Labor Day Ride to Washington, DC

This Ride: 87.9 miles
Month: 159.4 miles
2011: 5,276.9 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 11,396.6 miles

The Severna Park Peloton has a tradition of hosting longer rides on major summer holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, & Labor Day).  This year, there was interest in riding to Washington, DC.  Fran K. put together a route (not an easy task with the high congestion and heavily traveled roadways around here) and we had 15 riders on 14 bikes show up for the 6:30 am start.  Heavy rain threatened all day, but we never encountered a drop.

The route was perfect!  We wound our way through streets and roads that were mostly devoid of traffic.  We enjoyed one another’s company.  We frequently changed up riding partners as we moved around in the peloton.  We particularly enjoyed the trail system in the DC area, although these trails were the sites of all but one of our 4 crashes.  I’ve never seen so many crashes.

Fran crashed as he crested a very steep hill and needed to stop suddenly because the path crossed traffic.  He didn’t have the speed to stay upright.  Tom crashed as he applied front brakes in an “emergency” stop, and was thrown over the handlebars.  Carl crashed negotiating a very sharp turn onto a bridge when a rider near him suddenly stopped.  Bill crashed in DC on some very uneven and hard to see pavement where two levels of street ran parallel to the direction of travel.  With bumps and bruises and just a little road rash, all the riders finished the ride.

In DC we had great service at The Dubliner.  Some of us even drank a Guinness (at 10:30 am) with our eggs.  We did not stay to see the sights, as some were feeling the need to return home.  Good thing too … the rain came down hard within a half hour of our return.

This was simply a nice day with friends.