It was a good news/bad news morning for those who joined Ride Leader Mike Bivens (Steve Palincsar, Randy and Jackie Schock, Lou Dallorso, Larry Peed, Jay Lewis, Jim Hudnall, Richard Harrington, and Sharon Miller) for this 34 mile ride. The good news: weather.com did not predict any rain until late afternoon; the bad news: weather.com apparently does not consider mist rain. There was a light mist at the start which caused some to hesitate. The good news: no one needed sunblock; the bad news: tan lines turned to rust. However, with four members from OHBTC Team 1 and one member from Team 2 needing miles for the National Bike Challenge we started. Randy and Jackie, as usual deviated from the cue sheet, and there was some speculation they may have rode in their car. The good news: once on the IHRT, the mist almost stopped; the bad news: going down Bumpy Oak the drops were bigger and faster. Turning onto Middletown and Billingsley, the roads were dry and took as to the first rest stop at Wawa. We continued on Billingsley and turned on Piney Church, past Regency Stadium (home of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs baseball team), or Crustacean Nation. We turned right on La Plata Road and then right on Radio Station Road back to Rosewick. A left on Rosewick, left on Washington Ave, and right on Hawthorne, got us to the second rest stop at the Dash In at Hawthorne and 301. The mist returned causing a deviation to the cue sheet. For safety sake, we opted to come up Bumpy Oak rather than Pomfret since the former has a shoulder. The good news: the sun did come out and shine; the bad news: for a total of 3 minutes and 53 seconds. The good news: everyone made it back safely with no incidents; the bad news: all bikes and rideres needed to be washed.
