I went on the Three Unions and a Windsor ride yesterday. The ride goes through Uniontown, Unionville, Union Bridge and New Windsor, hence the name. The Potomac Pedalers took this ride last weekend, and the Frederick Pedalers did it this weekend. The terrain is hilly, but only one hill caused me to struggle. It seemed like the designer of this ride was looking for hills. We would be going along a nice road; the cue sheet would tell us to turn, and we would be immediately faced with a short but steep hill to climb.
The weather was cool and breezy. We met in the Libertytown Park at 9:00 AM. People wore a mix of short sleeve and long sleeve jerseys and a few jackets. I was worried that I might cold with just a short sleeve jersey, but I quickly warmed up as we pedaled. Ideally, it would have been a few degrees warmer, but it was a fairly good temperature for riding. The winds were a different matter. They blew fairly stiffly all day. We had a couple sections where we rode along a ridge. The views were great, but the cross winds were not.
Several regulars from the Wednesday night night from Glade Elementary School were there, as were a couple of riders that I met on the Waterford ride. A group of four took the 40 mile alternate, while the remaining eight of us went for the 52 mile ride. I ended up with 53.2 miles on my odometer just a bit over the the ride's advertised length. I did do a few laps of the parking lot trying to get warm as I waited for the ride to start. The group strung out a bit at the end although we probably all finished within a few minutes of each other. I was just about the middle of the group. I was happy with my performance. It was my longest ride of the year. I was tired and sore for the rest of the day, but I woke today with no lingering effects.
YTD: 636.6 miles
1 Comment
October 9, 2006 at 6:16 am
[...] The Frederick Pedalers did a Three Unions and a Windsor ride back in June. It was 53 miles long and it was hilly. My legs hurt after that one. Today, The Potomac Pedalers conducted a Three Unions and a Windsor ride. This one was 60 miles and just as hilly. The route was a somewhat different but many of the roads looked familiar. It was a perfect day to ride. The sun was shining and it was cool enough for long sleeves at the beginning. It slowly warmed as we rode. [...]