Leader: Joan Oppel

Members: Steve Palincsar

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49789942 Visit to Cumberstone and Galesville via Sands, Harwood, Mill Swamp, Muddy Creek to Cumberstone, then into Galesville and return on all the Sudleys, Rt 2 and W Bay Front, with a detour on Brooks Woods and Little back to Bay Front to reach Wrighton and Plummer.

Weather: Spectacular - sunny blue skies with fluffy white clouds, temperatures about 48 at the start, warming up to about 55. Perfect riding weather.

Report:  A nice route with some stretches on the shoulder of  busy roads to reach quiet ones. And some detours off the busy roads, such as the quiet and hidden Lansdale and the lovely Brooks Woods and Little Roads. Plus the always beautiful out and back on Cumberstone. Today was simply a great day for a bike ride.

Our rest stop at the tiny park in Galesville next to a marina provided all the pictures.

The mysterious tripod platforms at the marina, colorful but what are they?

The answer is revealed -

This marina has been a caretaker for the neighborhood feral cats for years. The cats are provided with insulated wooden boxes, lined with soft bedding, heavy plastic door coverings - and a special wooden covered feeding structure where they can safely eat. For a long time there were only 2 cat houses, today I counted 7! A sign nearby advises that cruelty to an animal is a felony punishable with up to 3 years in prison.

Rest stop at Magruders Landing

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar

Members: Patricia Walthers, Joan Oppel, Karen Morgan, Connie Quickstad

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53071533 36 mi, 2000' elevation gain

Weather: Sunny, 53 at the start rising to 63 (actually, 70 by the end, according to my car) and windy.  Officially, prediction was  10-13 mph from the west, with 16 recorded on the road, and according to the weather report on the radio on the way home, we had gusts up to 26 mph.  It's a good thing that except for a couple of very short distances, our route went across the wind.

AMS: 11.4 mph

Mishaps & Mechanicals:

Connie discovered a flat tire: in the back, a piece of glass, as soon as she tried to leave the parking lot.   But no worries: with Joan Oppel on hand, the occasion turned into a class on fixing flat tires in the field.  Once again, all were impressed with Joan's electric tire pump, and very glad she was on hand to save the day.  I have one too, but mine's still in the box and I haven't even looked at the instructions yet.  Maybe it's about time...

Leaders - Lisa Petersen and Rick Hagen

Members - Ron Altemus, Pat Colvin

Guests - None

Weather - A beautiful sunny autumn day. Started at 60, warmed up to 67 by the time we finished. Winds were out of the west about 10 mph.

Route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48898572

Route - This ride took us through southern Anne Arundel County to a park in Shady Side with nice views of the Chesapeake Bay and Bay Bridge. We began at the Route 260 Recreation Area and went north and east on Fishers Station and Little roads. Route 258 took us to Churchton where we stopped at the Royal Farms for food/drinks to take to the park. It was then a flat ride with a tail wind to the north end of Shady Side where we took the 1/2-mile crushed gravel road into Jack Creek Park. To get back to the cars, we took Sudley and Nutwell roads, then Route 2 south to Jewell Road. We crossed Route 260 to ride on quiet Chaney Rd, then took Routes 4 and 260 a short distance back to the cars.

AMS - 12 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - It was a beautiful fall day for a ride. We enjoyed the 6 miles of quiet country roads at the beginning, then took busier roads to Churchton where we stopped at the Royal Farms for food to take to the park. We then rode the 4 miles to Jack Creek Park and the 1/2 mile on fine gravel to a cute little beach with a clear view of the Bay, the Bay Bridge, and five anchored container ships waiting to get into Baltimore. After our lunch we re-traced our path out of the park and back to Churchton, then went west and south on Sudley, Nutwell, and Route 2 to Jewell. At the Jewell and Rt. 260 intersection we went straight across, then right onto Chaney Road. We then rode a short stretch on the shoulder of Rt. 4 and Rt. 260 back to the cars.

Wildlife: turtles on logs, woolly bears, squirrels.

