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Katrina Relief Ride Report
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Ed Ford
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Sep 25, 2005 19:44 PDT
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Katrina Relief Ride Report
I would like to thank each of you for the support of my one day, one
way, 144 miles Katrina Relief Ride. I would also like to thank each of
you that pledged towards the American Red Cross Katrina Relief Ride. I
currently have received over $5,400 in pledges and they still are coming
in. As special thanks goes out to all of the riders that rode with me
on sections of this ride, who I will acknowledge those as they occurred.
Although the weather on Saturday, September 24th wasn’t the best to
accomplish a 144 mile bike ride with the strong winds that shifted
throughout the day, there was no other option given that the original
conference had been relocated to Charlotte and I would have to leave
Sunday morning. I started the ride at the intersection of Delaware
Route 100 and Twaddell Mill Rd, where I was allowed to leave my truck at
the house of very friendly and understanding family. I rolled out about
7 AM and the scenery in the Brandywine area was beautiful. Within the
first hour I had passed at least 10 other cyclists riding in the
opposite direction in the hills of New Castle County. The first 13
miles were very scenic and very little traffic until I approached the
residential and business areas of New Castle County. The numerous stop
signs, traffic lights, and turns on the northern section of the bike
route one kept my average speed in control. I can’t fail to mention
that the county had blockaded S. Brownleaf Road, which is around the 22
mile mark on the route, so I had to ride across on the sidewalk. I
continued on to Lums Pond State Park, where I meet my escort across the
896/301 Summit Bridge, which was heavy with traffic probably due to the
Dover NASCAR race.
My first rest stop was at 896 and Bethel Church Rd (Rt. 15), which was
the 36 mile mark of the ride. I continued to see numerous riders out
enjoying the back roads of southern New Castle County. As I headed
south on Blackbird Greenspring Rd around the 54 mile mark a group of
riders were approaching me and I heard someone yell out “Ed, is that
you?” It was a very pleasant surprise to see it was the riders from the
Saturday Lifestyles group out of Dover. They decided to ride north on
bike route 1 until meeting with me, then escorted me to my second rest
stop in Dover, which was Rt. 8 and Rt. 15 at the 70 mile mark. Another
Milford cyclist had arrived to the rest stop prior to us with my goodie
bag to refuel. Leaving from the rest stop I was accompanied by three
riders, with one branching off as we turned onto 15 west. One of the
Dover riders stayed with us until Felton and headed back north.
The Milford rider and myself proceeded south from Felton and then east
into the strong head winds until we turned south on Killens Pond Road.
We pulled into the third rest stop, which was at Brown’s Branch Park at
the 90 mile mark. There were two other riders from the Milford group
there waiting for us. After refueling there and taking a little break,
we headed south towards Milton. The winds continued to pick up from the
east and were shifting around as we headed south. As we came through
the Jefferson Crossroads intersection we stopped to talk briefly to two
couples on tandems taking a break from the winds. They were with a
large group of riders that had left near Lancaster, PA that morning and
were doing a fund raising ride for Camp Arrowhead in Rehoboth. Our
group left there and then the four of us split up in Milton with two of
the riders heading back north and the other heading northeast to
Broadkill Beach.
I was solo again leaving Milton and heading toward my final rest stop,
which was off of Rt. 9 near Lewes at the 118 mile mark. After another
refueling and short break I headed back into the wind until getting on
Plantations Road. As I turned south on US 1 near Rehoboth there was a
nice reprieve form the winds and then a straight shot south. At that
point; with the thoughts of the finish and lack of headwinds, I was able
to hold a 20 – 22 mph speed for most of the remaining ride. As I rolled
into Fenwick Island, I looked down and noticed that my front tire was
getting low just as I approached the finish line. The final stats for
the ride were 143.82 miles; ride time of 8 hours, 18 minutes, 35
seconds; 17.32 mph average, and a maximum speed of 33.50 mph.
Once again I would like to thank everyone that assisted me with this
ride. Without the support and pledges from you, this would have been a
very long day.
Ride safe and May you have a wonderful day!
Sincerely,
Ed Ford
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