NoRacer

That's where I'm guessing that MD-43 East runs. It doesn't show up on any of the Google maps yet.

NoRacer

Thanks galen. Believe me... I was reduced to a walking pace of 3 MPH on the steepest portions.

BTW, I used an iBike to measure the incline. One of the set-up parameters is to do a tilt test so that the iBike "knows" what is 0 percent grade in relation to how it's mounted on the handlebars. I'm pretty confident that the incline reading that I saw were correct (11-13 percent).

NoRacer

No, Charlie, I didn't want to distract them. So, I didn't even speak to them. But, one guy seemed puzzled at seeing a road cyclist up on the hill.

NoRacer

Exactly!

There is a bike path on the south side of MD-43 East, but it doesn't go all of the way to Route 40/Pulaski Hwy, so I ride the shoulder instead.

Time to head to BWI for another easy excursion to Annapolis. Later!

galen_52657

Here is the route me and my buds take to do Rock State Park

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Rocks-Tour

NoRacer

Cool. Yeah, I thought about going up Madonna and coming in around from the other way, but I decided not to this time.

Cromwell Bridge? I hate the guard rails and traffic on that road. Too many motorists taking chances with more than just their lives.

staehpj1

Since I live close to there I ride it on pretty much every ride that I start from home. It's really not that bad, except during peak traffic times.

I would have thought it was steeper than that. I haven't ridden it in years, but I thought Morgan Mill Road was somewhere around 12% and remember the climb at Rocks being quite a bit steeper. I guess I am wrong on one count or the other.

I imagine Morgan Mill must not be as steep as I thought. Anyone know what percent the steepest portion is?

BTW: I have enjoyed reading about your rides.

The Human Car

Rock State Park – Cool, It looks like I have a new place to try and get to that I haven’t been to before.

Cromwell Bridge – It’s sad that road used to be very bike friendly country road, I really hate it when we lose roads to traffic like that.

NoRacer excursion to Annapolis – I would not mind joining you.

NoRacer

I'll keep you in mind, next time, Barry. Other things in life conspired against me and I didn't get on the trail until 2 o'clock. In other words, I drove to the Dorsey Rd airport observation parking lot and started from there.

The next time that I ride the entire distance, I'll "drop you a line" first, ok?

----
Well, this morning, I'm back at work. The time off went so fast. But, it was sort of comforting being back on my bike commute route this morning. Nothing new. Nothing seemed to have changed.

balto charlie

If y'all are looking for some steep stuff come to Catonsville. There's 25-30 mile route that goes up all the really steep stuff in the patapsco river valley. Illchester is the killer...18%, bring your granny gear.

galen_52657

Don' ride it westbound on a weekday morning or eastbound on a weekday afternoon. Other than that, it's fine...and fast going east due to the slight average descent.

galen_52657

I am having lots of fun saving routes on the Bikely site. Here is a route out of Joe's (Mt. Washington) Bike Shop the club did last year.

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/beckclimbothon

Lots of climbing and Jolly Acres is gravel...way fun!

NoRacer

Now -that's- a ride! I'll have to give it a go some time.

Here's one that I'm planning, but haven't done, yet, because I'd have to drive to it first, if I want to do it in a day--~5,500+ ft of climbing:

Catoctin-Mountain-Ride-Unattempted

angelo

Yeah, that's a good one! Here's a red-faced hill-repeat session on that hill if anyone's interested.

Over the total elevation change, it averages out to something like 7%, but there is quite steep part on there. 18% is what the sign says! Nice place, low traffic, no one will see you pant.

galen_52657

I have done a similar ride both on a BBC tour and on my tandem. Passed a motorcycle going down Catoctin Hollow Rd. Boy, was he surprised.....

galen_52657

Part of your route was in a 3-stage race held in Ellicott City back in the early 90's put on by well -know area racer Ramon Benitez (sp). The time trial started in Ellicott City at College Ave. and Main Street then picked up your route and finished at the park on Landing Rd. Talk about a ball-buster....

balto charlie

That's the hill. No one will see you pant nor see you walk. I mapped out my ride
https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/12359
Might be a little confusing as you cross paths a few times. I usually start on the balto side of Patapsco river. I however set this up to start on the hoco side at Our lady of Perpetual Help(since we will need all the help in the world to complete this ride). Also I take the trolley trail towards Ellicott city from Edmonston ave. The biggest/steepest hills are: Illchester, Hilltop, College(towards Ellicott City), Westchester and Gun. Ride down Lawyers, Thistle, Oella Who's gonna ride a fixie on this bad boy Charlie

The Human Car

Just a note that I think I will be doing the BBC ride from Oregon Ridge Park on Sat starting at 10:30 – 40-45 miles. See https://www.baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/scheduled for more info. All are welcome to join me or the club.

PS. Charlie, that’s one killer of a route. And I thought I was good being able to tackle just one of those hills but all of them?

