The weather was expected to break past the 50F mark on this day during our holiday break, so Woody and Allen slipped away from chores to ride for half a day. We went down to Waugh Enterprises Harley-Davidson for their owner's birthday sale, and Woody ended up buying a new helmet. Allen found a long-sleeved T-shirt he liked, so both men were able to justify the long ride and come back with something tangible. This is sort of an unofficial WORMS ride, because we didn't put out any e-mail notices. In fact, it wasn't really planned until the night before! Oh, you want to know about how cold it was? Well, it stayed below 45F for most of the ride, but it did get above 50F for the ride back home. We even had the sun on our backs coming back, which was nice.
Wow - this was an excellent day for a fall season ride. There were fall colors in downtown Fredericksburg, along Route 218, Route 205, and even coming back on Route 3. There is still a ton of green leaves to be sure, but with the lack of water in September, we are happy to have any color to view. Anyway, this was our last "official" ride of the 2005 season, but it doesn't mean we just put our bikes away. There will still be some warm days ahead before the year is out. If you're wearing chaps or leather pants, then you're all set. If you're not, then you better get some thermal underwear - it's no fun being cold when you ride.
We met at our favorite Fredericksburg watering hole - Hyperion Espresso. We found a few tables outside, and once we all had a few sips of our Americanos or cappuccinos, we had a safety discussion. This was a chance for the more experienced riders to pass along hard-earned lessons to the newer riders. Several riders have seen other riders fall when they put their feet down on slippery surfaces. Some riders had issues with going the wrong way on a one-way street. We all have learned to respect those big tractor-trailers on the highway. There was even discussion concerning group riding in staggered formation.
The riding was basically down Route 218 to Route 205 to Colonial Beach, a place we visited about a month ago. In fact, we ate lunch at the same restaurant, because the food is good and the view is great - right on the beach. The sky was clear, the water was blue, and if you sat in the sun, a WORMS T-shirt will do! The ride back along Route 3 was fine, but Allen and Sandra saw the dreaded "Accident ahead - all lanes blocked" coming back up I-95. They got off at Dumfries, but all traffic was backing up. It was rough going for several miles coming up Route 1, but at least the traffic wasn't totally stopped. Does anyone know what type of accident occured on I-95?
