Towson, MD to North East, MD

May 17, 2017

The day started out very tough with lots of hill climbing. Though that took us through a very bucolic part of the ride that lasted till about MP 18 or so as we approached Churchville.

Today's ride to North East.

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But first we saw Jerry off with his Uber driver. Jerry, when discussing his bike with her, was providing way, way, way TMI. I was fearful she wouldn't show since hauling a bike is probably an odd/rare request. And she (the driver) had no understanding about folding bikes, so was understandably apprehensive. She even offered to go get her truck instead. She probably has two lol! Anyway, everything was resolved once she arrived, but I cautioned Jerry that in the future, maybe he should be less "candid" since we (the three of us) knew getting the bike into a standard trunk or hatchback would not be an issue (a full-size bike would be another issue). But he had already opened that can of worms and had to do much explaining to secure his ride. But, success nonetheless!

Jerry, Happy, and me, seeing Jerry off early Wednesday morning.

Jerry and his Uber driver. She was a hoot, to say the least!

Happy and I followed him out of the parking lot, him to Penn Station in Baltimore, us to North East, MD. He had an easy, if not disappointing, day by comparison! Our first several miles were down a somewhat busy road. But we quickly turned off onto one that was quieter and suburban, but old suburban, where the roads actually connect through to other roads and don't dead-end at cul-de-sacs. That led pretty quickly to a crossing of Gunpowder Falls and a diversion onto Factory Road, a beautiful but long climb through the countryside.

Starting up Factory Road . . . narrow and sorta steep.

And fairly long . . . I'm gonna say about two miles long, give or take a little bit.

But nice scenery, making it all easy and worthwhile.

But we had a couple more to cross, including Long Green Creek and Little Gunpowder River, where we had a nice ride along Bottom Road. After crossing the latter, we had a short run of unpaved road, then crossed Overshot Branch and climbed out of our third valley of the morning!

The climb up Church Lane after crossing Long Green Creek.

We still had a few more crossings to navigate, but those first three were the toughest and amounted to most of the climbing for the day. After about MP 18, we were leaving the countryside and entering suburbia. I did not expect Churchville to be so populated!

Breaking out of the countryside and into suburbia . . . Churchville ahead.

We were also on more (much more) serious highways, MD-22 and MD-155, which would take us to Havre de Grace and the US-40 crossing of the Susquehanna. Being "more serious" highways, these two tended to have longer stretches between curves with long, gentle ascents and descents. Which can be boring but easier riding. But they also have wide shoulders, so sometimes you have to give up one for the other.

Looking back on MD-155, which I had hoped would be quieter than MD-22 . . . but not really.

I did take a break in Churchville for my two favorite snacks: Gatorade (they had a two-for-something special) and Utz potato chips, with ridges! And I suspect Happy either passed me here or while I was dilly-dallying around in downtown Havre de Grace. As I approached Havre de Grace, I debated skipping the "detour" through downtown and, instead, staying on MD-155 and heading straight for the US-40 crossing over the Susquehanna tout de suite! But ultimately, I decided I really wanted to see the historic district, so turned off the highway into a quiet residential neighborhood that eventually took me to the "urban" core.

Seeing the "35 Ahead" sign is always a good thing . . . if traffic actually slows down as required. But it didn't matter much; I turned off MD-155 shortly thereafter.

So, more on historic Havre de Grace and the actual crossing on the next page. Suffice it to say, it all turned out to be easier than I expected, which is always a good thing! And after the crossing and my arrival in Perryville, I was surprised to run into Happy. Surprised because I assumed he was still behind me. We regrouped and, together, pushed on to North East, MD. It was only another 10 miles, and while we debated the merits of using US-40 to get there, we ultimately decided on the longer East Coast Greenway route. I arrived in North East ahead of Happy and took a short tour of downtown before heading north out of town to our hotel.

A bit of downtown North East, which seemed to be a happening place even on a Wednesday afternoon. We later returned and had drinks and dinner at Woody's Crab House behind me.

Downtown was cute, and we returned for dinner. The ride to the hotel was not! All uphill with a steep climb over the railroad on a bridge under reconstruction, which meant no shoulder. I made it over the railroad without incident; Happy says he had some yelling and horn blowing.

Either way, we arrived at our hotel maybe 30 minutes apart but early enough to relax and rest before dinner. But we were hungry, so went to dinner early. The free breakfast you get at most of these hotels just doesn't cut it!

We took a cab downtown (no Uber cars available!) and had drinks and dinner at Woody's Crab House. The Crabby French Fries are not to be missed!

Crabby French Fries, don't miss out. The crab cakes. Eh. I make 'em better, but ain't that always the truth?

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 114 miles (183 km)

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