March 13 - Southern Exposure: Mattawoman Creek Water Views Leader: Steve Palincsar
Three days ago winter came calling; today it was early summer. Clear blue skies, breezy, low 60s as Norm, Darryl and I rode down from Accokeek, but it was 77 by the end of the ride and most definitely was shorts and short sleeve jersey time.
In the group today were Randy and Jackie Schoch, Jimmy Bartlett, Thomas Short, Larry Peed, Linda Bankerd, Richard Harrington, Norm Lisy, Mike and Regina Saizan, Darryl Lowery, Jim Hudnall, Mike Bivens, Jay Lewis, Miche Sidwell, Joan Oppel and David VanAmayden.
The route, found at
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/973442 came down Chapman's Landing, jogged over to Potomac Heights on Glymont, then followed the IHRT to Mattingly. We went left on Mattingly almost to the end (well, the cue sheet turned around at Mattingly Park, but only the leader actually followed the cue sheet, everyone else going all the way down to the end of the road and the very bottom of the hill) for a spectacular view of the Mattawoman Creek. We then retraced on Mattingly and followed Strauss to Hawthorne, Bicknell and Sweetman to a rest stop in Smallwood Park, with another view of Mattawoman Creek.
After the break we took a loop around the park up past Gen. Smallwood's house, then took Smallwood Rd. to Mason Springs and a second rest stop at the Pisgah store. From there it was Pisgah Marbury, Chicamuxen, Hawthorne and over the hill on Livingston back to Bryans Road. Total, 38 miles and 1224 feet of climbing, Lanterne Rouge finishing with a 14.0 average.
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