Twelve riders came out on this very hot day (temperature hit 100 later in the day) to join me on a trip to La Plata: Jon Agazzi, Mike Bivens, Lou Dallorso, Richard Harrington, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Sonya Newman, Steve Palincsar, Larry Peed, Sam Perry, Tom Short, Mieshe Sidwell.  I was suffering from a broken home air conditioner and a very bad case of poison ivy, so asked for someone to ride with me.  Richard Harrington volunteered and as the group accelerated away, Richard and I rode together the 20 miles to the rest stop to find the others spread out under the lone tree near the gas station store.  That's why I missed Jim Hudnall's chain mishap, which he reported required 3 hands to fix.  The rest of the ride proceeded smoothly, and there were several comments appreciating the route because we went 'in reverse' of the usual direction on some roads. 

RIVERSIDE 44/JULY 15

SONJA N. AND JANELL S.

A special thank you to all the riders who came out for the Riverside 44 ride, July 15.

 Despite a less than detailed and explicit route sheet (on my part) the ride was a great success!

 A special thank you to Mike Bivens for going above and beyond to quickly provide us with accurate directions.

I’d like to sincerely apologize to the visiting couple from Bowie, who did not start at the beginning of the ride with the group and therefore were not aware of missing information from the cue sheet. The good news however is that we were able to make contact with them shortly after arriving at the first rest stop.

 A big thank you to Janell for staying back at the rest stop until they arrived and for also leading the start of the ride.

This was my first organized ride and overall the ride went smoothly. Great weather, nice change of scenery, easy to moderate route and excellent route control.

At the first rest stop AA riders joined us. (It’s always a pleasure to see new faces and meet new members).  

A repeat occurrence (similar incident on the 4^th of July) wherein member Jenell and other riders were chased by the same two dogs while riding along RT. 6.

Ken our V.P had a flat tire.  Mike, club President, stayed back to assist.

A truly great ride and I appreciate all who came out!

Sonja

Ride leader John Early. We had a total of five riders. We did a modified Mount Calvert ride. Instead of having the rest stop at Mount Calvert, we stopped at Merkle instead. It was a good ride and all seem to enjoy. Ride leader ended up with 33.5 miles. No flats or breakdowns!

Co-Leader: Herman Young
Co Leader: Reginald Stokes

On an overcast Saturday morning with mild temperatures, we left the Accokeek firehouse at 8:40 AM. There were 11 riders who enjoyed the route from the firehouse to the end of the Indian head Trail, around to Marshall Corner Rd to the rest Stop at the Shell Station. Our return trip proceeded back to the trail via Marshall Corner Rd.

While attempting to make the left to re-enter the trail there was a collision between Ann Marie and Byron Harris. Reggie Stokes on his first trainee ride leader ride came off of his bike also avoiding running into the couple. The resultant collision caused some damage to Byron’s gears, however he was able to continue the ride. There were no significant injuries.

While traveling north on Indianhead Calvin hit a stone which resulted in a flat tire. While fixing the flat a motorist who happened to also be a bike rider stopped and offered his standard size pump to fully inflate Calvin’s tire.

Thanks to all riders for coming -- one all the way from Baltimore just to be in our group.

We escaped the rain and fun was had by all. Congratulations to Jimmy Bartlett who informed us that the day before he became a new grandfather, no cigars were handed out. 

Many thanks to the following riders for your support of Saturday's ride !

Jimmy Bartlett, S.A. Llord, Tom Short, Byron Harris, Reginald Stokes, Carl jones, Reginald Fouler, Ann Marie Harris, Dana Trevas, Bill Blankenship, Calvin Conyers and Herman Young.

- Reggie Stokes

Our 8:15 start was overcast w/ apparently some earlier showers, w/ mid 70s (what a pleasant difference from last weekend's 100s), ending temps went up to the mid 80s.

Ride Leader John Gorman, used the basic Accokeek 30 to Smallwood Park published listing w/ a few changes.  A good size group came out. The forward group: (led by - Janell Saunders (thanks!), Al Manley, Ken Williams, Larry Peed, LaTasha Banks, Jan/Ron Tucker, Larry Peed, Jim Hudnall, Jocelyn Herrington, and Jon Agazzi. The back group consisted of Ruth Anne Cumberland, Judie Artman (1st time B, returning CC guest), and sweep duty by John. 

