On this map of Maryland, the shores of the Chesapeake Bay are the Eastern and Western shores. Baltimore and and Annapolis are on the Western Shore.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is one of the most deceptively cruel places to ride a bike in the United States. Lovely back roads wind their way through sun-baked farms. Large trees near the road are few and far between, although you can see the shade they provide as wind breaks at the edges of the fields. The topography is completely flat, zero hills.
As you see this out of a car, it looks perfect. Until you step out and feel the wind. No matter where you ride on the Eastern Shore, there’s a headwind. If you ride out into one in the morning, you will not being coming home to a tailwind in the afternoon due to the changing tides on the Chesapeake Bay. Riding 30 miles on the Eastern Shore is like riding 60 miles almost anywhere else. You can never stop pedaling.
I know this landscape intimately, because for over 20 years my ex-laws ran the Baltimore Bicycling Club Memorial Day weekend at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. I married into an incredibly serious cycling family. Our wedding gift from them was a custom-built tandem bike. We were all expected, en-masse, at this weekend every year.
In the beginning, when it was Ed and I on the tandem, we owned the place. I never had a bike that fit me like that tandem. So comfortable, so wide, so steady and secure. We rode that bike in Maine, England, and Holland. Its seat was like a second home. I rode in the back, so I had the least of the winds and all of the view – the captain, in the front, mostly had his head down and his eyes on the road. Besides pedaling, I oversaw the disc brake in the back that stopped us in case of emergencies. We could get up to 50 mph on a downhill.
Once Anne came along, we had her in a seat on the back until she outgrew it.
As you see this out of a car, it looks perfect. Until you step out and feel the wind. No matter where you ride on the Eastern Shore, there’s a headwind. If you ride out into one in the morning, you will not being coming home to a tailwind in the afternoon due to the changing tides on the Chesapeake Bay. Riding 30 miles on the Eastern Shore is like riding 60 miles almost anywhere else. You can never stop pedaling.
I know this landscape intimately, because for over 20 years my ex-laws ran the Baltimore Bicycling Club Memorial Day weekend at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. I married into an incredibly serious cycling family. Our wedding gift from them was a custom-built tandem bike. We were all expected, en-masse, at this weekend every year.
In the beginning, when it was Ed and I on the tandem, we owned the place. I never had a bike that fit me like that tandem. So comfortable, so wide, so steady and secure. We rode that bike in Maine, England, and Holland. Its seat was like a second home. I rode in the back, so I had the least of the winds and all of the view – the captain, in the front, mostly had his head down and his eyes on the road. Besides pedaling, I oversaw the disc brake in the back that stopped us in case of emergencies. We could get up to 50 mph on a downhill.
Once Anne came along, we had her in a seat on the back until she outgrew it.
Then, we purchased a kid-back tandem with raised pedals so that Anne could ride with her dad. I got my own road bike – a beautiful little women’s Trek. That bike was fast, and she needed to be to keep up with those two. In my late 30s, my legs were in better shape than I can ever remember – it was a big deal in our cyclist’s world to see the definition between the two parts of the quad muscles, and I finally could.
Soon, I started to have twinges in my right knee every time I went for a long bike ride. All that slow forward on the Eastern Shore exacerbated the problem, and I wound up at a Physical Therapist. I learned that I was pronating in my toe clips – rotating my foot inward so that I was wearing the cartilage off on my knee. No matter how much time I gave myself to heal, riding that bike became increasingly painful. I tried multiple adjustments, but nothing really worked. Guys in bike shops shook their heads because I looked perfectly seated on it.
Over the years my knee issues just got worse, until I finally had to stop riding on the Eastern Shore. I’d go down and call a community dance for the group, stay over and head back home. It seemed a natural evolution of my crumbling marriage.
That weekend in Chesterstown is still going on – my ex-laws retired many years ago and it’s much reduced in size, but I have a couple of friends who tell me they still go every year. Why not? The beautiful cruelty of the scenery is enough to bring you back.
Soon, I started to have twinges in my right knee every time I went for a long bike ride. All that slow forward on the Eastern Shore exacerbated the problem, and I wound up at a Physical Therapist. I learned that I was pronating in my toe clips – rotating my foot inward so that I was wearing the cartilage off on my knee. No matter how much time I gave myself to heal, riding that bike became increasingly painful. I tried multiple adjustments, but nothing really worked. Guys in bike shops shook their heads because I looked perfectly seated on it.
Over the years my knee issues just got worse, until I finally had to stop riding on the Eastern Shore. I’d go down and call a community dance for the group, stay over and head back home. It seemed a natural evolution of my crumbling marriage.
That weekend in Chesterstown is still going on – my ex-laws retired many years ago and it’s much reduced in size, but I have a couple of friends who tell me they still go every year. Why not? The beautiful cruelty of the scenery is enough to bring you back.
RSS Feed