Rest stop at Scott's Store

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Ron Altemus, Patricia Sanders, Tom Short, Joan Oppel, Linda Bankerd
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/51715526  34.5 mi, 1268' elevation gain on a route mostly on quiet, wooded roads.
Weather: Mid-50s at the start rising to 70 by early afternoon on a sunny, breezy, crisp fall day.
Mishaps & mechanicals: none
AMS: 12.1

A lovely fall day for a bike ride.  We started by heading west on the IHRT and Strauss, then cut over to the IHRT at Blair and came back to Hawthorne, then took Chicamuxen, Bicknell and Pisgah Marbury over to Mason Springs and a rest stop at Pisgah Park.  After the break we headed south on Mason Springs and Ironsides to Durham Church, then went down Durham Church Rd to MD-6 and took that to a second stop at Scott's Store.  Leaving Scott's, Fire Tower took us to Annapolis Woods and Ripley; we turned right on Hawthorne and took it to Bumpy Oak and the Indian Head Rail Trail.

It was a very pretty route, on a day with the sort of clear, bright sunshine that makes leaf color sparkle.  A few trees are starting to turn, but serious fall leaf color is still some time away.

Leader: Diane Harris (with the assistance of Joan, Sherwood, Steve, Sonya, and Ron)

Members: Joan O, Ron A, Sherwood B, Sam P, Tom S, Theresa R, Denny M, Leon W, Ray L, Pat C, Robin G, Connie Q, Bernard S, Linda B, Lou D, Sonya N, and Steve P

Guests: None

Weather: Temperatures in the low 70s, clear, sunny, WINDY!!

Mechanicals/Mishaps: None

AMS: Ride leader 14mph

Report: Eighteen club members took advantage of the later start time to ride the backroads of Southern Maryland, giving them the morning to attend services, or sleep in, or do a weeken chore or two, or  to just do a conversational paced afternoon ride (after yesterday's more spirited ride), or just because. The weather was perfect but a bit windy. This route starts with a nice descent whis is followed (too soon!) by the first of 2 serious climbs, Mill Hill Rd. This is followed by mostly flat roads with occasional gentle rises, before accessing miles on the flat Indian Head Rail Trail. It's especially pretty this time of year with the changing colors of leaves. This ride was comprised of B and CC riders and separation of the group was expected but because there were several ride leaders within the group, no one was left to fend for themselves. Following the rest stop, we all continued to the second serious climb, Bumpy Oak Rd. I stopped to get a photo of the bench placed along the trail in memory of our past President, Randy Schoch. The remainder of the route has us intermittently and briefly on Indian Head Hwy before turning off to head to the parking lot. My reward? The after ride fellowship with club members, enjoying drinks and snacks from the nearby coffee shop. 

Leader:  Lou Dall'Orso

Members:  none

Guests:  none

Route:  ridewithgps.com/routes/12378617

Weather:  Mid to upper 60s at the start a tad over 70 at the end, mostly sunny and breezy. Great riding weather.

AMS:  16 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:   Another great weather day for a ride. I'm really starting to like this route, very light car traffic on some familiar and fun roads, only some company could have made it better, maybe next time...

Leaders: Joan Oppel and Steve Palincsar

Members: Karen McMillan, Randy Sim, Pat Walthers

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53052008 We started in the middle of Poolesville at E E Halmos park so that we could be near the rally a the end of our ride. Our route took us through some of the very rural countryside in Montgomery County - West Offutt Rd, Edwards Ferry, Wasche, West Hunter, Big Woods, Mt Ephraim. We passed the entrance to Sugarloaf Mountain park, then on to Peach Tree before returnning to Poolesville on Cat Tail Rd.

Hanging out with Potomac Pedalers riders at the Dickerson Store

Weather: Beautiful fall weather! About 55 to start, risiing to the mid 60's arounf the halfway point and the mid 70's arriving back in Poolesville.

Report: Beautiful ride, some tree color along the way, lots of farms annice rest stop at the Dickerson store, where the portapotty has been upgraded in the past few months but was a revelation to Steve, who was so impressed he took a photo. (Those who experienced the one that was there fo 30 years will understand.) Lots of farms, orchards, some new housing going in, but much remains the same for the past 100 years, since Montgomery County established a Rural Preserve, known as the Ag Reserve.

