White’s Ferry, MD

This topic has 21 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 1 month ago by mstone.

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March 17, 2012 at 6:51 pm #937903

MCL1981
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Ouch man, that sucks. What a terrible time of year to break yourself. How did a speed bump toss you like that? I hit the speed bumps in my neighborhood going down hill around 20mph and they’ve never done that. Granted I’m on a mountain bike.

To answer your question, ya I think you’re probably the only one to be in that scenario. But I know the feeling (the good one anyway). I’ll ride the C&O from Swains Lock to Georgetown. When I get to fletchers cover, I switch over the paved CCT that runs parallel. After all those miles of bumps and dirt, it is a marvelous change. Fortunately, I haven’t crashed as a result of said joy yet. I’m pretty sure a C&O related crash I ever get in will probably result in me landing IN the canal and having to fish my bike out of the bottom.

March 17, 2012 at 7:02 pm #937904

tgill
Participant

The bump is almost invisible. It’s the exact same color as the pavement, not very high, but steeply angled. Looking at it afterward it appeared to be about the shape of a triangular prism. So it’s not a roll over speed bump. It’s a sharp 45 degree angle with the front and back sides meeting in a flat line. I think it’s designed to be an abrupt warning for cars. Had I been paying any attention I would gone around or slowed down. As it was, I hit it at 17 mph-the last reading on the bike computer that went flying. I did a google search and found out people who own Lotuses will not use the ferry because this “bump” is a risk for their low undercarriage. Oh well, I still was able to pedal the remaining 14 miles. In a day or two I’ll be out again.
As an aside-The C&O was much smoother than expected between milepost 55 and 35. I’m quite familiar with the section paralleling the CCT-it’s in horrible shape. I was quite pleasantly surprised with how few rocks and roots there were upriver. I actually considered going on to Washington or at least Chain br rather than ferrying it. Next time I go with my gut instinct.

March 17, 2012 at 9:01 pm #937060

JimF22003
Participant

Sorry to hear about your mishap with the invisible speed bump. Next time try to contain your enthusiasm

We were riding some of the same roads today. Maybe we even saw each other. I was wearing a Washington Capitals jersey. I had lunch at Rileys Lock on the C&O, but didn’t ride any of it because I was on my road bike.

I did my first century of the year today, 110 miles from Annandale, across into MD on Chain Bridge, out past Potomac and to Point of Rocks, and then back through Leesburg via Taylorstown and Waterford. The most hair-raising part of the whole ride was the 25 miles on the W&OD

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/158826563

March 17, 2012 at 11:40 pm #937908

tgill
Participant

That looks like a great ride. I think there’s something wrong with the altimeter though if you were 167 feet below sea level. And you were surely above 381 in the Waterford area.
http://app.strava.com/rides/5323527

March 17, 2012 at 11:43 pm #937909

JimF22003
Participant

Yeah, it can be a little goofy. I think it’s because it was kind of foggy and humid when I started. Sometimes it’s dead on and sometimes it’s off by a couple of hundred feet. A thunderstorm can confuse the heck out of it. This is a Garmin 800, but the same thing happened on my previous Garmin 750.

March 18, 2012 at 2:41 am #937911

KLizotte
Participant

@tgill 16652 wrote:

This is my first post, but I have been lurking ever since I got a bike 18 months ago.
Am I the only one who has ever been so excited to be on pavement after biking 20 miles on the C&O from Brunswick to W.F. that when they go flying onto the access road down to the boat they happen to not notice the invisible, unpainted speed bump and go flying over the bars, and skidding along the pavement that was seconds ago the object of such joy? They really need to paint that thing! I have road burn from chest to thigh, cut up leg and knee, and a left wrist that broke the fall, and now can’t open a jar of peanut butter.
On a brighter note, I completed my first metric century of my life today- W&OD @ rte 28 to Clarks Gap Rd to Lovettsville to Brunswick down the C&O, across the river, down 15 and then again ten more miles of the old rail trail back to the car. 62.6 miles.

Ouch on the fall. Wow, that’s impressive (crazy?) that you were able to bike home from that. Hope the wrist isn’t fractured. Personally, I think the C&O is worth 1.25 pavement miles. Add road burn and a hurt wrist and I reckon you can multiply your last set of miles by 1.5. I haven’t done the math but that probably brings you up to a century in terms of effort!

