Around the River to Crofton

With the promise of s beautiful day, Mike and I agreed to meet at 6:00 to do a ride around the river, with a short side trip to Caribou Coffee in Crofton.

We met at the corner of Shore Acres Rd and College Parkway and headed east towards Sandy Point State Park. We were moving at a pretty good speed. Each time I looked town at the Garmin it was showing 20 - 22 mph. This usually only happens when there is a pretty strong tailwind pushing us down the road. I started searching for a flag pole. I wanted to see how strong the wind was blowing the flags. When I finally found one, I was delighted to see that the flag was limp. No wind at all. We continued on towards Annapolis and finally the pace slowed. What had happened was that Mike would get a little ahead of me so I would speed up and get a little ahead of him and he would speed up.

We arrived at City Dock and stopped briefly for me to make a wardrobe adjustment. While we were stopped, an older gentleman in a Volvo stopped and complimented us on our tail lights. He said that bicyclists are sometimes difficult to see, but with the tail lights he could see us from a good distance away. I defer that compliment to Mike's tail-beacon. I think he found a lighthouse that was being decommissioned and is using their lantern for a tail light. Riding behind him can be a blinding experience. I joke about the light, but it certainly can seen and that is the purpose.

We headed up General's Highway to Waterbury Rd to take our side trip to enjoy coffee and a bagel at Caribou Coffee in Crofton. I was a little familiar with the route, so I was navigating. WELL, I have to say, on all of the 200k rides that I have done with Mike, I relied on him for the navigation and we have never missed a turn. On this short side trip we relied on my navigation and we missed our turn. Not TOO big of a deal, we added a couple bonus miles, but we got to see some beautiful scenery along the way. We got back on course and arrived at Caribou Coffee to enjoy the outdoor patio, beautiful weather and good conversation.

The ride back was uneventful. We both decided that we had sat too long at the coffee shop and our legs were in s slight state of rebellion. We worked through that and set a comfortable pace home. On the trail, we started doing it again. He'd speed up, I'd speed up etc. I guess it was an appropriate way to end the ride together.

It was a great day, and like Mike said at the coffee shop, there are a lot worse ways to spend a Sunday morning. I'd have to agree.

Garmin details below.