Ride Reports

Ride Leader:  Blake Altman

Date: April 24, 2019

Ride Name:  Casey Jones Express

Ride Distance:  25 Miles

Average Speed of the Ride:  21.1 MPH

Ride Class:  AA/2

Mechanical Issues:  Flat Tire

Mishaps:  None

Weather: Upper 70’s, cloudy, some wind

Guest Riders:  Orlando Howard

Member Riders:   Michael Kenyon, Tyler Hill, Mike Wilson, Scott Walker

Ride Report:

It was a light turn-out for this ride; I guess people were scared-off by the cloudy skies?  Anyway, it was a nice afternoon and we never got any rain.

Given the small group, I was expecting everyone to stay together and we did until somewhere on Route 6 where Michael K. and Scott disappeared off the back of the ride.  We didn’t notice them gone until we were most of the way up the hill on Route 6.  Their disappearance bothered me for the rest of the ride.  I decided to assume they had a flat or another minor mechanical issue which turned-out to be the case.

The rest of the group worked together throughout the ride with leaders backing-off the pace to allow trailing riders rejoin the group in a few spots.  This made for a nice smooth ride without the surges that frequently characterize this ride.  It made the ride seem almost effortless.

Scott and Michael K. came in reasonably soon after the lead group arrived.  Scott got a flat and Michael waited for him to fix it and they rode back together so that worked-out.  Poor Scott he broke his chain on the way home from work (on another bike).  Then he got a flat for the second week in a row on CJE.  Still, he was in good humor and he said he enjoyed the ride.  We are hoping for some trouble-free riding for him from now on.

Kudos to Mike Wilson who scored a PR for the TT section on CJE!

It was an another fun ride.

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:  Harry Kidd, Jackie & Randy Schoch, James Rauch, La' Tasha Banks, Alan Kurzweil, Steve Forman, Pat Walthers, Tom Short, Larry Peed, Karen McMillan, Tom Roberts, Sam Perry

Route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28874627  Livingston, Hawthorne (w/ascent of might Mount Pisgah), Ripley/Annapolis Woods, and Fire Tower to a rest stop at Scott's.  Onward via MD-6, Durham Church, Ironsides/Mason Spring, Smallwood Church, Sweetwater and Bicknell to a second rest stop at Pisgah Store.  Final leg on Mason Springs, Hawthorne, IHRT, Lower Wharf, Chapman's Landing, etc., back to the start.

Weather:  another glorious day!  Brilliant sunshine with deep blue skies and a small amount of air moving out of the southern quadrant.  Temps started in the low 70s and rose to the low 80s by rides end sans humidity.

AMS:  swept at 12.6.  As the parking lot was empty except for the final group, the assumption is everyone else's mph was a tad higher.

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none known.

Report:  Another very nice ride, hopefully for all concerned.  Quite a few friends riding with the normal CC contingent, but we did all meet up at Scott's.  Not much traffic - as always, Fire Tower was notable as nary a car was encountered traversing it in either direction.    

Leader:   Ron Altemus

Members:  Pat Walthers, Harry Kidd, Janell Saunders, Steve Forman, Jay Lewis, Rita Ziedner, Harold Datz

Route:   https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29754146   42.5 miles, 1,107' elevation change.  From Manokeek, a combination of Berry, Lexington, Middletown, Marshall Corner, and Hawthorne to a first rest stop at Ollies.  Onward to Ripley/Annapolis Woods, Firetower, MD-6, Hilltop/Annapolis Woods, and Poorhouse to a second rest stop at Pisgah Store.  Final return via Bicknell, Chicamuxen, Hawthorne, Lower Wharf, and Indian Head/neighborhood streets back to Manokeek.

Weather:   pretty close to perfect!  Temps ranging from the upper 50s to low 70s with sunshine and brilliant blue skies interspersed with white puffy clouds.  A bit of wind that seemed to be out of the south when headed in that direction and then out of the north after we turned that way.

AMS:  swept at 13.5

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  Harry had a rear flat on Lexington.  As this has happened before, he is extremely competent in achieving a fix, so he told the ride leader to stay with the group.  After completing his repair, Harry rode a modified route taking Bensville back to the ride start.

Report:  a surprising turnout for a ride which was piggybacking on Diane Harris' ride.  The CC/C version was advertised as a wee bit slower, shorter, and flatter, the latter achieved by substituting MD-210 for the climb up Bumpy Oak.  However, we rode amongst Diane's group at numerous points along the route and were all together at the two rest stops.  Janell (early afternoon commitment), Steve (sore muscle), and Jay didn't do the Hilltop loop, opting to turn right onto Poorhouse at Ripley.  Rita and Howard preferred Bumpy Oak to 210, so they continued on with Diane's group.  Traffic wasn't bad for most of the ride until church let out - there were a few more cars on the roads for the latter part of the ride.  The fantastic weather made for a great ride today for all participating.

