Participants of the ride were: Randy Gorman, Scott Walker, Rob Golding and Chuck Coe.
The first maiden Monday Night Ride for the summer took place from the Casey Jones Restaurant in LaPlata (after the past two Mondays have been rained out). A balmy 85 humid degrees.
As we prepared for our ride by ritually topping off tires and putting on our gear, we had a front row seat to a police sting in the back parking lot of Casey Jones. We saw a white vehicle enter the parking lot, and then police SUV vehicles rushed in and surrounded them. The occupants were hand-cuffed, and they had some rather colorful words for the police.
The ride went off without a hitch. However, Chuck Coe (an A class rider) dropped back after the first climb up Chapel Point Rd to the church. He ended up taking 301 back north to the parking lot, which we caught up to him as we ended our ride up St Mary's Ave.
After dodging a squirrel, and a fat, fluffy cat, we proceeded to climb up some other steep hills on Pope's Creek Rd and Penns Hill Rd.
Randy Gorman ended up earning a KOM on Strava, going up Penns Hill. Congrats! I came in a modest 2nd place on Strava. I'll take it!
We rolled out between 25 and 27 mph along Penns Hill Rd, before turning onto Cooksey. WHEW! We all took turns pulling.
Scott Walker dropped back going up the hill of Rt 6, which is unusual. By the end of the ride, we realized probably why. He broke a spoke at some point during the ride and didn't even realize it till he ended the ride in the parking lot. His rear wheel was so out of true it was rubbing quite a bit on the rear brake. Yet, he still rode! A testament to the true strength of this locomotive of a cyclist.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the route, and I received some fond praises for a route that was challenging, but also fun, with sweeping fast turns thrown in. Low traffic roads made for a carefree ride.
Ride leader ended with a 19.9 mph avg (just shy of 20).
Not bad for a ride with some pretty tough climbs. Thanks for coming out, guys!! Hope to see you next week!
