It was a great day for my inaugural ride leader ride.  Participation was great.  I had seventeen riders to sign-up for the ride: Jan Tucker, Darin King, Chuck Coe, Mike Miller, Ron Leak, Robert Golding, Chantal, Bob, Sharon Miller, Cathy Wilson, John k, Claire and George Chiamulera, Michelle Williams, Dana Middleton, John Clark and Michael Blaine.  My goal was to lead a true “A” pace ride.  For the most part, I accomplished my goal.  The group averages were 18.5 to 19.1 AMS at the split and 17.4 to 18.9 AMS at the finish.  There were no major issues – one flat at the start and one flat on Pomfret Road.  All in all – it was a great inaugural ride.  Thanks to all that decided to join me on the ride.

Rider leader John Gorman was joined on the 50miler by Linda and Paul Bankerd. Starting out w/them were Diane Gorman, Nancy Ruth and her friend Tony. Diane did the 26 miles on the IHRT, w/ Nancy & Tony traveling to the 1st rest stop w/ the group @ mile 15/ Smallwood Park Marina & they stayed to do some site seeing @ the Marina and returned via Chicamuxen to the IHRT 33miles(?). (member Sarah Clement was on the trail herself and we all chatted a bit @ the finish of our rides.)

From there Linda, Paul, & I left the Park, crossed over Sweetman to Bicknell/Poorhouse/Ripley and L down Hawthorne to the TL, N making a L onto IHRT north to the Village Green for a second rest stop. We took a left on MD-210 and a quick R onto Strauss Ave to Lower Wharf back to MD-210, then using Hungerford up to the TL @ MD-225. Taking a quick break, we U-turned & took a slight sidetrack of using Hungerford, L on Metropolitan Church Rd,  R on Livingston, L on  Bumpy Oak (down hill YES!!), and the final 7.50 miles back on the  IHRT White Plains/Theodore Green Blvd parking lot.

The 8:15am day started out overcast near 70 and ended w/ a sprinkle on the final 4miles back, and remained cloudy. But the cloudy conditions sure made a pleasant 50mile ride, Linda & I  w/ as needed stopping for turn coverage each finished w/ an AMS above 14.50 but shy of 15. Ride time was 3hrs 21mins. No mechanical or ride issues to report by all riders. (probably because of only 1300 ft elv, & less strain on gearing...LOL) The trail can sure offer a wide range of riding applications, today's ride was 26 miles trail and 24 miles open road.

A most noteowrthy item to mention was that a female rollerblader, finished having done 39 miles w/ an AMS of over 11, w/ a ride time of 3hrs 20mins carrying a 20lb bookbag. She was training to do an 80miler later this year in an event. NOW THAT IS BETTER than any AAA ride...LOL. 

Thanks to Claire and Blake (last names not needed) for joining me under fall-like conditions for the ride to Cobb Island, and lending some legitimacy to my inaugural leader role.  Being that we have compatible and complimentary skillsets, it was pretty smooth pedaling.  Claire's rear derailleur was entering the early stages of cable-stretch, so it was a little grumpy (but functonal) on the way to Cobb Island.  Since we had a couple engineers in the group, we naturally decided to see if we could improve her situation during the rest stop.  After a moderate amount of random tweaking, I think we ended up where we started (no charge).  At the rest stop, I think the consensus was to dial things back from a low AA pace to a true A pace...that notion lasted for about as long as we circled the Island!  On the way back, Claire was dreading the Penns Hill climb...she wasn't disappointed.  Blake was feeling some effects from his week on the Allegheny Trail, so plenty of out-of-the saddle arse-stretching.  We finished up the ride at 18.3AMS, which matched the goal.  The rain was fast-approaching, so we kept post-ride festivities to a minimum and bid farewell.  I suspect all those that were cycling home (i.e. everyone) got sprinkled on.  Let's call it a successful ride!

With "cooler" weather on tap, this ride piggybacked on the A/B rides but started at Bryans Rd. Polly Choate & Reggie Stokes  led the CC 42mi with 10 riders and Jimmy Bartlett & Herman Young led the C 26mi with 13 riders. In addition to the leaders, the riders included: Jay Lewis, Walter Measday, Jon Agazzi, Pat Walthers, Michael Besche, Randy & Jackie Schoch, Jules Pinkney, George Martin, Bill Blankenship, Chris Sega, Gigi & Juan Talastas, Sarah Clement, Celeste Conyers, JulieAnn Kowalewski, Herman Young, Pat Colvin, and Ani Hartini. 

Although "shortcuts" were provided to avoid major hills, the C's charged ahead on Bumpy Oak and Rose Hill, with the CC's adding in St Ignatius and BelAlton for good measure. (This was a real test for leader Polly who had not done these hills since 2008!)  Congrats to all and thanks for coming out!!

Photos on Facebook.

God is good. He gave me some awesome weather to ride in today. 70 degrees at start, a total of seventeen people joined the ride leader today.  We started fifteen minutes ahead of the A ride but they caught and passed us by the time we were on Pomfret RD.  Kudos to one of our newer riders, Kim Mason, for attempting the route at the behest of her husband Lloyd Mason.  Riders kept to their paces and we all regrouped at the ride stops. The Ride Leader swept the rear.  Attending today were Mike & Regina Saizan, Jim & Jane Hudnall, Herb Pruitt, Ruth Anne Cumberland, Monica Irmler, Larry Peed, Gary Swartz, Rita Zeidner, Harold Datz, Jacquline Samuda, Tom Short, Janell Saunders and Dave Melville. On a sad note Herb Pruitt said that this would be his last ride with OHBTC. He will soon be moving to California.  With weather like today everybody had a good time.

