Leader: Lou Dall'Orso

Members:   Eric Nielsen

Guests:  none

Route:  ridewithgps.com/routes/12378617

Weather:  Mid 50s at the start, a bit over 60 by the end, some clouds and sun, not much wind to speak of.

AMS:  16 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  Yes, see below.

Report:   With apologies to Charles Dickens, It was the best of rides, it was the worst of rides. First the best, another unusually nice weather day for January, and this time I was happy to have Eric join me. He was already there when I arrived, and we were ready to roll shortly after. We rolled out of the parking lot and down the Berry Road hill and somehow missed our turn on McDaniels, so just made the right on Middleton which put us right back on course. From there the ride was a fun spin, with no wind to speak of, and only light car traffic along the route. I really like the portion from Hawthorne down to Rose Hill Road, and took the chance to eat and drink, letting Eric take the lead, then pulled to almost the start of the Rose Hill downhill where I followed him down and watched his red Merckx cut the lines at speed and smiled. As we neared the end of the The Route 6 hill, I mentioned to Eric that the pavement on poorhouse is really good now, and asked if he wanted to stop at the Pisgah store, and he replied he was ok with not stopping, so that's what we did, and continued past the intersection on poorhouse and soon we were making our way down Chick, and the couple of rollers there. We made the right on Livingston and decided to skip that stop also. The last hill was a bit of a trudge, but not being steep, not too bad, so we topped that and worked our way past the air field, and then the right on Route 210, made the dog leg to the side road that puts us next to Route 210 on much better pavement that the shoulder, and made the quick left and right to return to the shoulder, and the last little bit of the route.  And now for the Worst part, so I'm riding now within sight of the Berry Road Traffic lights, pointing out some of the debris on the road, thinking "fun ride" when an SUV pulls up along side with it's window rolled down, and someone yelling something out the window, at first it didn't register, but on the second or third time, I made out the last thing I wanted to hear, "He crashed!".  So I pulled over, and turned around, expecting Eric to be right behind me, and maybe it was something else? But , no. I see him sitting on the shoulder, his bike a few feet from him, I don't know, maybe 50 to 100 feet away? So I rush back to him, and see that he  doesn't appear to be seriously injured, but I ask him to take his time getting up, and if anything doesn't feel right, he says he is ok, and good to get going, so I ask him to stay put for a bit while I check his bike,, quick spin of the wheels and cranks, squeeze the brakes, and a bounce, checks out ok, only the right lever looks to have suffered a bit. So after a few more moments, I check again with him, and he is good to go. I threw in a couple of questions to make sure he hadn't hit his head, but it turned out, when we talked later at the cars, there was no evidence of any impact on his helmet at all. So I followed him back to the parking lot where we found some road rash on his shoulder and hip. I felt terrible, and waited to make sure he was ok, and he insisted he was, so we said our goodbyes.  When I asked Eric what had happened from his perspective, he mentioned that he lost control after hitting debris, I'm still not sure how exactly, I never saw it, and more surprisingly, I didn't hear it. Oh and I forgot to mention that the lady who flagged me down, came back and checked on us to make sure we were ok before we got going again, so a big thank you to her.

Leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Ron Altemus
Guests: none
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53661078
Weather: Sunny, 40 or 45 (depending on if you were standing in the sun) at the start rising to 54 by early afternoon with single-digit winds
AMS: 12.0
Mechanicals/Mishaps: none
Report: Another fine day to Carpe Diem, albeit 10 degrees colder than yesterday.  Trying to keep the distance below 30, today's route was an abbreviated version of Ron's Tayloes Neck exploration, straight to Tayloes Neck on Ironsides and MD-6, down to the end of the peninsula and back with a diversion down Walters Landing for a photo op, then backtrack to King James Church, followed by Hancock Run and Adams Willet to Liverpool Point, back on Baptist Church to Ironsides and Friendship Landing Rd.

Nanjemoy is a quiet, off the beaten path, low-traffic area and Tayloes Neck makes the rest of Nanjemoy look like the Beltway at rush hour.  We had a lunch break at King James Church (happily, this time the rest rooms were open) and then followed that up with a stop at the Nanjemoy Store for a snack before returning to Friendship Farm Park. 

