Terry Wild Goose Chase ride

[Kalidurga]

I'll second the congrats to IFJane. I had stopped to change a flat tire for someone, and another couple pulled up to see if we needed help. I heard the woman telling one of the other ladies that they had been to a wedding down in VA the day before, so I asked if it was Jane's wedding. Turned out it was JeannieRides and her DH! Jeannie said the wedding was beautiful, so I'm glad the weather cooperated for you, Jane.

I wasn't as ambitious as either Regina or divingbiker, I only did the 25 mile ride. Considering the wind we ended up with, I was glad I chose not to do the 40. Like Regina, I started out with a good speed (faster than I normally ride ), but ended up crawling for the last 1/3. The scenery was really lovely and it would have been a gorgeous ride if we'd had sunshine. But I kept the route maps so I can go back out there and do the 40 mile route sometime when the weather's better

Oh, and the 'yakking on Saturday was terrific. Withm and her friend Annette were great paddling partners, the weather was beautiful (from one extreme to the other this weekend, sheesh), and we saw about a 1/2 dozen bald eagles, several osprey, and a couple of heron. Blackwater really does make a great spot for a multi-sport weekend.

[divingbiker]

Yes, congratulations, Jane! I'm glad you had a good day for your wedding.

That was a fun weekend...one I'd like to do again sometime. Kayaking one day, cycling (flat!) the next.

I think Regina was a bit generous in her grading of the organization of the Terry ride, but it was fun and maybe next year some of the details will be worked out a bit better. (I think the Blackwater Visitor Center was supposed to be the portapotty stop. And there was one portapotty on the route, as withm used it! I just went in the woods one time.)

Thanks for a fun weekend, ladies (and Tom)!

[amithereyet]

Yesterday I followed the yellow arrows and completed 25 miles on my fat-wheeled folding bike. It was fun seeing the refuge, including the coiled snake on the road, but I'm sorry I didn't get to see any te folks.

I agree that the route could have been marked better. The wildlife loop was fun, but at the end of it, there was no indicator of where I needed to be to get back on track. I know: looking at the map is not cheating.

After spending late winter and early spring recovering from a broken foot, this 25 mile ride was the longest for me in 2008. It feels good to be back on track and maybe, the next ride will find me almost keeping pace with some te'ers.

[F8th637]

Glad to hear that it was a decent ride despite some of its shortcomings. Thanks for the ride reports, ladies.

Congratulations to Jane! Can't wait to hear all about it!

[short cut sally]

thanks for the ride reports..my riding partner and I wanted to go but we didn't get signed up in time..Next year. And maybe some of the bugs will be worked out and next year will be even better than this year. (I do believe I read somewheres from Terry that they plan on making this a yearly event. ) Congrats to IFJane. Glad everyone had a good time that went .

[Zen]

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.

SheGotBike! was like that too.
I let them know, we'll see if they listened.

I think I was still unemployed at the time of registration for this ride. Sorry I missed it, it sounds great.

You guys have to do the Tour de Madison.
Or CAM. Or CWC.
I'll be there signing autographs

[Kalidurga]

Considering that this was only my second organized ride and I did a shorter route, I didn't have the same issues as Regina and Janice. Despite that, though, I think the only other ride I'm going to do this year is Tour du Port in B'more (which is apparently scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18th, if anyone else is interested ). These rides are fun, but not necessarily something I'd want to do frequently. Just too many people in one place for me.

Guess I'll have to get your autograph some other way, Mo.

[Zen]

Tam

I forgot one other opportunity- SheGotBike!
Once you get out on the road with me there will be no one else around (maybe the SAG wagon )


.

[Kalidurga]

Tam

Why the frowns? It's nothing to be sad about. I've just found I get a little overwhelmed by all the folks before, during, and after organized rides. So I'll only do a couple a year, maybe the Wild Goose and Tour du Port.

You should join me for a Shepherdstown/Antietam ride some day this summer, Mo. There's ice cream (or tea!) in Shepherdstown, and chocolate chip cookies (just like my mom used to make) in Sharpsburg

[Zen]

You should join me for a Shepherdstown/Antietam ride some day this summer, Mo. There's ice cream (or tea!) in Shepherdstown, and chocolate chip cookies (just like my mom used to make) in Sharpsburg

We might should start a separate thread for that idea I like it.
And/Or a Gettysburg tour.

[madscot13]

just to chip in, I am signing up to do the Seagull century (pray for no hurricanes) this fall for Team in Training. I will be riding in honor of a friend's father who died about a month ago.

