Leader: Christopher Roell

Members: Denise Edwards, Sheila Harron, Leslie Harding, Jane & Jim Hudnall, Wayne Hunt

Guests: Derrick Cook, Ken Williams

Route: One big circle loop of DC. Included Anacostia Riverwalk, Northwestern Branch, Sligo, Georgetown Branch, Capital Crescent, Rock Creek Park Trails, Hains Point loop with a ride by the Lincoln Memorial and a brief stop at the Titanic Memorial.

Weather: Sunny in 90s

AMS: 10-12

Mechanicals/Mishaps: One Rear Flat Tire

Report: All around fantastic ride. Rode the major trails that circle Washington, DC. Seemed like we had the trails all to ourselves as the July 4th holiday weekend in DC has most people out of town, which makes for good #bikedc riding. The trees on the trails provided great shade which made the ride much cooler than the 90 temps. Stopped in Bethesda, MD midway through the ride for eats (Paul Cafe & Chopt). Had one flat tire on the ride that was fixed in no time flat. Derrick found a better route down G St SW heading back to the launching point of the ride in Anacostia Park. This was Leslie's first long ride! Jim shot some video of the ride! Pictures from the ride posted on Facebook and Twitter Club accounts. Looking to lead more rides out of Anacostia Park as the group felt it was easy to get there by car. Stay tuned! 

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:  Jackie & Randy Schoch, Susan Henn, Robin Garnett, Susan Altemus, Jan & Jim Hudnall, Belinda Acre, Michael Dong, and Bev White (riding out of Livingston)

Route:  the Friday ride on the IHRT, Village Green to White Plains and return

Weather:  plenty of sun, warm temps (low 80s to upper 80s), and a southerly breeze that became a wind.

Report:  Another most pleasant Friday ride.  It was great having Jackie back with us and she kept up a good pace outbound.  Not much to report in the way of wildlife but lots of other trail users - cyclists, runners, walkers, all young and old.  Lunch followed at George's, marred by there being no ice for soda drinks but made up for by there being plenty of wings.

Ride Leader:  Mike Saizan

Members:  (15) Regina Saizan, Larry Peed, Linda Bankerd, Tom Short, Jay Lewis, Alan Kurzweil, Barb & Ron Haney, Jim & Jane Judnall, Lou Dall’Orso, Chantal Briere, Bob Thompson and from the CC group mostly riding with the B group Karl Craton and Barry Winkelman

Weather: Weather was fairly comfortable for the first half but got a little warm after the rest stop. 

Route: From North Keys Park to Whites Landing Rd, to River Airport Rd, and to Merkle Park for a rest stop.  Next came a loop around the Mattaponi and Nottingham areas before heading back to North Keys Park.

Ride Report: We were a fairly compatible group of riders today with the usual grouping of faster and slower riders.  The up-and-back for the Whites Landing and River Airport locations forced some regrouping of most of the riders.  And we all regrouped at the Merkle rest stop.

There were a few rider issues for the ride leader.  Chantal and Bob arrived a little late and started out after the group departed.  They decided to take a couple of short cuts to catch up but our paths never crossed.  A couple riders showed some fatigue having just completed Bike VA.  Tom decided a more direct path back to the Park and did not stop at the rest stop.  The two riders from the CC group started out with the B group with the option of falling back to CC if necessary.  They both hung in there til the end so I included them in the B report.

Mishaps: None

Credits: Thanks to Steve Palincsar for the route.

P.S. Riders, don’t forget the invisible clause commitment for the July rides.  :<)

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar

Members: Patricia Sanders, Loretta Troen, Randy Schoch, Sylvia Pope, Maria Imperati (Karl Craton and Barry Winkleman signed the CC sheet but rode with the AB group and are included in Mike's ride report)

Guests: Lee Schachter rode with us, although he does not appear on the signup sheet.

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15026490  36 miles, 1800' of elevation  This one went down both Whites Landing Road and River Airport Road, as well as the more typical Nelson Perrie, Croom, Tanyard and Fenno to a rest stop at Merkle Sanctuary, where we met the AB group.  From there the planned route took Fenno to St Thomas Church, Mattaponi, a jog on Molly Berry to the climb up Van Brady, and Duley Station to Croom, Candy Hill and Molly Berry to North Keys and back to the park.

Weather: a very pleasant summer day.  After days of being cold at Bike Virginia (low 60s in the morning until almost noon!) it was nice to not have to wear glove liners, arm warmers and a vest.  It warmed up as noon approached, but never felt hot to me even though it was 89-90 by the time we finished.

