Tag: RAMM Gears

A massive crowd of beach cruisers, dirt bikes, and steel framed roadies “older than me” descended upon Mary Munford this morning (38 in total). A couple ran, most rode. Directions were given to Wedding Singer, who was the most seasoned F3 vet at the time that there was in fact no runner Q and that they would be on their own for routes this morning. I laid out the route to the hoards of cyclists that we would be heading down to the Carillon in the safest way I could think of for a lap or two around the lake and return the same way. Of course, it wouldnt be an amateur day if we didnt get lost in Windsor farms…so we did that twice! All in all, it was huge fun (unless you were the Q, then it was a panic attack) and everybody presumably made it back to the starting point. No cars were left in the parking lot, anyways.

BB title comes from a conversation I had with Wheelie when he showed up to run with his 2.0 on amateur bike day, and that was his response. Touche’, my man.

A huge shout out to our two FNG’s, LoLo and C-Note….a father daughter duo friends of the Mudd family. I hope they had fun and will come back out soon….maybe we can convince C-Note to keep that hundo a month he pays to fuel the Seal Team Hummers, and buy us lunch with it instead! Here’s to hoping, anyways! Glad you came out, I hope to see you again soon.

I’ll go ahead and throw Wedding Singer the apology of the week for dumping the runner Q on him at 0527. I assume it went well.

Lab Rat apologizes…

A combination of RAMMers, Gear-heads, and early risers tackled today’s iteration of RAMM. Only the RAMMers got to experience today’s long overdue interval plan. Here’s how it went:

Group into 4 milers, 5 milers, and 6 milers. Everyone goes north on Commonwealth and right on Monument and returns the same way.

15 minute warm up at a relatively easy pace
15 minute pickups which includes 1 minute of fast pace followed by 30 seconds of recovery. 10 of these, reversing course after the 5th interval.
15 minute cool down

Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

Moleskin
It’s been over a year since we did this variation of the fartlek at RAMM. Based on the discussion post run, everyone (including Marv) seemed to enjoy the faster pace. Speed work is always good to mix in to break up the monotony of always running for distance.

The idea is to stick together in your pace group. Phonics and Faceplant did a good job of doubling back on the recovery part of the intervals to make sure YHC’s group stayed together. Next time YHC will be a little more explicit about that desire to stick together. Thanks to Upgrade and Bleeder for captaining their groups respectively.

Bootleg forgot to turn around and may still be running had he not seen the six mile group on the reverse course.

Is TYA reading this BB? We know Marv won’t.

Happy Birthday No Tools.

Announcements
– Puppy Pile 6/29. Marv has the Q.
– Amateaur RAMM Gears next week with Lab Rat on the Q. Bring something that rolls for a fun day peddling on the streets. 2.0s welcome?

Splinter out

This was the second route YHC constructed in response to Kubota’s “there are no new routes out of Mary” challenge. It goes something like this:

4 Milers
West on Grove
Left on E Lock Ln
Cross Cary on a diagonal to the left and take Old Locke Ln
Take Old Locke Ln as it veers to the right, take to the end and turn around and head back the way you came taking a
Left on Lockgreen Circle, at the intersection of Lockgreen Court, keep on the Circle
Run the Lockgreen Circle
Upon completing the circle, continue on Lockgreen Circle back to Old Locke Lane; take a left
Cross Cary on a left diagonal onto E Lock Ln, continue on to Grove
Right on Grove and back to the VSF

5 Milers
West on Grove
Left on E Lock Ln
Cross Cary on a diagonal to the left and take Old Locke Ln
Take Old Locke Ln as it veers to the right, take to the end and turn around and head back the way you came taking a
Left on Lockgreen Circle, at the intersection of Lockgreen Court, keep on the Circle
Run the Lockgreen Circle
Upon completing the circle, continue on Lockgreen Circle back to Old Locke Lane; take a left on Old Locke Lane
After crossing Dover on your right, break left through the tree line onto Pocahontas Ave
Take Pocahontas until it dead ends on E Hillcrest and take a right
At the top of the hill, take a right on Hillcrest
Turn left on Cary and immediate right on Stratford Crescent
Take a right on Oak Lane and take it to Grove
Right on Grove and back to the VSF