Leader: Lou Dall'Orso

Members:   none

Guests:  none

Route:  ridewithgps.com/routes/12378617

Weather:  High 50s at the start, a bit over 60 by the end, some clouds and some wind,, but nothing extreme.

AMS:  16 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:   Thought I'd get some riders with the weather being so warm for January, but not to be. Decided close enough for shorts, so did that and a long sleeve base layer plus short sleeve jersey, and arm warmers to start. Felt a tad under dressed at the start, but soon felt comfortable and by the time I was nearing the Billingsley round about, forgot it was winter. Got into a good rhythm, so decided to skip the stops, and just kept a middle sized gear rolling. Arm warmers came off mid ride, and pulled up the sleeves up to my elbows, and made some forearm vitamin D to go along with the  legs. A tad of headwind on the second half, but nothing major. 

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Ray Luckenbach, Dave Van Amayden, Walt Roscello, Connie Quickstad, Ron Altemus
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53640509 30.1 mi, 1050' elevation gain
Weather: Partly cloudy, around 50 at the start rising to a sunny 65, albeit with winds of at least 12 mph and gusts up to 20 mph
AMS: 11.5
Mishaps & mechanicals: none

"Do I even remember how to ride this thing? It's been a month since I've been on a bike" pretty much summed up how I was feeling at the start, and I wouldn't be surprised if I wasn't the only one.  Punxatawney Phil is my spirit animal this winter, it seems: if it isn't warm and I don't see the sun, I turn around and go back in my burrow and wait for better times.

And since better times clearly arrived today, six of us were out and about on a route that visited former haunts and oft-ridden roads.  We (slowly) took the IHRT heading towards Indian Head, actually noticing the scenic water views along Mattawoman Creek, unsuccessfully attempted a tour of the new developments adjacent to the Village Green (the road just don't match the map at all, what's up with that?) and then took Strauss to Chapmans Landing and had a rest stop at the McDonalds in Bryans Rd.  We've stopped there hundreds of times in the past, but this was the first that I can recall in at least three years.

Leaving Bryans Rd we took Marshall Hall to Fenwick, stopping for a photo op at McRea, then continued on to Barrys Hill (noting once again the fine new pavement that extends right up to the County Line but no further, leaving a blasted moonscape once we enter Prince Georges county), returning to Bryans Rd for a second rest stop, this time at the Burger King.

The stretch on Livingston from the Burger King to Bumpy Oak confirmed the wisdom of our having relocated the Tuesday Southern Exposure rides to the Livingston Rd IHRT Parking lot, but once we turned onto Bumpy Oak it was all smiles down to the Indian Head Rail Trail, and a pleasant scenic couple of miles back.

Carpe diem, days like this are rare in January but very welcome.

A cloudy, chilly day with a few cold feet, but our "Gang of Four" had a terrific ride on the Mason Neck Peninsula. 

Riders:  Jessica H, Ron A, Lisa O, Dave VanA

Team Balaclava, well layered, started at the parking area next to Gunston ES.  We rode the OH route, starting with the out-n-back to the water, following the trail, and going to the Virginia Mason Neck park for a quick break. 

We headed on the usual route, unencumbered by cars (almost none!) or other cyclists (none!).  The sun was not out but the wind was pretty manageable. 

Other quick stops for hydration, music arrangement, and glove management. 

29 miles 

Average speed 11.2

1142' elevation

No mechanicals, no one lost.  

Leader:   Ron Altemus

Members:  Polar Bears Robin Garnett, Denny Miller, Carl Hattery, Esther Steward



Route:  Indian Head Rail Trail, riding east from Livingston Rd parking lot to White Plains trailhead for a short rest stop. then retracing west back to the ride start.

Weather:  temp range 34-40 degrees; 3-5 mph WNW air; mostly cloudy with one a few attempts by the sun to break through.  Felt colder on the return even though the temperature rose to 40 by ride end.

AMS: swept in the low 10s; others much faster

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:   for most of the ride on the trail, our hardy band of winter cyclists were the only users.  Towards White Plains, we saw an occasional walker or jogger, probably less than 10 other users and NO cyclists.

Inbound, an eagle was on the nest near the parking lo and a flock of "blackbirds" was also present.  A couple of deer bounding across the trail on the down slope towards Bensville was the only other wildlife sighting.

Leader:   Ron Altemus

Member:   Diane Harris

Route:   leisurely tour of Fort Hunt neighborhoods to view holiday decorations.  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53526646  12.2 miles with only 273' of elevation change. 

