in the middle of the day or weekend, but still, I’d rather avoid any traffic if possible. You do have to hop on it for a stretch to hop on a road a little ways up that will take you to the rest of our Saturday tandem ride, but the speed limit is 35mph and then 25mph, so not too bad as far as the traffic is concerned. Anyway, I turned around there, and road back, taking a few offshoot roads along the way to increase the ride time. Then once I was back on Mountain Rd, I kept going for a few miles instead of just heading back up our street. Eventually I realized that I was getting tired, and I’d better head home because I still had to do the climb to get to our street. Both times I’ve climbed this hill solo I was in granny gear, standing, using everything I had to get up this dang thing. It makes me glad we don’t live at the top of the mountain. I probably would have to push my bike up to the top! I ended up riding 1 hr 38 mins, and a little over 20 miles. I started at a slow leisurely pace, and picked it up as I went along. I took a few photos, but again I’m not impressed with the quality. This one is of an old church that I’ll pass by on the majority of road rides that I’ll do from the house, including the ride to the Aldie Post Office. There are old headstones strewn along the hillside here. Someday I’d like to ride up there just to take more photos.

This next one just doesn’t do the scene justice but I’ll share it anyway. That’s part of Bull Run Mountain in the background. Those cows are lucky to have such a nice view I think.

Yesterday, I rode to the Aldie Post Office. It’s basically the same ride I did Wednesday, without any offshoots, and with a little stretch of US 50. Again, the speed limit is low and the traffic is pretty light so it’s not too nerve wracking. Plus, it was just nice to be able to ride there and back. I was out for about an hour, and it was approximately 15 miles round trip. I didn’t take any photos, since I was pushing the pace pretty hard. I felt like I had worked pretty hard by the time I arrived home, especially because I rode back via Youngs Dr instead of Mountain Rd. Youngs Dr is a long sustained climb on the way back. I didn’t realize that before yesterday!

another update in list form

Someday, I’m going to have time again to write a real post- I just know it! Also, for the time being I won’t be uploading photos since we haven’t worked out our internet service yet and we only have a painfully slow connection for the time being. Okay, it’s faster than my Grandma’s dial-up service, but not much faster.

1. We successfully moved half way across the country. It was really a beautiful drive. I took photos out the car window of a few places along the way with the idea that I would write a little post about the road trip. The photos aren’t great since they were taken through the windshield or other windows, but they captured the moment.

2 . I’ve been busy unpacking boxes and getting stuff organized in the new house while Zach is at work. I don’t start my new job until the second week in April, so I’m trying to get as much done around the house as I can. I started painting the upstairs bathroom yesterday, and hopefully will finish it today. The painters came in and painted the whole place white before we moved in. Yuck. Okay, we hated the preexisting color in the bathroom, so I guess starting with a white canvas isn’t so bad.

3. We met three of our neighbors the weekend we moved in to the house. So far, they all seem very nice. One is even a cyclist! He told us “I drove (rode?) by the the other day and there were bikes everywhere and I said “I’m going to like these people”". Ha, I’m pretty sure most people who noted that there “were bikes everywhere” probably thought we were crazy. I’m okay with that! Anyway, he told us about the trails in the area, included some in “our back yard” and one that runs along the ridge. I’m excited to check that one out. I’ll be sure to bring my camera.

4. Two mornings ago we had four deer in our yard. We had deer all the time in our old yard that backed to Blue River Park, and I knew I would miss that. I also knew that there should be plenty of deer here because the whole area is heavily wooded. I also saw a giant woodpecker. I’m not sure what kind it was, but it was one I’ve never seen before. It was much larger than a Hairy Woodpecker. Oh, and I swear I saw some kind of weasel-ish creature when we were driving home the other night. It was white or a real light color and it was long and low to the ground. It ran faster than a opossum, plus it didn’t look like a opossum.

5. The views out all sides of the house are pretty. I think in the Spring and Summer it’s going to be very private once the trees have their leaves. It’s private now, but you can see the neighbors houses. I’ll bet you really won’t be able to see the other houses once the trees fill in. We have evergreens here, but a lot of deciduous trees too, and so now it still just looks like winter without the snow. My dad pointed out that we have an amazing amount of mountain laurel on the property and surrounding woods. I can’t wait until it all blooms. It’s going to be beautiful.

All right, I’m sure I have more to write but I have to get back to the housework. And I know I said I wasn’t going to post any photos, but I just have to post one of the house. I believe I am “in love” with our new home. It is perfect for us. These photos were taken at dusk as we pulled into the neighborhood. You can be sure I’ll be taking more photos once I have a little free time, and especially once everything is green and in bloom.

an update in list form

1. On Wednesday, we checked out a house on Bull Run Mountain. We did this so we could continue telling ourselves that we really did just want to rent for now. We were expecting this house to be in poor shape on the inside for some reason. Well, it wasn’t. It was in great shape, and it was unbelievably cute and awesome. It’s closer to the base of the mountain, but this is good because we like to go grocery shopping with our tandem and we decided that riding up to the top of the mountain would pretty much kill that activity. More info on the house at a later date (like when we actually own it).

