Terry Wild Goose Chase ride

[jeannierides]

I'll be looking for it too! Let's hope for decent weather!

[7rider]

I had a dream last night that I was in a field of cars with bunch of other people, getting ready for this ride (it was sunny, btw). And...I had forgotten my bike!!! I called up my DH, who was home, and he said "yeah...it's right here. Do you need it?" And I sat at the rear bumper of my truck and sobbed.

[Kalidurga]

Aaawww, Regina



Cambridge, MD 5-day weather report. Let's hope those thunderstorms don't materialize while we're on the water Saturday.

[F8th637]

I'm so jealous of you all going. Have fun and take pics if you can!

[withm]

So are the kayakers meeting on Saturday at the visitor center at 10 or 11?

The morning weather will probably be better than the afternoon so that might influence the plan.

Martha

[divingbiker]

So are the kayakers meeting on Saturday at the visitor center at 10 or 11?

The morning weather will probably be better than the afternoon so that might influence the plan.

Martha

I'm planning to be at the visitors center at 10am. See you there!

[withm]

We'll all have to do a sun dance to ward of the rain

[Kalidurga]

At this point, AccuWeather's forecasting thunderstorms around 4pm on Saturday. As long as we're off the water before any lightning begins, we'll be fine.

Shame it'll probably be cloudy on Sunday, but otherwise that day should be nice.

[7rider]

Cloudy, I can handle.
Rain on sunday...major bummer....
I hope to drag DH, no doubt kicking and screaming, out of the house at 7:45, which should get us to the visitor center at 10, with a few minutes to spare (so says MapQuest). Boats are going on the truck tonight to (hopefully) stack the deck in our favor. I'll give DB or KD a shout if we're looking to be late.

[Kalidurga]

Well, as is to be expected, the forecast is different every time you look at it now. But the slight chance of rain on Sunday is, of course, forecast for before 1:00pm

[7rider]

Grrr. It makes packing rather difficult.
Short sleeves? Long?
Shorts? Capris?
I suppose I'll throw a sweatshirt in there.

[HillSlugger]

Have fun everyone. So far the weather looks good on this side of the bay!

[madscot13]

good luck and have fun everyone!

[amithereyet]

I can't wear my bicycle shoes since breaking my foot in Feb, so I'll be on the 20" red folding bicycle with flame print tires looking for divingbiker's TE sign.

I hope that the yakkers had fun today!

[7rider]

Well, all in all, a good day.
I opted to do the metric....which actually ended up being a bit over 66 miles when we added in the wildlife loop (we thought it was required to get the mileage, but it wasn't). I was maintaining a nice pace for the first 2/3rd of it (18-19 mph), mainly because the first half was with the wind. One long stretch of road at the beginning had a very determined boxer chasing a woman for over 2 miles! She actually rode just ahead of it, hoping to tire it out as her friend behind her was slower than her and she worried how her friend would be able to handle the dog.
A stretch at about mile 35-38 had a brutal headwind that slowed me down to a crawl. By mile 45, I hooked up with a great group of 5 women from Salisbury, plus another hanger-on from Rehoboth Beach. They had been moving as a train for much of it, and I figured with the ride back being mostly into the wind, a good pace line would do me good.
They were very nice, but soon one rider had trouble with cramping, and another was just running out of gas...and they were determined to finish as a group (ha! You'd rarely see the guys I ride with do that), so the pace slackened quite a bit and we frequently dallied to let those who had fallen off the back catch back on. By then, I said "I want the company and screw the average speed for the ride." and stayed with them.
I saw a few men on the ride and really wished I had my DH with me. He would have had a fine time and I don't think anyone really would have batted an eye. He would have ridden self supported, so as to not "poach" the organized ride. Bummer on that.
But..Overall impressions.
Although it was cloudy and occasionally misty, it never really rained on my route. Some sections of the road were wet (I need to wash my bike still), but most were not. So that was good.
The route was poorly marked. Turn arrows were right AT the turn, with no warning arrows before it. Made for a few missed turns and a lot of late turns, no doubt.
The rest stops were fair. The food was not the best (althought a Milky Way Dark is always welcome), and the beverages were gross. Water is good, but no salt, electrolytes, or anything (which is why that woman was cramping). What was offered was just undrinkable (Keen or Hammer or something I didn't recognize. It went down the drain when we got home). And..NO PORTA-POTTIES on the entire route!!! How can you organize a metric century and not have a porta-pottie in sight????? And, good grief, this was in a national wildlife sanctuary!!! I saw more than a few people pulled off on the side, um, polluting our national treasures!
So, as a first attempt for Terry, I'd give it a B-. You almost can't go wrong with a ride on the Eastern shore (except for the fickle weather)....but the support could have been better.

Anyway...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
Was nice to meet Withm and ClickIn. Sorry I didn't get to see the rest. I hope you all had good rides. Sorry, DB, that you busted a spoke...but major props to you for lending me your bolero. It's going in the mail today (clean even! ). Then, I'm going on line to order one for myself.

And lastly, a big congratulations to IFJane!!! Many happy years to you.