Dave looks happy?

From Moonlight Bik…

Dave and I went - It was fun lots of people I would say 50+ maybe. The bottom picture of me is on top of Federal Hill. I should have removed the reflective vest. The ride was hot and humid with little or no breeze. I met Dave T. and parked on the street downtown. We rode up and found the crowd of blinking lights, etc. There was a mix of all types of riders, ages etc. There were a good number of folks in street clothes and regular pedals. We signed in and rode North on Charles and went through Artscape (I think) and the whole group got a lot of attention, I suppose because of the numbers and all the lights. Lots of cheers and clapping and a few weirdos. The Groups got separated into smaller groups of about 15 or so. Dave and I rode with Sara(h?) a BBC rider and sometimes stoker with her husband. We also had 2 other fixie riders with us. I think this was a BBC ride. We rode North of Cold Spring Lane, then headed West and then South through Hamden, by JHU and downtown again. We rode to Fells Point right past (under) my work building and stopped in Fells Point. I got a buttery pretzel and a lemonade for Dave and I. Some foul mouthed lady tried to get my change and I just ignored her. Halfway though my buttery pretzel, everyone left, so I quickly dumped the drink in my bottle and the pretzel in my pocket and tried to ride the cobbles on Thames to catch up. Eventually I was back with Dave and finished my pretzel. I made a phone call with my (now buttery) Blackberry to my friend Kevin in Canton as we rolled onto Canton Square. Turns out Kevin was in Philadelphia. Dave and I considered, but we had to work in the AM… We headed back via Eastern Ave and went South of the Inner Harbor to Federal Hill where we had a nice view of the harbor, hard to capture with my camera. We returned to the start as my light was dimming and arrived @ 11:20 or so.

This past weekend Matthew (6 Yrs old) and I were able to attend CAM 2007 for our first time at this event. Thanks to Gayle at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Richard Chambers at One Less Car for making it possible. We had a great time and would love to go next year for all 4 days.
We started off Early Saturday morning and made the drive from Severna Park to Princess Anne on the Eastern Shore. We arrived at the University of MD campus around 8AM and got our registration information, picked out our camping location on the field and got changed into our cycling gear and got the bike ready with drinks, cameras, etc. Matthew was using the Camelback. We picked the casual ride for Saturday with an 18 mile length.
By 9 AM we were underway and saw a few riders on the return trip from earlier in the morning. By 9:10 Matthew already needed a potty break and not kind we could take “on the road” I pedaled on for several miles looking for a stop, but all we saw was farmland and woods. As we came to an intersection, I looked up the satellite view on Google Maps and there looked like a possible commercial area a few miles off course. We ended up taking a 4 mile detour to take care of business. We also replenished his drink and bought a candy bar. Before we had even finished the detour he had to go again. (I need to keep this in mind from now on) About half way into the ride we had a small incident. While standing, he somehow slipped and scraped his leg in two places. After a short rest, some comforting and another potty break, we were on our way back. It was hot and sunny and we were feeling it. On the return trip my left knee started hurting again in the exact same way it has before, but I stuck with it. Our 18 Mile ride had grown to 22 by the time we arrived back and and then 24 miles as we rode around the campus. This was Matthew’s longest ride ever up from 14 miles on Wed 7/11.
We had a lot of fun the rest of the day. We set up our tent in the Football field and we did a few races around the track. I rode the tandem and Matthew rode his bike with a decent head start. I was not able to catch him on 3 attempts. We ate some lunch at camp and went over to the showers and pool. They had a really nice pool with 3 foot and 12+ foot diving boards. We both tried the smaller board until Matthew dared me to jump off the high dive. It was really scary, but somewhat fun. After I did it Matthew jumped off twice. I tried to get the camera, but 2 times was all he would do. We swam for a while and then watched a movie in one of the rooms. Dinner was really great. We had meal cards and went over to the Student Services Bldg and they had a buffet style meal and even Matthew found some things he liked. After dinner we went to the Hawaiian luau for kabobs, fruit and chocolate fountains. We answered a lot of questions about the tandem setup from parents with kids. After the luau, we went over to the theater and listened to Dr Gabe Mirkin give a talk about cycling performance and nutrition that I enjoyed and Matthew hated. It was dark now and we had fun with some glow sticks in the field. One exploded with “alien blood” on Matthew that we washed off quickly.
We slept good and woke up before our alarm and rode over to breakfast. Breakfast had a lot of choices and we (I) selected the Medium route for our ride. It was two 18 mile rides with a rest stop in the middle. I figured we could rest for a while and just take it easy. We packed grapes and got the bike ready with drinks and our gear by 8AM.
We left the start and from the beginning had a nicer ride than the day before. It was cooler and there were a lot of other riders out on the course and Matthew liked catching and passing them. We chatted with a few until we had to stop for potty breaks or move on. By 8:15 he had eaten most of the grapes I packed, but was doing better with not drinking as quickly as Saturday. My knee felt better on Saturday after the swimming, but not wanting a repeat of pain I tried to select taller gears and did not coast to keep it under load. We did coast for butt breaks when requested. about 15 Miles in our queue sheet blew away so we kept other riders in sight. We had one problem where we were trying to catch a rider and going along at 27-28mph and hit a dip in the road which caused Matthew a lot of pain in his ankle. He said it bent his foot upwards a lot. I promised to keep the pace slower unless we were coasting downhill. The rides on both days were mostly flat, but the wind seemed to be constantly against us but for a few short breaks. We reached the rest stop at the half way point and relaxed and refueled. I enjoyed the tomato sandwiches and cookies while Matthew ate goldfish crackers. At the park we were in there was a playground and Matthew tried out all the equipment, but really liked the merry go round. It was making me ill so I got off. Now, I told him multiple times that it would make him sick, but he kept going round and round. 5 minutes later we were looking at his grapes from earlier in the ride (not as fresh looking I might add) and the goldfish crackers.
After a brief recovery period we set back out on the course. The return trip was nice with a few shaded areas, some gentle climbs and more wind. I showed Matthew how if you got down low it was easier for me to pedal into the wind. It was cute later when we were going like 3 mph back at campus I heard him say something like “do you feel that? I’m getting low…” On the way back we paced a few other riders until it was time to hit the gas and we let them eat our dust. We picked off quite a few more riders before the end with the wind really making it tough. Our average speed was reduced by riding around campus afterwards, but I think it was in the 16 range. We returned to cheers and cowbells with 37 Miles, 38 before we left for home. He was really proud of his new record mileage. Matthew had some snacks at the finish while I did track stands solo on the tandem and rode tight circles with the front wheel at a 90 degree angle. We showered, took down the tent and headed home tired and happy. looking forward to next year. It would be great to have a group go to the ride together. There are enough rides to suit everyone. Next year they are rotating the location to a different area but may stay on the Eastern Shore.
Pictures are here
Video is here

Not a bad ride, I actually had fun. I did not fall and was mostly dry, but I did get some water seeping into my left shoe. I encountered a few cars in the beginning and I met the neighbor “Dan” of Jeff Shultz. I could tell he thought I was a little off my rocker but was polite about it. I felt safe and took it easy on the turns. The brakes pretty much were useless. I never felt like I was going to fall except when I tried riding with no hands, the bike just wanted to wander all over. The riding was a little tough because of the drag from the ice buildup. Near the end of the ride, the chain was skipping because of all the ice on the teeth. I had a guy in a truck roll down his window and call me a “dumb ass” I just ignored him and kept on riding. I had to pour warm water on the bike to de-ice it when I got back and I used the hose to blast off what was left especially under the fenders.