Thanks to Bill Hale, Kevin Kruger, Ken Sanford and Tom Simon, who joined me for making a beautiful day into a great ride. What could be finer than taking off a workday Friday to extend a weekend into something special. We rode from Patapsco State Park along quiet roads to the BWI and B&A bike paths and into Annapolis for lunch, then on to Velo Orange. The trails, quite crowded on weekends were very quiet that day, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect, expecially considering the steamer this weekend is turning out to be.
Kevin was the strongest rider that day and set a brisk pace for all of us, and I may have been encouraging him. Ken was riding his custom Zaconato fixed gear, a modern classic. Bill Hale was pedaling a chrome Freschi? (forget the name of it, but I think it's the bike with the reputation of being built by convicts in prison) that looked way older than my Taylor. And I had the Jack Taylor with its almost new ASC Sturmey hub. I'd consulted a freshly downloaded Sturmey Archer service manual (Thanks to Mark Bulgier) after my Cirque freewheeling incident and the bike felt like it was carving the perfect line that day.
Tom Simon was waiting for us about fifteen miles into the ride with a very nice seventies Mercian, all tourist'd up with canvas bar bag, fenders & tradition. The miles slipped by as we rode into Annapolis for lunch at the town dock, a nice deck view looking out over the bikes and oh, uh, the finish line for RAAM. The RAAM finish was pretty deserted but for a couple of women in RAAM shirts. Kevin couldn't convince them we were worthy of any swag, but a couple of tourists were convinced we were participants. They thought our bikes looked official.
Tom Martin at Velo Orange greeted us and pretty much gave us the tour of the shop. Their new TA/Stronglight sorta cranks set up for modern drives and low Q impressed me for something in the future. With a couple of the riders anxious to be off, we didn't hang around as long as last year, and were back on the road again with only a couple of purchases, a pair of gum sidewall Pasella's for my tourer at home.
As long as the ride was, the miles just ticked by, and it seemed that we made it back to the ride start in the Park in no time. Ken had some cold refreshments in his car, ... the soda really hit the spot!
Now on to the next big ride. ... For me, five days of Bike Virginia, on my thirty plus year old Sachs tourer away from fixed gear terrain. and ... I just can't seem to get enough of this stuff:
Please join Barb and me on Saturday, July 10 in Parkton, Maryland for our shorter, hillier vintage ride and cookout. Feel free to bring your fixed gears to show off, but I recommend a wider range of gears and useful brakes for the beautiful country riding around our home. Hope you like descending.
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:07:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Kevin Kruger <ktk1_7_0_2_8(AT)yahoo.com> Subject: [CR] Great Vintage Ride to Annapolis, MD!!!
A special THANKS to Dan Artley for hosting and leading the vintage ride to Annapolis, MD yesterday!!!
Total mileage turned out to be 64 miles, making a nice metric century. Fixed gear machines were the popular choice --- I rode a Masi Prestige and kept it in a single gear for the entire ride (52x17) in an attempt to not be embarrassed by the die-hard fixed gear riders. While the group was small, there was a ton of fun to be had!!!
Attending the ride in addition to myself was:
- Dan Artley - Ken Sanford - Bill Hale - Tom Simon
Regards,
Kevin Kruger - Grantville, PA