Weather: A surprisingly gorgeous morning considering this past Friday Ron and I were talking about the possibility of cancelling due to rain.  Starting temp mid 50's, blue skies with fluffy white clouds.  

Riders: Members Charles W, Karen M, Phil M, Alan K, Tom R, and Walt R (who joined us on Middleton Rd)

Route: MV 43 Hilltop  (Sunday Morning Jaunt).  From my favorite starting point, Manokeek Village shopping center, instead of heading towards LaPlata, we headed in the opposite direction.   In spite of it being Easter Sunday there was relatively little traffic.  The ride was uneventful with no mechanicals.  The group separated into those who wanted to go faster and those who didn't.  All in all a good ride and a nice variation of the usual Manokeek Espresso routes.  Ride leader's ams 14.1.  Photos can be found on the club's Facebook page. 

Leader: Eric Nielsen

Members: Sue Estes

Guests: David S. and Jenniffer B., on tandem

AMS: Unknown, probably 17 mph

As advertised, it was a blustery, windswept day on the Eastern Shore, and winds were stronger in the afternoon. But it was sunny by the ten-mile mark, which brought us seasonable temperatures in the low 70s. Of the 63 miles, the first twenty to Federalsburg were ridden at a comfortable pace, as the wind was only a minor inconvenience. Turning NNW and aided by strong tailwinds, the second twenty were bicycled to Denton in well less than an hour. Hence, we were in high spirits for late lunch at the Market Street Public House. Most of the third twenty miles back to our autos were “payback.” Buffeted by head-on 25 mph gusts, Sue and Eric settled into a two-person paceline. We briefly dropped the tandem, but Dave and Jenniffer latched back on about a mile before we reached Easton. The leader had a well-timed puncture due to a shard of glass that was repaired while waiting for lunch to be served.

L to R: Eric, David, Jenniffer, and Sue enjoy lunch at the Market Street Public House in Denton.

Leaders - Jackie & Randy Schoch

Members - Josh Sieben, Diane Harris, Belinda Acre, Jim & Jane Hudnall, Ron Altemus, and Pres. Donaro Gardner

Guests - None

Weather - 60's - 70 - overcast

Route - IHRT

AMS - Varied by rider

Mechanicals/Mishaps - None

Report - Not a bad turnout of riders considering it was raining early and rain storms threatened for later. We had a very pleasant and uneventful ride to the White Plains rest stop. Jim and Jane caught up with us there (they had Food Pantry duty earlier) and we all had a nice visit. We tarried on the way back under the arch for a photo opt. by a nice tail user using Jim's phone. As usual, we had a fast return to the parking lot anticipating lunch. We went to a Good Friday Fish Fry lunch at the Bee Hive Masonic Lodge on Livingston Road near Bryan's Road. With Lent over, we probably won't be getting fish lunches for a while. See you next time.

Leader:  Ron Altemus

Members:  Barry Winkelman, Jay Lewis, Harry Kidd, Pat Walthers

Route:  https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17707700  37.2 miles, 740' elevation change.  First leg:  Gibbons Church, Brandywine Rd, Horeshead/Mt Pleasant, Woodville, and Gallant Green to a rest stop at the Sunoco on old Rt 5.  Second leg:  Burnt Store, Olivers Shop, Bryantown, and Woodville to another rest stop at Moreland Market.  Final leg:  Woodville, Iowa, Covington, and basically Brandywine Rd back to N. Keys park.  This route is flat - the only "climb" of note is an incline on Bryantown Rd.

Weather:  sun appeared as we gathered at N. Keys park and remained with us for the ride, temps increasing from the mid 60s to the high 70s, and a pesky wind out of the southern quadrant.

AMS:   swept at 13 mph

Mechanicals/Mishaps:  none

Report:  The CC edition of today's BoB ride was a piggyback on a route Tom Short had chosen with the hopes of attaining best AMS of 2019.  Our group eschewed speed and rode at a more civilized pace, with the exception of Jay, who emboldened by Tom's rhetoric, rode with the B's.  The four of us pretty much rode together, meeting up with a slower B contingent at both rest stops.  After Moreland Market, there was a bit more separation, as traffic was very light on Iowa, Covington, Cedarville, and Ashbox, and Pat and your faithful correspondent fell into a conversational cycling mode.  True CC riding at its best. 

