been a long time since we left for a bike ride before dawn...
Monk, Kevin, and I headed down to Denton, MD for the Scratch-n- Denton gravel ride. This ride had three lengths, and we chose the 37.5-mile middle length course, which seems to be my and Monk’s sweet spot these days. The ride itself was really beautiful: 8 sectors of dirt roads and gravel. Low-traffic roads, and all the riders were super friendly. We were more aggressive in the dirt sections, cause that is much more fun. There were a couple places where the roads were really sandy, and for a few brief seconds ghosts of cyclocross ripped through me (Beacon, CSI, Charm- we’re looking at you.)
Dirt road sector 6, I kinda came undone; the headwind got us pretty good, and a big group came through, which I couldn’t quite bridge too… Thankfully, the rest stop was just a mile or two from the end of that sector, and I had some gummy bears to fuel the final 10 miles.
All in all, a great ride. I will admit I was bummed that the course wasn’t marked, as great of a ride as this was; that seemed shocking to me. I’ll also own that I have never used my GPS to navigate a bike route before, and that certainly added a level of adventure to the entire ride. Eden Brew company was a nice spot to have a pop and recover a bit before the trip home. All in all, a great day, and man, that was a ton of fun. Thanks to my fellow travelers of time and space, Monk and Kevin. 364 days until the next one… Cheers—-
