July 4th Ride

[Velobambina]

Velobambina,

Just curious how far you are or where you work is from the NIH. One of my teammates just moved down to Bethesda and woks at NIH and she may be looking for some women to ride with down there. Do you ride with a group?

Whip

Right now, I'm working in Tysons. Can't bike commute there due to no safe way from the W&OD. Ostensibly, I could meet the ladies at NIH, but it would have to be after work. I get off at 3:00, and once I'm stuck with the horrible commute to Dulles, I will be lucky to be home by 3:30, feed the girls, and hightail it out for a bike ride by 4:00.

I'll tell my husband about the Balto ride. I love Baltimore---reminds me a lot of Pittsburgh, my hometown.

Are you doing the Civil War ride? We were thinking about it, but then my best girl died unexpectedly (my sweet golden, Agnes). I haven't wanted to commit to putting in long miles (50+).

[JmcG]

Ah, the Civil War century - my favorite ride of the year! You should definitely do it. It's a challenge but lots of fun.

Whip - I was up your way 2 weeks ago for the Tri to Win sprint in Westminster. Were you there by any chance? That's another fun race. This was my 2nd year doing it. Those hills are tough! I bet you're in great shape from living and riding up there!

[Zen]

I'm doing the CWC but can't decide on 25 or 50 miles.
25 will be a familiar, easy ride. 50, not so much. I hate to sag but...
I think I'm gonna do the battle of North Valley's Hill ride too.

Too bad the Amici Veloci jerseys won't be out by then

[7rider]

Thread hijack on:
Any of you folks - particularly those in No. Va - ride with these ladies? http://www.babesonbikes.org/
They seem to do a lot of weekday rides and a lot seem to be in the No. Va areas.
Thread hijack off.

Whip, DH and I frequently run into - well, not literally! - BBC riders when out in Howard County and points north. I often tell him we should check out their cue sheet library and see where they're heading. There are some marks on the roads up there that are either their's or some bene-rides'.

I did get to Westminster in February for the big bike swap, and it did seem that there are a lot of places to ride out there.

[Velobambina]

I used to belong to Babes on Bikes, but never could ride w/them since I work F/T. I believe most of them are stay-at-home moms. From what I remember, they usually aren't into weekend rides or rides after work.

[Whip]

Whip - I was up your way 2 weeks ago for the Tri to Win sprint in Westminster. Were you there by any chance?

Hi,

I wasn't there - I didn't even know about it - but that sounds so cool. Do you do tri? How was it?

Here are the links for the BBC's Carroll County and Howard County cue sheets. Other counties are listed there as well.

http://baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/carroll

http://baltobikeclub.org/index.pl/howard2

There is tons of great riding in Carroll - lots of hills - and lots of low traffic roads. I got injured at the beginning of last race season and it's been a struggle getting back on the bike. I just started riding more two months ago and I'm going crazy riding by myself and I'm so excited about meeting new women cyclists.

I am going to do the CWC, but I'll probably volunteer in the morning and then do one of the shorter rides. That century is hard - and it's over 100 miles - unfair.

Whip

[JmcG]

I did Tri to Win the past 2 years (http://www.melanomaresource.org/ It's a sprint distance and lots of fun, great crowd support, and great atmosphere. The riding out that way is incredible! We do routes up and around Columbia, Ellicott City, and Sykesville - lots of tough climbs out there!

As for the CWC, it's a tough ride, but definitely do-able (I've only done the century distance, so can't comment on the metric or other distances.). We've done it the past couple of years and I can't wait to do it again this year. They recently sent out an email to get people to sign up b/c registration has been slower this year than past, so if you're going to do it, sign up so they don't cancel it!! I can't believe they would though b/c it's such a popular race (not as crazy popular as the Seagull Century though.....I think b/c of the hills).