The forecast was not great with a chance of showers increasing as the day went on and worse depending on whose forecast you saw. And the shower just before leaving for the ride start didn't help my expectations. But we had five intrepid people show up for the ride as scheduled, and another small group of four doing a shorter parallel ride nearby and joining us later.
Harvey Sachs and Ken Sanford from the DC area were waiting with Bill Spangler, a local friend, when I showed up at Oregon Ridge. Bill Spangler is one of the original members of the Baltimore Bicycle Club from back in the late 60's and his primary ride is still the Italian Masi he's been riding since the mid 70's, now repainted. Harvey had brought his Hetchins to ride and his J P Wiggle as a "loaner" for Ken (we should all be able to ride such loaners). The Weigle was spelled either way depending on which side of the bike you looked at. It seemed like half step and granny was the order of the day. Ken had also brought his new purchase, a Higgins track iron, gotten from Edward Albert at Trexlertown. I'd coveted the bike and asked him to bring it to try out in the lot. Nice Bike!!! And Bill had brought along a 50's Frejus track machine, another in my size that was very similar to the Weigle repainted one I'd been admiring that Sam Fitzsimmons had at T-town too. That may be a deal for a 60 cm track bike if Sam still has it. The Frejus had a really solid, well mannered ride. Boy do I want one of those too. The last member of the crew, Jim Sheridan arrived just on time after doing 20 miles on a fundraising ride in Baltimore, the Tour de Port. What's another 30 hilly miles or so? Of course he was riding fixed, a classic Ibis Scorcher, another bike I've always wanted to own. Are we seeing a pattern here? Of course now I'm looking at that scorcher bar about 8" below the saddle and possibly rethinking my wants. ... So many bikes ... And of course, I had my Richard Sachs, nice and clean with new brake levers and a fresh overhaul after my spill back in June.
The ride started out with some gentle climbing, a bit of traffic till we passed a church, then a bit more climbing, some nice rolling terrain and a big climb here, some nice downhills a short steep climb there, we don't want to turn there, do we?, no, we'll do that climb instead. And that was just the first few miles. There were a couple of hills that seemed fairly steep before the break, making a bend and kept going up. And of course Jim, riding fixed was the one circling at the top waiting for us. I was at the back having the lowest granny gear and griding it away, no one seemed to be complaining about the hills. I started out a bit tired from the day's ride before, but loosened up and really was enjoying myself. We had a nice gradual downhill for a couple miles and some mild rollers. The wind picked up, usually to our front and we started to see some sun. A brief rest stop at the Butler store around mid point of the ride was in order, and back out for some longer, gentler grades. Bill and I were on one of my favorite roads, an area I've ridden past a couple of early morning fox hunts, and finally to the base of a really pretty little road with three big climbs one after the other. I was going to mention one of the short cuts at this point but we were alone. Bill, knowing the roads too suggested it to me and we took the shortcut. We waited about ten minutes at the next route crossing expecting they'd be along, but nothing. A quick phone call showed they'd been waiting at the top of one of those hills for us, just a quarter mile back on the route. Two minutes later and they rolled into sight with Harvey pointing to (insisting on) the next possible shortcut, one that shortened the last hilly four miles or so to one flat one. By the time we got back to the parking lot, the sun had come out in force and temperatures started to climb. A satisfaction for a nice days ride seemed to be in the air. The forecasted rain seemed to have blown away before it even started.
We arrived at my house just as the other group of four showed up. Therese
Spadaro, the late framebuilder Tom Bruni's wife with friends, Michael,
Joanne and Marilyn, the three girls all riding Bruni's, Michael on an off
topic cross bike. The temps had warmed up enough to open up the house,
unexpected with the outside temps in the low 30's in the early morning,
and it really was turning into a beautiful day. Barb was playing hostess,
she took over my job of grilling the dogs, food and drink was served, and
everyone seemed to get comfortable. I got to show off the bikes a couple
of times, always a great excuse to clean up the workshop. It sure seemed
like a good time was had by all. I sure enjoyed the company.
We'll have to do this again next July! Maybe when the Tour is in the
mountains. I've posted a few photos of the ride itself. And a link to
the full size photos is to the right of the individual thumbnails. See:
http://sports.webshots.com/
And this was all after riding the length of the Western Maryland Rail Trail and back to see the Fall colors on Saturday. What a great weekend!
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland