Leader: Ron Altemus
Member: Steve Palincsar
Route: Regular TdeA routing to Bryan's Road and then exploration of the Timber Ridge subdivisions working our way back to Marshall Hall Road. A left, then right on Arbor to loop through Strawberry Hills Estates, retrace back to Bryan's Road. After a rest stop at the MacDonalds, continued retracing to Old Marshall Hall Rd. We planned an out and back to Poplar Hill before retracing back to Accokeek Rd/Livingston Rd to return to the start. Advertised as 20.3 miles, 489' elevation change.
Weather: Sunny, temps staying basically at 60-61 degrees, shifting 15-17 mph winds out of the entire western quadrant, with gusts up to 30 mph.
AMS: maybe ten
Mechanicals/Mishaps: a couple but nothing serious - 1) ride leader forgot to load the course to his Garmin but fortunately Steve had loaded it to his, plus he had a cue sheet; 2) ride leader's bike got blown over which caused the rear fender to loosen producing tire squeal which was corrected with a bit of stay bending.
Report: route was advertised as being considerably different then the usual TdeA/BR ride at 20 miles, very flat., and NO down Marshall Hall Road and NO up Barry's Hill. It was aimed at the casual rider who hadn't been on the bike much at all in 2025, or anyone else who fit that category.
Traffic on the beltway and 210 was heavy but our route was surprisingly vehicle free until the final stretch on Livingston Rd back to the firehouse. The firehouse parking lot seemed to be very windy and we had several stretches with strong headwinds and a few unsteadying gusts. After turning onto Old Marshall Hall Rd, we encountered an unrelenting fierce wind and the decision was made to shorten by simply turning onto Accokeek Rd instead of out and back to Poplar Hill. Even with the shorter distance (only 16 miles), it was nice to be out riding, getting in some miles, and plenty of fresh air.
