tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-110578792012-04-12T17:21:26.166-05:00Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-514496421902046912008-09-05T10:07:00.003-05:002008-09-05T10:20:20.854-05:00

Great job to all who rode/raced on Sunday.This was my best 100 yet. After four times riding this race, my focus for the fifth ride was on the fun- try to ride with folks, and keep myself out of the pain cave. Going into the race I had no agenda and no time goal, rather I had a strategy to ride within myself and not suffer by chasing anyone or getting too close to the 'red zone.' With that in mind

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-70505638480467405722008-05-15T08:13:00.002-05:002008-05-15T08:30:33.380-05:00

Raced my first road race of the year last night, the Greenbelt "training" race. It's a good experience in concept. Ride out to the race- nice 30 min warm up, race for an hour, ride home for 30 mins for cool-down.I could be grumpy about some of the riding etiquette in the race, but really it's not worth writing about.I came away with somewhere around 10th place, although the 'official' standings (

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-2291582394695507942008-05-01T12:13:00.005-05:002008-05-01T13:09:40.007-05:00

Time to capture this while it's fresh in my head. On Sunday I raced in the Men's Expert 30-39 class at Potomac Velo's annual NMBS Greenbrier Challenge. This race looms over me every year for a few reasons. It happens early in the season and my slacker ass tends to be less than ready for the hurt that this course pours on, and more importantly the competition that the it attracts. I've flatted at

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-40255333836376235092007-11-28T16:14:00.000-05:002007-11-28T16:34:55.419-05:00

Over Thanksgiving, we flew to Minneapolis to spend the holiday my in-laws. We flew on Northwest Airlines. Northwest, formerly known to me as 'Northworst,' did an excellent job with pretty much everything. We arrived 5 minutes early on Tuesday night prior to Thanksgiving - not super impressive as that wasn't the 'rush' day, but on Sunday, we arrived back in Washington 30 minutes early, which to me

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-61439468633181753452007-09-26T12:41:00.000-05:002007-09-26T12:47:04.948-05:00

Lots to blog about, but little time.One thing I should mention is that our team is organizing a 'cross race in DC. In fact it will be held in my backyard, almost literally.DCCX 2007A Day of Cyclocross Racing in Our Nation’s CapitalPresented by DCMTB/City BikesU.S. Armed Forces Retirement HomeRock Creek Church Rd, NW & Upshur St, NWWashington, DC 20011Registration is open for DCCX! The race will

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-83779422822036497422007-08-08T14:58:00.000-05:002007-08-08T15:13:33.201-05:00

First, I rode an 82 mile Mass-Sky ride in Saturday's heat. Sunday was the Cranky Monkey dirt crit. It's a full gas effort for 60 minutes plus one lap- a.k.a. 70 minutes.I was carpooling with Steve (teammate and neighbor who lives behind us). At about 10:30 we realized the race started at 12, not 1. Neither of us had our bikes in any working order. His BB was pulled and in pieces, my bike hadn't

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-91017551663638523572007-06-18T17:00:00.000-05:002007-06-18T17:01:55.592-05:00

I came into this race with the hope making a top 5 finish. I had suffered badly at the 24 Hours of Big Bear the weekend before and spent most of the week resting and doing recovery rides and fighting back a sour stomach and general badness. Thursday and Friday’s rides left me feeling ready for some hard efforts and I wanted to get back some dignity and see how I would do in a sprint, which from

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1167674880417735852007-01-01T12:18:00.000-05:002007-06-13T09:05:56.480-05:00

Happy New Year!Before going on to blog about the trip I am currently on, I must first give an update on the trip up to Natz with Evan, Judd, Kyle and Josef. The trip began on a rough note for me. Although I planned ahead and packed, my company had it's Christmas party Friday night (the night before we left). I truly meant to not drink too much, and chose to drinkt wine thinking I would avoid

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1166803403562084252006-12-22T10:38:00.000-05:002007-01-26T12:43:37.173-05:00

A friend sent me this interesting and frustrating piece on the WABA website:http://www.waba.org/new/issues/NPSMallStudy.phpIn a nutshell, this draft Environmental Assessment for the Visitor Transportation Study for the National Mall and Surrounding Park Areas failed to take into account the thousands of visitors and commuters that bicycle in the National Mall. But they did include Segway users.

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1166202556471588502006-12-15T11:31:00.000-05:002006-12-15T12:41:55.776-05:00

An article in The Washington Post today Some Metro Riders May Reach for Car Keys discussed reactions from Metro riders to the potential plan to raise fares in order to meet Metro's budget shortfall.The Post included angry quotes from riders who are upset about the fare increase. While I don't agree that the increases should be as high as proposed, and it is likely that the hike will be lower in

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1165346315053200082006-12-05T14:08:00.000-05:002006-12-13T09:34:39.193-05:00

What would a 'cross weekend be without having a good evening of drinking before race day?Again this happened, again, it paid off.A brief recap since the Lower Allen race. I did two other 'cross races, the Richmond Ciclismo 8th out of 20 in the Bs, and a race over the Thanksgiving break up in Sterling, MA, 59th out of 89 in the Bs. The Richmond race consisted of a relatively sparse field, and I

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1165344542525576952006-12-05T13:17:00.000-05:002006-12-08T12:30:15.436-05:00

As usual I have posted far fewer blogs on the 'cross season than I originally hoped. It's been a great first season though.At most of the races, I was accompanied by Evan and Judd. Judd and I made our way up through the C's over the season. Evan, in a whole different league, beat up the Bs for the better part of the season.Each race had its own highlights, but things really started getting

