NOTE to Self

Make sure that you check that you have EVERYTHING before you head to Easton for the weekend.  DON'T presume that your bike shoes still are in the car from the Sea Gull weekend.  Otherwise, you'll have to write about something other than biking.

Big changes out here in the last two weeks.  During the Sea Gull, the leaves had barely begun to change, and the fall waterfowl were just starting to make an appearance.  This weekend was a full Fall experience.  The ducks were plentiful on the water, and the geese were everywhere -- fattening up on the cleared cornfields, flying overhead in large Vs, and cruising the waters in flotillas.  The sound hasn't become constant yet -- but that's coming.

We're now proud participants in the Department of Natural Resources "Marylanders Grow Oysters" program.  We've got three cages full of oyster spat hanging in the water off of our dock.  Each cage is supposed to grow 150 to 200 oysters, which will be collected next year and placed in protected oyster beds in the Tred Avon River.  (No, we're not supposed to eat any of them).  In addition to being rather tasty, oysters are an important part of the Bay's ecosystem, because they filter the water.  A single oyster can filter 2 gallons of water in an hour. The Bay's oyster population used to be so large that it filtered the Bay's entire water volume every three to four days. Today that would take nearly a year.  So every little bit helps. 

http://www.oysters.maryland.gov/

Something else I've learned in my time in Easton is that those supposedly charming reeds along the water's edge actually are an invasive species called phragmites, which grows so thick that it chokes out other plants and wildlife.  We had a heavy stand along much of our shoreline, and we discovered that the state and the county have a herbicide program to kill phragmites.  We had the spraying done this fall, and it looks like it worked -- the plants have dried up and appear dead to the roots.  I went out on Sunday with the hedge clipper and started to cut them down.  They are very thick, and it will take a while to complete the task.  Clearing the phragmites showed that there are a number of other plants along our shoreline -- some flowering bushes and some small evergreens.  We'll have to see how things go in the Spring -- whether, without the phragmites, we suffer any erosion of the mud banks.

That's all for now.  Next time, I'll remember my bike shoes

Sea Gull Century 2009

Today is a beautiful Fall day on the Eastern Shore. Sunny and cool, without a lot of wind. Unfortunately from the perspective of the weather, the Sea Gull Century was yesterday -- overcast, some spitting rain, and very windy. But we did the ride anyway and had a great time, along with 8500 of our closest friends.

Christine, Alison, and Art came out to Easton on Friday night -- Gail chose a trip to Paris rather than doing the Sea Gull (imagine that!!). We had dinner at Tapatia -- what better way to carbo load than with great Mexican food and margaritas. The weather forecast was iffy -- showers in the morning; maybe clearing in the afternoon, maybe not. At least one of our group was ready to bail out on Friday night. But we decided to get up at 6 am and see how things looked.

I got up and put on my biking gear. Most of the rest of group came out in their jammies. But the chances of rain went down over night (the hour-by-hour forecast can be too much sometimes), so we headed from Easton to Salisbury -- but with a late start. Too late for the "high carbs" breakfast at the ride site, so we stopped on Dunkin' Donuts to load up.

We started to ride a few minutes before 9 -- the latest I've ever started. The racing teams -- who are disappointed if they don't finish in 4 hours -- were long gone. That was a mixed blessing: it's fun to see highly skilled riders going really fast in double pacelines, but there are a lot of casual riders on the Sea Gull, so there can be some scary moments from the pacelines move through in the early miles of the ride.

One difference in this year's ride from the others I've done (most of them since 1992): HIPSTERS have discovered the Sea Gull -- on fixies, with tats and skater helmets. But very good riders. One woman who I road with for a while -- her's was a "working" fixie, with a flat bar, an old-style rear fenders and two brakes -- also did roller derby. We rode with another group -- a guy on a fixie with a top tube pad and wearing designer messenger pants, a woman with a paint-splattered LeMond and an "ironic" NYC blue and Orange jersey, and another woman wearing a gray denim skirt over her bike skirt. Maybe a bit much, but the guy on the fixie maintained a very steady tempo and had "no hands" balance as good as Art, and the group was solid enough to do a paceline with us for a while. (For more on hipster bike culture, check out www.bikesnobnyc.com).

Some other observations.