2. On Thursday, I had an interview and was offered the job! Yea! I’ll be a part-time (with the eventual possibility of full-time) speech-language pathologist in a community hospital in Northern Virginia. I’ll be working inpatient and outpatient, peds and adults, maybe even NICU! I’m very excited about this job! Did I mention that I am really excited?!

3. On Thursday night we went to a seafood shack (Blue Ridge Seafood) in Gainesville, VA to celebrate everything. I realized (re-realized?) as I was chowing down on our steamed mussels that I am very happy when I’m on the east coast, even when inland a bit. While VA may not be “home” like MA, I think there is a good chance it can become “home” (especially with our future mountain house!). Actually, I was born in VA, so it will be kind of nice to have “home” be close to where I was born.

4. Saturday we raced at the first Spring Fling race of the season in Lawrence, KS. We were pressed for time so we just did one race a piece. I raced in the Women’s 3/4 race. I pushed it too hard at the beginning and blew up. I took 4th out of six starters. I was trying to be too aggressive in not being at the end of the paceline, but I should have just sucked wheel. Plus, I wasted a lot of energy braking through corners. Typically I’m pretty good about not braking through corners, but this time I just couldn’t get myself setup right. I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with 1st and 2nd place for the whole race, so I should have made it so that I could have worked with the girl who took 3rd. Oh well. I had fun and got a nice hard ride in.

5. Sunday, we went for a wonderful, warm sunny tandem ride up Blue River Road. I don’t remember how long we were out. It wasn’t really long because we had to be back at the house by a certain time, but it was long enough to feel the good effects of the sun. Oh yeah, it was shorts and short-sleeve jersey weather for most of the weekend!

6. Sunday, put an offer in on the house.

7. Monday, received counteroffer.

That’s all I have for now. I leave for sunny Mexico tomorrow for a nice vacation with Mom. It would be nice if Zach was coming along, but I’m glad to be able to spend some quality time with Mom. We’e going to do a snorkeling tour, and I am going to test out my Olympus 790SW waterproof camera. I’ll be sure to post photos!

lunar eclipse

I stood out in the cold last night, freezing my fingers off! Okay, I did pop in and out of the house to warm up a bit.

I learned that it is quite difficult to take a decent photo of a lunar eclipse. But, I did figure out that a aperture of 4.0 and an exposure of 6 seconds seemed to work okay. ISO was set at 100 in an attempt to reduce noise. Obviously I had the camera set up on a tripod, and was using a zoom lens (70-200mm, set at 200). I was able to reduce most of the camera shake by using the camera’s self-timer. I read that trick somewhere, and I apologize that I can not remember where it was so that I can give due credit. Unfortunately, the photos are still a little fuzzy. I’m not sure if this is due to my horrid eyesight (I have an awful time telling if something is in focus until I actually see the photo. Viewing the photo on the LCD screen afterwards only helps so much for me) or if it’s due to gases and debris in the atmosphere. Yes, I totally just made that theory up, to make myself feel better about my horrible eyesight. I actually don’t know enough about astronomy to know how or if gases and debris would be noticeable via a zoom lens, but I sure am going to go look it up in a moment!

Partial eclipse:

Total eclipse (approximately mid-eclipse):

Total eclipse with one star streak:

I know that they aren’t the best photographs, technically speaking, but they are pretty cool as far as documenting an event that I witnessed, and it was a good experience for playing around with my camera settings. I would have loved to document the eclipse as it progressed through totality, but I set the camera up too late to take more photos of the initial partial eclipse, and then during the total eclipse a huge cloud formation took over the sky. And by huge, I mean the entire sky that I could see was engulfed, and would be for the rest of the night. Oh well, at least I was able to see as much as I did.

ride recaps

Okay, so not really ‘recaps’ since it’s not like I already talked about them. But I was at a loss for a better word!

