Leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Joan Oppel, Catherine Ade, Sonja Newman, Jackie & Randy Schoch, Harry Kidd, Ellen Goodwin, Tom Short, Janell Saunders, Holly Carr, Len Wilkinson, Ray Luckenbach, Dave VanAmayden, Ron Altemus, Lou Dall'Orso, Linda Bankerd. We were also joined for part of the ride by Dan and Diana Donahue.
Guests: None
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42976156 54.6 mi, 2216' elevation gain. I also made a 36 mile route that started at Baggett Park, the longer route's first rest stop, where a few of the riders started.
Weather: Partly to mostly sunny with low humidity and a nice breeze; high 70s at the start rising to the high 80s. Capital Weather Gang gave it 8/10; I thought it was just about a perfect day for a 55 mile bike ride.
AMS: 14.1. Moving Time 03:52:23, Stopped Time 02:12:4
Mechanicals/Mishaps: Ellen had a bad day today. We'd no sooner crossed Three Notch Highway and got onto Morganza Turner Rd than she had a flat tire right next to the -- well, I'm not quite sure what that is.
The repair was complicated by a spare tube with a stem too short for the rim, making pumping impossible. I know she's not the first to have been in that fix. However, with Joan Oppel helping, no flat stands a chance.
Unfortunately before she made it as far as Baggett Park where the rest of the group was waiting, Ellen was stung by an insect. By the time we arrived at Social on Fenwick in Leonardtown, she was getting a reaction that needed antihistamines and made for a challenging second half of the ride.
Ride report: I'm not usually one for parties, but if there's one thing I do love, it's a bike ride. And what better way to celebrate a birthday than to invite all your friends to come on a bike ride?
We left Mechanicsville Elementary on Old Village Rd and went across Rt 5 on Old Flora Corner, taking Flora Corner to Rt 6 south, walking across Three Notch Highway (since the slip lanes and "improvements" to the intersection make it impossible for cyclists to ride across) onto Morganza Turner.
We took Morganza Turner south to Laurel Grove and took that to Baggett Park, where we had a rest stop, joined up with riders doing the shorter route, and waited for Joan and Ellen to fix the flat tire.
Leaving the park, we rode through the Loveville Mennonite area on Bishop, Friendship School and Jones Rds to Macintosh, Hollywood and into downtown Leonardtown.
Here we are at Social on Fenwick, having arrived fortuitously at the very moment that the folks sitting at all the tables outside decided they were done with lunch. Either that, or they saw us coming and ran.
That's me at the bottom right with the birthday muffin the restaurant staff presented me with, complete with flaming marshmallow instead of burning birthday candle, and a lovely birthday card signed by all the riders.
Social at Fenwick turned out to be a lovely place with good food and very pleasant outdoor seating for a large, unannounced group of cyclists on their way through Southern Maryland.
Credit for discovering Social at Fenwick goes to Catherine Ade, who after our Piney Point Lighthouse Metric said wouldn't it be fun to have a ride that stopped for lunch in Leonardtown, and found Social through internet research and map reconnaissance. It turned out to be a perfect choice.
After lunch we headed south on Rt 5 and took Fairgrounds to Rt 4, then Brown Rd to Hickory Hill and a rest stop at Bradford's Neighborhood Market, the newly revitalized and reopened former McKay's even better as a rest stop than it was before McKay's closed.
We then took Macintosh all the way up to Clover Hill and crossed Three Notch Highway onto Sandgates, past the locked portolets at the dock and up to Three Notch Highway, crossing onto Loveville and taking Kavanaugh and Laurel Grove up to the Three Notch Trail.
By now, the clouds had mostly cleared and the sun was out. But Sandgates was shaded, as was Laurel Grove. The Three Notch Trail was so shaded this late in the afternoon it was hard to see the poles, and it made for a very cool and relaxed finish to the ride.
To all who came, thank you for having made it such a wonderful day for me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
