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Here are some pictures from the 200K I did last weekend. Starting on the north side of Frederick I went north to Gettysburg, then west toward Chambersburg before winding SW and around to Waynesboro. From there I climbed over the mountain again and had a fun descent to Thurmont, and rode south again to the starting point.

http://www.strava.com/activities/174519476

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Early morning fields north of Frederick

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Gettysburg, with the Pennsylvania memorial. The stratocumulus clouds provide a weird sort of geometry to the scene.

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Approaching the Eternal Light Peace Memorial. I had not seen this before.

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A tunnel of corn in PA. Does this look like Orson, IN off of “The Middle”?

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From this inconspicuous little hill you can see a mile or road maybe? This view was unexpected.

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Well, the column is out. Aaaaaaannnnnddd predictably, Milloy did not have a “wake up call” like we would have hoped. He’s still an asshat, and the condescending tone of the piece is almost more infuriating than the call to violence from the last one. At the end he stoops even lower by suggesting that cyclists may get so irritated by the problems and annoyances of riding in the city that they would buy a car. Haha. Funny dude. Funny!

Little does he know, that most cyclists already own cars. It’s just that sometimes (most of the time, in the city) a bike is the best way to get from A to B, not to mention the fitness benefits, etc…. I have zero respect for this guy.

As one WaPo commenter said, Kudos to Veronica Davis for exposing this guy as the twit he is. He will always be anti-cyclist.

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@VikingMariner 92129 wrote:

Speed doesn’t kill. Bad driving kills. Three years on the Autobahn with a formidable sports car and a German license that was not easy to get taught me that. That said the journalist should have picked another place to test the limits. Summit Point was not far away. Just my two cents.

Haven’t seen many cyclists on the road in question and honestly I would never ride my bike on that road because I don’t want to die over a recreational bike ride. That road, it’s terrain, and the apparent lack of motorist driving skill are not well suited to bikes. Not sure I understand some of the anti-motorist angst or perhaps rage. Forgive me.

Actually it’s rapid deceleration and blunt force trauma that does most of the killing – both related to speed. You’re actually saying that all the racecar drivers who have died in crashes were not skilled? And how many regular Joes are going to say, “you know what? I’m a bad driver, I’m not going to go 100 mph on this road.” Yeah right. Also, just because you wouldn’t ride on it, doesn’t mean it’s not rideable. Sometimes roads like that are the only way to get from A to B, even if it’s just for a mile or two connecting more rural roads.

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@thucydides 92102 wrote:

I’m in that area a lot and bike there often, though I avoid Lee Highway there on a bike other than to cross it. It’s not a single lane road, no. In many places in fact it’s a divided highway of sorts with a large grass or wooded median in the middle. And it’s relatively straight in that area. BUT it rolls a bit and does have some curves. Furthermore, it’s not a restricted access road like an interstate. This is not a case of going 93 on an interstate in Montana. This is a case of going 93 on a road where people are entering the road from their driveways or lots of side-roads. There’s simply no excuse for driving that fast in this sort of place.

There are cyclists who ride it though. The strava heat map proves that, so definitely include them in the discussion. And given the type of road with hills, curves and not much shoulder to speak of, people driving this fast could mean certain death for a cyclist. Something I’m not crazy about, just so some numbnuts can go fast for no apparent reason.

For once I’m kinda proud of VA for having strict rules that hurt drivers. This coming from a guy who just paid DC $100 for a freakin’ speed camera trap for going 11-15 over on the Suitland Parkway at Stanton Rd.*

*Which is ridiculous because anytime I go less than 50 there drivers tailgate the HELL out of me. Oh well…. DC must be raking in the money there.

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@mstone 92074 wrote:

Closet motorist?

I’m an out and (not proud per se, but see the utility of it) motorist and agree with pretty much everything that was posted. Maybe n18 is a closet AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman? Nahh, that’s crazy.

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Sooooo……… n18 has disliked every single post in this thread.

So now you have to explain what your problem with this is.

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@kcb203 91989 wrote:

I probably should check the pads. The rim was warm when I put the bike on the car rack. I was training for the Mt. Washington climb, which I’m doing in 11 days. Of course, that’s the same elevation gain over 7.6 miles at 12% grade instead of broken up into 10.5 segments at 8% over 12.4 miles.

This past weekend, I took the mountain bike crankset with a 24t chainring and put it on the road bike, along with a 30t in back. Hopefully, that will be enough for me to get up. I also took off the front derailleur and the rear brake to save weight. On this climb, it’s 40 seconds per pound for someone of my weight and power.