[Kalidurga]

We might should start a separate thread for that idea I like it.
And/Or a Gettysburg tour.

I've got a couple different routes for each of those areas. Gotta give me some time to get out there and make sure I can still handle the hills, though, before I tackle it with another person along

[withm]

Wow! What a fun weekend we had. We met at the Blackwater NWR Visitor Center and then headed over to the kayak launch just a few minutes away. We were treated to a gorgeous sunny day with just enough light breeze to keep us from getting too hot. Unfortunately I got sunburned instead despite a liberal application of sunblock.

We saw several bald eagles, and you can actually see one in this pic. It's the black blob in the 2nd tree from the right. It's hard to take a photo like that from a floating boat - the boat bobs up and down and well so does the camera. But it gives you an idea of the beautiful setting.

The rest of the photos show Mr. 7Rider, 7Rider, DivingBiker, Kalidurga, & my friend Annette - not necessarily in any order, nor do they all show in any one pic. We got pretty spread out.

The bike ride was great. I had no problems with the route markings but I guess if you ride 18-20mph maybe you did have to make some turn on short notice - but the cue sheets seemed to be pretty good so you do have warning that a turn might be coming up.

But no Porta potties at the rest stops? What's up with that?

It is true that the food at the rest stops did not include much in the way of real food, but I did actually eat my first shot blocks - cran-raspberry and was surprised to find they weren't bad. I did not sample the drink mixes they were offering because if I sacrificed an entire water bottle to something that was not palatable I really would have been an unhappy camper. The bananas were good, but some bagels and peanut butter would have been better than the candy bars. By 30 miles I was really hungry and found a granola bar in my bike bag. It must have been in there for months cause I nearly broke my teeth biting into it. Just a little bit stale.

OK so potties and food notwithstanding, the ride itself was in a fantastic setting. I just kept thinking if the sun had been out what a beautiful day it would have been. One of the Friends of Blackwater volunteers had a spotting scope set up on Wildlife Drive and we were invited to stop and take a closer look at whatever he had in his sights. We saw a white pelican, along with more eagles, blue herons, ibis, egrets, and a bunch of other birds. Oh and a couple snakes. (OH! and we had a close encounter with a couple local fishermen with a trashcan full of huge snapping turtles). Had it been a tad warmer and sunnier I would have stopped a lot to take pictures as there were some really wonderful settings in the marshland. Sadly the last 10 miles or so were fraught with drizzle, rain, and headwinds 15-20 kt so by then all I really wanted to do was finish.

I rode the 43 mile ride with DivingBiker and we traded some diving stories along the way. She was very patient waiting for me to catch up when we hit the headwinds and I appreciate that. She also adjusted my rear der cable so the bike would stop shifting by itself every once in a while, which made the rest of the ride much less stressful for me. With only 156 miles on the bike - the cables were stretching out a bit and it really needs a little more adjustment. And I was able to produce a tie wrap to secure her broken spoke. By the end of the ride we both had noisy bikes. We never did figure out what my bike noises were but tomorrow I'll get it up on the stand and take a look.

We both ran into other friends from the DC area so that was fun too.

I have to give great praise for Georgena Terry for even putting on this ride. They donated over $18,000 to the Friends of Blackwater from the proceeds of the ride. That's incredible! Well done!

The door prizes seemed endless - and a lot of people did not stick around to participate in the give aways. That made better odds for those who did. I won a pair of Voler bike shorts! Woo Hoo! Some people gave their tickets to those of us who stayed till the bitter end, and I guess some of those tickets were winners. The new Goretex jacket they gave away had a $400+ retail price but wow - what a very well designed jacket. Don't remember the name of it but how many $400 bike jackets are there? Yikes! The Isis bike was won by a girl who had just bought a Madone recently. She looked totally shell-shocked at winning. Nice bike too!

But all I want to know is how did I miss the deep fried pickles? That sounds pretty bizarre and I don't know if I'd be game enough to try them.

I had a great weekend and would not hesitate to do this event again. In fact I would even plan a weekend in May or June, or in October and ride the Easton-St. MIchaels-Tilghman-Oxford loop on Saturday, go to the winery in the afternoon, and ride Blackwater on Sunday. Just need to find a free weekend.

Great fun meeting you all!

[HillSlugger]

Ahh, I recognize Tam with her hat and her legs hanging out of the cockpit!

[Kalidurga]

Ahh, I recognize Tam with her hat and her legs hanging out of the cockpit!

But did you see that Regina's picked up the same paddling method?