Leader:  Darin King
Riders:  Jon Agazzi, Claire Chiamulera, Diane Harris, Scott Walker, Tom Short
Metrics:  http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1073657
Pictures:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.583925138290153.148629.147336598615678&type=1&l=88860979f4

We met up with Steve's "Last Chance in 2012" group at Oak Ridge Park and set off at a pretty brisk pace (18+).  The conditions were pretty tolerable from a temperature, wind, and traffic perspective.  My computations indicated that we would cross paths with Steve's group a couple times.  So much for modern math (or my use of it)...we only saw Steve once at about 19.3mi.  We had been pushing the pace (I blame it on Scott!), so Tom and Jon opted to hook up with the B/CC group at that point.

Fortunately, Scott was wearing his new dayglo jacket and booties, so we were able to track him even as he disappeared over the hills!  After cresting Trinity Church Hill, we took a short refueling break.  The last half of the ride must have been a bit more sedate, as we finished up at just over 17 AMS.  We lingered a while after the finish, expecting Steve's group to surface.  I assumed they must have found an interesting distraction ( Idid see them safely navigating Olivers Shop Rd on my way home).

No medical or mechanical incidents to report, so I'll label it a successful closeout of 2012.

Windy.  Yes, it was very windy today, but 5 of us braved the winds to do a little climbing.  I had an average temperature of 39, but this did not seem to have any effect on the frisky riders out today.  Joining me were Richard Harrington, Ray Salvagnini, Scott Walker and Tyler "The Hammerer" Levesque.  We had quite an awesome tailwind on the way out, and I knew what to expect on the way home.  We had a nice rest at the St. Ignatius Church on Chapel Point.  A nice downhill on the Beast of Bel Alton was supplemented with the last of tailwinds we were to see today.  After climbing Rose Hill and Bumpy Oak like wild men, we all  got back safely to the Safeway parking lot with no issues whatsoever.

Ride leader had AMS of 14.2, elevation gain of 2247, and 42.6 miles.  Oh, did I mention the wind?

Once again, what a great idea to postpone! Today's weather was vastly better than the cold gray skies and fierce winds of Thursday: sunny to partly cloudy, temps in the low 30s at ride start, rapidly warming up to 44-45, and far less wind.

Taking me up on the rescheduling were Larry Peed (at least, briefly: he got a phone call around 6 miles into the ride and headed back to his car), Tom Roberson, Joan Oppel, Holly Carr, Susan Donney and guest Terry Kasey, Tom Short, Fred Tellexia, and joining us 5 miles from the end, John Early.

The route was an unusual variation on the theme of Malcolm and Truman Manor. I called it "Berry, Baden and Bassford" after the big swing on North Keys, Martin, Molly Berry, Baden Naylor and Baden Westwood before we rode Horsehead to the Five Points at Malcolm. From there, a jog left on Iowa and a jog right on Woodville took us to our break at the Moreland Market. And then the strange part.

Normally a route that stops at the Moreland Market will either go the length of Gallant Green or Dr. Mudd, but not today. This time we took Young down to Celestial, then Bassford up to Gallant Green, almost immediately turning back on Truman Manor to Celestial (in other words, the hard way coming and going).

By the time we made the turn on Truman Manor, we'd lost three of the group: Larry, who had turned back much earlier, and Holly and Fred, who continued on Gallant Green (because, we thought, Holly needed to cut it short in order to get back to work by 3, and Fred either wanted to keep her company, or couldn't bear to miss Gallant Green). When we arrived at the Five Points again, the group decided to skip the excursion along Covington and Croom, and stayed instead on Horsehead, then turned left on Brandywine. This shortened the ride a bit, and to make up for it most added little detours off Brandywine along Cedarville or Old Indian Head. We arrived at the parking lot having done around 35 miles (AMS near the back of the pack of 13.8) to find that Holly and Fred had not yet arrived.

Dark thoughts go through your mind when somebody's more than a half hour later than you'd expected and repeated calls to their cell go to voice mail. You start thinking about calling Jim in the Netherlands to see if he can locate them on that smart phone surveillance app he uses, and it even seems like a halfway sensible idea.

Tom and Joan decided to retrace part of the route to see if they could find Fred and Holly. (Of course, if they'd somehow gotten turned around, where would you look? Cedarville and Dent? Back along Brandywine & Aquasco?) And then there was Tom's van with Tom and Joan waving, saying they'd found the missing riders and they were OK. I sure hope Holly made it to work on time!

I once saw a PBS special on the Donner Party. One of the survivors wrote her memoirs of the journey. She concluded it with this advice: "Don't tarry, and never take no shortcuts."

This was supposed to be a roundtrip ride on the IHRT, with an optional start from Laurel Springs Park. Darin King joined me at Laurel Springs, and since no other riders joined in White Plains and we'd both ridden to the start, we plotted our own course. I wanted to visit the location of my crash in October and Darin agreed. After 7 miles on the IHRT, we turned left on Bumpy Oak and navigated over to Rose Hill Road. Darin had to remind me where I took my spill; soon we were staring at a section of road with a narrowing shoulder and a grassy ditch below.  I had a memory of the crash, but seeing the location again made it clearer and brought closure. We continued on, enjoying the Rose Hill descent into Port Tobacco. After crossing Rt. 301, we rolled out Springhill Newtown Rd., eventually meeting Bel Alton Rd., where we thanked each for the company and bid farewell. 

Photo

We held our Sunday morning Mountain Bike Ride at Cedarville, despite cold weather we were joined by Benny, Joni, and Matt. Benny lead the group following the course clock wise. At the lake we picked up the lake trail and followed the course clockwise also. We made several stops to pick up fallen branches for Saturday's wind storm. Everyone had a blast.

