Maryland is now OPEN!!!!

I have just opened up the Maryland board. Chuck from the WHIRL group offered to coordinate this state using his bent riding group as a seed catalyst.

So contact him on this board if you would like to do some riding in Maryland. In this group is the owner of Barcoft Cycles and the co-founder of Bacchetta. Some really seriously bent riders and advocates for our industry! :notworthy:

 

It's very cold and frigid in Maryland as most Marylanders know right now. When the weather breaks hopefully some Marylanders can start posting about orginized rides for recumbent riders throughtout the Maryland area.

I primarly ride with Cycling Club in the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland area called Washington's Happiest Independent Recumbent Lovers (WHIRL). The WHIRL membership has dwelled over the years since I have been a member in 1999
when we had a wide variety of bikes and levels of rider from fast to slow. We went
from 20 to 30 riders to 5 to 10. The smaller group is very fast and the majority
ride Bacchetta High Racers. Those that have dared to ride with us were intimidated
by the level of riders. A forum with open discussions may assist with getting the
club back to the original intention. We meet every Saturday morning in Rock Creek
Park which runs through VA, MD and DC.

I hoping we can change this and get folks interested in the Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland area to join us and bring riders of all levels together. I for one would like to slow things down a little and enjoy the ride.

The ride starts at 9:00 a.m. every Saturday during Eastern Standard time (Fall & Winter), and at 8:00 a.m. during Daylight Savings time (Spring & Summer) when the time changes in April. The starting point is the Viers Mill Recreation Center parking lot on Garrett Park Road in Maryland. To reach this lot, you go north on Beach Drive (the main road through Rock Creek Park) until it dead- ends. Turn right, and the parking area is immediately on your left. http://www.recumbents.com/whirl/

I would also be interested in riding with other recumbents riders on the Maryland
Eastern Shore and throughout Maryland, Virginia and DC. I will ride in the cold with temperatures above freezing as low as the 30's.

Hopefully some of you will join us on are Saturday WHIRL rides. See you than!

 

Looks like you need to start advertising about our site to get the Maryland site going. If you need some help, let me know.

This does work. Look at Tennessee to see all the chatter and events we have there.

 

To get entry and mid level riders into your club you may want to try something that worked well for a mountain biking club I belonged to a few years ago.

A weekly beginner ride was held at the same place, at the same time, each week throughout the riding season. In this case it was 2 pm on Sunday afternoon at a local state park. The route bas a beginner trail with an intermediate section. It wasn't too long, about 5 miles (that would equate to about 12 miles on the road).

The pace was pretty much that of the slowest rider on the ride. By that I mean the ride leader stopped often to regroup and let people catch their breath. The ride took place every week, even if the only person to show up was the ride leader (this happened the first couple of weeks). He always got to the start point, which was an active starting point for riders of all levels, about an hour before the ride was scheduled to start. He had a club banner which he put up on the side of his pick-up so it was easily seen. He would then hang out until time for the ride to start and talk to other riders who just happened to be there. That's how I found out about the club and the ride.

I started coming to the weekly rides and by the end of the summer we had picked up 25 regular novice riders, most of whom joined the club. This ride was extremely successful in getting recreational level riders into the club, which up to this point was pretty much hard core racer types.

The key is consistency. A time and place that can be counted on, a ride that won't kill them, and at a time that is convenient for someone not dedicated enough to get up at 5 or 6 am on a weekend to go riding.

This approach takes dedication from the ride leader to meet the needs of beginner/novice riders. The leader cannot overextend the riders in either distance, pace, or terrain. If this happens, the recreational riders won't come back. It is also vitally important that that any more experienced riders (especially the leader) does not make any derogatory and/or snide remarks about how slow someone is that "if they can't ride any better than that they have no business being out here" type remarks. The ride leader has to be willing to fore-go their ego and keep the reason for the ride in mind at all times.

If none of the experienced riders are willing to slow down for the sake of this type of ride you probably will not have much luck getting recreational level riders in your club.

Mike

 

Great advice Mike. Thanks!

 

Hi All,

Is ther anyone in the Frederick Area ?

THanks

Ciderbob

 

Cider Bob,

Thanks for shouting out. I know there are a lot of recumbent riders in Maryland. We just need to FIND them!!!

 

Here is Lynn in Western Maryland at the center of the Great Allegheny Passage, Cumberland. There are some 10 recumbent bikes here in Western MD but we don't ride together much. The local bike club, Western Maryland Wheelman, are scheduling some rides this year. Maybe next season will bring more "bents" together.

 

Hey there Lynn,

I know your area well, been through there many times on a bike. I've ridden the DC to Pittsburgh trail five times now and Cumberland is always a welcome stay. The GAP/C&O is a tremendous resource, you all are fortunate to have it run right through your back yard. I've ridden it twice on a recumbent, this past September camping and pulling a BOB with 50-60 LBS on it. ...And I did get it up Big Savage Mtn, actually it wasn't as hard as I expected. Nice to have that portion of the trail open now.

Hope you can round up some other bents to ride with...

Don
'03 V-Rex
'06 Formula 26
'03 Vivo
'51 Engine...

 

Wow - I hope this forum will come back to life! We are new 'bent riders in Hagerstown. We would love to ride with some other recumbent riders. We have tried riding with friends on uprights who are not strong riders, so we are getting pretty good at VERY slow speeds.

We are a bit nervous about road riding, since neither of us are very experienced on 'bents and have not ridden even an upright in many years. So if you are in our area and want to help get a group near Frederick for some even mid-week rides, please let us know!!

Otherwise you will probably find us on the WMRT or another local paved trail on the weekends...

Patti 05 RANS F5
Mike 09 Rans F5 Pro

 

Welcome. I am in east Tennessee where my only daily choice is to road ride. Usually that includes two and four lane highways as well as local back roads. I try to avoid busy roads without shoulders but sometimes that's not possible. Best advice:

Become very familiar with your bike's handling. Know how to take evasive action if needed.

Always (always!!) wear a helmet and glasses or goggles. I also wear fingerless gloves (from Walmart's work glove section, about $5). Laying down a bike at any speed can really screw up your hands. Cycling shoes are great but not an absolute necessity. If lace-up shoes, don't get laces caught in the chain rings.

Always cross pavement elevation changes (large cracks, transitions, railroad tracks, etc.) as close to 90 deg perpendicular as possible.

Watch out for pavement dips such as storm drains, sewer caps, and potholes.

I use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. They have an inner liner that helps resist sharp objects penetrating to the tube. They're not fast tires, but they cut my rate of flats to near nothing.

Carry basic tools and supplies to fix a flat if you a caught away from the car. And you WILL eventually have to deal with a flat if you ride much at all, so you might as well practice removing a tire, patching/replacing a tube, and reinstalling the tire.

Wear brightly colored clothing, especially the shirt. I prefer the day-glo green.

Run with both a flashing tail light and headlight. Nothing fancy or heavy, but you NEED TO BEEN SEEN.

Always (always!!) use a rear view mirror. I prefer a helmet mounted version. Some like the handlebar version. A mirror may be the most important safety device on a bike for road use.

Ride with traffic in a manner that shows that you have just as much right to be on the road as cars. Be assertive but not agressive. Remember, they outweigh us at least 20:1.

Above all: have fun. If it's not fun (read: too dangerous or uncomfortable), get off the road and ride somewhere else. Caution or a little nervousness is OK, but outright fear can get someone hurt.

Dave "The Breeze"