a flat century looks alot better than stuarts torcher ride email I just got.

They do that ride ("The Grandmother of all Rides") every year as part of the Tour de Montes, if that's the one Stuart is writing of.

Ok. Here's the plan, if you are going. It takes 1 hour from my house to get to Meadow Park in Elkton according to VZ Navigator, so factor in picking you up and it should only add minutes.

I'd like to leave the P&R at 7am, latest, so we can be riding by 8:30am latest. We don't need a cuesheet, because it's basically:

- Make a right on to Delaware Ave from (west) Meadow Park, Elkton, MD
- Follow Delaware Ave to Rt 40.
- Make a left on to Rt 40 and follow to a right on to Rt 72 (71? whatever it takes) Wrangler Hill Rd.
- Wrangler Hill to Rt 9
- Rt 9 thru Delaware City and Port Penn
- Make a left on to Rt 6 for the beach next to Bombay Hook Park.
- Stay a little bit, then turn around and backtrack the same way we came out.

If we need to get more water, we'll make our way thru Odessa to Middletown, DE where there's plenty of stores. The turn for that is at the 25 mile mark, approximately.

I'll be at the PNR @ 645, earlier if you want to start sooner. I'll check back around 10pm to see if thats the case.

Again no takers on joining us? come on guys and gal, this is FLAT, no climbing.

How about 6:15am at the P&R then?

Looks like someone hacked Josh's account. (I hate hackers!)

There are some great posts on touring about super light touring. One of my all-time favorite posters, "nun" has his load down below 20lbs. Here's a link:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=20lbs

Hi folks, I haven't been on for awhile. Been busy with the house and school work. I just finished our annual "Outspoken for 4H" ride last week. We ended up with 263 miles and beautiful weather. We started in Huntington, Wv through Charleston, Parkersburg and ended at Jackson's Mill state 4H camp in Weston. Quite a bit of climbing, but an awesome route.
Just thought i would check back in and see if NoRacer had broken the 10,000 mark for the year yet. Your letting me down man only 7,400 so far. At the time of this posting I'm sure he is racking them up though.
I have been having BF withdrawal, so it's good to be back....Jeff

got it taken care of. I changed my password too.

Did a great ride with Josh. Here he is in front of our bikes on a pier at Woodland Beach:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0627091007.jpg

He took a picture of me, too, but for some reason I can't find it on my phone. Oh well.

We did ~94 miles @ ~18 mph according to Josh's computer. We had one area that I led us the wrong way on and we lost more mileage when we didn't return to RT 9 after lunch instead opt'ing to go straight up Rt 13.

I didn't bother blogging the ride, because I screwed up by forgetting to take my cell phone GPS out of suspend. Otherwise, I felt good the entire ride and feel ready for my trip to OCMD.

Hey folks:
Harry: nice tour. I remember the mud on the C&O well. I really like riding the C&O. That is one place I can really daydream and not worry about traffic. Plus it is always much cooler than riding the roads in mid summer. I've been trying to drop the weight of my touring set-up. Tent (only 4lbs) remains the heaviest part of my gear. Been thinking about a tarp tent but the bugs and rain around here scare me back to my Northface Tadpole. The rest of my gear is very, very light. You need to tour with others so you don't feel the pain so much. I find it takes the mind off of the little aches and pains. Go into the touring forum and check out my post on W. VA touring. I am putting together a loop through the Monongahela Nat. For. It will take in Blackwater falls, Caannan Valley wildlife refuge, Dolly Sods, Blackwater canyon, Shavers fork, West Fork Trail, Germany Valley, Seneca Rocks(maybe we can climb a little) and other great W.Va sites. I'll announce when I plan to go, probably mid-late July. Looks to be 3-4 days @ 50-60 miles per day. I'm trying to keep the climbing to a minimum but it is West Virginia. Very scenic, much cooler temps and scenery and maybe even a microbrew or 2:thumb:.
Max: good luck on your tour. I rode to Lewes(beach campgrounds near there) a year or 2 ago and left my car at Tuckahoe St. Park. There's one even closer to the beach called Martinak(I think). I told the ranger and he said it was cool to leave it in the picnic area with a sign in the windshield. I stayed there the night before the tour. TSP is about 65 miles from Lewes(we went a-round-about way and rode 85). I am not certain how far it is from Assateague.
Josh and NR: nice ride.
My whine for the day: I had to cancel my ride today due to getting stung by one of those big black wasp while working in my yard Saturday. My hand and wrist swelled up big time. What is it with me and insects this month.
Later, Charlie

Finally I am online, Somehow I forgot my password and must have screwed up the email change. Hopefully my temporary user name doesn't confuse anyone. ;)

