On Saturday, OVC wrapped up the Brewery Series with a final fun ride from RAR Brewing in Cambridge. A stellar crowd of almost 30 rides from all over the Shore (including several local Cambridge Multi-Sport riders) rolled out under sunny skies for 59 miles of mostly easy spinning. Temps were over 60F and the peloton enjoyed soaking up some sun.
The ride was slowed with a few flats, but everyone just enjoyed being out on the road together. One flat did cause a fracture in the group, but luckily everyone was able to reconnect after a few phone calls. Please note -- if you hear that someone has a mechanical, pass it up the line and don’t assume that the folks at the front know what’s going on.
The group enjoyed a tailwind-aided sprint into Vienna, with Roscoe, Caleb, and Wawa snagging the podium spots. Later, the group easily handled a 2.5 mile interval to the Key Wallace causeway, with Dean P. leading the charge. The pack reassembled itself and enjoyed a nice tailwind up towards Church Creek for the day’s finale. With almost all the starters still in contact, it did not take long for the peloton to get revved up to 30 mph. After a mile or so, riders began to pop one by one. Roscoe took advantage of the chaos and established a small gap in front of the chasing group of Bill, Dean, Caleb, and Russ. The chasers bided their time, but soon began running out of real estate. Roscoe hung on for the gold, with Dean and Russ only seconds behind.
The 59 mile course was completed in about 3 hours and 11 minutes of riding time, for an average speed of about 18.7 mph. Great work! Upon returning to RAR, many riders hung around for a few beers and drunken tater tots. RAR had their doors open, so we were able to enjoy the outstanding weather for another hour or so.
Finale Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7hSIbXRplU
Thanks to everyone who made this year’s Brewery Series a success! For the past six weeks, riders of all abilities have ridden an average of 56 miles at about 18.3 mph. We’ve had about 25-40 riders at each ride, with Burley Oak drawing 85. We visited 6 breweries in 5 different towns and 4 counties. We road 337 miles and probably only overlapped about 15 miles of roads. In sum, it has been a great month and a half of exploring Delmarva with some terrific folks. Thanks, again!