Weather:   dark; temps in the low 40s; NE 5-7 mph air movement

AMS:   leisurely 10 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:   some very nice decorations, some a bit overboard, all in all, a most enjoyable ride.  We both agreed that lights are much better than inflatables.

One house had quite the computerized display including a snowman, to the left in the picture below, that did karaoke to the Christmas carols playing over the sound system.

The house in Waynewood also delighted with it lighted globe high above the street.

Today was a simply perfect day to ride.  Pure sun and blue skies all day, with some stunning afternoon clouds.  Temp 30s to low 40s with no wind. 

Riders:  Jessica Hirschhorn and Dennis Miller 

Route:  36 miles 1810' climbing 

Average speed 11.5 

I was happy to introduce Dennis to this really wonderful ride.  Today there was almost no traffic (including other cyclists), the winter farmland was impressive as were the iconic farms , silos, and the winter cornfields.   The Cacoctin mountain range framed most of our ride. 

We visited Loys Station Bridge,  Roddy Bridge, and Utica Bridge. 

Riding together afforded us a great opportunity to have good conversation. 

Leader: Lou Dall'Orso

Members:   Liam H.

Guests:  none

Route:  ridewithgps.com/routes/12378617

Weather:  Mid to upper forties and overcast with a steady 15(ish) mile per hour wind to start, sun tried to make an appearance several times, wind increased somewhat and became more gusty as the ride progressed, lost a couple of degrees in the second half of the ride.

AMS:  14.5 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:  Another good weather day too nice to pass up this time of year, particularly with the recent well below average temperatures we've been having.  Happy to have Liam join me for this ride.  I thought we might get a couple of more riders, but I'm sure a lot of folks are already in Holiday mode. We set out down Route 228 right on time, and had a good tail wind all the way down to McDaniels, which helped in getting warmed up, as it felt cooler than the temperature would indicate. Got into a good rhythm, and soon we were heading down Rose Hill Road, and up the climb to the right on Poorhouse, and then the first rest stop at the Pisgah store, where we made a brief stop, and continued on our way. We made the optional stop at the IHRT parking lot, and then continued on Livingston to the last leg on Route 210 back to the parking lot.

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:  Susan Altemus, Fran Jezisek, Carl Hattery, Connie Quickstad



Route:   Indian Head Rail Trail, riding east from Livingston Rd parking lot to White Plains trailhead for a short rest stop. then retracing west back to the ride start.

Weather:   moved the start time to 10:30 as forecasters said rain would have left the area - this time, they were right!  Drive down 210 had lots of road spray and plenty of sunshine.  The latter was present for the entire ride up to White Plains, then dark clouds moved in (see picture below), only to be gone 10 minutes after we started our return.  Temp at ride start was 53, rose to 55 at the mid-point, 54 when we returned to the start.  Winds of 12-16 mph out of the SW, not noticed outbound, but definitely felt on the return with gusts up to the high 20s/low 30s.  Several points along the trail heading west were quite the slog.

AMS:  varied by rider with the RL recording a wind hindered mid 10s.

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:    uncertainty of weather evidently kept numbers down though as noted above, other than the wind gusts, the day was quite nice.  Surprisingly, we had the trail almost completely to ourselves - we saw two other cyclists, both near White Plains, and a couple of walkers, one near Middletown, the other closer to Bensville.  The western end of the trail was unpopulated.

Connie captured the changing sky and winter colors at Port Tobacco Creek pond.  There is a squirrel nest in one of the closer trees; the pond itself had a contingent of Canadian Honkers (geese) and a pair of mallards that were diving down and splashily resurfacing.  Looked like they were having fun.

Not much else in terms of wildlife sightings other than a black vulture riding the air currents and a Flicker, both near Bumpy Oak pond.

The barren trees continue to reveal previously hidden abodes of various animals and insects.  As pictured above and seen many times elsewhere, squirrel nests are common.  Other smaller bird nests can occasionally be glimpsed.  Two more Bald Face hornets nests were spotted just west of Bumpy Oak road on the north side of the trail.  Previous ride reports detailed one tree with two nests (same side of the trail) and a single, large nest on the opposite side of the trail.  All five of these nests are found along approximately 1/10 of a mile of trail.