A few things to know about the 40 (or is it 41?) riders on this year’s East Coast Greenway ride:
High-visibility lime green seems to be our favorite color. I have never seen so much of it! And yes, I’ve been wearing my lime-green jacket quite a bit too. For those who wonder why cyclists often wear gaudily patterned jerseys, it’s so they get noticed by motorists.
We skew older. Like other week-long rides I’ve been on, there are a lot of retirees. And not just early retirees. May I still be riding longer distances well into my 70s. Next up are the 50-somethings. I think there’s just one 20-something on this one, and he was enlisted by his dad.
He? Yeah, I’d say the majority are men, though I haven’t done the tally.
Riders are less intense than on other rides, and very supportive of each other. There’s not this dash to get in early that I’ve often seen. And one reason I’ve been able to ride with a fast group at times is that they aren’t all on road bikes. Many are on hybrids, and some tires are pretty knobby, so more resistance and therefore require more energy to move. I’ve seen a couple of Bike Fridays (a collapsable bike with road-bike gearing) and even a Dahon (a more typical foldable bike).
The biggest group by state is from Connecticut. Rhode Island and now New Jersey are also well-represented. I don’t think there’s anyone from Delaware, Maryland or Virginia.
About a dozen people have done every one of these week-long rides since they started at the Canadian border. There are definitely some pre-existing groups, but everyone is welcoming to others who want to ride with them.
Where do the bikes go? The fancy Hotel DuPont gave us a separate meeting room. But at the Super 8 (where the room was the size of the DuPont room’s bathroom) and the Sheraton in Towson, where I am now, we brought them into our rooms.
And yes, Melinda is doing great.
Exploring by bicycle 