A few weeks ago, we did a 70-mile loop from Riley’s Lock that included the crossing of MarLu ridge from west to east, which is widely considered to be the ‘Easy Way’. Today, we did a shortened version of just under 55 miles, in a somewhat reversed order, out of Poolesville High School in western Montgomery County, Maryland. This route took us over the same ridge, but this time from east to west, or the ‘Hard Way’.

View in a larger map - Mountville Rd. across MarLu Ridge

My riding partners, Shelley Hoogstraten-Miller, Trevor Lubbert & I stopped on the way down for a photo of the valley leading to the town of Jefferson, Maryland. Since it was just the three of us, we traded taking pictures. Here is a photo of Shelley & Trevor.

Although challenging, MarLu is not a very big hill. Its peak being less than 1000 feet above sea level. The climb amounts to about 350 feet of vertical ascent, in just over a mile the easy way, and a little less (.8) the hard way.

‘Hard’ vs. ‘Easy’ could best be described in terms of percentage of grade. The easy version presented a steady 6-8% grade. The hard version is similarly gentle at first, but soon, increased to about a 10-11% gradient.

As usual for me, I expended too much energy on the initial slope, climbing in a too big gear at too high of a pace, around 15 mph. As the road steepened, I was already nearing my limits of heart rate and breathing pretty rapidly as the pace quickly dropped well below 12 mph, getting as low as 6 mph. Finding a rhythm was proving to be difficult, complicated by the constant concern about staying away from a deep drainage ditch directly adjacent to the road surface.

I heard one of my riding partners behind me curse at a dropped chain, and then close to the top, as I was nearing exhaustion, my other partner bolted past me, providing the attitude incentive to get to the top. Over the summit, we immediately began the descent, stopping for a picture of the view to the west.

After two weekends of long rides, and no weekday riding because of rain, I decided to take it easy and do a very familiar 33-mile loop out of Laytonsville, MD north into Howard County. It wasn’t enough for my partner for the day, Shelley, who had a replacement meeting us in the parking lot at the end to accompany her on a second lap around the course.

More distance (miles this time) than last week, 70 vs. 63, with the addition of the climb across MarLu Ridge in southern Frederick County.  Although we did it the ‘easy way’, it was still a good test of legs and lungs.  Cue sheet.

Riley’s Lock - Ride Start - View in a larger map

A week after what turned out to be an easy 50K ride for the Tour de Cure, one of my regular riding partners joined me on the 100K version around western Howard county.  It was a pleasant day, with just a sprinkle of rain about about 40 km into the ride.  The variation from the 50K included an extended loop around the Tridelphia area in the first half, and an extension further north of I-70 to the railroad into Woodbine.  The biggest difference was the added climb on Long Corner Rd., although in the easier direction.

With only a few miles logged this season, and the Tour de Cure ride coming up soon, one of my regular spin and cycling companions decided to test out the 50K route that we were planning to do.

The ride start, at the Glenwood Community Center in western Howard county would send us out on roads that were mostly familiar to me, but we thought it would be a good idea to get a feel for the degree of difficulty that we would encounter on May 9th.  

As it turned out, the course was easy, but the weather was not, with temperatures hitting the mid 90’s by mid-morning. 

Today was my first ride of the season, as I met some friends from my gym for a ‘practice ride’ in preparation for this year’s ‘Tour de Cure’, charity ride for diabetes on May 9th.

Not feeling very confident, I wasn’t too bothered by the fact that we were going to ride on a bike trail, something that this ‘road’ cyclist never does.  (too many hazards such as runners, baby joggers, elderly couples holding hands, etc.)  However, it turned out to be a pleasant experience and an easy start to the cycling season after a year layoff.

 The two 11-mile laps around the BWI airport was mostly flat, which the exception of an easy climb up a small mound on the airport’s northern end.  A nice view of one of the runways was the reward, although, as usual, we really didn’t stop.

 My friend Tanya, aerobics and spin instructor at my gym, and leader of the ‘Silver Spring Spinners’ team for the upcoming Tour de Cure, was riding her mountain bike and taking it really easy.  As you would expect from her job, she is in perfect condition, and at half my age, quite capable of leaving me in the dust at any moment.

The weather is warming up, and it is time to clean off last year’s dirt from my bike, as well as do some basic maintenance and tuning.

My 16-year-old bike (1993 Trek 2300) is really showing signs of wear and tear. I’ve replaced just about everything over they years, as it is amazing how poor the durability of such expensive parts can be.

This year, it is the usual new tires, chain, bar tape, cables, etc., along with new brake pads, a new seat bag, and new rear blinking light.  It appears that my crankset is getting pretty worn, and probably should be replaced (with the triple that I’ve resisted for so long ???) sometimes soon.