Look for this except the bike is now a black/gray Trek Madone 5.0. I'll be doing the 77 mile.

Bill (a.k.a. WJ13US)

Hey Any of you guys ride Tuesday morning in Catonsville. I always get passed on Rolling rd by a pack of riders. They usually ride at a fast clip. It's around 6:30am. If you do say hi. Charlie

Hey Barry,

It was nice finally meeting you in person today. The Ride was nice. Not much of a workout doing the 25 mile route. But being on the tandem with my wife was boatloads of fun. She hasn't gotten much saddle time this year so it was nice to share a ride together.

Next year though I am doing the 100.

-D

2007 Civil War Century
-----------------------------

Barry, thanks for saying hello, and I wished you hadn't disappeared so quickly while I was registering. I hope your involvement with the event was a good one. Did you get to ride?

Anyway, folks, here's a slideshow of some of the pics I took along the way. I'm sorry, but most of them are at rest stops--had my hands full otherwise with climbing:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...slideshow=true

The iBike read 7,660ft of climbing. Boy, did it get hot nearing the end of the 104 mile route!

It was indeed hot out there - the last 25 miles I felt like I was baking. Lots of people on the side of the road sitting in shade.

Great ride & scenery - only problem was right outside of the the Mt. Aetna rest stop (mile 53), i broke a spoke on my rear wheel. I was able to get back to the rest stop where a mechanic trued the wheel a bit, but it was still a bit wobbly & hitting the rear brake a bit (he didn't have a flat Ksyrium spoke so he did the best he could). Didn't slow me down much, actually I was with a slower group so that helped.

Here's a couple of photos:

Downhill:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...s/CW_Hilla.jpg

Roadside cemetery:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6..._Cemeterya.jpg

Covered Bridge:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...ed_Bridgea.jpg

Gettysburg:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...tysburg_3a.jpg

Gettysburg w/ Roundtop in the distance:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...tysburg_5a.jpg

It was nice to have ice cream at the end - great stuff!

Bob

Bob, I looked for your pink jersey. In fact, I saw someone at the Gathland State Park rest stop with a pink jersey and asked them if they were "bobby", but he responded in the negative.

Those pix are much more interesting than mine. Do you mind me scarfing them up and adding them to my slideshow? I'll give you credit (i.e., picture by bobbyc) in the title.

--
Isaias

From the BBC Listserv:

Be my guest! I'm sure we'll cross paths sometime soon.

Bob

Thanks! Here it is:

----------
Here's the latest and greatest version of the CWC photo slide show. The slideshow now contains the pix from mark_dc and bobbyc:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...slideshow=true

Nice pixs by Mark_DC as well!

For those still in to long and masochistic rides, the
DC Randonneurs are offering this lovely 100 mile tour.
I'm truly considering it, depending on whether the
lung sludge I'm currently suffering from subsides:

--
Isaias

============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= ==
Dear Friends,

The Catoctins and South Mountain were so beautiful
last weekend that we find them calling us back. So
we'll be heading back into them on Saturday.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2007
"CHRIS CUSSING UP COXEY BROWN," starting from Monocacy
Middle School, Frederick, Maryland. MEETING TIME 7:30
a.m. It's been more than two years since we did this
ride, aptly named after Chris Mento, who established a
ritual of climbing Coxey Brown on his daughter's
mountain bike way back in the day when it was still a
gravel road. This is a VERRRRY
hilly/mountainous/ gloriously scenic ride that includes
several major climbs, the major attraction being Coxey
Brown Road. Estimated elevation gain around 8,500
feet. There are a couple of fairly brief unpaved
stretches which should not be a problem for road
bikes, but options for avoiding them are included on
the cue sheet (for the timid). We think they're well
worth doing for their scenic value, and have
always found the surface to be hard-packed and
pleasant riding. We'll spend some "quality" time up
in the Catoctins and then go down into Wolfsville for
refueling; then we'll climb over South Mountain and
wander around Smithsburg and environs a bit before
climbing up South Mountain yet again to Blue Ridge
Summit, where we'll have lunch at the Summit Plaza
Restaurant. After lunch there will be a wonderful
descent to Harbaugh Valley, followed by a nice climb
up to the Eylers Valley Chapel, then another beautiful
descent to the Frederick valley. Once back in the
valley, the terrain moderates considerably, with just
a few memorable hills after our last rest stop in
Detour. The last 10 miles are honestly mellow.

100 miles, with some optional shortcuts that can
cut off a few miles here and there.

Directions to the ride start:
MONOCACY MIDDLE SCHOOL, FREDERICK, MARYLAND, 8009
Opossumtown Pike, Frederick MD 21702

From D.C. Beltway, take I-270 north 31 miles to
Frederick. Continue north on US15 3.7 miles. Take
Motter Ave exit (sign for Frederick Community
College). Turn RIGHT at the traffic light onto
Opossumtown Pike. In about 1.5 mi. turn RIGHT into
Monocacy Middle School parking lot (just after
Frederick Community College on the left).

