Leader:   Ron Altemus

Members:   TRL, Gene Villiva, Patrica Sanders



Route:   https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40798783  27.6 miles, 738' elevation change.   Out and back on Belmont Blvd, then Mason Neck trail to High Point Road to a rest stop at the Mason Neck State Park visitor's center.  Retracing from the park, Gunston Road to CCW tours of Hallowing Point and Gunston Estates prior returning to the trail.  Short visits to Gunston Hall, Pohick Bay Park, and Pohick Bay Golf Course completed the route.

Weather:   Spectacular!   Brilliant sunshine making the sky (and water of Belmont Bay) vividly blue.  Temp range of just a few degrees in the mid 50s and 6-8 mph breezes from the west.

AMS:   a leisurely 11 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:    none

Report:  Another fantastic day for bicycling!  Surprisingly, we saw very few other cyclists and none on the trail.  Fall colors are lessening but there were still occasional bursts of color.  A nice start to EST.

Leader - Joan Oppel

Members - Marcy Kelley, Lois Lightfoot, Patricia Sanders, Pat Walthers

Route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42551047  Our route circled to Hughes Rd to River then up West Willard back into Poolesville's outskirts and a turn on Westerly. From there on to Edwards Ferry, Club Hollow, Elmer School and Martinsburg to take us to Rt 28 and a stop at the Dickerson Store. We then rode on to Mt Ephraim and newly paved Comus Rd and over to Slidell Rd to Bucklodge, up Whites Store, across Peachtree, taking Cattail to return to Poolesville.

Weather - Temperature about 50 at start, hovering in mid 50s most of the ride and 59 at the end. Lots of bright sunshine, hardly any clouds.

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - The late notice still brought out 4 riders to join me. We started from K2 Cafe on West Willard Avenue in Poolesville, MD, a bike-friendly business. The owner is welcoming, has installed a bottle-filling station on a wall and the food is good. 

There wasn't much traffic today until we got to Comus Road, which is the gateway to Sugarloaf Mountain (and the popular Sugarloaf Winery). But once we crossed to the quiet section of Comus and turned on Slidell, we again had light traffic most of the way back. 

A delightful day for a bike ride, with some still-colorful trees and scenery. 

Leader:   Ron Altemus

Members:  Jackie Schoch, Leesha Saunders, Randy Schoch



Route:   usual Friday routing - Indian Head Rail Trail east from Livingston Rd parking lot to White Plains trailhead.  After a rest stop, "Go West" back to the start

Weather:   overcast/cloudy at the start but by the time we finished, blues skies were moving in from the north (see picture below); temp range of 69-71; 9-10 mph air from the SW; a trace of rain in the Bensville area

AMS:  mid 12s

Mechanicals/Mishaps:   none

Report:  maybe Hallloween hangover as we were a small group and there were few other cyclists using the trail and not that many walkers/joggers.  Leaves were coming down quickly and it won't be too long before the trees are bare.

After last week's discussions with young deer alongside the trail, Randy had a stag bound across ahead of him outbound.  Not much else in the way of wildlife sightings.

Of note:  the whole DC metro area has now gone over 30 days w/o measurable rain.  The IHRT is showing the effects of the drought - Mattawoman Creek was almost dry where it passes under the trail near MM 6; the ponds near White Plains (Pages Swamp and Port Tobacco Creek) had little to no water; and the pond just east of the parking lot near MM 3, pictured below, is also an arid landscape.

Leader:   Ron Altemus & Joan Oppel

Members:   Esther Stewart, Robin Garnett, Maureen Flynn, RL Joan, Jessica Hirschhorn, Peter Stelman, Mary Scala



Route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48890759  Casual meandering tour of Fort Hunt neighborhoods to view ghosts, ghouls, goblins and other scary decorations. 

Weather:  more like an early September day rather than the end of October.  Lots of warm sunshine and blue skies with temps starting in the mid 60s, rising to the mid 70s, air movement for a westerly direction.

AMS:  10 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  Peter might have had a flat but since he was tubeless, it self-repaired and we kept on riding.

Report:   a pleasant time was had by all as attested to by a few visuals:

Leaders - Lisa Petersen and Rick Hagen

Members - Pat Walthers, Lisa Petersen, Joan Oppel, Rick Hagen.