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1159837564511118702006-10-02T19:00:00.000-05:002006-10-03T15:22:08.380-05:00

I don't have too many words to say, I will say that I had a blast. I started at the back- 3 people off the back to be exact - out of around 65 or something and I only had use of the big ring after lap one. That said, combined with no training since the SM 100 I was pleased with my performance- 5th.I'd been planning to do 'cross since late October last year. But one thing or another got in the way

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1157473565204314172006-09-05T10:22:00.000-05:002006-09-06T21:46:45.253-05:00

It has been a while since I've posted, and the laziness seems to continue. However it is less laziness than lack of time due to home improvement projects, work and biking. In any event, there are several half-finished race reports in draft format that will appear at some point. In the meantime the biggest update is that I rode my 4th Shenandoah Mountain 100 this past weekend. Cycling news has a

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1154012202321267572006-07-27T09:54:00.000-05:002006-07-27T22:34:05.266-05:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14059185/I really hope this is simply a natural occurance. Is it possible for someone to have elevated levels of testosterone randomly? What about elite athletes? Is their body chemistry such that it can have strange levels at times?This is an interesting post on an MSNBC message board. http://boards.live.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?ThreadID=42774What I get out of this

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1153768425261212902006-07-24T13:53:00.000-05:002006-07-24T14:13:45.316-05:00

I wrote up a little report from last week's Wednesday at Wakefield race.It's posted on our team blog/site www.dcmtb.com.I am working on a report for this past weekend's racing, 2 big races, Girro di Coppi and Michaux #2 The Curse of Dark Hollow.

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1152630755808605402006-07-11T09:20:00.000-05:002006-07-11T10:12:35.866-05:00

After a frustrating day of home improvement on Saturday, I was granted a permission slip to skip out on kitchen rennovation duties and head down to Front Royal for a big road ride.I joined Evan and Judd for the ride, and we left DC at 7:00AM on the nose. The weather was good, sunny, warm but not too humid. We started in Front Royal, headed down the Fort Valley past Elizabeth Furnace to Luray,

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1151637297334383832006-06-29T22:04:00.000-05:002006-06-29T22:14:57.353-05:00

It's a popular blog topic this week, but the end of the monsoon June is welcome to many. I rode through monsoon, each day, mostly short rides and thus didn't meet my workout plans.Yesterday I joined the Wednesday Coppi ride in Clarendon/Arlington. Always a good group, and a great hill beating.John B was there leading the pack as usual. Some other regulars as well as new folks that I hadn't met

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1151447605318227762006-06-27T17:33:00.000-05:002006-06-28T18:15:40.983-05:00

I actually got out for a ride this AM. Dodging the rain showers and started doing some hills, was up by American University since everything in Rock Creek is a total mess- roads closed, trees down, mud and debris all over the place. It's been a while since I've seen the Creek that high, the waterfall at Pierce Mill wasn't there- in that, the water is so high, the existence of the falls caused

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1151076956825427392006-06-23T10:15:00.000-05:002006-06-23T10:35:56.850-05:00

I'd intended to do the first Wednesday @ Wakefield race this week, but work kept me late for the first half of the week- 8AM-8PM days Monday through Wednesday, so W@W didn't happen. It's a bummer as I'd really hoped to do the whole series this summer. But never fear, I'll be there for the remaining 3 races. There's always another race.This Sunday is the first Cranky Monkey race of a four-race

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1150310642820302712006-06-14T13:30:00.000-05:002006-06-23T10:15:19.616-05:00

This was my 4th and best 24 hour mountain bike race. Why best? read on. These events are so huge, it's hard to focus a blog entry without going off onto multiple tangents. There's getting to the event, which was particularly special this year as I rode co-pilot with Mike in the 1970's era ? Grumman Curbmaster that is the "Meatwagon" or, our City Bikes team truck. There she is hiding behind the

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1149651010361191552006-06-06T22:27:00.000-05:002006-06-14T13:56:40.260-05:00

The team is set, and the weekend is around the corner.Check out the team site.I'm a little bummed not to be doing the Coppi ride tomorrow, but coach JB says to do a shorter zone 3 and then rest up for Saturday's start.To all the folks on the Wed. hill ride, hope it's a good one, and see you next week.

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1148654265044057492006-05-26T09:03:00.000-05:002006-05-27T15:07:30.256-05:00

Fellow City Bikes team member, and Chain Reaction Director, Eric Welp asked me to put up a link to Chain Reaction. www.shawecovillage.org Chain Reaction is re-opening on June 1, at their new location- check out their site to learn more.This photo/art/image is taken directly from Gwadzilla. I could not have set it up better, so there it is.Gwadzilla also added a comment relating to my wife's bike

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1147732831182554652006-05-15T17:25:00.000-05:002006-05-25T21:47:41.093-05:00

A huge thank you to the neighborhood kids. I'm totally impressed, thankful and happy.The same kids who saw the non-neighborhood kid steal my wife's bike showed up this evening with it. In my last post I mentioned that three kids were playing basketball when some other kid, who they didn't know showed up and stole the bike.When it happened we asked them if they knew who it was. They said they

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11057879.post-1147491533277450672006-05-12T22:20:00.000-05:002006-05-15T08:35:39.726-05:00

Be on the lookout!My wife's Trek was stolen tonight. We were about to leave and she had to run back in the house for something, I stepped in to get a phone call, and when we came back outside my wife caught a 12-14 year old kid riding down the alley on her bike. I was still on the phone, she started yelling, I came out and jumped on my bike, but the kid had obviously picked the right way to run,

Matt Donahuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16229811529917220103noreply@blogger.com0