Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington: Philly to Baltimore

The Westin Hotel in Philly (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1231) hosted the group for the night in class and the 11 of us rolled out with support vehicles in tow. I hung toward the back and followed the route through Philly. I figured that I’d go to the front once we had some open space and people could benefit from a draft. It took me a little while to get used to the flow…. Mostly having Butch following in the SRAM Neutral Support vehicle so close behind. Usually in DC when someone is following that close to a cyclist, it is because they want to kill you. Butch was AWESOME for the whole trip and definitely provided the glue that held us together.

As expected, the roads opened up and I did some pulls at the front with different people. We were double pace-lining and just changing lead informally when folks needed a break or when there was a sprint for a town/county/state line. I enjoyed doing my share of pulling. Those who know me know that I’m not really happy unless my face is in the wind. Not sure what’s wrong with me that way.

The miles rolled by, made enjoyable listening to the guys talking. I’m not much of a talker, so I mostly listened and asked a few questions here or there. The sprints were fun to watch…. My set-up for the Delaware/Maryland state line didn’t pan out because the sign marking the border wasn’t ever found. I would have gotten my ass kicked anyways. Power I’ve got. Speed? Not so much.

Blissfully we turned off the main roads and headed out onto some rural roads Northeast of Baltimore. This brought in some climbing, that I liked, but the guys that had been hammered for the 3 preceding days didn’t like so much. I made my way to the front and set pace with Peter for a while. Unfortunately that didn’t last long. Matt and Jeremy took off for what they thought was a county line sprint and ended up hooking bars and crashing. Matt definitely got the worst of it… severely separated shoulder. The police showed up immediately, but paramedics and an ambulance took 45 minutes. We worked to keep Matt talking, warm and out of shock.

He was finally loaded up and hauled to the hospital in Harve de Grace. We followed on bicycles, with Butch in tow in the SRAM car. Google Maps listed Pulaski Highway bridge as “pedestrian friendly” but it was under construction. Confronted with a 25 mile detour to get to a bridge we could ride across the Patuxent River, we were contemplating riding the ¾ mile bridge with Butch behind us with his flashers on. Just as we were getting ready to go, a state trooper came up and told us we couldn’t cross. After a bit of joking around and threats of “If you guys drop below 30mph I’m gonna give you all tickets!”, we crossed with a police escort and safely made it to the hospital.

Jeremy and Rapha bought us post-ride food which we enjoyed sitting on the warm sidewalk outside the hospital. Matt was going to be a while at the hospital, so Butch volunteered to stay and bring him back. We eventually tossed our bikes into the back of Richard’s truck and crammed 7 of us into the cab and drove to Baltimore. In the end we rode about 71 miles at an average speed a hair short of 19mph.

I had a shower and dinner with my wife before heading off to Twenty20 Cycling (http://twenty20cycling.com/) for the evening’s reception and advocacy outreach. I’m amazed at these guys. I’m nowhere near social enough to use my brain and mouth for advocacy work. I’m much more effective with my legs and lungs. It was a fun evening.

Photos from today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrogringo/sets/72157626225951686/