Time for the once a year ride with Wolfe and his demented twists on self guided rallies- this time, The RMS Titanic. Several years ago, the GLMC had a Titanic themed Grand Tour but this was different- compass roses, ship wrecks, Irish pubs, tour boats, Port named towns, ferries and a whole bunch of one offs. There were several pre-rally bonuses, including your paperwork and intended start time. The biggie was the "I'm King of the World pose" from the movie, which I have never seen. Why would I, we know what happens- the boat sinks, people die from hypothermia and James Cameron couldnt be bothered to get the night sky correct after spending several hundred million on recreating the RMS Titanic's glory. Here's my I'm King of the World.
I knew there were a bunch of free ferries on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as well as the northern neck of Virginia. I also knew the RMS Titanic Memorial was in downtown DC along the waterfront, so the northern neck ferries were just too far distant to pull of the DC stop. I did a lot of research trying to locate all of the items on the list as we had a 20 bonus maximum. In the process, I developed a cheatsheet spreadsheet and a color coded map to help in planning:
Yea, it got complicated.. Bottom line, the yellow highlighted scores were the most desirable, the blue were next- the rest were "meh". The 3HOURS was getting two receipts 3 hours apart and logging at least 120 miles in between them- that was also part of my plan to pick up the starting receipt for the 3HOURS doubling up with a receipt based bonus- which wont count against the 20.
Finally, I get a decent, doable route together starting fittingly in Seaford, DE and ending with the RMS Titanic Memorial on the DC waterfront via Ocean City, MD and Dover, DE. Also in the back of my head, was the plug in my rear tire from my trip to Maine has started a slow leak- like 1lb every other day leak; when it was topped off Thursday night it had dropped to about a 1lb a day. This would be something to watch; there is a repair kit and compressor on the bike, so that is not a real issue.
Still grinding miles for the
MS5000 mile challenge, I was up early and on the road right around daybreak on Saturday- it was in the mid-forties but I knew the sun would be bringing those daytime temps up to a delightful level. My route to Seaford was rather roundabout, heading out I-70 and down US-340 to Front Royal where I caught US-522 and stuck to the east side of the Shenandoah. US-15 took me all the way to US-460 east and eventually to the tidewater area of Virginia. North on 13 through the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel, back into Maryland and then onto Delaware for the night.
The ride was overall uneventful, downright lovely actually. I rode through a couple of small towns that were depressing as all get out; one town, I swear, the only open business was the dollar store. The reminder of main street was whitewashed windows or boarded up. So sad.
Up early as the adjoining room had the kind of people who sleep with the TV on, rather loudly, over to the Food Lion to get my starting receipt and flowers for a later bonus I re-inflated the rear tire to 44lbs figuring that'll hold for the rest of the day as it was now losing about 1lb every 3 hours. Brrrr, I didnt sign up for this 38F start- my three season riding suit shows its weakness even with electric gear underneath. On we're off.
First ferry- closed, added 10 minutes to my route to bypass it. Upper Ferry, rode it both ways.
Whitehaven Ferry
ferry operator took this one
"It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." Also my start 3HOURS was JACKDS.
This was at the OC inlet- some stupid bicycle event had everything clogged up. grrrr 
The Bethany Compass Rose
Traffic was heavy but moving on Delaware 1 towards Lewes. Lots of folks taking their campers home for the winter plus the day trippers to the shore working their way back.
HMS deBaak Memorial
The Dover compass rose, right in front of the state house
Here is where thing start going to shit; the place I had picked out to end the 3HOURS didnt produce a receipt for a credit card purchase- out of paper/ some kind of error. grrrrrr.... we had a +/-5 minute window and the next closest place I stopped was 4 minutes late. Well, there goes that 1000 points right in the shitter.Annapolis is a trove of bonuses, but it's Sunday and the weather is perfect, so of course, it's packed.
Harbor Compass Rose [traffic cop was about to chase me away]
The USS Maryland Memorial and Obrien's Pub- I had no pubs on my route but hey, it's points
Zachary's Jewelers for a heart shaped diamond pendant - I had to circle back through the crowd as I forgot to take a picture of the outside despite being parked right in front of it the first time- another 5 minutes wasted.
Points for a naked lady painting- this one is a mermaid. fitting somehow
The United States Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Ave, NW at 8th St. The Lone Sailor.
On this day, the USS Cole was the memorial."The bronze sculpture fittingly contains metal from eight historic U.S. Navy ships - USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Hartford, USS Maine, USS Ranger, USS Biloxi, USS Hancock, USS Seawolf - and the modern Navy's National Defense Service Medal".- US Navy Memorial interpretive sign
Two more compass roses- cut my flag off on the USN one, lost the points.
Finally, the Titanic Memorial.
Ending readings- 8 hours on the dot.
Thanks Wolfe; it was good to keep the old riding juices alive. Until next year.
My Route, plus the trek home from DC