************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* **

Crista (www.dcrand.org)

Hey, MD peeps. I did Atlantic Cycling's 65-mile Chestertown tour yesterday -- my first ride with them, and it was very nice: gorgeous weather (a bit headwindy, but oh well), lovely route, just a great day on the bike.

When I got back to my car, there was a flyer under the wiper for the "1st Annual Poker Ride," to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It's 50 miles, start/finish is the Davidsonville Park & Ride. There are four rest stops, at which you will pick up a playing card (plus one at the finish.) At a post-ride party at Killarney House (your cost, but at special food and drink prices) they will award cash prizes to the best and worst poker hands. Ride is Sunday, October 14, cost is $25. Register at http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1481008 (it's $30 if you register the day of the ride.)

I'm not certain yet that I'll be in town that weekend, but this looks like it might be a lot of fun, for a good cause.

I've yet to ride with these guys even though they've had runs on both sides of me (I'm between Chestertown and St. Michaels), but I was curious as to what sort of turnout they had? Were there quite a few people or were there lots of gaps on the road as you travelled between lone or paired riders?

Makes me mad that I missed this as I was rather looking forward to it. :(

From the pictures on their Web site, I had assumed that their rider turnout was pretty small -- I was stunned when I saw all the cars at Chestertown Middle School! There were definitely times that we were alone, or could barely see people ahead of us. But I was riding with a "friend of a friend" whom I had never met before, and he was on a heavy mountain bike with huge, knobby tires . . . and he'd never ridden more than 30 miles on the road before. Needless to say, we were dead last for most of the day. Which is fine, I didn't mind, I was just out for a nice ride, but I just mean to say that my experience w/r/t the gaps may have been different had I been in my usual "almost-but-not-quite-lanterne-rouge" spot. :) (Also, I think there were a fair number of fast riders who took off early, never to be seen again by us slower folk.)

For a recap of all the Atlantic Cycling rides for 2007: www.atlanticcycling.com We get between 140 - 200+ each ride...and these are the BEST marked routes of any group I have cycled with! Watch the website for next years schedule and put the dates in your PDAs!

Yes, the road markings and cue sheets were very good. I enjoyed the ride, and plan to do a few next year -- the Blackwater and Easton rides look interesting.

FYI for those who ride the Ilchester, park, Race Road area.

I went along Race Road last night and the whole thing from Furance Road to Hanover is paved. Not with the cheap tar and chip crap, but the good stuff. Its as smooth as glass, they really did a great job.

So if you want to see how fast you can go on a flat, smooth surface this is the place to go.

Bill

Baltimore city here, right near the old Hutch Factory, I miss that place... and the dumpster I used to scavenge for parts!
Anybody out there owning Hutches nowadays?
I got a few.Heres one:
Attachment 55400

I went thru there last night on the Ducati after work. Very nice job they did indeed! Now they just need to finish all the other roads they have torn up. Race Road is a good road to do interval repeats.

I fee like finding the guy who is in charge of paving roads for Howard County and dragging him to Race Road. Grab him by the back of the neck and shove his face to the ground until his nose touched the road sruface and say: "See this is what a paved road is supposed to look like!....you cheap *******"


Bill

Did a century with the DC Randonneurs this past Saturday. The ride went through the Catoctin & South Mtns crossing the AT twice and passing west of Hagerstown at one spot. Many of the roads in that area, especially higher up, looked like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...929071403e.jpg

Here's a slideshow of the pix I took during the ride:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...slideshow=true

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. What was your total mileage? Did they post a cue sheet? I'd love to do a ride like this in the next month or so.

Arriving back at the start, I was at exactly 100.0 miles--unbelieveable! There was about 7,700ft of climbing, too. The cue sheets was in hardcopy and given out just before the ride. I'm sure Crista (the stoker on the tandem) has them in electronic format. You may be able to get in touch with her here:

http://www.dcrand.org

That's where they post their weekend "training" rides, which are always 100 miles or so on both Saturday and Sunday with Saturday being the harder day of the two.

Some ayhole in a green utility truck, as I was
sprinting up Rossville Blvd, hit his brakes--I
couldn't stop in time before flipping over the
handlebars trying to do an "emergency stop". He kept
on going once he saw me get up--I was fuming mad, of
course. [should've just laid there to see if he'd stop
and come and see if he'd killed me]

I succeeded in not sustaining any major injuries--just
scrapes on my left hand's knuckles, right leg outside
knee area, right forearm above the elbow, and top
right shoulder.

My ride file shows I was doing 30 MPH at the time--I
was in a dead sprint and drafting (red line;
corresponding stats in bottom left corner). Here's the
ride file along with pix of the injuries I sustained:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...slideshow=true

The bike seems to be ok--saddle twisted very slightly.
My helmet sustained a scrape where I landed on my
head, but I didn't see any fractures in it.

It was a green commercial utility truck--all I
remember. I reported what I could to the police,
stopping at the Essex police station on the way home,
but without a license plate number, they'll not be
able to do anything.

I'm tired of being considerate to motor vehicle
drivers! From here on out, I'm taking my time on
Rossville Blvd even if it holds up traffic.

Screw-'em! Screw-'em all!

So what is their pace like? I am working up to doing some of their training rides over the winter this year.

-D