Mishaps & mechanicals: Leaving Merkle Loretta thought her back tire was going flat, so we went back to the visitors center to work on the tire.  Upon discovering the Presta valve was fully unscrewed (and noticing that the tube she had was far too wide to fit that back tire!) we decided to just top up the tire and carry on.

AMS: 12.2

It was a pleasure to see Loretta and Maria back on their near-twin orange Bilenky travel bikes from a tour to the south of France.  Randy took off on his own, as is his wont.  We saw him climbing back on Whites Landing, but not again after that.  Sylvia was easing back into riding and left us at Fenno to head home, having had enough climbing for the day. 

At Merkle, Maria mentioned she was experiencing discomfort, and a few miles later she and Loretta decided to cut the route short.  The obvious way to do that on this route was to continue on Molly Berry, skipping the turn up Van Brady, and Patricia and I waited at that corner for Lee and the Orange Blossom Specials, but they didn't appear.  I called and it went to voicemail.   We thought it possible that leaking tire might really have gone flat (and knowing that tube Loretta had would never work in that tire) Pat and I backtracked to Mattaponi. 

I called again, and this time discovered L, L and M had missed Mattaponi entirely, gone all the way up St Thomas Church to Croom, stopped at Moore's store for directions and then came down Croom seconds after Pat and I had turned onto it, had seen us but continued on Molly Berry and were well on their way to North Keys. 

Pat and I continued with the route and stopped at the Nottingham store (as cued, but skipped by all but us today).  While we were there, Jane drove up in her van, checking to be sure we were OK (everyone else in our group having returned well before us, thanks to their short cut). 

Things didn't go quite to plan today, but it was still a lovely day and a very pleasant, shady route.

Leaders: Bruce and Jean Wright

A Riders:  Darrell Meyer, Bill Owens (Bill rode with AAs)

AMS:  17.9

Weather:  Upper 80’s, low humidity, partly cloudy, a nice day

Mechanicals/Mishaps: None

Report:  Welcomed new CJE rider, Darrell Meyer, to the group.  He did a superb job of keeping an express pace and helped pull the pace line.  Come back soon, Darrell.  Pleasant and uneventful ride o the usual route.

The bridge on Charles St will soon be one-way due to bridge repairs/replacement.  When that happens, CJE will change to an alternate route until the construction is complete. 

Ride Leader: Mia Haynes

Members:  Susanne Kohl-Parker, Rod Barnes

Another great evening on the trail. We saw the normal: rabbit, squirrel, and deer.  We also saw a small brown snake.

At the start of the ride Susanne let us know that she would be riding to the 11 mile mark and back, so I rode with her for a little while, then I caught up with Rod and we rode a CC pace.

Thanks for coming out guys.

Leader: Tim Murphy

Riders: Dick Patton, Dan Zavorka, Melissa Newberry, Randy Schoch, Jackie Schoch, Dana Trevas, Chris Shea, Tyler Hill, Tom Hill, Sheryl Romeo, Matt Schwaller, Michael Dong.

Weather: 80 deg, little or no humidity. Great weather for a ride. July and August are here so expect hot and humid weather for a while. If your name isn't above then you missed a good day to ride. So i Hope you were riding somewhere other than the Tour de Accokeek.

AMS: Randy and Jackie were out for a CC ride. Great to see them out and about and on two wheels. We had a few riders in the mid pack and a bunch of people in the fast group.

Mechanicals/Mishaps: None.

Report: I knew that several of our regulars wouldn't be at the ride tonight and i wondered that we might only have a few riders. It's nice to be wrong - as we had 13 riders. So keep coming out. the more the merrier. We joked in the parking lot about Diane Coontz and me getting flagged down by the crazy lady that needed help loading her van with free furniture that was on the side of the road and if she was out and about tonight that no on was going stop for her. (See last weeks report).

As we were getting ready to roll. Several people said that they miss Jim Hudnall to take our group photo. I took a group photo and tried to take a selfie, but was blinded by the sun light and just got my eyes and helmet in the pic. I will post the photos to Facebook. We will welcome Jim Hudnall back as he is a better photographer than me. We hope the Hudnalls and others had a great time at Bike Virginia. Randy and Jackie left before the rest of the group and went on their own pace. They told me this and that they would turn at Barry's Hill instead of going to the rest stop down by the river. I told them if they needed anything we would be on the look out for them on the side of the road and help them out. Luckily, no mishaps tonight.