Guests - None

Route - This ride took us through southern Anne Arundel County to a park in Shady Side with nice views of the Chesapeake Bay and Bay Bridge. We began at the Route 260 Recreation Area and went north and east on Fishers Station and Little roads. Route 258 took us to Churchton where we stopped at the Royal Farms for food/drinks to take to the park. It was then a flat ride to the north end of Shady Side where we took the 1/2-mile dirt road into Jack Creek Park. To get back to the cars, we took Sudley and Nutwell roads, then Route 2 south to Jewell Road. We crossed Route 260 to ride on quiet Chaney Rd, then took Routes 4 and 260 a short distance back to the cars.

Route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48898572

Weather - A beautiful sunny Fall day. Temp was low 50s at the start, warming up to about 65 by the time we finished. Very light breezes.

AMS - 12.3 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - It was a beautiful fall day for a ride. A bit chilly at the start, but we all warmed up quickly and stopped to shed some layers. The back roads were nice and quiet as we worked our way east to Churchton where we stopped at the Royal Farms for a bathroom break and picked up food for lunch. We then rode the 4 miles to Jack Creek Park. After pushing our bikes around the road barrier we rode a 1/2 mile on smooth gravel to a cute little beach with a nice view of the Bay and the Bay Bridge. We sat there at the picnic table and ate our snacks while we enjoyed the view. After lunch we re-traced our path out of the park and back to Churchton, then went west and south on Sudley, Nutwell, and Route 2 to Jewell. At the Jewell and Rt. 260 intersection we went straight across, then right onto Chaney Road (which even Joan had never been on). We then rode a short stretch on the shoulder of Rt. 4 and Rt. 260 back to the cars.

Leader - Randy Schoch

Members - Pat Colvin, Dan Donahue, Donaro Gardner, Mark Garrison, Tom Gestner, and Oswald Martin.

Guests - None

Route - IHRT

Weather - Good (high 60's) with a light breeze

AMS - Varied per/rider

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - A good turnout of our regulars except for Jackie who is not feeling great. A little cool this morning so the other trail users were not out and about this morning. But the wildlife was there to accompany us on our ride. We saw the usual squirrels and chirping birds. We had a nice break and visit at the White Plains Rest Area. On the way back, I stopped and talked to two teen age young deer beside the trail. They were not afraid of me and observed me on my trike and kept eating grass and leaves off the bushes. 

After the ride, I went into Indianhead town proper to check out the new grocery store. But the Oasis parking lot was so full I couldn't find a parking space, so I went home. See yens next week.

Leader - Joan Oppel

Joan giving a treat to a rescued Highland (Scottish) cow. 

Members - Ron Altemus, Donaro Gardner, Patricia Sanders, Pat Walthers, Tom Short

Route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48179152 Along the trail to Bumpy Oak and all the way to Route 6. Then to Poorhouse and a stop at Pisgah Park, continue on Mason Springs to Smallwood Church. Over to Chicamuxen, into Smallwood Park, circle the road to the campground and General Smallwood's house and then around the gate to the "other" Sweden Point Rd. Then take Chicamuxen, Marbury Run and Hawthorne to home base.

Weather - Chilly but sunny start at 51 degrees, warming up quickly and ending in mid-70s

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - We started on a beautiful fall morning, very bright sun, some colorful trees, uneventful but enjoyable ride - until we stopped at a house on Smallwood Church Road, about a mile before Chicamuxen. A couple of riders noticed a Shetland pony and a donkey near a house and stopped to look. The owner came out and - soon everyone was feeding treats to various rescued animals housed at this mini farm. Two recently born calves were housed in the front yard, the pony and donkey had a large enclosure near the road, about 8 miniature goats had the run of another space - and 2 Highland (Scottish) cows had a large pasture in the back. We fed them all treats by hand, they all had names and the owner was obviously enamored of all of them.

Don getting checked out for more treats.

Ron and minifarm owner serving treats on demand.

Pat watching the treat frenzy.

Tom and the treat-seeking Shetland.

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:  Randy Sim, Pat Colvin, Catherine Ade, Susan Luckenbach, Tom Short, Ray Luckenbach, Luis Dall'Orso, Janell Saunders, Alan Kurzweil, Dian Harris, Walt Roscello, Theresa Rowell, Pat Walthers, and Dave Van Ameyden hidden behind Alan.