My mini report

Met at 615, riding by 730am, fast ride due to mostly flat land of course, everytime I looked down it seemed we were doing 24-27mph and it was nothing. I did some unplanned running thursday w/o stretching (chasing my kid while he was flying on the trail on his bike) and I felt it about mile 50. We got to the park and it was a really nice view (avg 19.6 first 50 miles), water all around. We could see jersey across the water (5 miles away), so we were both starving we head to "boondocks" closest food stop. On the way there we both saw no signs of life and were thinking this was going to be someones house or something, it was in the middle of nowhere. We got there and of course it was CLOSED til noon? apparently no one eats lunch til noon in delaware, next closest place was Wendys, I got a burger,fries,coke and went back for a frosty and more fries, can we say hungry? We left wendys to go back and stopped one more time on the way back to get water, My HR was doing great but my legs were taking a beating (should have brough some advil or something), the wind was killing me. NR was getting so far ahead, I must have the aerodynamics of a hummer. I told him feel free to get ahead just stay within light distance. We crossed the bridge (forgot the name,good climb though) got back to the truck and headed back w/94 miles @ 18mph.
Should have done the 100. :(

Good ride, really scenic, very very few cars, some stretches of 10 plus miles we saw 0 cars. I think NR chose a good route for the OC ride. Post my few pics later.

I started covering myself with Off insect repellent during every ride lately.

But, that didn't keep me from getting stung during Bob's 200k ride to Chesapeake Beach when I had my jersey open. It was a little sucker, but it got me 3 times, so it must have been a little wasp.

Here's my Sunday ride report:

http://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/24233

I did a ride with the Severna Park Peloton (SPP), riding from my house to the ranger station, meeting and riding with them, then riding home.

I still have a derailleur cable to fix to be ready for tomorrow's commute.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ri/p_00041.jpg

never seen so many cranes? in my life

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ri/p_00040.jpg

water water everywhere

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ri/p_00042.jpg

speed limit 35mph for runners

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ri/p_00044.jpg

a pic from today, he got a girl from the playground to come and check out his bike.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ri/p_00030.jpg

one more for fun, 2 weeks ago us and the "train" @ patapsco valley

Josh,
Love the pics. esp. the one of him showing off for the girl.

Isaias,
from the look of Josh's pics and the ride reports, I'm guessing you are going to stay with the route further east and over the rt.9 birdge. Correct? If there are any last minute changes send them to me as I'll likely be creating my cue tomorrow night.

Bob, that section was -very- scenic and enjoyable. The bridge had nearly no traffic on it in the morning, so, yes, I think "it's a keeper".

The map for the route I'll be taking Friday is here:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-to-OCMD-Route

It includes the new section.

By the way, there were lots of stores along Rt 72 into Delaware City and 9 into Port Penn. If you follow my route, make sure that you stock up to avoid a detour into Middletown, DE for food and/or drink.

EDIT: By the way, we did miss a turn somewhere (Silver Run Rd, I think) winding up on Rt 13. We were way off course, from my estimation, since we wound up on Marl Pit Rd which is north of Middletown. So, take care navigating that section.

+1 on the pics! Very cute!

Bob,

Send me, via PM or email, your itinerary, so I'll know when to start looking for you in OCMD.

tia

I found out this morning that a rider on our SPP ride yesterday was struck by a PA driver near the Naval Academy Bridge. She survived with bumps and bruises, but was transported to a Annapolis hospital for treatment. :(

I swear, PA drivers are some of the worst. I know not all PA drivers are bad, but since I've been cycling, some of the worst behaved drivers that I've encountered were from PA. Sorry to sound so prejudiced.

So, last-minute change in plans . . . I *am* going to be in Ocean City for the 4th. I'll be staying at the Spinnaker Motel, at 18th and Baltimore. I'm going to drive across the Bay Bridge on Saturday the 4th and probably leave my car at the Kent Island Park-and-Ride (I might drive in a bit further, still pondering that) and ride from there. I'm going to try the route on the Bike Washington Web site.

http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/beach/index.htm

I might modify it some, though. It goes through Milton, DE and then heads slightly south to Rehoboth, and then goes down the coastline the rest of the way. I'm wondering if that might be too windy, and too much insane traffic in the resort areas. I might try to stay inland longer, and sort of diagonal my way down from Bridgeville or so. On the other hand, I'm sure the scenery will be prettier along the coast.

Check-in at the motel is 3:00, so I'll try to time it to arrive close to that. It's a small efficiency-type room, with a fridge, microwave, and I guess some kitchen stuff. It has a balcony, two double beds and a sleeper sofa, so if you guys (or anyone else) ride into OC for the fireworks, and don't want to ride back up to Fenwick Island in the dark, you're welcome to stay. I plan to mostly laze around Sunday, spend Sunday night there, and then head back Monday morning.

The picture I attached shows where we were (Woodland Beach) in comparison to New Jersey.

MD Peeps get-together at da' Beach. Hoo ya!

Yay! How long are you staying? (never mind... I see it now)

So, can I talk you and Bob into a Sunday (century) ride to Chincoteague Island National Park?

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-National-Park

Or, we just going to go show off our bike tans at the beach? :cry: I think a beer or two will kill the pain of embarrassment. :beer: :beer: :beer:

:D Let me see if I can figure out the PM thing -- I'll send you my cell number. I think (?) Isaias already has it, but I'll send it to him as well.

Yes, I have it Max.