Wild Goose Chase 2009

[Becky]

I just signed up- can't wait to meet you all!

FWIW, I'll probably drive down from Northern DE and back that day. I'd be interested in carpooling if anyone's interested.....

[7rider]

Okay. I am among the sheeple. I registered.... a full 9 months before the event. Saw the main email come out today, so I figured I better jump on the bandwagon while I can.

Dang hotels are probably already full.

[divingbiker]

Dang hotels are probably already full.

Oh crap I forgot about the hotel! I wonder if we should wait to see if Terry negotiates a good rate, or just book one now. Where did we stay this year?

[Kalidurga]

Didn't we stay at the Holiday Inn Express?

[Becky]

Is it really worth coming down the night before for events, etc., or is it more for the sleep factor? I'm a WCG newbie and have no idea.

[divingbiker]

Is it really worth coming down the night before for events, etc., or is it more for the sleep factor? I'm a WCG newbie and have no idea.

Depends on how long the drive is, I guess. This year we made a weekend of it and brought our kayaks down on Saturday for a nice day on the water. I'd love to do that again next year.

[Becky]

It's about ~2 hours for me. Not outside the realm of possibilities. On one hand, it's just me, no one else to plan around, so I could drive down at 5am. On the other hand, I don't want to miss out on cool pre-ride events.

I'll probably book something now- I can always cancel later.

[jeannierides]

I registered on Monday! IFJane also registered, and we're trying to convince KayTee to drink the koolaid too!
I'm hoping Terry can work out some discounted rates, but we probably won't make reservations this soon.

[short cut sally]

To add to this post, I have registered and I convinced my riding partner to come too. Now we have to work out the lodging issues. And purchasing some kayaks for the day before. Do they rent them locally? I'm trying to think of options here. Its bad enough to figure out human lodging, let alone lodging for the bikes and kayaks..(safety in numbers)

[divingbiker]

With my "Senior" discount, the Days Inn is $98, so I may book a room. The cheapest room at the Holiday Inn Express is $115, but you have to pay now and if you cancel you're SOL. Otherwise it's closer to $130.

I'd hate to not have a place to stay...

[Kalidurga]

Considering the limited dining options in that area, I'm going to research a few more towns over thataways. I'm willing to drive farther between my hotel and the ride if it means I can get a better dinner and breakfast

[withm]

Since it was such a beautiful day yesterday and I didn't have anything more pressing to do I decided to go back to Blackwater and do the ride again. What a gorgeous day! I went to the high school where I was surprised to find hundreds of cars parked - good I can blend in nicely. Hmm many of cars have bikes. Uh oh, they are time trial bikes.... What have I wandered into?

Turns out it was the Annapolis Cycling club doing the Church Creek time trials. OK, I just want to keep out of their way. They assured me no problem. So I set out on my ride, but eventually I ended up on Church Creek road, and had quite a show. I stopped at the parking lot near the kayak launch and watched as the riders whizzed by. They must have started them at intervals - one would pass, followed in 15-40 seconds by the next, then maybe 2 or three nearly together, then a longer gap. The bikes seemed noisy to me with those disk wheels. Eventually I ventured back onto the road ever vigilant to hug the right. I only had a couple more miles before I turned off so all was well.

Every road I traveled either looked like this


or this


or better,


At one point I stopped at one of the bridge overlooks where people had been crabbing all morning and had over a bushel! I also came across a group of riders on hybrids from the Annapolis area struggling with a flat tire. At least they had a tube and a CO2 but it was clear they had little experience. I showed them a few tricks to help them out and lent my pump so they could save the CO2 for another time. The guy assured me that he ran his fingers around the tire and didn't find anything... I asked him a couple times about that but was not convinced. I hope he didn't get another flat later....

At the visitor center I wandered into the butterfly garden out back. WOW! There were so many flutterbyes that I was almost swatting them away from my face! A lovely sunny garden but it was hot and I wanted to get moving.
Mainly I had stopped there on the 2nd pass to visit the nice clean facilities, fill my water bottle, and get a coke before heading to Wildlife Drive.

The bulk of Wildlife Drive was closed "for construction" but expected to be reopened in October. The main entrance was barricaded. However there was a 2nd entrance, hastily marked which allowed you to traverse a smaller loop which I did. There I saw a bald eagle perched on a pole, a couple of osprey, and watched a great blue heron stalk, dive, catch, and swallow a fish! I had taken pix, but the better camera is the one in my mind. After the fact I was kicking myself for not putting the camera into video mode.. It was awesome to watch that. And this coming from someone who sees great blue herons nearly every day!



This is another view of the area where we kayaked


and in case you don't know that that orange thing is


Like the sign says, it's a bike!

I got 46 miles in and it was great.

So, I don't think I can wait till May to do this ride again. I'm thinking October or early November. By then it will be full of Canada Geese and Snow Geese. With fall colors it ought to be beautiful.

Martha

[Zen]

Oh, this is gonna be good.
can I bum a 'yak from you?

[Kalidurga]

Gorgeous photos, withm. I wish we'd had that sky back in May, instead of the gloomy one we rode beneath. And, of course, I hope we have a beautiful blue one like that in May '09!

[7rider]

Wow. Thanks for the pix! It's got me dreaming of sunnier days next May!
A couple of the folks from my LBS group ride were at that time trial. One woman I know did okay in her 50+ group. Didn't quite reach her goal, but said the winds picked up pretty good. She did come in second with her tandem partner later on (pretty darned good considering they BOTH raced already that day!). She rocks.