Ride Leader: Dan Donahue
This route incorporated a modified Bishop’s Strawberry Festival Ride (no strawberries) through parts of northern and central St. Mary’s Co. Participants were Diana Donahue and Sarah Clement.
Departure at 1:00 p.m. included overcast skies, temps in the low 50’s, and damp trail/road surfaces. Later in the ride the sun came out and temps climbed to the mid-50’s, but the predicted 60 degree high temps never materialized. The ride became more tour-oriented as we took time to visit the interior of Christ Church in Chaptico (a national historic landmark) and the Chaptico Market for lunch (the market is a bike-friendly establishment-probably more friendly to motorcyclists, but still civil to bicyclists). The casual pace (13.0 ams) forced a short detour to ensure arrival back at the starting point prior to darkness.
Unfortunately, as Diana and I were pedaling on Mechanicsville Rd., each of us was accosted by a pick-up truck swerving partway onto the shoulder in a clear attempt to intimidate us. We were barely in sight of each other when the truck swerved, so he had to make a deliberate effort twice to come onto the shoulder. Sarah, who was ahead of us and out of sight, reported that she did not have this experience, so I suspect that the truck may have turned off into one of the housing developments along this portion of Mechanicsville Road. We have a partial identification of the truck and will be on the lookout for it. We will also be speaking to some local police officer friends about what can be done. At a minimum, I would think that the driver could be charged with a violation of the 3-foot rule, reckless driving, and/or reckless endangerment.
On a positive note, it was a very enjoyable ride except for the above incident. Diana did suffer a flat but, fortunately, as darkness was falling, she was able to walk her bike ½ mile back to our home. She had slipped behind as I had put on speed to try to catch up to Sarah. There were no mechanicals on this trip.
I’m now re-thinking the idea of leading weapon-less rides!
DAN
