Miss and Hit

   I was mentioning to a friend, during today's wonderful ride in Delaware, that it seems when planning the Cycle Tech Sojourns, I have more luck with participation when I reschedule the events on short notice. I'm thinking that when these rides are on people's calendars for three or four weeks, it only gives them an opportunity to find something else to get in the way.

   I proposed that I should wait just four days before an event is to take place, and then tell people to look at the calendar. Four days or less seems to be a pretty successful time frame lately, and I'd even had one ride (Amish Country) that we pushed back a couple of hours the day of the event because of thunderstorms, and gained a rider during that delay!

   The trip up and down the Delaware River from New Hope ended up being a bit of a bust, even though I had a group of ten cyclists loosely committed just a few days before departure. Again, family commitments popped up, work schedules changed, etc.

   I even had the feeling that a couple people, who had asked about prospective attendance and received the answer that I expected a decent group, ended up backing out because they felt their presence wouldn't be needed. Well, my wife and I ended up fending for ourselves - that certainly wasn't the vision I had for the event, though it turned out to be a beautiful day, and we had a great time.

   Again, the short notice plan seemed to do the trick, as the Delaware Greenways & Historic Towns ride had to be postponed because of extreme heat, and just a few days later I had a commitment from a handful of friends to take on the route the following Saturday. I've written (here) about most of the route we traveled, so I'm going to present details about this event in a photolog, using images contributed by today's riding crew.

After passing east of downtown Wilmington, we headed out the boardwalk over the marshes of the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge.

At the end of the Jack A. Markell Trail, we entered the First State National Historical Park in New Castle.

We pedaled around the perimeter of the park

.

...to see interesting structures like the Old Library

...and the Dutch House Museum

Next we headed through battery park and along the trail along the Delaware River.

We reached the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal after about 10 miles of street riding. Here we are approaching the railroad lift bridge.

At the end of the C&D Canal we entered Delaware City and followed the Branch Canal into the historic district

The Merchant's Row ice cream parlor was our next stop. 

We eventually returned to the Markel Trail, where we crossed the Christina River

...and made our way back through the Peterson Wildlife Preserve.

Pedaling the homestretch on the Wilmington Riverwalk 

Closer To Home

   Last weekend's Cycle Tech Sojourn in the Oley Valley involved the least amount of travel for regular attendees to our events, so it was no coincidence that we had a decent crew on hand. Had we not had to postpone the ride by a day due to poor weather, we may have had a couple extra participants show up, but there was no doubt we had made the right call about delaying the start, as Sunday was sunny, dry and a bit cooler.

The Griesemer Mill covered bridge was one of a couple such spans that our route crossed 

   Although most of the squad that started from Salem UCC Church were familiar to me, not many of the individuals had ridden together during any of my previous events. There was plenty of humorous conversation early on, and a few surprise connections were discovered between the guys.

   The beautiful weather and scenery must have been inspiring cyclists everywhere, since we passed at least four sizeable clubs and several other individuals out enjoying themselves on the valley roads. The guys were amused by my quirky route that took in some of the most attractive spots in the area.

   They were quite happy that most of the route was lacking in traffic. Although many of them had ridden out here before, they admitted to having lost sense of direction, as we circled around and through downtown Oley.

   We were doing a very social pace for the majority of the circuit, but as we turned south and reached a few small inclines, some of the more fit participants were challenging each other. There was a lot of hard breathing, but there were also smiles all around as we slowed to bring the group together at the top of each climb. 

   Despite the number of organized rides in which I now participate, the majority of cycling in my life is done by myself, and I am still a bit startled by riders yelling, "Car up!" or "Car back!" when being passed by vehicles. Sure, it is the courteous and safe thing to do, but I'm still not completely used to it. A fun new experience occurred this time around as a couple of the really tech-friendly participants had radar-equipped cycle computers that beeped to alert the rider of being overtaken - by cars or fellow cyclists!

   We set up for a quick photo of our fearsome crew back at the church lot, and the positive vibes had me hopeful that there will be repeat attendance for the remaining gatherings this year. I didn't realize it, but my friend Chad had been recording some video during the ride, and he edited the footage to share on YouTube. Click on the image/link below to view some of the fun - thanks, Chad!

   It is a quick turnaround for the next ride, this Thursday (July 14) in New Hope, for a spin up the west bank of the Delaware River and a return down the east side for some ice cream in Lambertville! Hope you can join us - see the Sojourn link on the right for more details about this and other upcoming events.

   I had purchased a couple of bicycles, each at a great price, to "spruce up" as possible options for a friend. The one he didn't select is a 2002 Look KG 281, which is set up with Campagnolo Daytona 9-speed gruppo and a set of the company's Vento G3 wheels: