Oct-06-2019: "The Devil's Den" perm-pop #2608

Frederick, MD to Gettysburg Battlefield and back

This was my favorite ride of 2019.
The first time I had gone beyond North Carolina to do a RUSA sanctioned ride.
260-mile drive from my abode to the start; and a 260-mile drive afterward.

Several years ago, Crista had invited me to come up and ride a 4-state Perm, or
Ride a 3-state Perm-Pop with her and Chuck and whomever else joined in.
I was finally in a time and space to do so.

We discussed options.
After some back and forth, we settled on Sunday, October 6th and
We would do Crista's "The Devil's Den" perm-pop.
[RWGPS map-link:  click here.] 

Chuck would join us on the ride -- that was a given.
Crista would also advertise for other riders.
JoelD and DavidR joined the excursion.
[And Crista mentioned that maybe MishaH would also join the crew, and 
If Misha did join us, Crista noted, "it would be a hard day." 
I told Crista that I knew who Misha was, and yes, 
Trying to keep up with Misha would be hard, and 
Something I would not even try to do.]

I had ridden the "Bahama Beach" #1404 perm-pop on Saturday, the day before.
But I had done some decent riding the latter half of September,
Had ridden the Bahama route the day before with an easy effort, and
Was definitely looking forward to an enjoyable day,
But maybe one that would stress me out at least a little.

To get to Frederick, MD (the start location) for the 8 am start,
I got up at 2 am on Sunday morning, looking to leave my place by 2:30.

I was a little slow, and didn't get underway until 2:35.
And subsequently had to stop to make sure the right-side rear door was securely closed.

Zooming through the night, I stopped somewhere in Virgina (well south of Petersburg)
To re-fill the gas tank and empty my bladder.

I stopped in Maryland, just before Frederick, to grab some breakfast.
And arrived, with only a little confusion in the last mile or so,
At the start some minutes before 8 am (I don't recall how many minutes).

I was somewhat concerned because I didn't see any obvious rando vehicles or people.
Thinking back, I think Chuck and Crista were parked about 20 yards from where I parked.
But the were not at their vehicle, so I was a little concerned that I might not be in the correct place.
Obviously, it turned out that I was at the correct location.
[Crista later indicated that we started several minutes after 8 am, and 
That I was the one that was not ready to start on time. 
I guess Crista was accurate in that comment, but I don't know so.]

Before the start, Crista warned me about two sharp but short inclines
That we would encounter in the early going.

I was riding along, in a warming up easy gear / cadence,
Probably chatting without noticing what the road was doing when we got to the first.
Suddenly, I had to stand up and muscle the bike up the slope.
I was clearly in the wrong gear and frame of mind, but
I forced my way up the incline at about 2.5 or 3 mph -- it was tough.

I caught back up to the others, and resumed the easy, warming up approach to pedaling.
I am quite certain I was again chatting to someone and did not notice the second one
Until I was on the slope, DEFINTELY in the wrong gear!
I started to try to muscle up that second sharp (but short) incline.
No soap -- I hopped off and walked up to the crest.
And again caught back up.

That was the last of unexpected slopes catching me off-guard.

We were still in Maryland when we crossed the first covered bridge on the day.

Chuck and Crista after we had crossed the covered bridge.  My first EVER covered bridge, btw.  I should have taken some panoranmic pics from this location since there was a nice looking farmstead across the road from where Chuck and Crista were standing.  [photo credit to me]

We were soon back underway and crossed into Pennsylvania.
This seems a logical point at which to mention that Maryland and Pennsylvania
Made the 3rd and 4th different states that I've ridden in, RUSA-credit-wise.
[The first two being North Carolina (of course) and Virginia (on the Kerr Lake Loop Perm).]

We, or at least I was expecting much sunnier and warmer conditions than we got on the day.
Somewhere still south of the Mason-Dixon line, we received our first drizzle / sprinkle / rain on the day.
It would drizzle / sprinkle / light-rain on us for most of the day.
And sometimes perhaps the adjective "light" should be removed from the rain description.

As we approached the Gettysburg Battlefield, we rode past the Eisenhower Farm.
I had looked for and found the Farm on the RWGPS map that Crista had sent me.
But during the ride, I forgot to even look around to see what the area looked like.

Suddenly, we were at the second covered bridge on the ride.
I walked into bridge before attempting another photo.

Chuck, Crista, and Dave (?) possibly waiting for Joel before crossing the bridge and riding on to the Battlefield.  This is essentially a replica of the bridge that Confederate troops used both before and after the battle, and Union troops also used the bridge after the battle.  [photo credit to me]

Looking back at the bridge after walking across.  There is an historical marker just to right of this scene, but I could not get a decent pic of the text -- maybe next time.  [photo by me -- but it appear that I should have cropped this photo to remove so much of that asphalt in the foreground -- oh, well] 

Suddenly, we were in the Battlefield Park.
Thank goodness Chuck, Crista, David, and Joel knew where they were going.
I did not have to do any navigating!

The "Devil's Den" is in the midst of the Battlefield.
Due to the rainy conditions, I took almost no photos.
In fact, after lunching in Gettysburg town and returning to the Battlefield,
I chose to take none of the suggested photos because it was just so rainy and dreary and
The photos would not have been very interesting.

However, what follows are the photos that I did take, and the one that Crista took and sent to me.

Chuck and Crista in front of the historical marker in front of the some of the boulders in the Devil's Den.  [photo credit to me]

More boulders.  [my photo]

Devil's Den plaque.  Not centered -- I could barely see the viewer.  And I should have turned the phone sideways to get a better pic.  Maybe next time.  [my photo]

One of the monuments in the midst of the Devil's Den.  [my photo]

Me, atop Culp's Hill, in front of the tower from which one likely would get an excellent view of the entire Battlefield -- on a clear day.  Crista suggested that I might want to climb the tower, but I looked at the sky and concluded the view would likely be very obscured, and decided to put off climbing that tower until a later date, hopefully a sunnier later date.  [photo by Crista(?) or Chuck(?)] 

After the above, we rode into town for lunch.
Then got back on our steeds in the drizzle / sprinkle / rain.

One moment of humor:
At some point on the return, with what I recall was a heavy sprinkle,
Crista suddenly blurted out, "why am I getting wet?"
Chuck immediately commented, "see what I've been telling you; she's oblivious."
[Well, that isn't an exact quote, but it represents the sentiment AND 
Is consistent with the light teasing that Crista had been receiving regarding 
Being protected behind Chuck on the tandem.]

I did attempt one moment of mostly-humor during the ride.
I don't recall if it was when outbound or when returning to Frederick.
At some point, it seemed that Chuck and Crista were picking up the pace.
I recall I was struggling just a bit, and said,
"Hey, just because I rode with that really fast tandem a couple weeks ago,
Doesn't mean that you should pick up the pace today."

I'm not sure how that comment was greeted.

We finished the ride in fine style.

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
MD: The Devil's Den / 2608	131	2019/10/06	5	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T93127	338	B___, Crista	DC Randonneurs / 946012	07:27
RUSA-T93128	385	W___, Charles	DC Randonneurs / 946012	07:27
RUSA-T93129	6218	S___, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	07:27
RUSA-T93130	3678	D___, Joel	DC Randonneurs / 946012	07:32
RUSA-T93131	9432	R___, David J	DC Randonneurs / 946012	07:27

 
Instead of putting my bike on the rack on the rear of my car,
I decided to take the wheels off my steed and put the frame into the back seat area
To keep the bike from getting soaked on the ride home.

Crista and I were discussing my going up that way again in 2020 to ride.
Probably to ride to Gettysburg on a sunny day,
Maybe to ride over toward Camp David.
We had tentatively agreed that June would be a good month.
Or was it May?

It didn't matter, because COVID-19 threw a major spanner into the works.

Although I skipped things I thought to include, and
Maybe I included things that would have been better off no included,
The above is my story, and I will be sticking to it.