My riding this week was purely utilitarian- a couple of trips to the grocery store and the library, oh, and a spin class. Sunday’s ride was, I believe, the worst ride that I have ever gone on in my life. It was so blasted cold, and I was not dressed properly, because I was tricked by the seemingly warm, bright sun that was beating down. Well, the wind was not warm. It was bitter, and I thought my ears were going to freeze off. Before I even got out of my neighborhood, my eyes were watering and the tears were, I’m pretty sure anyway, beginning to freeze. So, rather than take the longer, more scenic, less traffic route, I took the straightest, quickest route. Being Sunday afternoon, the traffic was pretty minimal anyway, so it was much better than that route would be during a weekday. I was out because I really wanted to be on my bike, I really wanted to go to the library, and I really wanted egg salad (random craving). Well, I got to the library, and wouldn’t you know it, they are closed on Sundays. I knew this of course, I just hadn’t been thinking. I returned the books I already had to the drop box. I headed over to the grocery store, which is just across the parking lot, only to find that the deli didn’t have egg salad. Darn it! I decided on some chicken salad and some egg potato salad. I headed home, whipped up a sandwich and plopped a side of potato salad down on the plate. The chicken salad was sweet, which I did not care for at all, and the potato salad was bland. Therefore, that only confirmed that this particular ride was indeed the worst ride I’ve ever had.

Friday, after taking Stella for a walk and taking some photos, I decided to try again for the library. It was still cold, but the wind was nonexistent. I bundled up, and made sure my ears were covered this time, just to be smart. I decided to go as slow as I could go. Not because I wouldn’t have been happy going faster, but I wanted to prolong my time outdoors. It was definitely a pure leisurely ride. Once I arrived at the library, I spent a good amount of time wandering up and down the fiction aisles. I sometimes (okay, often) pick books out by the way they pop out at me- sometimes it’s the title, sometimes it’s the color or design of the spine (yeah, yeah “never judge a book by it’s cover”). I’m sure I’m not the only person who does this. I pick up a book that I think might be interesting and read the inside or back cover, or sometimes I even skim over the first page or two. I don’t have to be entirely captivated by the first page, but I like to have some idea that I’ll actually be interested in. My other book choosing method usually is just to find a book by an author that I’ve liked in the past, or an author I’ve heard about and think might be interesting. Anyway, I actually really enjoy my whole decision process. I could (and have) spend hours in a library. Unfortunately, I have too many things to get done right now, so I can not live at the library. Plus, my actually reading time is limited, so it doesn’t make sense to pick out a gazillion books that I won’t have time to read.

Yesterday, I headed to spin class and the coffee shop with Teri and Kat. I thought I was going to die during spin class. My fitness level has definitely decreased since we found out we are moving and I’ve pretty much abandoned any “real” riding. So, I try to make it up in spin class. I was huffing and puffing and I swear my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I think I might have wrote the same thing about last weeks spin class! Basically, I gave it all I had. When the instructor said it was sprint time, I sprinted towards first place. When it was time to climb, I climbed the very biggest hill that I could climb. I know I had the look of suffering written all over my face. Yet, it felt good. I’m glad I gave it all I had. It’ll help me in the long run. I’ve found the faster I am, or the better I can climb, it doesn’t just help my racing, but opens up my opportunities for joining various group rides. Plus, it makes those easier leisure rides seem so much easier!

frog eggs and fungi

Continuing along with my photo shoot from yesterday’s “Beautiful Day,” these photos are more about the subject than technique. Actually, that’s not true. I tried my hardest to get the best quality photos of the subjects that I could. I don’t think any of these were taken with auto settings, except for auto focus. I found it very difficult to photograph the white fungi, my photos tend to either be overexposed or underexposed.

This next photo is a hair out of focus, but I think it’s cool to show anyway. There were a bunch of frog eggs in the creek that I walked across. I’m concerned that it’s too early in the year, especially since we definitely are expecting more cold weather. But I’m not a frog, so what do I know?

And another:

The other cool find was this tree that was absolutely covered in shelf fungi. When I first saw it, I actually thought that someone had stuck Styrofoam plates on the tree for some weird reason. I posted a black & white photo in my last post. In that photo, you can see just how overtaken the tree was. I couldn’t really capture the whole experience unfortunately, but you can see three limbs, from foreground to background, that are covered.

A close up of the center of the photo above:

And one more, if you aren’t bored yet!

There are more photos on my flickr page.

a beautiful day

Yesterday wasn’t terribly cold, and it was unbelievable sunny and cheerful outside. I took Stella for a nice little walk over on the walking trails near our house, and spotted some wonderful photo opportunities. So after our walk, I grabbed my camera and headed out again. I’ve been trying to play around with aperture and all that stuff, rather than just shooting the picture with everything set to auto. While I end up with some dreadful shots, I also am feeling more comfortable with how to turn a dreadful shot into a good photo with a few adjustments. Much better than relying on the preset mods. I still find that I use those occasionally though, out of convenience, or sometimes frustration when I’m striking out completely with the manual settings.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day.

My absolute favorite photo from the day:

It’s definitely more subdued than most of my photos, and it’s a bit overexposed, but I think that’s precisely why I like it so much. There is something about the muted colors, with punches of the berries color, and also that sole leaf flipping up at the tip of the stem, that I really like.