C&O Canal ride in October

[HillSlugger]

Saturday would work for me, but not Sunday.

I can make Saturday work for me too. I prefer to ride early, say meet at 9am? Doing the full 40 miles? Is there any provision for 1 or 2 more rest stops?

I am slow slow slow, especially on the hills, but it's still fun.

I'm fairly slow on the hills (hence my screen name) but decent on the flats. I can probably do an overall average in the 14's.

[divingbiker]

OK, Saturday at 9 it is, at the Rileys Lock parking lot. Anyone else want to join us?

And of course, we can ALWAYS take more rest stops. There just won't be a porta potty or a store to buy water etc like there is at D!ckerson.

I'll pm you my phone number in case something goes awry. I look forward to riding!

[7rider]

This is a road ride, right?
Unfortunately, I can't make this saturday. Have fun! Take pictures!
I am still planning on doing the TE Group's October 15th ride on the C&O canal, departure time and meet locale TBD.

[HillSlugger]

Yesterday Divingbiker and I met at Rileys Lock for our 40 mile ride through Poolesville. We have nearly identical bikes, her's is a 2005 Specialized Sequoia Comp and mine is a 2006 Elite. She was even able to explain the "trim" function of the front derraileur.

The ride started out with damp roads under a cloudy sky with gusty winds and very high humidity. A little way in the skies lightened and the roads dried out, but the winds and humidity stayed throughout the ride. We road the last 5 miles with occasional drops of rain.

This became my longest ride ever, but Divingbiker set a nice, moderate pace and I finished with my legs still feeling strong, but with my arms and shoulders starting to ache (still getting used to the new riding position).

The RouteSlip.com ride profile for this ride showed what looked like a really long, nasty hill right after the rest stop but it turned out to a huge distortion of reality. Overall, the route turned out to be a very doable 40 miler, even with the winds.

Thank you Divingbiker for leading me through the route. It was fun to have someone to talk with.