We stayed close together until crossing over MD-210 down Livingston, the back group then used Bumpy Oak(down) turning R onto IHRT over to Hawthorne (thanks to Ruth Anne's suggestion) to Chicamuxen.

Well, John's approx 25 ride lead non-flat or mechancial lucky streak ended, when Ruth Anne had a flat about 1/4 mile up Chicamuxen. But w/in 15mins(?), between Ruth Anne's flat changing experience and John's pump and pumping power, we were quickly clipped in heading to the rest stop @ the Marina. As we got to the Marina landing the forward group was heading back.  John's group made a R out of the Park and quickly crossed over Sweetman to Bicknell and then re-connected to Chicamuxen back up Hawthorne. We then briefly slipt w/ two of us crossing over Lower Wharf and taking Chapman's Landing on the left side up and then crossed back over and where we all connected back to Hungerford to MD-210/Marshall Hall. We then added an extra site seeing ride down to the Marshall Hall ramp, before returning via the Tour de Accokeek route back to the firehouse, giving us 37 miles @ a 14ams.  ( I'll add that I've enjoyed riding more times as a sweep vs leading all day from the front, sure is nice riding a true B pace.)

The forward group advised they added on some miles on the IHRT to meet up w/ Calvin's CC group and then took Bumpy Oak back up Marshall Hall, to do a total of 44.  Everyone seemed to have had an enjoyable day's ride.  20 degrees less than 100 helped too...LOL

 Photos

What a difference 10 degrees makes! It was 89, sunny, a little breeze, and downright comfortable. So comfortable nobody bothered to get in the shade at the rest stop at Merkle, even though it felt 10 degrees cooler in the shade. I guess all those days of high nineties-low hundreds were genuinely good for us...

In the group today were La Tasha Banks, Jon Agazzi, Jack Hammond, Sonya Newman, Mike Bivens, Jim McDermott, Sharon Miller, Luis Dall'Orso, Regina and Mike Saizan, Thane Stielow, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Richard Harrington, Sam Perry, Joan Oppel, Tom Roberson, Leader Steve Palincsar and Guests Tony Parker and Michael Levesque.

It was "Where haven't we been lately?" day as far as the route was concerned: although we've been down Mount Calvert Rd. a few times this year (with lots of cautions about rough pavement and potholes on the downhill sections, although there does appear to have been some patching done and the worst sections aren't nearly as bad as they were when Sam ruined his tire) we haven't visited Mount Calvert itself in a long, long time, and it was interesting to see a group of children on what appeared to be a school or camp field trip, and people working an archaological dig. And lots of portolets, too - a first as far as I can recall.

We had a little science lesson at Merkle regarding the density of water and the expansion of ice, when one of the riders learned the hard way that if you're going to freeze your Camelbak bladder, you'd best not fill it all the way full, lest it burst at the seams (like outside pipes in the winter time).

The Visitors Center at Merkle was closed and the water spigot around the corner of the building is in a rather precarious place, poison ivy on one side and a narrow concrete ledge with a big drop-off on the other; and even with students and archaeologists and portolets all over the place at Mount Calvert, there still wasn't any water to be had there. Even if it feels balmy after sweltering days of hundred degree temperatures, when it gets up to 89 you do need to drink.

The store on the west side of Croom between Duley Station and Croom Airport is closed (first time I've noticed, although Jim said it had been closed for a while) so a group of us stopped at Moore's Store just north of St. Thomas Church Rd. I've passed that store hundreds of times over the years, but never stopped there before. It was an excellent place, and we'll be stopping there again in future.

Today we also took another step towards accomplishing our grand strategic objective of riding "every road in every direction, over time" in the Brandywine by heading south on Croom Rd. from Candy Hill to Tanyard, taking in a few interesting and fun rollers on the way. We've often headed north on Croom from Baden Naylor to Candy Hill, but I can't recall ever having gone south in that section, and never on Croom between Baden Naylor and Tanyard in either direction.

