Warmer and less windy than Saturday, a sunny afternoon brought out 15 riders to join me: Ron Leak, Jan and Ron Tucker, Mike and Regina Saizan, Pano Gianniotis, Richard Harrington, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Linda Bankerd, Holly Carr, Jo Lutmerding, Steve Palincsar, Ken Meredith and Larry Peed. I led from the rear and didn't see the faster group after the turn on Middletown Rd until the rest stop at Half Way Liquors.  Jim and Jane rode sweep with Steve for the first half. After the stop, we continued on and made our way back to Bryans Road via Livingston/224 vice Rt 210.  I know I liked it better.  A bio-break at McDs and onward down Marshall Hall, up Barrys Hill and a return on Livingston (again) making our way back to Starbucks. It was still warm enough for a cupper while sitting outside.  No mishaps or mechanicals that I was aware of and all seemed to enjoy the ride and afternoon timing.  

Ride leader was joined by Andrew Harris.  Since it was just the two of us we changed the route a bit and ended up with 54 miles for the day.  For February, it was a very nice day and we both commented at least the storm up North did not hit us or we would have been indoors on trainers!

Leader:  Darin King
Riders:  Claire Chiamulera, Scott Walker, Blake Altman, Diane Harris, John Giglio
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For February, it was a decent day for a bike ride.  Departing from Chopticon High School, we enjoyed the generally-downhill route to St. Clements Island Museum (Coltons Point) before turning our attention towards Compton...scenic all the way.   After leaving Leonardtown, we started the upward-rolling finale:  Maypole, Friendship School, and Bishop Roads.  We finished without mechanic incidents.

After completing the 42 mile route at 17+ AMS, Claire decided we hadn't had enough, so we tacked on another 4 more miles (Dr. Johnson Rd)!

A great ride (and change of venue) for a Sunday morning ride.

You never know what you'll get in February: it's always a surprise. And today's surprise was that although Nemo passed us by, we got wind and plenty of it: wind accompanied by brilliant sunshine and temperatures that started in the low 30s but quickly ramped up to 40 degrees.

This was a joint Oxon Hill and Potomac Pedalers ride, and it was the only Potomac Pedalers ride that wasn't canceled on account of weather today. David Helms from Silver Spring represented PPTC, while Holly Carr, Fred Telleria and I represented Oxon Hill.

It was windy. We noticed it all the time, even when it was directly behind us, but especially when we were riding directly into it on Fenno and St. Thomas Church; nothing like dangerous, but hard, hard, hard slogging when it was dead foul. The average reflected that: 12.1 AMS.

One mechanical, Fred's flat on North Keys, quickly fixed, and one heart-stopping near miss when a SUV crossed the double yellow to pass David just as he turned left from Croom Rd onto Molly Berry. The SUV almost lost control swerving around him, and I thought for a moment he was going to roll it.

Ten hardy souls joined me for this ride (Darin King, Steve Palinscar, Mike Bivens, Larry [? last name...I couldn't read it!], Richard Harrington, Phil Greer [or Green?], Sam Perry, Jim and Jane Hudnall, and Joan Oppel-who was a little under the weather but came out anyway!).  The group split up with me, Joan, and Steve bringing up the rear to the rest stop where we regrouped with the faster riders.  The 2nd part of the ride again split up but this time with Jim, Jane, Sam, and I keeping Joan company since she wasn't up to her usual level of riding.  We decided to cut the ride short after making a stop at the Baden Firehouse to use their facilities.  Most of the other riders had already left the parking lot by the time we got back.  Overall, a good ride.  You can always count on having a good turnout on the Thursday rides, as this is a hardy group, that's not deterred by a little cold weather!

The weather forecast was confused, contradictory and mediocre at best: in one version, it had snowed in the night, and would rain or snow all morning.  But drilling down into the hourly forecast entered an alternate reality in which there was a 0% chance of precipitation, temperatures in the low 40s, overcast with light winds.  Four of us -- Mike Bivens, Larry Peed, Darin King and I -- believed in the alternate reality enough to come out to ride. 

Not surprisingly, it didn't snow and it didn't rain, and temperatures stayed in the low 40s with overcast skies and light winds.  Not inspiring, to be sure, but not horrible or even particularly cold.   The route was a shorter one today: 29 miles, featuring Chicamuxen, Smallwood Church, Mason Spring and Pisgah Marbury. 

Darin heard a rumor that the Ironside store would open today, and being less than a quarter mile away, we went over to check.  There was a sign in the window that said the store would open in December of 2013, and would be open on Tuesdays from 2pm - 5pm.  Three hours a week?? So, that myth is busted!  And given those hours, it doesn't look as though we'll ever be stopping there again.

Windy as promised, at times up to 30 mph, but sunny so it didn't feel too cold, getting up to the mid-50s. In the small but hardy group today were Joan Oppel, Richard Harrington, Tom Roberson, Darin King, Jane and Jim Hudnall and leader Steve Palincsar, joined in mid-ride by John Early. The route was 31 miles (with fall-back options in the high teens and the twenties) that went to Merkle, returning by way of Tanyard, Croom, Bald Eagle School and Westwood. It was a tough ride due to the wind, but still fun. The temperature plunged 10 degrees on the trip home. Photos prove it happened...

Talk about getting it spectacularly wrong: a day that was forecast to be partly cloudy, high of around 54, turned into Glorious Summer, with sunny skies and a high of almost 70 degrees.  The hardy souls who braved the mediocre weather and received the benefit of all the lovely weather included Larry Peed (in shorts the whole day!), Alan Kurzweil, Mike Bivens, Jane and Jim Hudnall, Regina Saizan, Richard Harrington, Joan Oppel, Darin King, Loretta Troen and leader Steve Palincsar.

The route was a version of Goose Bay Clockwise, with a slight modification (right on Rt 6 after Mill Swamp to Burch, left on Poorhouse to Pisgah, Mason Spring to Chicamuxen) to avoid the more usual right on Fire Tower.  It's been three weeks, but I'm still not psychologically ready to face the scene of the crash.  Maybe next time.

Larry had a flat on Poorhouse, a good sized piece of glass.  Thanks to Joan for the assist, and a nod to Loretta, whose sharp eyes spotted the gleam from the glass fragment at a two yard distance.

The following club members joined me on the NSAC 36, which had been re-scheduled from Saturday, Jan. 26, due to cold and snowy conditions:  Vicki Garlock, Jerome Finan, and Sharon Miller.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, starting in the high 50's and just short of 70 degrees by the end.  Skies were clear and sunny.  This was a very social group, that was willing to take on assignments from this ride leader.  For example, Vicki volunteered to be the official photographer, and Jerry served as our communications coordinator (ride leader's cell phone was misplaced). 

The only mechanical issues involved a mis-aligned wheel at the start, which was quickly remedied; and a pedal cleat/shoe interface became jammed, locking the shoe into the pedal.  Luckily, no fall occurred!  Vicki, the locked-in rider, turned out to be our unofficial bike mechanic, as she whipped out an array of tools to fix the problem.  We did tangle with a couple of dogs, but no harm was done.  We averaged 13.3 mph, with Sharon, the B rider, going faster.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable ride.  All riders had very positive comments about the route.  DAN 

It was a brief shining moment amid a lengthy stretch of unpleasant winter weather, a chance to get out into the warm sunshine with friends and to try to remember once again how to actually ride a bike. After days of temperatures in the teens, it was amazing how balmy 35-39 degrees felt. Among the frolicking caged beasts let out to play were Holly Carr, Sarah Clement, Richard Harrington, Loretta Troen, Jim and Jane Hudnall and leader Steve Palincsar. Here are photos.