I wish that I could commute, the road I use to get to work is terrible for anything other than cars, lots of blind corners, and no shoulder. Now if I could find a nice off road route I would be all for it!

Where do you live/work?

-D

Hi to all the MD people...I did my first Century ride yesterday...it was the Seagull Century route but since the Waterfowl Festival was going on here in Easton...we decided to call it the "Waterfowl Century"! We had made the plans to do the Seagull but made the decision to postpone due to the Nor'Easter weather system that weekend. Anyway--yesterday was AWSOME (74 degrees F and a light wind 11-15mph). Even saw the ponies on the beach at Assateague.

Congrats. As one who completed the Seagull this year, all I can say is that I wish we had your weather!

+1

have done the seagull twice now. have yet to see it on a nice day

-D

I've ridden three times and the first year was drop dead gorgeous weather. I'd say I was a little spoiled, but the weather these past two years has evened the score.

I live in White Hall, Md and drive down Norrisville road every morning, its about a 13 mile drive.

Morning folks: Seems spring has returned to Maryland. I always commute in the rain. Traffic to DC SUCKS when it rains. When motivation is low I just put on the traffic report, think about I-95 traffic the grab my pannier and go. I rather listen to the weather report than the traffic report.

No Racer: A Hefty bag!! You seem to ride a bunch, you owe yourself a rain jacket:D If you're cheap like me look at Performances rain (rubbery one) coat. $15.00!
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=1130

Anybody here ride in the Catonsville area? Catonsville to Beltsville? It would be nice to have someone to commute with on Bike to Work Day. I usually ride the bike to the MARC train then get another bike to get from the train to work. On BTWD I ride the whole thing.

Yeah, maybe, Charlie. But, then I wouldn't be able to do as I did yesterday: got too hot and just ripped the Hefty off my bod.

hope you didn't rip it too much as you'll need it tomorrow(Thurs) major rains predicted...squish, squish squish Can't complain though, we have had great weather this fall.

No, it was beyond repair.

I just cut a new one this morning and stuffed it into my backpack for future use.

Charlie, I picked one of these up, because it -really- looks like I'll need it this afternoon on the way home. I like the vents along the side and down the arms, but it looks like it still would be hot under effort.

Here is the raincoat I use. Looks the same just a different bike part clearing house name. It is also 9.99 http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?s...-_-null-_-null No vents on this one, at least on the one I have, but for 5 bucks the difference of vents is totally worth it.

these are the pants that I use. www.grundens.com I always stay dry from the rain, but get wet with sweat on the hot days. Most of the time it is not too bad though.

The clear Nashbar raincoat looks the same as the Performance one, but different logo. In fact, it looks like it is vented along the sides, according to the pictures.

Oh well. I could've saved a couple bucks, but I needed it fast and Performance is somewhat on the way home.

wow, love this rain, i didnt think i was going to make it home tonight.

I filed this report about my commute home, earlier, under the extreme commuting topic:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.p...7&postcount=69

Excellent timing. read your ride report in Extreme. You are lucky. I missed it by 30 minutes....I am NOT complaining. It was a real Noahs ark ride.

The one problem w/ these rain coats is the velcro tears away from the plastic. I've owned 2 over the years. I end up duct taping the velcro to the plastic. When you open them pull gently on the velcro and not the plastic. They are kinda hot but then so are all of the rain coats. Those pants look really hot...and not the sexy kinda hot, more like the sweaty kinda hot:)

Ride Report - Saturday, 11/18/2006
 

Well, I did it! Essex to Annapolis and back!

What a nice day it turned out to be, starting out a little on the brisk side, but warmed up nicely by the time I reached Annapolis.

The ride through the city wasn't bad at all. In fact, in some places, a bicycle has distinct advantages over a motor vehicle.

It's funny how the mind works. I was so apprehensive about riding downtown that my heart rate was elevated until I reached familiar territory--The BWI Trail on Andover Rd.

I revamped my route so that I could avoid Monroe Street, because I wasn't sure what to expect at the huge interchange for 295, 95, and Monroe. Instead, I borrowed a part of a route from www.bikewashington.com that suggested using Greene St to Washington Blvd. But, after I made my left on Greene, I missed Washington and wound up on Russell St where there was some construction and that interchange that I wanted to miss. My remedy for the missed turn was to make a right on Bayard (which, incidentally has a bike lane). Bayard runs back into Washington Blvd, which has a bike path in severe disrepair. Once back on track, I had no more mistakes.