Wow. That’s awesome! Best of luck! Have you done any other of the BUMPS climbs? I’d like to try Whiteface and Greylock. I’ve done some hiking in the Adirondaks, and it just sounds amazing and fun.
http://www.hillclimbseries.com/

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@kcb203 91986 wrote:

I did 10 repeats of the first 1.2 miles of Mt. Weather 10 days ago. 4813 feet of climbing in 2:07:15 over 24.8 miles. Can’t quite imagine doing this 6 times in a row.

http://www.strava.com/activities/171621609

Yeah, that looks like torture too. My first thought though was, did you bring spare sets of brake pads? That hill is steep, straight, and has a stop sign at the bottom.

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Would it make more sense to tackle the highest mountain per continent successively instead of starting out with Earth’s tallest?

You could do:
Highest Mountain in Australia – Kosciusko: 7310 feet / 2228 meters
Highest Mountain in Antarctica – Vinson Massif: 16,066 feet / 4897 meters
Highest Mountain in Oceania – Puncak Jaya, New Guinea: 16,535 feet / 5040 meters
Highest Mountain in Europe – Elbrus, Russia (Caucasus): 18,510 feet / 5642 meters
Highest Mountain in Africa – Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: 19,340 feet / 5895 meters
Highest Mountain in North America – McKinley (Denali), Alaska: 20,320 feet / 6194 meters
Highest Mountain in South America – Aconcagua, Argentina: 22,834 feet / 6960 meters
Highest Mountain in the World (and Asia) – Everest, Nepal-China: 29,035 feet / 8850 meters

Then for an added challenge (as if Everest wasn’t hard enough!) you could tackle

Tallest mountain on Earth including the sub-areal height – Mauna Loa: 30,085 feet / 9,170 meters
Tallest mountain in the known solar system – Olympus Mons: 69,649 feet / 21,229 meters

BTW – Olympus Mons = 2.4 Everests = ~72 Coxey Browns

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Survey complete!

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There’s no need to spend all that time on the C&O. It’s gonna suck. Here’s a route I’ve done several times to get up to Gettysburg. Once you get past I-70 though, you can turn NE to ride more directly toward Harrisburg. I should add though that there’s a pizza shop in Biglerville, PA that has ridiculous sized strombolis, which is worth stopping for.
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/washington-d-c-dc/200mileweekendday1-route-42279498

Here’s another route option if you want to go through York and ride the NCR/YCHT (gravel). This route follows the ACA Atlantic Coast Route through MD mostly, but when you get to Cockeysville, just jump on the NCR rail trail and ride 40 traffic-free miles to York, PA. Then you’ll have to figure out how to get to Harrisburg from there. Since the last time I’ve done it, the rail trail is a much better surface than the C&O.
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/hunt-valley-md/2011-trip-home-day-8-route-46360494

PS – If you haven’t gotten the chance yet. If you’re nearby, it is highly advisable to ride through Gettysburg battlefield. It’s very peaceful, despite all the tourists in cars.

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@dasgeh 91735 wrote:

Which do we, as a society want: 9 people to travel the distance in the given time, or 5 people?

I love your analysis, and maybe those are the decisions that city planners and traffic engineers would make. However, on the ground, at the time, (in today’s society) I don’t care if anyone else makes it through the light, as long as I’m first! 😮

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@sethpo 91640 wrote:

Maybe it’s more like the law(s) of fluid mechanics and the smaller objects will always fill the voids. I mean, and this might be heresy to say in public, but I don’t always ride between lanes or along side of cars for safety reasons. Sometimes, it’s just about going where you can go until something forces you to stop.

There is absolutely something to this…. I especially hate this as a ped, or in crowds. As a tall person who likes my personal space, short people will undoubtedly filter in around me like grains of sand around a boulder.

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@jrenaut 91699 wrote:

Me: “You have a red light!”
You: cab driver turning left on red who said some things that were mostly unintelligible but one really nasty bad word came through loud and clear

You drive a car for a living. It would really be awesome if you tried to learn how to do it. It’s not hard. Many 16 year olds figure it out. You maybe not so much.

Why do I get the feeling that increasing numbers of law abiding cyclists who may or may not call out illegal behavior by drivers and peds will only increase the hate towards cyclists? Ugh.. I mean if we take away the only (rational) reason to hate us – scofflawing(?) – then they’ll have to come to the realization that they really just don’t like or respect us at all – possibly because their own caged lives are unfulfilled. And that’s a tough pill to swallow.

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@dasgeh 91586 wrote:

And I thought this would be a post about this lovely bit of journalism: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/07/30/gear-prudence-help-ive-been-shoaled/

But I think I may heard a saying once that applies to 83(b)… something about two wrongs…?

Reading that and some of the comments for some reason made my slightly evil side pop out and made me start to think about writing a piece from the opposite perspective. Instead of I hate being shoaled or shoalers, “I hate people that I have to shoal”.

Fortunately on my commutes, errands and weekend rides I don’t really have the problem of congestion at stop lights, but given the existence of shoalers who seem to have no guilt, remorse, or possibly that they’re not even aware that they’re being jerks, someone out there exists who could write it. Come on anonymous person. What is your perspective?

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