-D,

Sorry about that.

What happened was that the first time I called you, we were taking a break at a convenience store. Because I didn't have a cue sheet, I stayed with the ride leaders--Chuck & Crista who rode a tandem. The rest of the group left ahead of me, Crista and Chuck. So, when us stragglers finally got going, we were hauling-ass and even caught some of the group that went ahead. When you called me, we were in a climb and I couldn't answer the call. Then I called you to let you know where we were--making a left turn on Black Rock Rd. I don't know those roads all that well, so when we crossed or rode along Rt140 eluded me.

If I were to rate this ride, it would be a 9-scenic (only thing making it better would be if it were late Spring-early Summer), 10-climbing (the "official" estimate from the average of 3 GPS devices was 8,700 feet and many were over 10% with at least two probably at 14%), and overall a 9 for the ride. It was hard and I'm pretty sore today, but I set another personal decent speed record of 58.5 MPH, as Crista and Chuck were not at all squeamish about decending (but for safety's sake I stayed back a little when they were, so I could hear when they were braking for a turn at the bottom of the decent which was usually the case), and my total ride for the day is 145 miles (10 hours, 26 minutes and 54 seconds in the saddle) including the ride to and from Elkridge and the 3 or so miles that Barry and I overshot the ride start initially.

Heading into Ellicott City, at the beginning of the ride, I lost Barry. Barry... what happened to you? (While we were riding to the start, he didn't seem to be feeling well.)