The group stayed together for a few miles till we got to Livingston Road. Then we had 2-3 groups that rode to the river and our rest stop. Several people stated that they ride harder and stronger with the group. When Melissa came last week she told me that she was a CC rider. Well you couldn't tell by the way she road today. As she sprinted off with the fast group and I never saw her again till I got to the river for our rest stop. If you want this ride pushes you to ride harder and to keep up with a faster pack than you normally ride on your own or for your longer rides. One advantage of our group rides and making you a stronger rider. We talked about pace lines and drafting off the other riders to allow you to ride smarter and faster. One way to keep up with the faster groups is to draft off them and let them break the wind and pull you to the river. I did this my first year with the group and now paying things back as I have pulled a few people to the river. And if you can't keep up with the faster riders then you learn what to do when you get dropped - push through to the river. LOL. Although today I was got my exercise in and sprinted 6 miles to the river to try and go from the back of the back to catch the fast riders which I wasn't able to do. Oh well I had a nice work.

After our break at the river. we rode in two groups to Barry's Hill. Everyone made it up the hill. I did a little hill work out and then rode back to make sure everyone made it up the Hill. Dana asked me if I was going to do Barry's Hill twice like Shane used to do last year. I laughed and said that I would go down the first hill and check on the second group and ride up the easier hill but didn't want to tackle the steep and long hill twice. at least not yet. We shall see. Everyone made it back to the firehouse safely and hung around a little and socialized. Congrats to Dan for riding his Cannondale Trail 29er Mountain bike and keeping up with the fast riders. Second week in a row for a mountain bike on the ride as last week Michael Dong rode his mountain bike.

Have a safe and fun weekend and July 4th Holiday.

Ride Leader:  Blake Altman (Substituting for Scott Walker)

Date: June 28, 2017

Ride Name:  Casey Jones Express

Ride Distance:  25 Miles

Average Speed of the Ride:  See Report

Ride Class:  AA/2 Express

Mechanical Issues: Flat Tire

Mishaps: None

Weather: Upper 80’s, low humidity, partly cloudy, a nice day

Guest Riders:   Dan Tills, Andre Burton, Eric Williams, Dan Hoefert, Gordon Schrader

Member Riders:  Darin King, Chris Zebriskie?

Ride Report:

The breakaway came very early this week – on St. Mary’s Ave.  One rider was dropped from the lead group on Springhill Newtown Road and he waited for the chase group.  So there was the lead group and the chase group.

The lead group was moving so fast they were not to be seen again until the end… unless they had a mechanical issue.  One of the lead group’s members had a flat on Route 301 and the chase group caught up during the repair.  After a brief slow down to check that they were okay, the chase group became the rabbit group and the former lead group became the hounds.  This week the rabbits prevailed and made it back to the start before the hounds but not by more than a minute or so.  It was a good effort by all and a fun ride.

A brief note on Chris, Jean told me he arrived late and gave chase but I never saw him; I assume he just headed for home after the ride.

Averages:

  Lead/Hounds: 22.7 MPH

  Chase/Rabbits: 21.0 MPH

Rabbits Rule!

Leader: Barbara Haney

Members: Ron Haney, Jan Tucker, Mike and Regina Saizan, Bob Thompson, Chantal Briere, Darryl Lowery, Alan Kurzweil, Lou Dallorso, Tom Roberts, Dave Schnirel

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19804782, after a brief loop of Indian Head, arriving in La Plata via a mostly-southeasterly route; short tour of La Plata backroads and returning via Port Tobacco, Pomfret, IHRT, Bumpy Oak

Weather: Someone must have picked us up and deposited us somewhere not-DC, where the weather in late June can be low-to-mid-70s, brilliant sun, low humidity and a refreshing breeze. Not normal, but amazing.

AMS: 16.6 for leader

Mechanicals/Mishaps: a flat just after the rest stop

Report: We had a moderate turnout today despite the optimal conditions, probably in part because many regulars are enjoying Bike VA this week. Those who did come out were treated to a lovely day and a new route in which we actually took a road that NOT ONE of us had ever ridden before and turned out to be perfectly nice, Willow Lane in La Plata: shady, low-traffic, and good pavement, with a historical marker at the top of a little hill about the elementary school destroyed in a tornado in 1926. http://allenbrowne.blogspot.com/2011/10/la-plata-tornado-1926.html. We stopped briefly at the Dash-In (hotdog stop for Bob T), where the cashiers were AMAZED how far we were riding, and that we could ride even farther. As we rode a short stretch of the IHRT, Dave S turned back suddenly; he had just spotted OHBTC member Bob Moye stopped at the side of the trail and Dave was concerned, but he had only been admiring an owl with some other trail users. Thanks to Mike S for helping keep us all accounted for, and thanks to everyone for riding and helping guinea-pig this route today!

Ride Leader:  Mia L. Haynes

Member: Rod Barnes

Another great day to be on the trail.  There was plenty of activity: parents and children; runners; riders; walkers; squirrel; rabbit; deer; and a lot of wild turkey.

Thanks for coming out Rod.