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Maryland: Windy & Flat(s)
By Tony I.
Another spring, another trip to Maryland to attend the annual Kent County Spring Fling bicycling event. We had 21 SIBA members attending, Camille, Lex, Marion, Michele, Don, Frank, Joe C, Jack, Carlos, Edgar, Hugo, Glen and Andy. Also making their first trip was Joe V, Rolf, George Sutton and his wife Lulu. Barbara Nicholas came up from Atlanta to join us. Ira & Janet came with their family and the grandchildren.
The plan was to meet at the bagel store at 9am on Friday and convoy down to Maryland. I usually am the lead car only because Frank the Navigator is with me. This year I broke one of my long standing rules: no three people in my car. I gave Camille special dispensation so she could ride with me. The plan was she was to be at my house at
8:15am, load up, pick up Frank and head to the bagel store. So much for the perfect plan.
Friday:
8:15- No Camille
8:30- Camille called; she at a gas station asking for direction to my house. Unfortunately she locked her keys in the car. Hmm, off to a good start.
8:35- I call Frank to let know what’s happening.
8:40- Camille called; she asked a man who drove in to get gas if he could help her. Turns out he is a cop and calls his precinct to send a car to help. That’s good.
8:45- I call Don to tell him what’s happening. He doesn’t believe me, thinks I am making this up but I said this Camille was talking about; then he believed me. I told him they should leave at 9am as planned and I’ll meet them at the Clara Barton rest stop.
8:50- Camille calls: three cops working with slim jims can’t get doors opened! That’s bad.
Panic time!! I tell her, don’t they have guns; shoot there way in!
9:00- Camille calls, success they opened the door and she is on the way.
Camille arrives at my house we load up and go pick up Frank. We arrive at the rest stop and everyone is there and we all enjoyed a good laugh. We start for Maryland.
About a half hour later while driving at 70MPH I hear a terrible thumping sound coming from under my car. I thought, oh no a flat. I stop, get out, and walk around the car no flat. We look under the car and we don’t see anything. We start out again and the noise seems to get worse. In addition I feel car has slowed down. Now my imagination kicks in and I figured I blew the transmission. My heart is pounding, if it is the transmission, what happens with Frank and Camille. Also, Michele followed me off the highway. I pull into a tire place and ask the guy if he could take a look. While waiting I look at the car and see something hanging down by the front wheel. Franks looks and tells me it a piece of plastic. I get under the car and sure enough a part of the wheel shroud has broken off and was rubbing against the tire!! With some tie wraps and duct tape I made the repair and all is well. Once my heart stopped pounding, we are on our way, again.
We arrive at Washington College, check in, slip into our bike duds and ride out to Waterman’s Restaurant to have something to eat. Compared to the day’s events the ride was uneventful, but it’s only the first day!
Saturday:
As in the past we always do a 77 mile ride. Jack’s group went and Don, Carlos, Camille and I were the second group. Frank, Lex, Marion and Michele did their own ride. The first half of the ride was great, however when we turned to head back we ran into very strong and relentless wind. The wind never stopped and at times gusted to what felt like gale force winds. It seemed to take forever to get back; not sure how many times we had to stop to rest. The ride started at 7:30am and we did not return until 3:30pm. Everyone complained about the wind and most cut the ride short but we still rode 74 miles!
To make all forget about the tough ride, I put on a show that was my interpretations of some of the photo’s Jack has taken of us through the years. All seem to enjoy it at least I did not get booed. It was such at big hit that I may take the show on the road!
Sunday:
This the day of the picnic. We split up and we rode out to the picnic grounds. My group arrived first. After a time we wonder what was taking Jack’s and Carlos’ group so long. We were concerned but it did not stop us from eating.
Happenings of the day:
Edgar: Set new SIBA record: five flats on one ride all on the front tire. It was determined that a faulty rim tape was the problem. Glen went up to a farm house to see if he could get some electrical tape. The farmer’s daughter answered the door; not sure what happened but Glen got the tape. What a man!
Carlos & George: Their GPS went into overload and got them going around in circles. Good thing Barbara was on the ride and showed them the way to the picnic.
That night we played a dice game called, LCR. First game Barbara won, not bad for someone just visiting. Second and third game Lex and Marion won, said something about being their room, whatever that means. What really ticked me off was that fact that they were my dice!
Monday:
We did a joint ride of about 20 miles. When we were ready to leave Camille discovered she had a flat. How she got a flat in her room is beyond me.
We returned packed up and had something to eat, then started for home.
This was my fourteenth year attending the event. One thing you can always count on is the wind and us having a million laughs. So if you want to join us next year be sure to bring a wind breaker and a sense of humor.
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