***** NEWS FLASH *****
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO ALL OUTLETS
from Chuck Herbert of the SCU News Service
May 16th, 2020 on the road somewhere in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Good morning Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the bikes on the road!
Here is a dispatch from the first day of SCU's Socially Distanced Quad.
May 16, 2020 was a glorious day to be out and about on a bike, with sunny skies and warm temperatures. As I write this, the first 50 cyclists have checked in after completing their socially distanced rides.
SCU's own Steve Muth had the longest ride at 84.9 miles, followed closely by Terry Gregory who rode 83 miles with a great deal of climbing on a traditional ICU route. Another ten riders each logged more than 50 socially distanced miles, including Shirley Landis, Jeff Kochanowicz, Shreeram Mudambi, Elliot Titcher, Kristen Faughnan, Kevin Thomas, Jere McDonald, Curtis Schwartz, Frank Rauscher and yours truly, Chuck Herbert.
Mike Fuller only completed 41 miles, but much of it was on gravel and uphill. He published his route but suggests that anyone who tries it go in the opposite direction to hit pavement uphill and gravel downhill.
Happenings both new and familiar have been spotted throughout the region. Several cars with bike racks on top were seen at Green Lane, UDHS, and Wentz Run Park. Jay Sitkin reports familiar Fall weekend postcards popped up on windshields at Green Lane Park. On Bean Road, this reporter was seen streaking past Steve Muth, before they stopped to chat for a few minutes. Of course, we were going in opposite directions, so it's hard to tell who was going faster, but my money is on the far-ranging recumbent rider.
It looks like many cyclists left from home, including Jeff Kochanowicz from his new Hatboro home site, Kevin Thomas, who rode a hilly metric century around Wayne, PA, and Steven Brown from Caldwell, home of the fictional Tony Soprano up in the northern reaches of New Jersey. ... but Steve wasn’t the farthest away from Montgomery County – no sir, not by a long shot. That honor goes to Allen Herman, who passed a pack of hungry goats munching on a lawn along Coyote Creek near his home in San Jose, California!
Several riders spent a few hours on stationary bikes in their residential retreats. Mike Kahn never left his basement in Quakertown while simulating a route in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. How's that for distant social distancing!
All in all, it was a great day for cycling. Stay tuned for more throughout the week as we await the awarding of the coveted Socially Distanced Quad Jersey next Sunday.
— 30 — |