Catching Up

Well, it certainly has been a while.  Finally made it out to Easton the weekend of July 10, after being on the western shore for several weeks.  That doesn't mean I wasn't cycling -- far from it.  June 26/27 was Bike Virginia, or at least the first two days of it, out of Staunton (pronounced, as I was repeatedly reminded, "Stanton") with Christine, Art, Alison, and Alison's 72 year old dad, Phil (who KICKED our butts).  Two days of "Triple H" riding -- hazy, hot, and HILLY.  Day 1 was 58 miles west of town, in the foothills along Skyline Drive -- absolutely beautiful terrain, and decent enough shade.  The hills were tough, but manageable -- the long hills weren't too steep, and the steep hills weren't too long.  We finished relatively strong and had a nice small-town dinner.

Sunday was a shorter rider -- 50 plus -- to the east, with much warmer temperatures (high close to 100 degrees).  The terrain wasn't as pretty -- much more of a tour of the suburbs, with less shade and several walls we had to climb.  Used the granny gear a few times -- as I say, I don't use it much, but when I do I'm really glad I have it.   I headed home after the ride, so I didn't do the full five days.  But the full Bike VA is something I'll consider next year, particularly if I don't do RAGBRAI.

The following weekend started with my 60th Birthday and ran through the 4th of July.  Very hot again.  Rode both Sunday and Monday mornings, early -- pre-7 am start both days, to beat the heat and get home before the Takoma Park 4th of July Parade.  We all wore red suspenders in memory of Ernie Weisman, and the parade had a nice float in honor of both Ernie and David.

And finally, back to Easton the following weekend, thank goodness.  I woke up Saturday morning to lightening and thunder -- a true gully washer, with white caps on Jack's Cove.  The weather cleared a bit during the afternoon, and by Sunday it was a perfect day for a ride --  the morning started with a bit of crispness to it, with enough cloud cover to keep things relatively cool.  In contrast to many other Eastern Shore rides, I saw quite a few serious road riders -- and spent some time chatting with a couple of them.  The first was a guy who hammered by me on the Oxford Road, riding a Cervelo tri bike.  He slowed down after he passed me, and I thought he might be having a mechanical problem.  Instead, he'd notice my IF and wanted to talk about steel bikes.  We rode together for a number of miles -- at a considerably faster pace than usual for me -- and then split up.

After the Island Creek loop, I rode with a woman into Trappe.  She was heading up to Tunis Mills; I might have joined her except (frankly) she was riding a bit too slow for me.  So I headed through Trappe, across Route 50 along my "western Talbot" route.  This time I added a wonderful new loop -- I went out Barber Road, and instead of turning left on Bambery, I stayed straight out the Jamaica Point Road, to Schoolhouse, and then back on Chancellor Point Road.  This loop added 6 beautiful, very isolated miles -- plus something I'd hadn't seen before on the Eastern Shore:  large fields of sunflowers, which brought back memories of those great stages of the Tour de France through the sunflowers.  After the loop, I wandered home, taking different turns than usual -- a left on Manadier, across Rt. 50 at a different point.  Overall a great 60 mile ride, getting ready for RAGBRAI.