Postponing this ride was a wise choice.  Instead of gray overcast skies and winds gusting up to 40 mph, today was sunny with cloudless blue skies, bright sun and a gentle breeze.  It was in the high 30s when we started, but by the time we were finished climbing Thrift Hill it had warmed up to the mid 40s and was 48 when we finished just before 2 pm.  A small group today: Erika Kane, Joan Oppel, Richard Harrington, Linda Bankerd and me.  We stayed together, for the most part: a half-mile gap on Surratts was closed by the traffic light at 301, and a quarter mile gap on Molly Berry closed by the group waiting for me at the stop sign.  Although it was a very gentle day for Dec. 23 and the scenery was quite beautiful, the group decided to shorten the ride from 46 to 40 by eliminating one of the loops.  AMS at the back of the pack: 13.5.    This was a very pretty route, and one I'll happily lead again.

I cancelled this ride because of not feeling well (chills and temp to 102.5 - hope I'm not jinxing myself but I rarely get sick) but saw that Blake was willing to lead if anyone else still wanted to ride.  Blake, hopefully you were able to act as leader for the 4 people that still showed up.  And to those 4, I apologize for not being there.

Where was everbody today? We were down to the Happy Few today: Larry Peed, Joan Oppel, John Early, Phil Greer and me. The weather wasn't great, to be sure: 46, cloudy and a bit windy, so it never felt warmer than 40 degrees; as a letter grade, maybe a C+. But it could have been a lot worse, probably will be later on tonight and tomorrow, and we still had a good time. The route went down Brandywine and Horsehead to Malcolm, then Mt. Pleasant, Woodville and Dr. Bowen to the IGA for a rest stop. After the break we went down to Eagle Harbor and took a second break at The Little Store. I'd cued a 37 mi route on the chance that the weather might be nice, but the group voted to skip the section on Baden Naylor, Molly Berry and North Keys so we returned along Brandywine and ended with a total of 33 mi, 14.0 AMS.

Leader:  Darin King
Riders:  Pano Gianniotis, Linda Bankerd, Mike Bivens, Ken Meredith
Metrics:  http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1058843
Pictures:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.576679575681376.147244.147336598615678&type=1&l=3780981d97

A crisp, sunny morning led to an overcast, warm afternoon.  Mike guided us out of Bensville Park and down the IHRT.  This ride included his 6000th mile of the year, which we acknowledged at Goose Bay Marina.  We kept the pace smack dab in the middle of the "B" range (I think Linda was worried), and we didn't encounter any drama (which is becoming rare this time of year).  For the record:  Bensville Park's restrooms are still open (and heated), and Goose Bay Marina is still biker-friendly!

Thanks, folks, for coming out.

The route was meant to be a surprise -- this is only the 3rd time we've ever gone to Fort Washington on a Tuesday ride -- but the real surprise today was the weather.  The forecast was for a high in the low 50s and a strong wind, but as I was going out the door to load the car I noticed the thermometer on my front porch (probably the warmest place in the entire Metro DC SMSA) read 70 degrees, and the clothes that should have been comfortable at 54 degrees felt awfully warm.  Time for a quick trip back into the house for some lighter clothes!

And time for a quick change in the parking lot at Bryans Road, for although it was a long way from 70 down there, it was clearly a lot warmer than 54.   And as we rode, it grew steadily sunnier and warmer still, until it must have reach the 60s.

In the group today were Larry Peed, Richard Harrington (back from 3 weeks in Florida), Randy and Jackie Schoch (who left on their own route), Mike Bivens, Vicki Garlock, Darryl Lowery, Tom Roberson, Sam Perry, Paul and Linda Bankerd, Joan Oppel and leader Steve Palincsar.

The route went up Barry's Hill to Accokeek, then down Farmington, up Livingston to Washington Lane, across 210 on  Old Fort and left to Fort Washington.  It was absolutely beautiful at the Fort: clear skies without a hint of haze, bright sun, visibility for miles.  I hope someone brought a camera and captured the scene. 

After the break we went down Ft. Washington Rd., a swooping downhill once you get past the initial rollers and speed humps -- so engaging, in fact, that several riders missed the turn on Asbury through the neighborhoods and just kept on going down hill.  They noticed after a while, and took an alternate route to catch up with us at Swan Creek/210/Livingston Rd.  We climbed up Livingston, went left on Old Fort and then went down Gallahan (so much better this way than the reverse) to Piscataway.  I'd offered an alternative shorter route back taking Livingston to Accokeek Academy, then left on Berry to Accokeek Rd., and Tom and Paul took the alternative route, while the rest of us went up Floral Park to South Springfield. 

If it wasn't for Burch Branch, there'd be nothing at all remarkable about South Springfield.  You're at 164' elevation when you turn off Floral Park, and you get up to 207' feet -- hardly remarkable for 0.3 mi.  Except for Burch Branch.  In one tenth of a mile you drop 100' and then immediately climb back up to 207', first at 4-5%, then for almost 13%, for the next two tenths of a mile.  As you scream down those 100' you even think for a few seconds you can roll right up the other side, until all at once your momentum is all gone and you realize you're in the wrong wrong wrong gear and if you've really left it too late you may not even be able to make the chain ring shift, and then it hits 13.5%.  Just a  big erosion ditch, really; but one that leaves a lasting impression.

Once we all made it up South Springfield we turned right on Accokeek Road, right into what had by now become a brisk wind, and where'd those dark clouds come from?  We briefly regrouped at the park, then continued on to Accokeek and then the Tour d' Accokeek route back to the shopping center, where we realized we'd lost Larry somewhere along the way.  As we called him, the skies darkened further, and we even felt a few wind-borne rain drops.  It was 54, as predicted, too.

Final stats:  37 mi, 13.3 AMS (and believe me, nobody was holding back) and 1700' of climbing.  What a great day!