Bucolic Biking After Hanna Harrassment

Saturday September 6th was supposed to be the annual Civil War Century bike ride, sponsored by the Baltimore Bicycling Club. However, Tropical Storm Hanna had other ideas and the ride was postponed to Sunday. The BBC did a great job of moving a very big event - the registration had been capped at 1,600 riders and it looked like most of them showed up on Sunday. The one negative was that we would not have the last rest stop at mile 44, as the Barlow Fire Department parking lot was being used for some kind of antique car show. That meant there would be about 32 miles between the last rest stop and the end, so I made sure I had extra water and food.

The day after a tropical storm comes through is usually beautiful and Sunday was no exception - not a cloud in the sky, slight breezes out of the north and low humidity. After the traditional 7-11 coffee and a muffin for fortification, I was on the road leaving the Thurmont start location by about 0730. The ride has 100, 77, 65, 53 and 25 mile options -  I decided to do the 65 mile metric century. After a bit of neighborhood road biking, the route follows Hessong Bridge Road and about 8 miles in goes over the Utica Road Covered Bridge, which as we all know is the Original Burr Arch Truss Bridge. Seven miles later you come to the first rest stop at the Loy's Station Covered Bridge, which is, of course, the Original Howe Truss Bridge.

On the way to that first rest stop, I passed a few people and a few people passed me. My goal is only to have skinnier people on skinnier bikes pass me and that was pretty much the case. The ride heads north from Loy's Station on beautiful country hills and then crosses to the west of Rt. 15 and heads through beeyootiful downtown Emmitsburg. The ride starts to head uphill here, passing Dave and Jane's Crab House, and heads towards the Ski Liberty slopes - this was the only place I had to talk to granny.

The reward for all the climbing is reaching the town of Fairfield, PA and the final rest stop at mile 32. This rest stop always has the best thing ever - tomato and mayo sandwiches. I don't know why, since I would never eat such a thing the rest of the year, but after 32 miles of biking in September nothing tastes better than fresh tomatoes slathered with mayo and slapped between two slices of bread. Since this was to be the last rest stop, I stuffed a few of those down, refilled my water bottles and grabbed some snackie things for the final 32 miles of the ride.

The rest of the ride cuts through Gettysburg National Park with some short steep hills but great views of the monuments. Once we left the park and headed east on Taneytown Road, the resourceful BBCers had found a way to have an impromptu rest stop at about mile 42 but I was feeling strong and just kept going. Here I was passed by a skinny guy on a skinny bike but by about mile 50 I had caught up to him and we chatted for a while. Somewhere along here we passed the final covered bridge - the Sach's Covered Bridge, which is nice but doesn't seem to be an original anything.  The other guy was real erratic in his speed so at one point I pulled away from him and he actually drafted me for a few miles - that is almost unheard of. That seemed to energize him and with about 5 miles left in the ride he accelerated and left me in his dust.

At the 64 mile mark, I pulled back into the starting point, enjoyed a free scoop of ice cream from the Antietam Dairy truck (excellent Loose Moose) and then headed home. Another great ride put on by the BBC and I guess my last long one for the year since we won't be doing the Salisbury Century this year. Googley map of the ride:

Comments

[& Tie Pins]

I have only recently become interested in cycling since my brother in law persuaded me to compete in a Triathlon in aid of a charity for special needs children close to his heart. The Triathlon took place in Eilat in Israel and the 40 kilometre about 25 mile cycle was essentially in the desert with a hot wind blowing and not one speck of green foliage at all. I look at your pictures and read your descriptions with some envy!