Wood Sprite House on Stuckey Lane -- photo by Ron Altemus
Leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Ron Altemus, Linda Bankerd, Chantal Briere, Sherwood Byers, Sarah Clement, Lou Dall'Orso, Donaro Gardner, Karen Morgan, Stuart Morgan, Sam Perry, Walt Roscello, Mary Scala, Bob Thompson, Patricia Walthers (and making cameo appearances, Tom Short and Alan Kurzweil)
Guests: none
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49862324 According to my Garmin, we did 32.6 miles and climbed 1233' with a maximum grade of 6.8% on Pisgah Marbury Rd. I'd have sworn there were steeper grades than that on Glen Albin and Locust Grove -- but then, what does that Garmin know? Riding on Hawthorne about to make the turn onto Rose Hill my GPS kept telling me to turn left onto Bumpy Oak, skipping most of the ride.
Weather: Sunny, in the low 60s at the start rising to the low 70s by mid-day, with a 14 mph breeze - pretty close to perfect.
AMS: 12.8 in the middle of the pack
Mechanicals/Mishaps: Stuart Morgan broke a shift cable around six miles into the ride. He rode back to the car, drove to the Trek store in Waldorf and got the cable replaced, drove back to the ride start and started riding the route backwards until he rejoined us on Bumpy Oak towards the end of the ride.
Report: A fabulous day for a bike ride, and a wonderful group to do it with, too. I had a grand time riding with a several riders I haven't seen in more than a year, catching up.
At the break in La Plata, Walt showed us the location of a newly opened bake shop half a block from our usual Dash-In stop, and I was happy to see that right next door to it is a newly opened ice cream shop. Those will certainly come in handy this summer!
Folks had such a good time being together they didn't want to leave the parking lot after the ride, staying for more than a half hour chatting with friends.