6 Milers
West on Grove
Left on E Lock Ln
Cross Cary on a diagonal to the left and take Old Locke Ln
Take Old Locke Ln as it veers to the right, take to the end and turn around and head back the way you came taking a
Left on Lockgreen Circle, at the intersection of Lockgreen Court, keep on the Circle
Run the Lockgreen Circle
Upon completing the circle, continue on Lockgreen Circle back to Old Locke Lane; take a left on Old Locke Lane
After crossing Dover on your right, break left through the tree line onto Pocahontas Ave
Take Pocahontas until it dead ends on E Hillcrest and take a right
At the top of the hill, continue left on W Hillcrest and go down the hill
At the bottom of the hill take a left on Hillwood and continue on Charmian
Charmian will veer to the right, continue to take it and follow its loop (when it hits Poplar, continue on the loop to the left NOT right)
It will dead end at E Hillcrest and take a right
At the top of the hill, take a right on Hillcrest
Turn left on Cary and immediate right on Stratford Crescent
Take a right on Oak Lane and take it to Grove
Right on Grove and back to the VSF

BT informed YHC that Lockgreen Court was a gated community, so we had to improvise at the end to make up the distance. The intrepid 6 milers decided to challenge the perimeter and alarms were triggered at the gate house. 6 milers were deterred. Compound secure.

A humid morning for a run. Though it could be a lot worse. For example, Handshake had a leg hanging out of the grill of his car. A giant Robin got crushed through the small grill opening. YHC speculates that the bird was going to fly over the car, and then noticed the giant dog on the hood in his path. Opting for the low approach, he met a fatal ending.

Feeling the need to reciprocate the great HVAC service Handshake provide Saab recently, Saab enthusiastically and quickly volunteered to remove the chicken sized bird. Handshake produced nitrile gloves and Saab began tugging on a leg as the extraction process commenced. With a swift pull and the bird was free.

Despite attempts to resuscitate the bird, he was pronounced dead and buried under some leaves. If only someone had a shovel for a proper burial…..

No Tools took us out.

Always Be Tapering,

Lockjaw

Westbound and Down….22 Road Scholars are going to to do what Kubota said can’t be done. Kubota commented to YHC that Mary was tapped out of new routes. YHC found not one, but two new routes. One will be unveiled in a coming week, but here is the other.

The Routes

North on Westmoreland to Broad and head West.

4s turn left on Willow Lawn Drive, a left on Patterson, a right on Woodlawn, and a right on Grove back to the SF.

5s turn left on Libbie and left on Grove back to the SF.

6s turn left on Morningside Dr to Libbie (with a brief jaunt on Fitzhugh for a block). Right on Libbie and a left on Grove back to the SF.

Marv took us out.

We did have one FNG. Welcome Banana Pancakes, or BP for those into brevity.

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

20 warriors of The Gloom came to ride or run their way through the soup that was the latest edition of the Run/Ride at Mary Munford. Temps were sunny and 70 with stickiness.

Routes: With the Stanley Cup Finals starting on Monday, YHC pulled the Hockey Stick Route out of the archives…east on Grove to Malvern (left) until each of the following…top of railroad bridge (4 milers), Saunders and Laburnum (5 milers), or right on Laburnum to AP Hill Statue (6 milers).

Sippy and Phonics tore off to complete the 6 miles. A gaggle of runners, including Splinter, Saab, Offshore, Handshake, YHC, and Abba (aka, “I don’t care about that.”) hit the 5 mile route. Bleeder, Honey Do, Lug Nut, and others hit the four. Something happened to a bunch of other runners.

Riders rode.

Number-am-a, Name-a-ram-a, YHC took us out.

Announcements:

Summer Tour starts tomorrow…26 officials AOs and 9 extra credit options.

Memorial Day Convergence is Monday at 7 a.m. Meet at the parking lot next to the Tredegar Iron Works.

AO starts Thursday in Mechanicsville…The Anvil. Boot camp. Watch for additional AOs this summer, including The Bellows, The Tongs, and The Chisel.

Splinter is looking for PAX to staff the 24 hour F3RVA Technology Service Center.

Fifteen men from Richmond and the surrounding areas converged at Mary Munford to end the week the right way.  

The Routes

6 Milers – MM down Grove to Henri to Campus Drive to UR Drive around the lake, up Ridgeway to Fairway to Robins to Iris to Stonehurst Green to St. Andrews Lane back to Grove to Mary Mumford.

5 Milers – The same except instead of running around the lake, they ran to Ridgeway.  It is also likely that they did not turn onto Stonehurst.

4 Milers – The same except possibly did not go all the way along Campus Drive.

 

The joke of my nickname is that English is one subject I do not feel qualified to teach.  But, since this is known as the Haiku Route, here we go.

 

What Perfect weather

Let’s go for a ride or run

Down Grove Here we go!

 

It’s that time of year

Marv and Sippy Cup discuss

Little League Baseball

 

Up Ridgeway is tough

Not easy to run and talk

But the views are great!

 

The Road less traveled

Let’s take St. Andrews to Grove

Is the way we went

 

Back on Grove we go

Still laughing at that poem.

Googled it at home.

COT – Numberama, Name-o-rama, Announcements YHC took us out.