We arrived in Poolesville at about 1:20, and joined the No Kings rally, where people were lined up on the sidewalk on the main street near the town community park. People were enthusiastic, chatty, friendly, waving signs and flags with drivers honking and waving.

Leader:   Ron Altemus

Members:   Leesha Saunders, Connie Quickstad, Pat Colvin, Maureen Flynn, Esther Stewart, Peter Stelman, Jackie Schoch, Vicki Garlock, Carl Hattery, Fran Jezisek, Donaro Gardner, Susan Altemus, Robin Garnett, Oswald Martin



Route:   the Firday FAV - Indian Head Rail Trail from Livingston Rd parking lot east to White Plains trailhead.  After a conversational rest stop, return Westward Ho! back to the ride start.

Weather:   a fall morning with temps starting in the lowish 50s rising to just about the mid 60s with brilliant sunshine and blue skies, 6-8 mph air movement out of the NW.

AMS:  varied by rider, as did their mileage.  Strava shows a range of 20-31 miles as some riders got in a few extra pedal strokes.

Mechanicals/Mishaps:   none

Report:   A large contingent of riders, all converging at White Plains at the same time as pictured above.  We encountered the usual assortment of other users, though it seemed we didn't start to see many cyclists until closer to White Plains.  Maybe they were waiting for warmer temps.

For a while outbound, our only "wildlife" sightings were a number of woolly bear caterpillars.  For as brightly colored some of these caterpillars can be, the adult Isabella tiger moth is rather nondescript.  Read more in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrharctia_isabella).  Actual wildlife appeared when first a large female (doe) deer bounded across the trail just ahead of Carl and your friendly neighborhood ride leader (and faithful correspondent).  The doe was followed almost immediately by a large stag, which was in turn followed by a smaller doe.  We abruptly halted, fearing a fourth deer might appear out of the woods but three was the limit.  Vickie and Jackie also saw a single deer (sex unspecified) on another part of the trail.  Towards the end of the ride, Donaro and I came upon a green snake on the trail.  Given the temperature, it was somewhat odd to see a snake.  It was lifted to the side of the trail and slowly slithered off.  It might have been hoping for some warmth from the asphalt though that section of trail was in shadow given the lower sun angle at this time of year.

Ride leader: Steve Palincsar
Members: Patricia Sanders, Ron Altemus, Joan Oppel, Pat Walthers
Weather: Sunny, around 54 at the start rising to 64 by early afternoon; windy (13-15 mph from the northeast)
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41857565  35 mi, 1295' elevation gain.  A more-or-less conventional route to the Five Points, Wilkerson, Celestial and Young with a rest stop at the Moreland Market (sadly, no working rest rooms today) followed by a jaunt down Dr Mudd Rd and St Peters Church, followed by what is probably the most extensive tour of the Pinefield development in our route portfolio, one I last recall doing in January of 2023.
Mishaps & mechanicals: none
AMS: 11.9

It's small wonder that except for the stretch on Horsehead to the Five Points, it seemed as though we were either riding across or into the wind: we were.  It wasn't impossible, just noticeable, and it wasn't really cold -- certainly not like the the last time we did this ride, when the high was in the 40s and the wind was gusting up to 26 mph -- until it got a lot warmer at Moreland's.

Halloween has not come to Pinefield yet, except for six or seven houses. We saw a handful of pumpkins, six or seven deflated inflatables, and exactly one house that was fully decorated.  No skeletons, no witches; if we were searching for Halloween decor, we should have been touring in Alexandria or Arlington. 

Leader:  Lou Dall'Orso

Members:  none

Guests:  none

Route:  ridewithgps.com/routes/12378617

Weather:  low 70s mostly sunny at the start, down a few degrees to the high 60s by the end, quite a bit of wind.

AMS: Around 16 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:   Too nice not to ride. Left the parking lot a couple of minutes before 3, back at the car a couple of minutes before 5:30, A bit more car traffic than usual, but overall not too bad. Had a good tail wind for most of the first half of the ride from Middleton to the bottom of Rose hill, a strong cross/head in the middle, and diminishing towards the end on the trip back up 210 to the parking lot.