I made it to Annapolis using the BWI Trail followed by the Baltimore and Annapolis Trail in 2 hours 45 minutes. After crossing the U.S. Naval Academy Bridge, I rested in a parking lot two streets from the bridge (near Perry Circle). Here, I stripped off leg and arm warmers, then proceeded to refuel for the trip back.

The wind was in my face most of the way back, but my average speed was the same as the outbound trip--slow; just under 16 MPH. According to www.routeslip.com, the entire trip was about 77 miles with about 2,620 feet of climbing.

A map of the trip can be viewed here:

http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=14643

I live in Parkville now. I commute to Catonsville, so I get to see a lot of rotten parts of Battlemore. Battle more is what I have to do when commuting through the hood.

Catonsville is my hood. What route do you take. I know a few that reduce hills and bad hoods. I'll post if you are interested. Charlie

Nice ride. I ride catonsville to Annapolis once in awhile. Next time I ride it I plan on going riding to Ellicott city, through Patapsco then on to Annapolis. I'm on bikewash as well. Great local ride info group. Monroe is BAD. When did you ride, this wknd? I wanted to ride, as the weather was nice, but HAD to battle the yard....LOTS of leaves

I've been a bad neighbor... let the leaves sit until the wind blows them next door! :eek: [just kidding] Seriously, I have been remiss regarding the lawn.

Saturday, I started out at about 8am.

Yesterday (Sunday 11/19/06), I did this ride with the bike club (Baltimore Bike Club), but I rode the bike home afterwards. My GF drove me to the ride start in Jacksonville, since my truck is still in the shop:

http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=14755 (Jacksonville to Delta, PA to Essex, MD - ~75 miles @ 4037 ft of climbing)

reporting from Wheaton with pride

I did another long Saturday ride. This time the ride started in Essex thru Towson to Hunt Valley's Oregon Ridge Park where I barely caught the start of the Baltimore Bike Club's "A Different Stop in Hampstead" ride.

I encounted lots of headwind just getting to the park and on the first half of the ride, but I was able to catch up with some of the faster guys at the front. I was very thankful that the second half of the bike club ride had a tailwind.

After returning to the park, I still had to ride home, but I was starting to feel fatigued from battling the headwinds. I was doing well until I hit Old Bosley Rd just off of Warren Rd. What a climb! I think I was reduced to about 4 MPH in my 34 x 25 gear and I was starting to feel like I was bonking, but I made it the rest of the way in fair condition.

[Phil Liggett]"And, his legs cracked wide open!"[/Phil Liggett]


The ride can be seen here:

http://www.routeslip.com/map.php?map=15781 [~77 miles @ a little over 5,000 ft of climbing]

Noracer: you ride alot!!
Get ready for a snowy commute tonight. Friday AM should be dicey...just like we like it:eek:

Looks like we dodged a bullet, eh, Charlie?

Anyway, this past Saturday, I attempted to meet the BBC on a ride that started a few miles south of the PA/MD border. Unfortunately, I became impatient and took a wrong turn.

Here's the ride that I did instead:

Long Ride To Nowhere - 12/9/2006 [~65 miles @ ~2,700 ft of climbing]

It was cold out and I'm sort of glad that I didn't meet up with the club. The ride would have been 39 miles to the start plus 50 miles with the club plus 39 miles to get back home. That kind of riding is more suited for the Spring or Summer months, not when it's 20+ degrees F out.

NoRacer is putting me to shame and I thought his car was fixed now so I’m starting to suspect he has developed some “bad habits.” :D

Just to show I’m not a total wimp, here is my ride I did at 7AM on Friday to MDOT for a MBPAC meeting. http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...ington-MDOT-HQ

This was my first ride of the season in below freezing weather which I sort of put off as long as I could but now that I have done it I can say it’s not that bad. The neat bit is I ran across 5 other bike commuters in the city and previously the most I have run into has been 3 and everyone that was out was having a grand old time, I suspect cycling is growing in momentum even in this weather which is cool.

So NoRacer drop me line sometime on my Yahoo account before you head out and maybe we can meet up in Towson, Loch Raven or the NCR trail. Two people missing a BBC ride might be more fun then each of us doing that individually and I could possibly need as little as an half hour advance notice. Or we could meet downtown and then swing by Ellicott City and pick up Charley (I think that’s near were he lives and if he is amenable?)