The Gettysburg Campaign

I cut my stay short at Ohio's Mohican Adventures Campground and made the sleepy drive back to Maryland for one reason: Bob Wagner's Gettysburg Campaign group ride. It did not disappoint.

I've been on a couple of Bob's other "Rambles", long-distance all-paces-welcome rides before, and they are always a blast. The group is very friendly, and the lunch breaks are awesome. The great thing about the Rambles is that they have a theme - the first one I did was called "The Three Glens Ride", and we rode through three towns named after glens. The second was Monument to Monument, which went from the Baltimore Washington monument to the DC Washington monument and back.

The Gettysburg Campaign was a longer ride than the others that I've been on - a double metric century (200KM) from start to finish, which lead from Baltimore to Gettysburg PA and back. Including the ride to and from my house, I ended up riding 144 miles and climbing about 7,000 feet.

The start, in Druid Hill Park

We started out in front of a really nice glass building (I'm not sure what it's for) in Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. I was a bit sore getting on the bike the day after the Mohican 100, but the day looked beautiful and I knew that the pace would be only as fast as I wanted to be.

We started with about 7 people, some of whom I had met before. This was a bit different than the Monument to Monument ride, which started with around 45 people. We rolled out through the city, heading northwest. Within a half an hour, we were in the suburbs, and in an hour we were deep into the farms and countryside. That is one of the great things about Baltimore - it's easy to get out of fast.

One guy, Mike, an ex-racer, joined up with us a few hours in. Another, Tom, popped up just before we made our first stop at a Burger King. I got an oatmeal and a cup of coffee, and filled up my water bottles at the fountain.

We cruised on after the first stop, riding through rolling hills and into a moderate headwind. The wind was an impediment, but wasn't a soul-crushing pace-robbing headwind, so it was OK. Plus it was really sunny. I pulled ahead with Tom and Brian, and we took turns pulling through the headwind.

After a few hours of riding through scenic farmland, we approached Gettysburg Battlefield National Park. A few guys had been joking earlier that it would be the "Monument to Monument to Monument" ride, and after a few minutes it was obvious what they meant. The place was lousy with monuments, placards, and memorials - they were literally strewn every few feet. We spotted what looked like an overlook, and I wanted to stop and tourist for a bit. Tom and Brian obliged me, and we walked up to see what we could see. What we could see was a monument, overlooking a field full of monuments.

Overlooking the Battlefield

I got my photo taken with the statue, and then we decided to slow-roll it into town to enjoy looking at all the monuments.

One of the larger monuments we rode by

Touristing it up

Upon getting into town, we found that Bob and a few other folks had passed us while we were dawdling, and had encamped in an Irish Pub to order lunch. We gladly sat down and perused the menu; I got a Guiness, a Salad, and a Waffle with Chicken and Gravy. It was delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch!

After lunch we rolled out to a somewhat logy start. The ride back to Baltimore seemed to be a bit easier than the ride out - less headwind, more trending downhill, and smoother pavement. It was a great ride. Just before the mid-way rest stop at a 7-11, there was a 4-mile stretch of perfectly flat, smooth road with a wide shoulder. It was almost like a time trial course, and I practiced riding with my elbows on my handlebars (faux aerobars) both to alleviate the monotony and to try and keep the pace going. At the rest stop, I bought some caffeine and sugar. It turned out that Ken, one of the other riders, lived in the same general vicinity as I did, and we decided to break off from the group and head back to our area rather than ride all the way back into Baltimore.

At the split point, we bid farewell to Bob and the others, and rode through downtown Reisterstown. Ken knew a pretty good way back that wasn't too hilly: Butler Road to Tufton to Shawan, which would take us into Hunt Valley. Man, that was a great stretch of riding - it was a subtle downhill grade, the light was great, and we were cruising at 22-23 mph. A few miles from my house I parted ways with Ken and had a gentle spin back home to a nice hot shower.

All in all, a great day of riding!

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