Art, Christine, Alison, and I rode most of the route together, which was fun -- a great group. The ride support was good, but not great -- the Assateague rest stop (at around 60 miles) stopped having peanut butter sandwiches a few years ago. Now it's banana/cranberry/other types of bread and little tubs of PB. Not so good. They ran out of pie at the Adkins Mill rest stop but got some more quickly. Good. And the shirt's a really nice color this year.

I treat this ride as five 20 milers, and each was a bit different today. The wind was fluky. It started out out of the north and not too strong. That made the first 20, which go to the south, a nice warm up. The next 20 winds to the north, and the wind picked up, strong -- some very rough stretches, helped by some good pacelines. We then wander mostly east from 40 to 60, with the rest stop on Assateague Island (complete with the famous ponies). I noticed that, the more we headed due east, the more the wind was to our backs. That's fun while it lasts, but it's unusual not to have a wind blowing off the ocean. And the real problem with a westerly wind is that the last 40 miles of the ride are due west -- which means straight into a headwind.

And that's what we had. Miles 60 through 80 always are a challenge. By that time, you're ready to be done. We worked the pacelines again, often the four of us, and sometimes with the hipsters. After some pie at Adkins Mill, the last 20 miles weren't bad at all. Of course, I get spooked at around mile 93 -- the site of my crash 5 years ago -- but I got through it.

I love this ride, and I plan to do it as long as I'm physically able. But, given all I've seen of the Eastern Shore during the past year, this isn't the prettiest route around -- not a lot of water views, and A LOT of industrial chicken farms. But a splendid time was had by all, or at least our group.

My Quest

October is a great month for sea food on the Eastern Shore -- the oysters have arrived, and the crabs haven't left yet. So last night, Susan, Pete, and I headed to Schooners, a dockside restaurant and bar in Oxford, for some fried oysters and crabcakes. We were sitting outside, on the harbor, near the outdoor bar. At around 8:15, we saw a fireworks display to the south. Since it wasn't the 4th of July, no one was quite sure what was going on -- until the waitress told us that one of the guys' fathers was a caretaker for a huge place down on Island Creek. The fireworks display -- all 25 or 30 minutes worth, easily as good as Easton's display on July 4th -- were for a wedding (!!!)
So that settled it -- Sunday's ride would start with the Island Creek loop, to see if I could find evidence of the grand event. I took the normal route, out the Oxford Road to Almshouse, then White Marsh to Sanderstown. I got a bit of a late start; by 9:15, the fog was burning off, leaving the fields with a heavy dew. Everything was glistening in the morning light.
When I got to Island Creek Road, I had a strange sense that I was almost there. . . .I pedaled along for a while, wondering how far was "almost," anyway? After a while, I found it:That's right, a Lovefest at Martins Point -- I'm not making this up. Either a really big wedding, or a late celebration of Woodstock's 40th anniversary.
My quest now complete, I continued the ride, singing the B-52s' "Love Shack" to myself. It was a beautiful Fall day -- with the first of the migrating Canadian snow geese in the sky. I rode the Island Creek loop, with a detour out to Chloras Point and Peace Cliff Road -- where I could see a sailboat race out on the Bay. Then through Trappe, across Route 50.
Instead of the normal route up Koogler, I went further east, through Bruceville, past one of my favorite cemeteries. The farms on this side of 50 are larger than to the west. Most of the cornfields had been cleared, and I noticed a much larger number of hawks gliding over the cut fields. With the tall cornstalks gone, the field mice are easier for the raptors to see -- plus, the rodents are stocking up for the winter. The hawks were flying very low, so it was easy to see the white feathers on the underside of their wings.
I crossed Miles Creek, which runs to the Choptank, not the Miles river. I then headed further north, up Dover Neck Road to Black Dog Alley (again, I'm not making this up -- I've got to find out where that name came from). I cut back to Easton sooner than planned, both because it was really windy and because my lower back tightened up. Finished at about 47 miles, my last tune up for the Sea Gull.

