Leader: Catherine Ade
Members: Steve Palincsar, Janet Shipko, Harry Kidd, Linda Bankerd, Sherwood Byers, Tom Short, Joan Oppel, Lisa Petersen, Rick Hagen, Walt Roscello
Guests: David Wendland, Mackenzie Love
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44840964
Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy with 7 mph winds. Temperature 42 degrees when we started, rising to a high of 56 by 2 pm.
AMS: 13.2
Mechanicals/Mishaps: Steve has been having an on-off problem with the 1x drivetrain on his Alchemy throwing the chain about every thousand miles or so. Today, the Alchemy threw the chain twice. He says he’s looking into a chain keeper, if he can find one that fits the bike.
Report:
We left the parking lot as one large group, with Sherwood leading the B riders out in front. The first dropped chain occurred within a half mile of the start but was quickly remedied by a few CC riders hanging out at the back of the pack. By this point we had divided into two distinct groups, with the B group well off the front at this point. The first half of the ride was beautiful and uneventful, providing the perfect opportunity to introduce our guests to some of the great roads southern Maryland has to offer. We stopped briefly to allow Steve to fix his fender mount before blasting down the hill towards South County Café.
At the café the B group was waiting outside, taking advantage of the unexpectedly mild weather for mid-December. We noticed one of our guests had not made it to the restaurant. They eventually arrived at the end of our lunch stop, clocking in several bonus miles resulting from a wrong turn that leas them to follow an unrelated group of cyclists.
At this point we formed three groups: one consisting of the faster B riders and two CC groups that left the restaurant at different times. Our guest took a few minutes to use the facilities and recover from the bonus miles before heading out with the later CC group. We meandered through the Franklin Manor neighborhood, stopping for a few minutes to walk out onto the pier that extends out into the Chesapeake Bay. Our guests had never been here before, and we took the opportunity to take some pictures of the shore in addition to some gratuitous Chesapeake Bay selfies.
The route back to the parking lot had us taking some terrific back roads. Steve’s chain dropped once again, which was fixed within a few minutes. On these winding, rolling back roads our guest’s bonus miles caught up with them, and they needed to slow down take it easy for the last 10 miles.
Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate my birthday and helped me lead my first ride!
