Ride leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Norm Lisy
At the park in Galesville
Weather: a sunny summer day, 70s at the start, 95 by early afternoon.
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21901552 A new twist on the classic ride to Galesville, with the ride start relocated to Harwood (Southern HS) and all of Polling House and Nutwell added. 45 miles, 1952' of elevation gain.
Mishaps & mechanicals: Norm had a flat on Rutland going through the underpass beneath Rt 50. The tire proved rather recalcitrant, fighting us all the way. At least there was plenty of shade in the tunnel.
AMS: 13.1
Years ago, we used to ride to Galesville a lot, starting from either Allen Pond Park in Bowie or from the Davidsonville Park & Ride. I don't recall actually leading a ride to Galesville more than once or twice, and it's been a few years since I was there. Things happened.
They changed the roads around Allen Pond Park and I never really liked going through the new neighborhood, and after the hit and run on the Central Avenue bridge a lot of the fun went out of that route.
There was George Schneider's "Death Ride," when Ken Bess died of a heart attack on St George Barber Road. For years afterwards I'd get creeped out every time I rode on it or even heard the name. (George did too: he quit leading rides for years afterwards.)
Going over the garbage-strewn bank at Davidsonville to find a tree to serve as an al fresco rest room lost its charms too; and there was that cyclist run down on Riva Road. And finally the West River Market closed and the routes stopped at the Highs on Muddy Creek & Owensville Rd and didn't even go down to Galesville anymore, and that took much of the point out of it for me.
So little by little the details faded as I rode elsewhere, leaving only a few scenic snippets that I could no longer name in my memory. But they were very attractive snippets, and I thought perhaps if I started at a better location, one easier to get to with no need to go all the way to Rt 50, one with an actual rest room nearby, it might be possible to revive this destination. So I started plotting.
Getting to Davidsonville was easy, the route used to go right down Harwood Road until it became Patuxent River Rd. I'm not really fond of descending Harwood, so I routed down Polling House and Bayard to Sands as I often do on routes to Deale and Chesapeake Beach.
Finding Rutland, St George Barber and the connecting roads to Muddy Creek were all right there, easy to see. But even adding a trip down to Galesville after the break at the Highs and noodling around on a back road I found paralleling Galesville Rd left us with a route in the 30 mile range, and at this point in the season that's not enough for me. So instead of taking the traditional right turn off Owensville onto Owensville Sudley and back to Rt 2 and the school, I routed left on Sudley down to Nutwell and over to Rt 2 and South Polling House, as my Shadyside routes go.
I mentioned the idea to Norm at the Rural Legacy and he was game for a Sunday ride. I posted it, but with no advance notice and full bore summer heat flopping on us the day after the 64 mile Rural Legacy, I wasn't expecting many takers - and not surprisingly, other than Norm there were none.
We were pleasantly surprised to find most of the first 25 miles cool and shady. That changed on Muddy Creek, of course, and by then it was well into the 90s. We bought a gallon of water at the Highs and between the two of us disposed of all but a cup full. The tour of Galesville was a delight, although it was sad seeing the boarded-up ruin of what had been the West River Market, one of the best rest stops ever. Norm had never seen the park just down from Pirate's Cove. We stopped there, admiring the view of the West River and Shadyside across the water, and Norm asked another park visitor to take our photo.
Owensville Road was hot, but once we turned onto Sudley we were back in the shade. Norm had never been down Nutwell or up South Polling House, and it was a treat to introduce him to these wonderful roads. In all, it was an excellent ride, and one I'll definitely lead again - although it would have been nice to have a little cooler weather! But, summer is here and we might as well get acclimated now: a little suffering today will make Bike Virginia much more pleasant.