Fall 40 Miler

Did the same 40-miler with Gail that I did with Kathy a few weeks ago -- Oxford, Island Creek Loop, Trappe, and the "cemeteries" east of 50. (Note to self -- map this route, since it's become your regular 40 mile ride --UPDATE: done). We took a detour for the Oxford Cemetery and for Trappe Landing.
Interesting changes in three week. Any corn that's left standing is brown and dry. A lot of it has been cut down, and some of the fields have been turned over. So I've seen the full "corn cycle," from planting, to tending, to harvesting, and clearing. The beans are turning a golden color, ready for harvest. The leaves are just starting to change, and there was coolness in the air the entire ride. And, of course, a tough wind.
The most amazing sight was on the Island Creek Road, where there are woods to the right and fields on the left. A very large bird flew low out of the woods, straight over head -- a bald eagle !! On the first pass, we could see its body -- snow white chest and tail. It looped back around twice, so we could see its white head and curled beak. It then went back into the woods. I saw a bald eagle on the Miles River a couple of years ago, but this is my first one on a bike ride. Eagles keep their nests in the same spot over the years, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for this one when I'm riding Island Creek Road.
Update: Here's the map of this route. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3230319

"It's A Clean Machine"

Sometimes you just HAVE to clean your bike. Last weekend, I noticed that my chain was noisy -- a bad sign, particularly with the humidity on the Eastern Shore. So this morning, I grabbed my Pedro's Bio Degreaser and my Finish Line wax chain lubricant and got to work. The truth is, I like cleaning my bike -- it looks better, it rides better, and since it's my favorite possession (OK, I'd put my iPod and my car right up there with my bike), the IF deserves it. I also put on a new seat -- same as the old seat, a Terry Fly, because it's the most comfortable seat I've had.
So tomorrow's ride should be silent and smooth. We're on the western shore this weekend, so no ride report.

Miles

The Sea Gull Century is a few short weeks from now, and this hasn't been a heavy mileage summer -- no RAGBRAI to train for and do. So I needed to put some miles on my legs this morning. I did a basic there-and-back ride: from Woodland Court, through St. Michaels, to Tilghman Island -- no map, no photos, and only a couple of side trips. I took the Oxford Road to the Bypass, the Bypass to Route 33, and Route 33 to where it ends on Tilghman. It's 11 miles to St. Michaels -- Rt. 33 is called St. Michaels Road for this part of the ride -- and there was plenty of traffic, even though I started riding at 8. There's a very wide shoulder -- easy to ride two abreast -- but a steady stream of traffic driving considerably faster than the 50 MPH speed limit (I'm guilty as charged when I drive this road).

After you leave St. Michaels, the traffic thins out considerably. I had a steady wind at my back most of the way, so I kept a quick pace, knowing that I'd pay the price on the return trip. Right before McDaniel, the name of the road changes to the Tilghman Island Road., but it's still Route 33. After 25 miles, you reach Knapps Narrows, which separates Tilghman from the mainland. I hit the drawbridge just as it was beginning to go up, in both directions. A pretty sight, but maybe not twice.
Tilghman Island remains a unique place, even by Eastern Shore standards. The Island was first charted by Captain John Smith in 1608. There are still a lot of working watermen on Tilghman -- one of the last operating "under sail" skipjacks sails from there -- and it still reflects the rough and tumble waterman's life: small cottages, a few general stores, and several "on the water" restaurants reachable by boat. The story is that, in the old days, the more proper folks on the mainland raised the drawbridge on Saturday night, to keep the islander from crossing over and making trouble. Don't know if that's true, but it's a good story. Some developer put something called "Tilghman on Chesapeake" on the middle of the island -- it calls itself a "resort community," and is as out of place as it sounds. But mostly Tilghman is secluded and rustic.
I road to where the paved road ends, right before a beautiful inn on Black Walnut Point Inn, which is located on a wildlife preserve on the southernmost point on the island: http://www.blackwalnutpoint.com/
After that I did a little side route, out Fairbanks Road, to a nice point looking out to the Choptank River. Heading back, I noticed some clouds building -- which increased the wind A LOT. The ride home was work -- into a "stiff flag" headwind, a solo ride without anyone to help break the wind. Got back to St. Michaels around 11 am, and the town was very busy -- the end of the Labor Day Weekend. Did a side route through Royal Oak -- both because I like the town, and because I got a break from the wind. Got home, having done 60 miles -- tired.

Starting to Feel a Bit Like Fall

Did an early morning 40 miler with Kathy today -- out to Oxford, then the Island Creek Road loop, back through Trappe across Route 50, and part of the Wildflowers/Cemeteries route home. Although the morning was bright and sunny, there was the coolness of Fall in the air. The corn fields have turned brown, some of the dogwoods are just starting to change colors, and the bean fields -- October harvest -- are a rich, dark green. Summer is winding to an end.