Well, the ride developed to be a solo excursion of 39 miles and 1880 ft of elevation gain (who said there are no hills to climb in DC?).

Weather turned out to be a gorgeous, crisp day, perfect for cycling. The ride went uneventful (a good thing!!) with nothing to report other than having a good time.

Incidentally, there is now a $5/bike fee at Great Falls but it is waived if the visitor does not cross over to the canals via the bridge across from the Visitor's Center.

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar

Members: Pat Walthers, Sheila Harron, Bill Lowe, Lisa Oken, Joan Oppel, Alan Kurzweil, Darrell Meyer, Harry Kidd

Guests: Nadine Beck

Weather: Cool - 50s - 60 or 61, breezy to downright windy, partly sunny partly overcast with high clouds.  A wonderful surprise and reversal of what had been a gloomy, dismal, rainy forecast.  Instead, although the forecast for the next several days remains dismal, today we got a wonderful day for riding.

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/9289375  55 miles, 2874' of elevation gain. 

Mishaps & mechanicals: none.

AMS: 13.2

The construction continues at Northern HS, but a number of portolets were added to the building site, perhaps to compensate for the removal of the one by the tennis court at the Middle School.  We left the school and headed down Flint Hill, then stopped to admire the view at Lower Marlboro.  As we were climbing up from the dock we saw a group of cyclists from the Annapolis Bike Club go by.  We joined them at the rest stop at Bowen's Grocery.  They'd started at Southern HS and were headed to Chesapeake Beach.  After we left Bowens we crossed MD-2 onto Cox Rd.  They've added a bike lane but it's the most inconsistently marked bike lane I've ever seen, narrowing down to nothing and disappearing at random intervals, mostly at the entrance to developments, then reappearing only yards down the road.  Still, it did help on some of the tight curves that in the past have been problems.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds of routes that go left on Plum Point from the Cox intersection, but as far as I know this is the only one that passes Emmanuel Church and takes Stinnett instead.  There are a few challenging rises on Stinnett - perhaps that's why.  From Wilson Rd this route goes left on Dares Beach Rd down to the Bay for a tour of Dares Beach, a quaint bayside cottage community and late novelist Tom Clancy's former home.

Leaving Dares Beach we headed back, passing Wilson Rd and stopped at the store about 0.4 mi down Dares Beach Rd.  We had a nice picnic lunch and they let us use the rest rooms, raising the value of this rest stop considerably.  (That "green room" at the corner of Wilson & Dares Beach is nice as such things go, but this was a lot better.)

A few miles down the road we stopped at the Ghost Bike on Tobacco Road and remembered Lynn and John, and then pushed on to the challenging rollers of Hardesty, Dalrymple and Old Bayside, then stopped, rested and regrouped at the North Beach Pier.  A long climb up Friendship Road, the rollers on Old Solomons Island, Grovers Turn and Fowler, across MD-4 and we were back to the school.

A fabulous ride, a great group, wonderful weather and for the most part virtually traffic free roads - all this on a day that was supposed to have been raining.  I'll take that anytime!

Ride Leader:  Blake Altman

Date: April 23, 2017   

Ride Name:  Casey Jones to Cobb Island

Ride Distance: 52 Miles

Average Speed of the Ride:  20.1 MPH

Ride Class:  AA/3 Sport

Mechanical Issues: None

Mishaps: None

Weather:  About 50 degrees at the start by the end mid 60’s, light wind, cloudy with some sun

Guest Riders:  None

Member Riders:  Brad Francisco Chris Zabriskie

Ride Report:

This ride was originally scheduled for Saturday but that was rained-out.  Today was a much better day.  It seems like the forecast on Friday was right but they got the days reversed.

We all rode together for pretty much the whole ride except for two places where Brad went for a Strava segment and Chris did a little time trial.  They both waited for the us to regroup.  Other than that there isn’t much to report except it was a good ride.

Rider Leader:  Mia L. Haynes 

Member:  Rod Barnes

Today's ride was great.  On the way to 224 we saw a baby snake slither across the trail and on the return we saw a baby deer and 2 baby ducks - lets not forget about the bugs we encountered there and back.  The trail was certainly abuzz, babies were out being pulled by their parents; pets were walking there humans; there were a couple of skateboarders; walkers; runners; and of course other riders.

Thanks Rod for coming out and making the ride enjoyable. 

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar

Members: Jay Lewis, Bob Howell, Gloria Gladden, Ron & Barb Haney, Loretta Troen, Jan Tucker, Bill Silva, Sam Perry

Weather: 60s and chilly (shifting suddenly to sunny and warm when the clouds parted, and then quickly back again as they rolled back in) in the parking lot and for the first 5 miles or so; and then the clouds lifted for good, and we were treated to sunny skies and temperatures that quickly went into the 70s and ultimately into the low 80s.

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20412981  Around 40.5 mi with 2366' of elevation gain, considerably more than last week and above average even for Brandywine.  For the first part of the ride we stayed close to the Patuxent, going down to the water and back up on River Airport, Whites Landing and Magruders Ferry, and we took on some of the Croom Rollers that usually escape our attention.  After the break we went west to Baden then back to the Patuxent along Tanyard to a second rest stop at the Nottingham Store.  The last leg took us up Croom and back down Van Brady before heading back to the park on North Keys.