Vitamin_J

this thread is great. If the runs get to Annapolis or the if any of you want to join us in Easton for our 40-50 mile Sunday morning ride, just drop me a line. Usually 6-12 riders all various levels.

properstranger

Hey Angelo...I hit that hill quite a bit. It does give you a break as you start to round the bend but it looks godawful as your staring at the hill from the bottom. I try to incorporate a bunch of routes in that area to form a loop to and from my home. The new foot bridge from the park (Gristmill trail) opens a world of great riding in the area. Like... Lawyers Hill Rd., Gun road, etc.

veloellen

Galen, we were riding home from a party Dec 26 in that neighborhood and my husband was lamenting that time trial up Ilchester..... We then took another road (in the car) on our way to route 40 and that hill looked even steeper but not as long. i think he was riding for Cycle Libre at the time - pink jerseys.....
Heading to NCR with my 5 year old now - 70 degrees in JANUARY!!!

NoRacer

Well, I didn't see Human Car's post until now, but I saw Barry at the start of the BBC Oregon Ridge ride.

I rode from Essex to Oregon Ridge (~26 miles) and did the club ride (~44 miles), then I headed home after a short break back at Oregon Ridge. Being a glutton for punishment, on the way home, I hit the climb up Bosley Road just off of Warren Rd, and later, after going through Loch Raven, I popped out at Cromwell Bridge Rd (yes, Galen, I tried it again and it wasn't too bad, as you stated) and made the climb up Saytr Hill. Whoof! After that, my glycogen and glucose level hit rock bottom, so I stopped at the Checkers on Joppa Rd (next to Giant grocers) and had a meal (large Coca-Cola, bacon double-cheese burger & large curly fries). Once that I felt better, it was back on the bike and returning to Saytr Hill Rd; right on Old Harford; left on Putty Hill; bear right to Rossville Blvd, taking it all of the way back to Essex. Once in Essex, I did a few more miles just to get over 100!

All in all, it was a great day for a ride and a good day's riding.

Stats:

Mileage = 102.8 miles
Time = 6:27:27 (lots of wind today, that my story and I'm sticking with it)
Avg Speed = 15.9 MPH
Max Speed = 45.8 MPH
Elevation Gain = 8,524 Feet

Tomorrow, I'll probably drive to BWI and ride the trails to Annapolis and back as a "recovery" ride. We'll have to see what the weatherman has to say, first.

So, Barry, what happened to you? I didn't see you on the way back.

The Human Car

What a great day today! I think I got a bit of color from all that sun.

I road from Mt Washington to Oregon Ridge (16.1 miles) and did the club ride (45 miles, I messed up on a couple of turns.) I was barley hanging on to the lead pack (and NoRacer who was near the front) for the first 6 miles when I finally lost sight of them. To understand the next bit I should explain my set up; I have an Xtracycle with too much junk in the panniers mainly for those odd emergencies that come up while touring, which really slows me down on the up hills but ~50% of the time I can make this up on the down hill. Now if you are thinking why don’t I leave all that junk at home the reason is two fold; one, it makes it harder on me when I do go touring and two, I experience a weird phenomena similar to muscle atrophy that astronauts experience and after a couple of weeks of going lighter I am back to riding the pace I would be doing with the weight, so now I ride almost all the time with the weight and slowly I am getting a bit faster even with the weight especially when I try and chase people like NoRacer. Anyway back to the story, we had a large turn out of 24 riders and about 20 were in the lead pack and they were riding in a fairly tight formation of 2-3 abreast. So on the down hills when I would normally leap frog a group like this I would have had to cross the double yellow line and not have any room to merge back in case of on oncoming car, so I had to hit the brakes and stay in the rear. But after I lost sight of the group I should be back to normal, right? Wrong, the wind started to pick up and I was getting some serious cross wind buffeting which made it really hard to keep control of my bike over 30mph, so I essentially lost my gravity assisted down hill speed advantage on this ride. But I do think next time I ride with NoRacer when he is not doing a recovery ride, I’m dropping the weight.

(Aren’t you glad you asked? )

My stats:
Mileage: 68.1 (met a friend in Timonium and got a lift back home.)
Average speed on the club ride 13.1mph and 12.2 over all (I like riding easy and looking at the scenery when riding solo.)
Total ascent: 4999ft

Tomorrow I think I’m doing the “Pancake ride” (with weight.)

NoRacer

Sheesh! Yeah, my bike was listing quite a bit when I hit some of the open farmland where there is no windbreak from trees.

Glad you made it ok, Barry.

Folks, Barry is one seriously strong dude to be riding the bike that he does--everywhere. It's got to weigh nearly 40 pounds!

NoRacer

For those who are interested, here's a map of the ride that I did yesterday:

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Long-Ride-20070106

I'm a little fuzzy about the second half of the ride after Shiloh Rd and I threw my cue sheet away at Checkers, because it was soaked with sweat after I stuck it under my jersey, so I'm going by memory.

It's interesting that Bikely reports the climbing as 4,439 feet and the baro on my bike stated almost twice that amount. Hmmm.