The ride started out and quickly broke into 2 groups.  The first part of the ride to St. Ignatias had no incidents.  It was right after the rest stop that problems happened.  The first group left and had no issues, but the second group with the ride leader had one huge problem.  The ride leader stopped looking at what was in front of him and looked to his right to spray his water bottle before taking a drink.  Well that drink never came because he had crossed wheels and started veering to the right.  So his front wheel touched the person in front of him, and as it was said he went down with a thud.  The good news is he rolled and was able to get up.  Nothing was broken, just a lot of road rash that is healing.  He cleaned up and the group split from there where the group that was riding with him headed to complete the route and he and the VP headed to get him home.

Leader Jackie Schoch and riders were Randy Schoch, Larry Peed, Steve Palincsar, Richard Harrington, and George Martin.  What a great day for a ride.  It was shady when we started the ride but on the way back we noticed the sun a lot.  Randy and I saw 2 doe and 3 spotted babies.  They just stood there and watch us going by.  There were a lot of walkers and some bike riders on the trail which was great to see.

"It's not the heat, it's the humidity."  Except when it's both the heat and the humidity.  As it was today.  Good thing we got back before the real heat started: in the 80s when we set out, a mere 90 degrees when we finished shortly after 1 pm, quickly rising to almost 100 a half-hour later; and a good thing there was a nice breeze.  Except for the final four or five miles, it felt comfortable all morning.

Considering all the weather hysteria on the radio today, we had a great turnout:  Larry Peed, Linda Bankerd, Sonja Newman, Pat Sanders, Loretta Troen, Mike Bivens, Mike and Regina Saizan, Erica Kane, Randy Schoch, Sam Perry, Jane and Jim Hudnall, Dee McChesney, Lou Dallorso, Holly Carr and leader Steve Palincsar.

The route had 2300' of climbing, more than usual for a Brandywine ride (and 30% more than Tuesday's ride to Fort Washington).  For the most part it was continuously rolling, with nothing steeper than 9%.  We had rest stops at Nottingham Store and the visitors center at Patuxent River Park. 

A minor noteworthy event: today we completed the long-term strategic objective of riding every through-road in every direction in the Brandywine area, by riding Croom northbound between Brooks Church and Baden Naylor, and northbound between Molly Berry and St. Thomas Church.  There are still a few roads we've never been on, notably two that go from Croom down towards the Patuxent, but they both peter out and never come in sight of the river.  (We do go down Magruders Ferry and River Airport, both of which have river views.)

No mishaps or mechanicals to report, although Sam did suffer a cramp around 7 miles from the end, which he was quickly able to walk off.

Sixteen riders showed up to ride to the river on a beautiful summer evening.  Two new riders on the route - Cameron and Mahmood (sorry, I cannot make out the spelling of their last names) arrived with their friends Dee and Tim McChesney.  As Cameron and Mahmood are relatively new riders, Jane Hudnall graciously offered to ride sweep with the four of them.  Thanks Jane!

Riding a bit further ahead were Ron Leak, LaTasha Banks, German Deortube, Sam Perry, Calvin Conyers, Kirsten Watts, Jim Hudnall and Ride Leader Shane LaBrake.  Jackie and Randi Schoch along with George Martin rode at a slower pace, but we all arrived to the firehouse within a few minutes of each other.  

There were no issues to report from the main group of eleven riders.  I had to leave before Jane arrived with her group, so I'm not sure how they all fared on the return from the river.  Jim readily left the firehouse to take his van to them in the event that anyone needed SAG support. 

Thanks to both Jim and Jane for their assistance with the ride, and I should acknowledge how nice it is to lead a ride with at least eight other active ride leaders in the mix.  Made my work very easy!  Thanks all.   

It was overcast and muggy on Tuesday, what you'd expect to find in the tropical hothouse in the Arboretum, only without the scent of flowers. It wasn't hot, at least not by current standards: only 90 at most.