Route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/11382689  From Pisgah Park, Mason Springs and  Smallwood Church to Chicamuxen/Riverside to a bio stop at Mallows Bay.  Liverpool Point delivered us to a rest stop w/food stuffs at the Nanjemoy market.  We continued via Willetts & Hancock Run to MD-6 and Ironside Rd for a second bio stop at Friendship Park.  Durham Church, MD-6, Annapolis Woods, and Poorhouse were used to return back to our start.   RWGPS file advertised 36.7mi; 1,362 ft elevation change, 6.7% max grade, but our Garmins had a bit more elevation and max grade.  Mileage also differed, as below.

Weather:  another gorgeous fall day with a temp swing of almost 20 degrees (low 50s at the start rising to the low 70s) under brilliant sunshine and cloudless deep blue skies.  Hardy any wind; so little that its directionality was uncertain.

AMS:   RL swept at 12 mph; everyone else was faster, some much faster.

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:  a nice size turnout!    Website posting stated "Riders of ALL classes welcome" which probably contributed to the numbers attending.  The faster A/B riders led us out of the park and the roads to Mallows Bay had light to non-existent vehicular traffic.  By the time the sweep reached the bio stop, our numbers had shrunk by 3.  The other riders must have skipped the stop and we didn't see them again.  The view overlooking Mallows Bay included what appeared to be a guide-led kayaking touring group (almost certain it was a tour since there were a number of doubles, usually not seen on our local waters!)

After refreshments at Nanjemoy Store, the remaining group split up again until we reformed at Friendship Landing park.  Diane, Theresa, and Pat C. were adventurous and cycled down the hill to Friendship Landing.  Though warned in advance, the hill coming back up might have been a bit more than they bargained for but all recrested to continue onwards.  The remainder of the ride was again on roads with little traffic.  Catherine and Walt had started at the Livingston Road IHRT parking lot so they returned to their cars via Ripley, Hawthorn, Bumpy Oak, and the trail, totaling at least 50 miles for the day.

Thanks to all who came out for a great day of riding and wonderful weather.

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:   Donaro Gardner, Fran Jezisek, Mark Garrison, Randy Schoch, Oswald Martin, Leesha Saunders, Susan Altemus



Route:   the only ride to do on a Friday morning - Indian Head Rail Trail from Livingston Rd parking lot east to White Plains trailhead.  After a conversation filled rest stop, return westward to the start.

Weather:   one of the coolest starts yet as Fall 2024 begins with a temp range of 54>58 degrees, brilliant sunshine and blue skies (as pictured above), and 7+ mph winds out of the NW.

AMS:   11s/12s for most of us

Mechanicals/Mishaps:   none

Report:  starting to see some color as the leaves begin to change, which should ramp up over the next few weeks.  Other trail users consisted of runners/joggers, walkers, numerous bicyclists, and the rollerblade lady.  The latter competed in the Rollerblade/Inline Skate 26 mile marathon last month in Duluth, Minnesota.  She came in 4th in her age group and credited her three times a week training sessions on the IHRT as great preparation for the event.

Wildlife sightings include three deer near Middletown and a white heron/common egret "fishing" in the Port Tobacco Creek pond just west of White Plains, as pictured below:

After the ride, five of us had lunch at the Bryans Road Subway where we continued to conversate.

Day 3, return to Richmond.  All met at the staging point for the pre-ride briefing and an early start.  A few riders stopped at the Spoke & Arts for breakfast while others continued to the regrouping location, Chickahominy State Park.  While at the regrouping point one rider repaired their flat tire.  

In route towards Charles City, the pace was a little more than casual until we met the wind head on.  As we headed northwest with winds coming from the west, passing through the plains was not fun.  This was an opportunity to practice your spinning skills, unless you were one of those with an e-bike.

Soon after a regrouping break all were on the pedals again towards our destination in Varina, Portabella Italian Ristorante for supper.  Some riders opted to continue on.

No Mechanical issues beyond 1 flat tire or injuries were reported to me.

Thank you for the support of the Ride Leaders, Intersection Traffic Controller,  the Ride Sweep, Dani Villiva for her delicious Home baked Brownies, The Altemus' for their support, the participants of this tour, and the joyful fun that was had by all.  Without you, this tour would not have been as successful.

Gratefully, Sherwood