In all, a great day to be riding, whether you did 37 miles as cued, took a short cut, or made it 40 (as did Three Who Shall Remain Nameless) by mistakenly turning east on North Keys (and away from the finish) rather than Old Indian Head and Tower. And an excellent way for a ride leader to celebrate his 70th birthday.

This was the easiest ride I've lead so far....all I did was post the ride and show up!  Everyone else did all the work....A large group was already at the start since it was a half hour later and Calvin et al had everyone already signed in.  As I was riding into the firehouse parking lot, a half dozen riders were already on the road, wanting to get a head start.  A new rider, Ceceila Oh, came to the start, but just as we were ready to start out, her rear tire blew and we determined it was at the stem, and without a spare tube to replace it, she packed up the bike and headed home. Note: ALWAYS carry a spare tube!  So the rest of us took off and spread out quickly, meeting up with the rest of the gang at the rest stop.  We headed back and met up at BJs for sandwiches and ice cream. Discussion ranged from rider technique on hills, rider classification, ride leader customs, past rides, etc.  Riders were Peter and Jeanne Ulrich, Azalia and Michael Butler, LaTasha Banks, Jimmy Bartlett, Calvin and Celeste Conyers, David King, Pat Colvin, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Gary Swartz, Michael Chandler, and 2 others whose names I couldn't make out....penmanship counts!  

17 riders on a Tuesday! Quite a big crowd and cool weather - because today mid-80's felt cool.  The group separated quickly into a large crowd off the front, the ride leader and David King in the back and Tom Roberson and Richard Harrington in the middle and Paul Bankerd somewhere in between.  I enjoyed David's company all the way to the rest stop at the Welcome Store and then rode with Richard and Tom the rest of the way.  In front were Jon Agazzi, Linda Bankerd, Mike Bivens, Jim Hudnall, Alan Kurzweil, Darryl Lowery, Dana Middleton, Sonya Newman, Steve Palincsar, and Mike and Regina Saizan and Loretta Troen.  There was some mild grumbling about too many hills but we only went up Chapman's Landing, Chicamuxen, Bicknell, Blossom Point, Rose Hill and Pomfret.  We went down all the other roads.....

Ride leader Jane Hudnall rode with Tim and Dee McChesney on a casual 15 mile ride to the Wawa and back to the school. We enjoyed the newly paved Accokeek, the shade on McKendree and visiting while we rode. After returning to the school we started cutting the watermelon and watching the other groups roll in. Co-ride leader, Liz Willis, was not able to ride due to a family emergency.

Ride Leader Jim Hudnall with David Schnirel, Darin King, Chris White, Richard Harrington, Larry Greene, Claire Chiamulera and Rob Golding. Several other riders signed the sign-in sheet, but rode with one of the B groups.

Before the top of the hill on Berry Road, I dropped my chain and had it get stuck between the frame and small chain-ring. Rob waited at the top of the hill. The others were doing a comfortable A pace of 16 mph, so Rob and I were able to catch up with them. The group stayed together at a reasonable A pace for about 11 miles until we turned onto Brandywine Road, then the pace quickened to over 20 mph. The A ride turned into an AA ride, with David and me dropping back. 

When we got the Aquasco IGA store for our rest stop, we found the store closed. Fortunately, they open at 9:30 am on Sundays, so we only had a short wait. Dan and some of his B group arrived while we were waiting. The cold drinks and ice were worth the wait.

The next rest stop was the Wawa on US 301. By then, the "AA" riders were well in front of Richard, David, Larry and me. We stopped at the Wawa, but the "AA" riders kept going. Those of us who stopped were greeted by Michael and Azalia Butler who had cold water and ice for riders. 

Back at the school, cold watermelon tasted terrific. Thank you to Randy, Michael, Jimmy and Jane for the watermelon and ice.

More than 55 of us enjoyed riding and visiting with fellow club members. Most have not been in the club long enough to have known Bob McMaster, but those who have fondly remember Bob and are glad we can carry on the tradition he started of having a Watermelon Ride each year on the first Sunday after his birthday (and the birthday of our country.)