Present at Bryans Road were Mike Bivens, Alan Kurzweil, Randy and Jackie Schoch, Charles Sidwell, Calvin Conyers, Sam Perry, Lou Dallorso, Diane Harris, Sonja Newman, Jim Hudnall, Richard Harrington and leader Steve Palincsar.

This was the second time for this route, a still-surprising venture northwards from our usual haunts. I had been unable to ride the first time, having arrived at Bryans Road without my cycling shoes. This time I rode down from Accokeek (as did Mike Bivens and Diane Harris). The route goes left from the shopping center and up Barry's Hill, then down Farmington, up Livingston to Washington Lane, merging into Old Fort and then following Fort Washington Road to the fort.

Today there was a ranger at the gate charging admission, a rare event in my experience, although Sonja predicted it. Jim and I had our America the Beautiful Senior passes -- good for a lifetime, ten bucks, allowing admission for four: if you are over 62 and you don't have one, you should get one -- but Randy had left his home. I got absorbed in trying to call Calvin, who had fallen way behind but hadn't followed Randy and Jackie on their shortcut, so I don't know how they worked it out, but the ranger at the gate finally relented and said everyone could come into the park. Sonja, Sam and Calvin never did come in, although we waited at the visitors center for them.

A few days earlier, Jim showed us the new edition of the Potomac Heritage Trail brochure, featuring Sam and some other Oxon Hill members on the cover, available at Fort Washington. They had none at the visitors center. According to Jim, the Ranger in Charge believes there's "...no point in putting the brochures out, because if you do, people just take them."

After we left Fort Washington, Randy, Jackie and Calvin returned via their own hill-avoiders route, while the main group followed Asbury Drive to Swan Creek, across 210 and up the 155' rise on Livingston (max. grade, 8.9%) to Old Fort, where we stopped briefly at the store; and then on to the wonderful 200' descent on Gallahan. After the turn on Piscataway, some in the group followed Livingston to Berry while the rest of us went up Floral Park and South Springfield to Accokeek Rd.

What makes South Springfield noteworthy is the dip at Burch Branch. The dictionary defines "gorge" as "a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it." It's all of 0.3 mi wide, so narrow; 100' drop and 120' rise, 9% on the downslope, 13.6% on the uphill side, so check on "narrow," steep" and "valley." I can't recall rocky walls, but this is, after all, Southern Maryland and some say "there are no rocks in Southern Maryland" (no more than there are hills, actually).

Probably the worst thing about the dip is how you always think "this time, I'm going to get up enough momentum to make it up the other side" -- and of course you never do. Lucy always snatches away the football, and you always end up frantically downshifting, running out of momentum on the verge of a stall. This time, Jim was there taking pictures of us -- surprisingly, not nearly as ugly a sight as I would have thought.

The last few miles follow the Tour de Accokeek route back to Bryans Road. By the time I got to Livingston Rd. the sky had gotten quite dark and it felt like rain. I'd ridden down Livingston to Bryans Road and already did 37 miles, so I turned right and went back to the firehouse. Diane was there when I arrived.

Richard and Jim have posted photos.

Richard's photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110125906362162717921/albums/5768829943221213601

Jim's photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.509189612430373.130801.147336598615678&type=1

Many thanks to Danzie Seaward for showing up at my postponed ride out of Allen Pond. The original ride was Saturday, but due to rain I postponed it. I was joined by Danzie and a few riders from Potomac Peddlers. Even though it was a small group we had a great time. The weather was cool and overcast - a perfect change from our hot and humid weather. I thought I was riding in the Pacific Northwest. We had all strong riders and attacked the bike ride. I was able to convince all the riders to do some intervals with me so we had a great workout.

Leader was Jackie Schoch. Riders were Randy Schoch, John Riconda, Diane and John Gorman, Steve Palincsar, Ken Williams, Celeste and Calvin Conyers.

