1903 Adventure Ride

Joe had a nice idea for a bike ride:

From the Ride listing:

1903 Adventure Ride

In 1903 the first Tour de France was held. The roads were rough and unpaved. For this ride we'll seek out the same conditions. We'll head west up the mountain where you can expect gravel, ruts, bumps and even a large stream to ford. From there we'll head south in search of more unpaved roads in the Jefferson area before working our way back through the city of Frederick. Fixed gear bikes not required but since that's all they rode in the first TdF we encourage you to suffer like those early pioneers. Heck, fill your water bottles with wine just like those guys did and make it a party. Recommended tires of 28mm or larger. Check out the route at: www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/1903-Ride


Saturday was a beautiful day for riding, and 15 folks (plus some late-comers) showed up for the ride. I considered riding fixed, like many of the riders, but common sense caught up and a used a freewheel. I even intended to flip the wheel to the larger rear cog for the first mega climb. Good thing too, because I would have been dead right there had I tried to climb like all those skinny guys. The climb went as expected, but I just took it easy and ground up Mountaindale and across the stream up Delauter. With that out of the way I flipped the wheel back around. Bombing down Rum Springs was fun. Kevin and I stopped to wait for Ken with a flar rear tire, then caught up with the group at the bottom. I noticed a strange click a bit further along and stopped to check it out. 4 out of 5 chainring bolts were loose!? That was weird, but I tightened up OK and then tried to catch up. No good by Myersville, so I stopped to top off my camelbak, and continued on. The roads were great, and the cue sheet was well done, so there were no real worries. A couple of good climbs into Middletown worked me well, and I was pretty smoked at the rest stop at the halfway point. I resolved to hang a little better, but only did so until the climbing started again. Umph. No long sustained climbs, but lots of little ones, some of them steep. It went on like this until it was time to head back over the ridge to Frederick. I was again the last one to the top of the climb up Cherry Lane, but had a blast passing all those fixie riders on the long downhill off the mountain. Traffic lights broke up the group a bit coming back through town, but the last of us made it in OK. I relaxed for a beer in the parking lot, but was pretty beat, so headed home instead of going out for a few more beers. The ride worked me pretty hard, but you don't see any improvement if you don't push your limits once in a while.

Photo Set Here.