werestillrolling

tree carving on alternate route Jones Falls Trail We just can't escape downed trees!!!  This is on the Jones Falls trail just after Mount Washington.  Fortunately we had another route we could take, South Bend Rd. which is a beautiful street, lined with old Mt Washington homes where we saw the tree carving pictured above.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the ride immensely.  Can't wait for them to finish construction at Druid Hill Reservoir so that we can ride into the city.  Maybe next year.    

SCULPTURE IN FRONT OF ENGINEERING SCHOOL NCR TRAIL THROUGH YORK SEVEN VALLEYS PA PARKING AREA FOR NCR   DENNIS WHEN HE TURNS 80 After a pitiful breakfast at the B and B we drove to John C Ruby Park about 5 miles north of York to start today's ride.  It was so delightful that it made up for yesterday's upper body workout.  The park itself was very nice, paved trail along a creek, very scenic.  Even riding through York was pleasant.  We passed by some sculpture at the Engineering School and rode to Seven Valleys where they rent out 4 wheel pedal cars to use on the train tracks.  I'd like to try that sometime.  We looked for ice cream, couldn't find any and headed back.  Really a nice way to end our ride.  (ice cream would have better.).  NO DOWNED TREES!!!! 

 Start this group of posts at "The first downed tree" and read up.  I'm still having a little trouble with this blog.

THE TUB IN OUR B AND B We're in the Spanish room.  The toilet is red, also.  It's on the 3rd floor of a very old town house  with no elevators.  I wish you could hear the air conditioner.  Dennis suggested we cut our losses ($200) and just go home.  But I want the second B and I want to do some biking in York tomorrow morning so we're staying.  We did have a nice dinner and walked around the historic part of York.  It has some history.  Apparently it considered itself the first capitol of the U.S. in 1777.  However historians consider it the 4th after Philadelphia, Baltimore and for one day, Lancaster PA. I feel like we've been gone a week and it's only been one day!  

MILE 11 THE GNOMES If you have ridden the NCR Trail you probably know about the gnomes.  This guy who lives right on the trail has created a hill of gnomes with all kinds of little signs and tree art.  It's really impressive.  He also has a cooler of water bottles free for a small donation.  I spoke to him one time and he clearly enjoys the reactions of all the passers-by.  We met some other bikers riding the other way who said the trail was clear to I-83 so we had some hope.   We made it to mile 13.5 and really hit a road block.  A Hugh pile of trees but followed by 2 more huge piles.  Finally Dennis convinced me to turn around.  I remember him saying I could do what I wanted but he was turning around.  I was too disappointed to take any more pictures.  We weren't looking forward to the ride back but the road crews were out at mile 9 and were in the midst of clearing the trail.  So we just had one huge mess to get around instead of three.   Jared met us in Sparks.  We dropped

NEXT MESS OF TREES Here's the problem we didn't want to go back through the previous mess so we managed to get through this snag as well.  Now we know to strip the bike so we can lift it properly which is a giant pain in the back.  Dennis has all kinds of scratches on his legs and I think this is where he was stung by ground hornets.  No Juliette to help either.  

DENNIS STILL ABLE TO WALK  

JULIETTE AND BOONE This wonderful little girl and her Bernese doodle did most of the lifting on my end anyway.  She was so worried about our backs and I didn't even get to tell her that Dennis is almost 80.  She was a huge help.  She jogs the entire trail regularly from BlueMount I guess to York.  Incredible.  We pretty much thought we had seen the worst of the downed trees and felt quite proud of ourselves for getting through this mess.  We were so wrong.  

BETWEEN MILE 8 AND 9 This was our second downed tree, trees.  You might think that we would turn around here.  Dennis wanted to but I thought maybe we'd get through this and it wouldn't be too bad.  We had to unload our gear.  We didn't remove the batteries which weigh about 10 lbs but we should have.  We had to go over, under through, under and over again before we passed this mess.  But we did it with a little help.  See next post.  

JOHN, OWNER OF PEDEGO BIKES MONKTON This is where we bought our bikes.  We rented bikes on a previous occasion and John took the rental cost off of our purchase price.  He has also been a great source of info on trails and biking.  I have to say,          I LOVE MY BIKE!!!!!  

FIRST DOWN TREE AUGUST 8 2023 NCR TRAIL We started our ride from Ashland to York, PA with great expectations.  The plan was to ride all the way to York, the length of the trail, stay the night in a non-refundable B and B and ride home the next day.  It was a beautiful morning especially after last night's high wind and heavy rain storm.  My youngest son, Jared dropped us off at the beginning of the trail right on schedule and off we rode.  At about mile 6 we came to this first little tree across the trail.  Had to dismount and help each other over the trunk.  Our bikes weigh about 70 lbs before the saddle bags which add at least 10 pounds.  Still no big deal.  

Torpedo Factory View from Torpedo Factory This was our second time riding this trail but the first with e-bikes. What a difference.  There are hills, lots of roots creating bumps, sharp turns and boardwalks all of which make for a fun ride. Throw in the picturesque Potomac River and you have a wonderful ride. We started at the Mount Vernon Mansion site which has lots of parking and basically is the beginning of the trail. If you just want to tour the mansion and have lunch at the Tavern get there around 10:30. No lines and plenty of parking. There are some shops for tourists and you can walk the grounds. I've done all this in the past and it's a very interesting tour. We were there to ride and planned to have lunch at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria which was about 10 miles down the trail.   We had a wonderful time browsing through the many galleries and studios and actually bought a photograph which we had to go back for. Had a nice lunch right in the harbor doc