As Reggie put it, it was a "'The weather man lied again ride' no 60 degree temps, no sunshine, a lot of fog and wet roads" out in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, just as it was in Accokeek. The overcast finally did clear up, but not until everyone had departed Harwood for the trip back home.
There were many cyclists in the Southern HS parking lot: most Potomac Pedalers on Richard and Nancy's A and B rides, a good sized group in the far corner wearing racing team kit -- ABRT, I think -- and for my B/CC version, Joan Oppel, Linda and Paul Bankerd and Barbara Hoover.
Although the same total distance, this route was different from the A/B in several respects. At the start, we went down Polling House rather than Harwood -- a bit more rolling, somewhat less sustained downhill, better, I thought for warm up on a chilly feeling morning -- and joined up with Sands just as the tail end of the A/B ride cruised by.
For the next 25 miles, the routes were the same until we crossed the bridge over the Rockhold Creek in Deale. The conventional route goes straight down Deale Rd. to the rest stop; we instead turned down Drum Point Rd and rode past modest beach cottages in Owings Beach and Masons Beach, winding through quiet streets along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay before rejoining the main route on Deale Rd.
After the rest stop, we again departed from the conventional route, turning left on Bay Front and crossing back over Rockhold Creek to Nutwell Sudley, a pretty road that seldom features in our routes.
We were the last ones back, AMS in the mid-13s, feeling once again how much fun you can have on a day that really isn't all that nice.
