I've had my Sam Hillborne almost 5 years ago now, and I've been hoping to get my wife on a Riv since then. Our upcoming Erie Canal trip this summer provided the perfect excuse. Partial build from Gravel & Grind in Frederick, MD (co-owner Tracy generously offered us hers after a test ride, as there's currently a shortage of orange frames) with other parts scrounged from this list and the local coop (the second set of Dura Ace bar ends I've found there!) to keep costs down. A few minor refinements to make, but overall she's very happy with the pretty standard "Riv-ish" build. I liked the Spank Oozy pedals on the test ride and got an extra pair for my Sam.
I finished building in time for a Friday morning (three Fridays ago, I'm slow sorting through pictures) "shake-down" commute, during which nothing broke, so it was off to Hagerstown to drop the kid with grandma. After Saturday morning's rain let up, we loaded up the bikes and went for a spin on the C&O Canal. We discovered a folk festival at Fort Frederick, with lots of canvas tents and colonial-era costumes, and ate dinner at a diner in Hancock, MD. Since we were trying some new camping gear as well as the new bike, we only went a couple of miles further to the next campsite, which we had all to ourselves, to leave time to make some mistakes and still get set up in daylight. Plus, 34 miles seemed like enough for a first outing on the Cheviot. In the morning we ate breakfast at the same restaurant, and did part of the return trip on the Western Maryland Rail Trail. Again, pretty deserted - maybe we're just used to the high weekend traffic in DC and Alexandria! Perhaps the rain kept a few people away, but we were surprised at how empty the trail was. There were stretches of an hour or more where we didn't encounter anyone else. There were some mud puddles here and there, but nothing too challenging despite our slick-ish tires. Definitely a confidence booster for us both looking forward to the Erie Canal in July. Coupla pics: <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xVw61-gSK1A/WRp8jzr-w_I/AAAAAAAAZIg/58gb4VJGR60wDoqnfJNcE3aY7pZ1bgbXQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0697.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9x0EyWmPK9c/WRp9FVWJsuI/AAAAAAAAZIo/TWpyMvhsfUMyA5EDpCf0sSLgX1peBnBggCLcB/s1600/DSC_0701.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dpGzHXXFRWY/WRp9SKncbGI/AAAAAAAAZIs/NS0P_uADOhUIRoyXHI9aPOEprd87WY7ZwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0728.jpg> More pics: https://flic.kr/s/aHskWumNT4 -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