What a great day for a ride.  I have to say there was a lot of joking around about raining but there was only a very light sprinkle not even enough to say it rained on the ride.  So we made it again without any down pours.  I keep telling everybody, since the rain shelter has been built it has not rained on a Friday's rides.

John Gorman and Ken Williams went off the trail and did a ride toward Pisgah and back.  They met up with us for lunch.  We saw Beverly and Joan along with a new member Carl on our way back to Indian Head.  We also passed by niece Sherriel Sullivan and nephew Jonathan Berry as they were heading to White Plains but they made it back in time to have lunch with us.

The ancient Romans had a saying, "Fortune favors the brave," proved true yet again today.  Among the brave were Larry Peed, Loretta Troen, Jim McDermott, Mike Bivens, Darryl Lowery, Linda and Paul Bankerd, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Jon Agazzi, guest Michael Levesque, Sonja Newman, Richard Harrington, Sharon Miller, Tom Short, Tom Roberson, Lou Dall'Orso, Sam Perry, Sean Lloyd and leader Steve Palincsar.   Although the weather forecast was grim, a strong chance of T-storms by early afternoon, enough to give anyone pause after last June's Derecho, it actually turned out to be a fine sunny day, cool by comparison with the day before.

I must explain that "cool by comparison" doesn't mean actual "coolness" as such; but with the breeze in your face at 1:30 pm yesterday feeling like you were in the cab of a chuffing steam locomotive standing in front of the open firebox door, a humid 93 degrees can be downright pleasant by comparison.

The route today went across Rt 301 on Dyson, then down Floral Park (a nice 3 mile downhill, somewhat spoiled by headwinds, but still a treat) followed by the ascent on Thrift Road to Louise Cosca Park for the first rest stop -- for most, anyway.  Tom Roberson turned around on Thrift Road, suffering from the heat, and Sean Lloyd skipped the rest stop and kept going.  Jim Hudnall's gearing problem of Tuesday must have been sorted, because he experienced no problems on Thrift Rd., usually an excellent place for shifting issues.

At Cosca Park, Linda Bankerd suffered an awkward "wardrobe malfunction," nothing of Tabloid interest, a cleat that had come loose and remained stuck in her pedal.  Eventually (thanks in very large part to Lou's reducing the retension on the pedal) Linda pried the cleat free and successfully reinstalled it.  No damage to the shoe or the cleat, although I was told Linda was a little the worse for the experience.

After the rest stop we followed green May Metric arrows, and eventually caught up with Sean on Molly Berry.  By that time he and Sam Perry were about out of water, so the trailing group diverted down to the Nottingham store for fluids, then continued on Nottingham, rejoining most of the rest at Merkle (some having gone on, some shortening the route by turning up North Keys) for a second rest stop. 

Happy birthday, Sharon! Note: Sharon and Steve will be jointly celebrating their July birthdays at Saturday's Colton Point Clockwise ride, 9:00 am from the Northern Senior Center. Current weather forecasts call for a splendid cool Saturday, nothing at all like the last time Sharon celebrated a birthday with a Colton Point ride from the Northern Senior Center.

Three riders departed from Indian Head for an impromtu ride at 6:00 pm to ride the 26 miles of the trail. The announcement of the ride was e-mailed in mid afternoon.  The temperatures were in the mid to high 90s however the trail was very comfortable with a lot of shade. The ride pace going to the white plains made for great conversation while the pace of the ride back was picked up due to the coming darkness.

We happened upon a rafter of turkeys which included a Tom, Hen and about a dozen chicks. We stopped for a few minutes prior to seeing the turkeys while Calvin adjusted the saddle of two lady riders who were also enjoying the trail.

The Riders were:

Reginald Stokes, leader
Randy Schoch
Calvin Conyers

First official ride.  Two riders showed up: Jeff Lagana and Holden Hudson.  Ride leader got a flat tire in Loveville, and also managed to forget to bring a spare tube.  Jeff was kind enough to lend me a tube.  Repaired the flat in record time and back on the road.  Started hot and humid, but cooled down a bit by the end of the ride.