Mishaps & mechanicals: none.

AMS: 12.8 with the CC group; faster up front with the Haneys, Jan and Bob.

A beautiful day, and a very pretty route.  Sam wanted it known that unlike most times we venture down to the Patuxent, today he took no short cuts and skipped none of the climbs back up from the river.  This was Gloria's second ride with Oxon Hill (her first was this Tuesday) and she found today's route to be a succession of surprises, one after the other.  And hills.  However, as I told her on Tuesday, she fitted right in with the CC group and did just fine.

“For the love of the people and the ride” - Michael Blaine

Class: AA/3
Category: Express
Description:  Early season romp
Speed Limit Imposed: None
Colors: CJE kits always welcome
Start Time & Location: 5:30 pm, Casey Jones Restaurant, La Plata, MD

The Course

Location: Charles County
Distance: 25.8mi (TT segment is 25.1mi and used for CJE records and PRs)
Gain: 701ft
Rest Stops: None
Max Grade: 5.1%

The Ride

Honors • R.Golding • D.Hearn • M.Biffel • D.Kemp • D.Hoefert • A.Harris • M.Blaine • J.Patterson • C.Chiamulera

KOM • Robert Golding (Oct 12, 2016 – 59:48, 25.2 mph)
QOM • Jill Patterson (Apr 12, 2017 – 1:07:30, 22.3 mph)
Founders • Benny Budd and Joni King
Host • Paul Bales/Casey Jones Restaurant

Riders: Eight – Michael Blaine, Blake Altman, Mike Wilson, Travis Proctor, George Valenzuela, Justin Rodbell, Cole Robbins, Scott Walker
Weather: Overcast w/the sun trying to break through, 62 degrees w/winds from the south at 8
AMS:  22.6 mph (leaders, 3 rider)
          21.2 mph (chase-1, 3 riders)
          18.4 mph (sweep)
Mishaps & Mechanicals: None
Report: This was a fun one.  A workout headed south into the wind, and overall, great cruising in the chase-1 position with Michael and Blake providing some steady pacing up the Rt-6 and Budd’s Creek ascents – thanks gents.  Nice to have you with us today, George; looks like you set a PR on this outing – nicely done.  From our Class-A brethren, Bruce thought he set a PR today as well.  But I checked, Bruce, and while you had a good ride, your best is even faster (and in the AA range).  Keep spinning my friend, you already have a good start on the year!  Speaking of personal bests, I’m excited to mention that Jill Patterson quietly took down the QOM last week –great ride Jill!  ...and speaking of speed, keep an eye on Justin and Cole.  They're young, very fast and getting faster.

Leaders: Bruce and Jean Wright

Members: none (George Valenzuela signed in on the AA sheet and rode with us)

Weather:  Low 60s with 8 mph wind

AMS: 17.2 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps: None  :) 

Report: The overcast sky gave us pause as we were not sure it was going to rain.  Fortunately, the rain held off and we enjoyed a fun ride.  Nothing eventful to report.  Bruce, Jean and George stayed together for the entire ride, taking turns pulling.  George did most of the pulling.  

Leader: Tim Murphy

Members: Ron and Troy.

Weather: 65 and mostly sunny, and a little bit of wind - less than 10mph.

AMS: 16+

Report: Everyone started out together for the first few miles until we got to Livingston Road. Ron was testing out his new front chainrings. And off he went. Troy and I tried to keep up with him but to no avail. Ron was nice enough to wait for us or slow down as we go to the intersections or if there was a big gap between us. It was like a game of cat and mouse or tortoise and the hare. Just when we caught up to Ron - off he went. But this made for a great workout for Ron and me.   This was one of my better rides - Thanks Ron and Troy. We rested at the water for 5+ minutes but not long enough to become sedentary. On the way back we all rode together till we got to Barry's Hill. Ron rode strong and steady up the hill. I rode steady up the hill, but not my best times, give me a few more trips and more seat time and I hope to conquer Barry's Hill and set a PR. Troy and Ron rode strong and steady for most of the way back and I tried to keep them in my sights. This was great practice for my Triathlons.

Everyone enjoyed the ride. Come out and join us. I will lead the next two Wednesdays. Then will be out of town for 1-3 weeks depending on my travels.

We hope to see you next Wednesday.

Tim Murphy

April 18 turned out to be a great day for a ride.  Thanks to Ron for the route.  Eighteen riders joined me on the excursion up Barrys Hill, Mill Hill, Bumpy Oak and Livingston.  

Attendees: Bob Howell, Mike Bivens, Llnda Bankerd, Tom Short, Dave Schnirel, Dianne Harris, Alan Kurzwell, Ron and Barb Haney, Michael Dong, Mike Saizan, Chantal Briere, Bob Thompson, Sam Perry, Chris Fairhall and even Jan Tucker joined us.

Chantal and Bob were riding ahead of me on Marshall Corner Road when she had a flat.  Bob sent me on and assisted in the flat repair.  I waited at the ride end and the two pulled in promptly within 20 minutes.

Thanks to all for coming out.