NMS

After attempting to create a new route, YHC decided to select one of his favorite routes from Lockjaw’s many.  As YHC was giving the directions, Sippy said that it was the Haiku route?  Well, I gave it a try.  I preparing myself mentally for the critiques.

As YHC was running with Marv and Sippy, he suggested that we run down St. Andrew’s.  After doing this, Sippy and YHC had a discussion about Robert Frost and The Road Less Traveled.  Sippy then told YHC about the following poem from a children’s book.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by. . .

Since then I’ve been completely lost.

Thanks for nothing, Robert Frost!”

 

He then told YHC about a poem that ended with Infinity minus one which was also hilarious.  These got me to the end of the route.  Thanks for Sharing Sippy!

Announcements

• Early Risers –  4 AM trail run – tomorrow (Saturday, 5/18/19)
• New Thursday AO coming to Daville -https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2019/05/16/new-ao-the-anvil-coming-to-daville/
• Puppy Pile – June 1 at 7:05 AM.  (The last Saturday in May)
• Need Q for Breaking Bread – Sunday before Memorial Day.
• Summer Tour starts Saturday, May 25.  We are doing patches this year.  A Preblast is coming shortly.  F3RVA Monthly Challenge
• Prayers for Swirly and his M.  We are all think about you.  

Gotta Run!

Phonics

 

Eighteen intrepid runners and peddlers descended upon Mary to traverse the inner and outer reaches of downtown RVA.

As an ode to Lockjaw, YHC asked each group of runners (4, 5, 6’s) to choose their preferred LJ route. After some very brief deliberation among the groups, runners were off.

Choices of Reverse-Carillon and Monument Avenue to Stuart Circle seemed to be the predominant choice. In a slight breach of protocol, some chose to go old school and traverse Grove Avenue…in the interest of better scenery.

Announcements:

• Lab Rat is raising funds this month for his non-profit to support special needs kids. They have a trailer (coffee cart) and are also receptive to advertising. Please donate.
• Shakedown will be shaving his head again (Dr Phil style maybe) and is accepting donations for another good cause. (YHC doesn’t view this as much of a sacrifice if it grows back 🙂
• I think there is a special workout going on tomorrow morning at 6:00am…see Vinny for details.

Saab Abides

20 seasoned running vets and Gearheads showed up to support BT’s RAMM VQ with a new route. Here’s how it went:

THANG:

West on Grove to Tuckahoe, over Cary and down Paxton. Loop back up Ampthill over Cary and down Roslyn. Continue over Grove to Patterson and hang a right. 4’s take Woodlawn to Grove and back to home base. 5’s take Hamilton to Grove and back, and 6’s detour through Stonewall Ct on the way to Lafayette, then right on Grove back home.

NMS:

YHC was happy to find a route we hadn’t done yet and felt like we needed a little hill work. Also, it gave us a chance to run through the heart of the annual city Garden Tour. Thankfully, Ampthill was early in the run because it’s a doozy. Mileage was almost spot on, but the 5’s needed a another tenth to reach the mark. All in all YHC thinks it was a success and hopes it makes the rotation. Lug and Swirly headed out early and got an extra 3 miles; nice work boys. Great to see J’ville back after his 50k and drag Picabo away from the grips of competitive tennis. Hitchhiker left it all on the field; way to push my man! YHC tried to talk a little baseball with Marv and Sippy early on, but couldn’t keep up so enjoyed some hardball banter with Flatty on the tail end.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Field day next week, get your unis buttoned up and make sure you get Mother’s Day squared away. Positive vibes to the AT crew who are crushing over 100 miles this weekend (TYA, Circle K, Ollivander, The Whittler, someone else?). There was some other stuff but really can’t remember.

Be awesome and have a great weekend!

25 of Richmond’s Finest came to run the ride.

YHC called the Snake River route and off we went. Snake River is the isomer equivalent of Tuesday’s Kingpin route. Taking aside the physical chemistry, it can be stated that there were a lot of hills covered this week.

Way to grind those hills out.

Announcements:

• Puppy Pile – today – 7:05 – See Marv
• Breaking Bread – tomorrow – Upchuck needs some assistance
• Field Day May 11 – See preblast to identify your nano region captain

Time to Taper,

Lockjaw

Twenty Four gathered
in the gloom for a run or
bike ride as you please

The weather was nice
Cool temps with a little wind;
great spring running time

Haiku is the call
Since YHC lived there and
matriculated

Offshore and Phonics
received the campus his-tree
tour while on the run

Offshore likes the lake
but does not like getting lost
in Devils Pitchfork

Phonics was looking
for some extra credit so
he ran up Bostwick

Talking scare on the
slog up Towana to Grove
and we finished strong