My second century ride ever. Cambridge, MD/Chesapeake Bay area century ride. Sometimes as I rode along I thought about the Rando-peeps here and on the BQ blog. I have no idea how you all do 200+k rides. Such accomplishments! My hat's off to you guys and gals! A 200k is on my bucket list, though.
*Weather/clothes:* 50’s-upper 60’s. Alternated overcast and clear. I wore wool cycling shorts, cotton socks, Puma sneakers, 3 layers of wool shirts to start (2 thin, 1 thick), then down to the two thin layers. RBW 3XL Summer gloves. Sunglasses. It was perfect clothing for the weather for me. *The ride:* Beautiful marshy scenery. Wooded areas with long dirt lanes running into them. Farms. Interesting houses, some looked abandoned, to see. Beautiful waterways and a road that was right on the Chesapeake bay and eventually stuck out into the bay and hooked up with other islands. That was cool, riding along with water on both sides of the road. Like riding out into the ocean or something. A fun and pleasant ride. Flat. It was supported and organized well. I think there may have been about 1200 people in the ride. There were shorter routes offered, too. I think a 30-something and 50-something mile ride. Not sure how many did the century ride. The last two rest stops on the century route had very few riders. The last one had maybe 6. That is either testimony to how slow I was, or how few did the century. Most likely the former! Ha ha! I am slow. I think there were 5 rest stops. I found that hanging the cue sheets from the bar-end shifter housings on my bike works better than hanging from the handle bar. Then it is not in the way when you reach for the tops. The cue sheet just lays nicely on the housings. Took me until later in the ride to figure that out. Duh! I went with my riding pal, Dewey. He is a grizzled vet of century rides, doing them over the last ~30 years. He likes regular food only on rides. No electrolyte goos or pills. He brings hard-boiled eggs for snacks at rest stops. We cruised along at a nice pace. Lots of headwinds along the way, but nothing too bad. Some tailwinds helped us breeze along very easily at times. It was perfect weather, Not too hot, not too cold. *People and bikes:* Saw some interesting bikes and met some interesting folks along the way. I saw no other Rivendells. I saw maybe 3 steel bikes? One was a paramount. Not sure about the others, but their tubes looked very thin. Dapper and light looking bikes. One with upright bars. The rest were pretty much all carbon/alu/Ti looking. Some comfort/hybrid and mountain bikes. People of all adult ages and sizes. Saw two banana bikes that had stereos, headlights, iPod attachments, and video cameras attached. Like pedal cars. Looked like recumbents with carbon fiber body around them. I talked with one guy who said he owns an Atlantis, but brought his Litespeed, I think it was, for the century. Another guy (the sponsoring bike shop owner?) had a cool old Panasonic that was green/cream blend paint and three cogs in the back and one chain ring. A young man blew past me on his bike. He was very fast. Missing his left leg below the knee, but had a smile on his face and had a prosthetic attachment. *The bike:* My Noodle Sam with carradice bag, fenders, and Hetres. It was comfy as ever, and I am so thankful it has been so comfortable for all my riding on the centuries and training rides, as well as commuting and all the other riding I have done on it. Handled great. Cushy ride. Its great to ride and not hurt afterwards. I had such a great time. This ride was a great blessing to me and the Lord willing, I will do more century rides in the future. Pictures: Here are a few pics. I could have taken some really pretty ones of some of the beautiful marshes, the bay, lonely lanes that lead very deep into the wooded canopy, and farm houses set deep into fields, but I only took pics on breaks as I didn't want to hop off the bike as I rode. Sorry for the bad pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/70237737@N00/sets/72157644104940278/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
