Members: Tom Short, Melissa Watson, Bob Howell, Mike Bivens, Linda Bankerd, Roscoe Williamson, Andrea Noseck, Karen Morgan, Stu Morgan, Chris Fairhall, Janell Saunders, Sherwood Byers
Guests: Shane Nop
Ride leader: Debby Bowman
Route: 47 miles, 1945 feet of climbing, https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5054117
Average speed: Just under 14 mph at the back
Weather: Warm sunshine, cloudless blue skies, temps in the 60s.
Mishaps and mechanicals: Ride leader had a flat tire at the first turn.
Farm yard animal roll call: some all-black cows, a friendly horse who said hello as Janell and I rode past, several friendly dogs, a rooster crowing in the early afternoon
Half-brown, half-white goat on Fishers Station Rd: must have been hiding today. But his goat friends were out in the yard with the large fluffy white dogs.
It was a great bike ride on a beautiful day. We had a large turnout, 14 riders in all. The start was less than auspicious, as my rear tire went flat, suddenly, completely and noisily, less than half a mile from the start. Shane and Andrea heard the noise and stopped with me; Andrea tried to get the attention of the riders in front but they didn't hear her and continued on ahead. A friendly driver pulled up alongside Janell, rolled down his window and told her that someone in her group had stopped with a problem. So Janell, Linda, Bob and Sherwood turned back and joined the pit crew. Together they replaced the tube, found the hole in the tire, examined it to determine if we were seeing a small piece of glass or part of the tire, glued a boot over the hole just in case, and reassembled everything and pumped up the tire so it was good as new. We didn't find any glass or other debris in the tire, so we don't know what caused the hole but it must have been sharp.
After that the ride was uneventful. Tom stopped briefly at the first stop and then took advantage of a short cut, as he had just returned from the other side of the world and was low on sleep. We look forward to riding with him again and hearing about his travels soon. The rest of us spread out on the road but reunited at the rest stops and again at the end for some post-ride conversation.
The route was one that we've done a couple of times before. It was mostly clockwise, going up to Harwood at first, then down Owensville/Sudley and Swamp Circle to our first stop in Deale. Then we continued south on Rockhold Creek, Deale Rd and Franklin Gibson to Leitch Rd (the easy way), Town Point and Fairhaven (the hard way) to Friendship Rd. Then we cut over on Boyds Turn and took 5th St down to the bay. After enjoying a stop at Chesapeake Market's outdoor tables, we rode up Friendship Rd and headed back via Wilson/McKendree/Jewel and a spin through the Pindells.
After the ride I drove down to Wrighton Rd to check out the road work that began there recently. There are no shoulders on Bay Front Rd near Route 4 and the pavement is milled down in spots. Also the service road on the west side of Route 4 south of Wrighton appears closed. We saw detour signs on both sides on the highway including one with a bicycle on it. However the work only affects that immediate area.
Many thanks to everyone who joined me for this ride!