And yes, they definitely should paint that sucker.

March 19, 2012 at 12:57 pm #937966

americancyclo
Participant

@JimF22003 16663 wrote:

Yeah, it can be a little goofy. I think it’s because it was kind of foggy and humid when I started. Sometimes it’s dead on and sometimes it’s off by a couple of hundred feet. A thunderstorm can confuse the heck out of it. This is a Garmin 800, but the same thing happened on my previous Garmin 750.

If you leave from a particular area often on your rides (like your house), you can set it manually as a waypoint. You can then look up the elevation and edit the elevation info for that waypoint. Afterwards, if you begin a ride within 30 meters of that waypoint, it will automatically use that elevation data for the beginning of your ride, and calibrate accordingly. I was having the same problem of most of my commute in DC being about 60 ft underwater. Once I calibrated, it works great now, but before calibration I was seeing up to an 800ft variation in elevation numbers. The barometric is good at measuring subtle changes once you begin riding, but it needs a solid reference point.

March 19, 2012 at 1:48 pm #937970

JimF22003
Participant

Thanks, I’ll check it out. I don’t think you could set the elevation manually on the 750.

March 19, 2012 at 2:14 pm #937971

consularrider
Participant

I have a similar issue with the 500. I’ll have to see if I can do that as well.

March 19, 2012 at 2:34 pm #937974

americancyclo
Participant

@JimF22003 16727 wrote:

Thanks, I’ll check it out. I don’t think you could set the elevation manually on the 750.

You can set elevation on the 705. It’s what I’m using.

March 19, 2012 at 2:40 pm #937977

vvill
Participant

@consularrider 16728 wrote:

I have a similar issue with the 500. I’ll have to see if I can do that as well.

Same here. Most of my ride yesterday was negative elevation. I’ve only had the 500 for a couple weeks so I’m still trying to figure out it’s quirks.

March 19, 2012 at 2:54 pm #937979

ronwalf
Participant

@consularrider 16728 wrote:

I have a similar issue with the 500. I’ll have to see if I can do that as well.

You definitely can. I have elevation points set for my home and work. The only time it doesn’t help is if I’m on a long ride and have to turn the unit off and back on while taking a break.

March 19, 2012 at 6:09 pm #938007

creadinger
Participant

@MCL1981 16654 wrote:

Ouch man, that sucks. What a terrible time of year to break yourself. How did a speed bump toss you like that? I hit the speed bumps in my neighborhood going down hill around 20mph and they’ve never done that. Granted I’m on a mountain bike.

I know the speed bump he’s talking about. It’s not a “hump” like you have in neighborhoods to slow cars down. It’s more like a Mexican topee that is shaped like the Shenandoah ridge on the relatively flat plain of the east coast. It’s really narrow and really steep. I went over it 2 weeks ago and it was such a jolt that I think it reset my computer.

March 23, 2012 at 12:21 am #938207

brendan
Participant

A friend had a near mishap when heading west on the W&OD. Upon arriving at the west end of the trail in Purcellville, he was so excited to see us waiting at the bike shop that he rolled right over the elevated seal in the pavement at the end of the trail without seeing it. He did manage to recover without dropping the bike, but it was close…

[img]http://media.mcenearney.com/pics/community/4240/28299//crop/386,305[/img]

Also, I believe that part of whites ferry road may be private property, so I doubt you’d get much traction trying to increase the safety there.

Brendan

March 23, 2012 at 12:57 am #938208

dcv
Participant

@brendan 16989 wrote:

A friend had a near mishap when heading west on the W&OD. Upon arriving at the west end of the trail in Purcellville, he was so excited to see us waiting at the bike shop that he rolled right over the elevated seal in the pavement at the end of the trail without seeing it. He did manage to recover without dropping the bike, but it was close…

[img]http://media.mcenearney.com/pics/community/4240/28299//crop/386,305[/img]

Also, I believe that part of whites ferry road may be private property, so I doubt you’d get much traction trying to increase the safety there.

Brendan

My friend did the exact same thing except she wasn’t so lucky, she went down.
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