Spokes, Sunshine, and Smiles in Chestertown

Eager bicyclists gathered in Chestertown, Maryland for a wonderful, long weekend of cycling, entertainment, food, and lots of socializing.  Let’s talk about the riding! The level-to-rolling terrain, lightly trafficked roads, wide shoulders, beautiful farmland, picturesque small towns, and lovely water views all made for great cycling.

Friday began with classic rides like Tunnels of Love and Cliff City Crabbers, and ended with delicious pizza and salad for dinner, an ice cream social, and a talented trio playing and singing bluegrass, country, and folk music.

Saturday’s rides included a century to Chesapeake City, and great rides to Rock Hall, Unicorn Lake, Centreville, and the Massey Aerodrome. After the rides, many cyclists enjoyed the festivities at the fabulous Chestertown Tea Party festival including: music; food; vendors; historic reenactments; and Chestertown walking tours.  Back at Washington College, the tasty dinner was followed by an excellent live Zydeco band with lots of enthusiastic dancing under the stars. 

Sunday is picnic day! All rides converge for a lunch at beautiful Worton Park. Hungry cyclists had some delicious choices: pit beef; pit turkey; or grilled Portobello mushrooms and more. Watching the Crazy Boat Race is always a big hit with cyclists on Sunday afternoon! Sunday’s after-dinner entertainment was a fun and lively quiz night where teams of cyclists matched wits on questions posed by two local disk jockeys. Lots of laughs were had by all, and the cyclists proved they were much more than just strong legs. Monday brought more rides after breakfast. It was great, as always, to catch up with old friends and make new ones—so many wonderful memories were made!

A very big thank you to Rob Keiser and Stacy Spivak for organizing and leading this excellent and longest-running Baltimore Bicycling Club event! The 41^st Chestertown Weekend was a big success—it hasn’t lost its charm!

Michael & Evie Reinsel