No takers! A shame since it was a lovely, refreshing ride. Even wore my windbreaker to start!

A beautiful, comfortable sunny summer day: who ever imagined temperatures in the high 80s could feel so nice? In the group today were Patricia Sanders, Jack Hammond, Jim McDermott, Joan Oppel, Syliva Pope, Jim and Jane Hudnall, Sam Perry, Mike Bivens, Regina and Mike Saizan, Dee McChesney, Sonja Newman, Larry Peed, John Early, leader Steve Palincsar and guest Sunil Bhimani.

In keeping with the newly revised class standards, today's ride was reclassified as CC; and in fact, there were several who rode at what is now a CC pace, although most, of course, were crowding the upper end of the B/A boundary.

The route went to Eagle Harbor by way of Molly Berry, Nelson Perrie and the Croom Rollers, with a rest stop at the IGA market on Aquasco, and a return on Dr. Bowen and Malcolm: 37 miles, 1500' of elevation change and a maximum grade (according to ridewithgps) of 3.5%. Who knew that a route that included the Croom Rollers, Nelson Perrie and Eagle Harbor was essentially flat?  (What's even more curious is that when I just went back and plotted a route on Croom from Bald Eagle to Brandywine Rd. the maximum grade came out to be 10.5%.   I'm still wondering how that works...)

No known mishaps today other than one really dropped chain (Dee), one chain derailled off to the outside a few times on Croom (but I was always able to shift it back without stopping) and one lost Garmin (Jim) that was eventually found hiding upside down in the grass at a photo stop.

John and Jack shortened the ride by staying on Croom at the Brandywine Rd. crossing, and Dee and Sam skipped the Eagle Harbor loop, going from the rest stop directly onto Dr. Bowen (both options planning for, and one reason these routes have a range rather than a fixed distance). The riders in the caboose finished with a 13.9 mph average.

A delightful summer evening for a ride,  Temps in the 80s and some cloud cover made for nice riding conditions on this weekly ride.  Joining the ride leader were Kirsten Watts, Reginald Stokes, Jim Hudnall, Jane Hudnall, German Deortube, Calvin Conyers and first-time guest riders James Denmark and Steve Nottingham.  Sly Jackson was out on an evening ride and pulled into the firehouse to say hello, and Janell Saunders joined us mid-way after riding the route a-la-reverse.  We had a late start due to some minor issues, but there were no mishaps to report once we got rolling. 

What a strange morning.

I'm notoriously bad at anything related to calendars, and a slow starter in the morning. Got up, checked the ride schedule to see was this the week I'm not leading Tues & Thurs rides [thinking of Mike & Regina leading 8/21, Mike & Sonja on 8/23] and see Mike is leading, so not my turn today. Good, now I have some time to deal with the bike issue.

 I have two bikes deadlined with cracked rear rims, and one I just finished prepping for a trip this weekend to Lancaster PA. Weather report shows a 30% chance of T-storms, so that means a bike with fenders, and there's only one available. It's on a rack in the furnace room.

I take that bike off the rack and the falls on me. As it comes down, a bike hook and a small rack of some sort come down also, the rack hitting my glasses. A lens is scratched, but no big deal, they're ten buck CVS readers, not the thousand dollar a pair bifocals I used to wear, and no clunk on the head.

I fix the rack and the phone rings. It's an anonymous caller (bless you, whoever you are!) asking if I'm canceling the ride today. Surprised, I tell him I'm not leading, it's Mike's call and he hasn't posted an email; and he tells me the ride schedule says I'm leading.

I come upstairs and check online, and there it is: I'm leading the B, Mike Bivens is leading the A version.  Wrong week, wrong Mike.   And out the window, it's pouring down rain! No wonder he's asking if I'm canceling.

The forecast still says clear with a low chance of T-storms mid-morning, radar projection shows the rain clearing, so I send the email, the ride is on.  But it's raining all the way down to Bryans Road.

The rain stops by 8:30, and by 9 it's clear. Only a few riders come down, almost all for Mike's A ride. Jim Hudnall and Larry Peed come with me -- mostly, I think, because Jim wants to talk to the rangers at Smallwood Park, and that's where this ride is going. (It's certainly not because they're not A riders; these days all but a handful of the mid-week regulars are pushing an A pace.)

So as we ride down to Indian Head it gets clearer, and by the time we get to Smallwood Park the sky is clear and blue, the sun is out and it's a beautiful day. We're not setting any speed records, though. In fact, I'm barely averaging 12.5. As we're approaching the Pisgah store Larry ask me if I'm aware my back wheel is in crooked.

Normally that's not possible, but this frame has horizontal dropouts; and when I check at the store, it's definitely in at an angle - not quite rubbing the chainstay, but crooked for sure. It's funny how much faster I go for the same amount of effort once the wheel's in straight!

So, just over 38 miles, a pretty ride on what turned out to be a lovely day, but an epic failure to meet minimum standards.