Excellent ride report Jeff. I couldn't make it due to some scheduling conflicts but was able to ride for an hour on Sunday and it was HOT.
I'll try to make it next time. Ryan Arlington, VA On Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 8:04:22 AM UTC-4, Jeff wrote: > I'm not much of a storyteller, but here goes - my experience with the > first annual Gravel & Grind Riv/BoB ride... > > Gravel & Grind is a special bike shop. > > I arrived at G&G on Sunday around 1:00 PM I think, whereas James (G&G > co-owner) suggested gathering between 11:00 and 2:00, and riding out > shortly after 2:00, so I was one of the last ride attendees to show up. > Parked outside G&G were an array of smart looking bike for sale, but I was > focused on the small array of Hunqapillars, Atlanti and Bridgestones. I > enjoyed an iced coffee while hanging outside to remain acclimated to the > heat. I think it was in 90's and the heat index may have bumped over 100 > degrees, but there was a bit of shade and a slight breeze out front of the > shop. > > As we set out for the ride there were a few Hunq's, Atlanti, an MB-1 or > two and Tracy, co-owner, on an RB-1. If not for Tracy's RB-1 I think I'd be > riding the skinniest tired bike - my Sam with Compass Barlow Pass 700x38 > tires. This was our route: > > https://ridewithgps.com/routes/15503887 > > We angled our way out of Frederick and found some reasonably pleasant > country-ish roads to pedal through. I think it was 12 of us at that time, > maybe 11. Though spirits were high, it was hot. Evil hot. I was carrying > two 24oz. Kleen Kanteen bottles in my bottle cages and I had a 40oz. one > stowed in my saddlebag. After pedaling a third of the way to our > destination and turnaround point, I was thinking I didn't have remotely > enough water. We stopped at a sketchy convenience store where I bought a > giant can of sweet tea and some chocolate milk. The other folks chose > similar quantities of cold beverages, salty snacks and maybe some ice > cream. We lost our first rider to the heat at this rest stop. I strongly > considered joining him in turning back. I didn't. > > We saddle back up and shortly thereafter we left the pavement. The fire > road we were on immediately started accruing elevation and conditions were > mixed between hard-packed easy-going to slightly loose and/or rock-strewn. > We were shaded for the most part, but the heat was still rough. I found may > way to my collection of little-ring/big-cogs and stayed with this > collection for much of the next hour (or more, probably not less, it's a > blur) as we just pushed our way to the top. The scenery was quite nice and > the company stellar, so despite the heat and climbing, I was having a good > time. > > I've been off the bike for a few weeks thanks to a broken toe, and though > I otherwise ride almost daily, I haven't had a chance to put on many miles > at a time for the past handful of months, so I might have suffered a bit > more than I would have, say at this time last year when I was riding every > day, including long rides nearly every weekend. At some point I'm pretty > sure I was the lanterne rouge, but that didn't seem to be a big deal. > > I only had to use the 2-footed gear once, when I lost traction on a steep > and loose section of fire road and there was no recovering under pedal > power - else, the Barlow Pass tires performed admirably. > > We reached the top of our climb and traversed a short section of slightly > rugged singletrack before we came to a beautiful little pond. Most folks > enjoyed a cooling swim in the pond, while I held back on the shore, unsure > of my still frail toe on an uneven pond floor. Moderately cool and > downright warm adult beverages and salty snacks were passed around and we > relaxed for a bit before we began our screaming descent downhill. > > I've descended some long and steep paved downgrades and a few hard-packed > fire roads, but nothing like the fire road we rolled down to get back to > town. It was rocky and rutted and loose at enough points to have me riding > overly cautiously over many segments. I was certainly the lanterne rouge > behind more skilled riders, except for John who apparently kept with shop > ride tradition of flatting in the watershed. > > We reached paved roads again and enjoyed a fairly brisk slightly downhill > pace back into town as we watched threatening clouds roll around the sky. > Just at the edge of downtown we became separated at a traffic light when > the sky opened up and raindrops the size of small potatoes began pelting > us. My group of 4 at the front decided to keep riding as the second group > behind us contained James while my group had Tracy, so we knew we could get > back. > > I immediately recognized that in most cases I'd be a bit surly to be > getting dumped on as such, but some of my best and certainly most memorable > rides have ended this way. We cruised through downtown Frederick on fresh > wet, slick and bepuddled roads while remembering to apply brakes far > earlier than actually needed. On moderate speed hard left, William, riding > in front of me, put out an outrigger leg to assist with navigating the turn > and this was a good reminder of the challenge of riding in a downpour. We > arrived back at the shop and wrung ourselves out while James and the rest > of the crew arrived with further reminder of the challenges of riding in a > downpour as they reported that a couple of them had unscheduled dismounts > to the pavement thanks to slick roads and wet brake tracks. > > Though there was some climbing and dirt roads, I think the biggest > challenge on this ride really was the heat. I'm looking forward to riding > with the G&G crew again before the next RBW/BoB ride, and on the next ride, > I hope to see more of you out there. > > I took 3 pictures on the route because I was really focused on being in > the moment, and I saw other folks with better cameras and apparent camera > skills than myself. Two of my pics were selfies to send back to my wife > proving I was still alive and still on the ride and the other one is > attached, a shaky picture of a bit of the group just outside of downtown > Frederick in a sub-division on the return side of our trip as we watched > the stormy skies swirl. > > -Jeff > Silver Spring, MD > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 4:56 PM, Deacon Patrick <lamon...@mac.com > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Single speeding hilly country is a blast, Phil! >> >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/deaconpatrick/28388418704/in/dateposted-public/ >> >> With abandon, >> Patrick >> >> On Monday, August 15, 2016 at 8:57:29 AM UTC-6, Philip Kim wrote: >>> >>> i'm still trying to process how you rode the quickbeam through that >>> ride... >>> >> -- >> 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-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. >> To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com >> <javascript:>. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- 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 https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