Leader:  Tom Short

Members:  Larry Peed, Alan Kurzweil, Regina Saizan, Mike Saizan, Linda Bankerd, Sam Perry, Don Gardner

Weather:  Short sleeves, short pants riding temperature. Headwind on the way to the first rest stop at mile 13 but tailwind for 8 miles on the way to second rest stop at mile 24.  

AMS:  Ride Leader had 16.9 average achieved by trying to catch Sam Perry (but could not).  In what seemed like only seconds after Sam and I arrived at North Keys Park, Alan Kurzweil arrived followed shortly by Larry Peed and Don Gardner. 

Ride Report:  Ron Golden, an AA rider, joined us at the Moreland Market for awhile. It was interesting to ride with Ron as he could ride seemingly without effort at speeds we were struggling with. Perhaps myself or one of you will lead this ride next month to see if we have improved. 

Ride Leader:  Blake Altman

Date: April 17, 2019

Ride Name:  Casey Jones Express

Ride Distance:  25 Miles

Average Speed of the Ride:  22.7 MPH

Ride Class:  AA/2

Mechanical Issues:  Flat Tire

Mishaps:  None

Weather: Upper 60’s, partly sunny, south wind

Guest Riders:  Orlando Howe?, Dan Hoefer, Reginald Forbes, Josh Hettel

Member Riders:   Brad Francisco, Robert Golding, Douglas Carter, Scott Walker, Tyler Hill, Michael Blaine, Mike Wilson, Lynne Blake-Hodges, Charles Sidwell

Ride Report:

I was informed by a rider that Spring Hill-Newtown Rd. was being paved.  I decided to take Glen Albin Rd. in hopes that we could bypass the paving.  It didn’t work – we should have taken Route 6 instead.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for the pilot van to return.  Once we started up again I felt terrible; something about a short hard effort followed by a 10-minute break and then hammering again didn’t set well with an old guy.  Somewhere on Spring Hill Newtown the lead group broke away and were not seen again until the end.

As usual once we reached the hill on Route 6 the remaining riders broke-up into various groups.  Some of these groups coalesced into chase groups and some did not.  By the time we hit Bowling Rd. we had Chase 1, Chase 2, and Chase 3 all in sight of each other.  Chase 2 was slowly gaining on Chase 1 (thanks to Brad’s infinite pulls).  Meanwhile, Chase 3 was more rapidly gaining on Chase 2.  I could see Chase 3 was led by Lynne since I could see her pink helmet in my mirror.  By midway down Bowling Scott from Chase 3 had caught-up to Chase 2 but Lynne had dropped back – evidently the long pull was too long.  By the end of Bowling Chase 2 caught Chase 1 partly helped by a slow moving piece of farm equipment.

The farm equipment slowed us down from the end of Bowling Rd. until it turned right on Budd’s Creek Rd.  (I’m not sure about the wisdom of driving such a slow moving and wide piece of equipment on such a fast and busy road – but not my problem.)  By the time we lost the farm equipment at Alan’s Fresh Rd. many of the trailing riders had regained Chase 1.

On Alan’s Fresh the pace again accelerated and I’m really not sure if people came off the back there or not.  I do know that by the time we reached Route 301 many of the riders were off the back.  A few of these riders regained the group but most did not.  The reconstituted Chase 1 remained together until near the end of Fairground Rd. where a sudden acceleration by the lead riders caused the group to split and remain this way until the end.

Here are the ride statistics I have:

      Lead: 22.7 MPH, 2 riders

  Chase 1: 21.6 MPH, 4+ riders

  Chase 2: 21.1 MPH, 1 rider

Kudos to Brad for his long fast pulls; also to Lynne for her valiant efforts on Bowling Rd. and to Scott for catching Chase 2.

Speaking of Scott, he got a flat somewhere on the second half of the ride.  He wasn’t able to fix it but got a ride home.

It was an another fun ride.

Leader: Donaro Gardner

Members: Randy Schoch and Jackie Schoch,Ron Leake,Jim and Jane Hudnall

Guests: None

Weather: Late 60's early 70's

AMS: 14, Ron Leake was doing around 16.5

Mechanicals/Mishaps: None

Report: The temperature started in the late 60's However by the time the ride was over it began to drop. The trip was very scenic, I saw many people exercising enroute to the rest stop. I also saw a bull frog that was suprised  and jump into the ditch.It was a pleasant ride. After the ride several of us went to B J's to have a bite to eat.