Today’s ride: The Indian Head 100 out of Indian Head Maryland is a century for riders that is organized by riders, and it shows. The Oxon Hill Bike Club, which sponsors the event, has made this ride a good experience for the participants. The course is rolling, and the rests stops are scenic, with river views at the rest stops and excellent food. This is a Sunday ride on the first weekend in September, and it can be hot, but the course is well shaded with plenty of scenery to look at.  

The Experience: This was my second century on consecutive days. 200 Miles in a weekend is difficult, but many of my friends and I ride back to back centuries as a challenge.  The night before Indian Head, a front swept through the area, cooling the temperature and pulling the humidity out of the air. Despite having to cope with tired legs, a large group of friends got together to roll out early from the community center at Indian Head. Not all of us were on the Century course, and one was coming back from cancer treatments, but Indian Head is a classic ride, and the conditions couldn’t have been better.  We got right to the climbing and negotiated the first section in good form. Yellow wildflowers were growing thick on the roadsides, and we all got to the first rest stop together while riding strong, We had our fill of the famous egg, ham and cheese sandwiches on english muffins at the first stop. The century riders split with the riders on shorter distances and headed out to ride the rollers on Riverside Road, which is a classic stretch of road that puts riders on a shaded roller coaster for nearly 12 miles. The second rest stop came soon after, and Ron, Tony Lehr, Rita Spence and I kept up a good pace and came into the rest stop riding well. We refreshed ourselves and headed out on the long leg to St. Ignatius Church, and more wonderful views over the Potomac. The course led us to the Thomas Stone House rest stop after a climb up Rose Hill, and with 10 miles to go and the scenic Indian Head Rail trail ahead, we finished our back to back century weekend on the trail with views of the wetlands around Indan Head. One of my favorite rides came though for me again.

Selections from my mental iPod during the ride: “The Perfect Girl” by The Cure,  “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson, and “I Saw Her Standing There” by the Beatles. 

Stats: 100.22 Miles ridden.  A perfect weather day.  

Our group the first Rest Stop. Left to right – Tony Lehr, Russ Altemose, Myself, John Koehnlein, Ron Tripp and Rita Spence

The long view from St. Ignatius Church over the cemetery. The rest stops have views of the river.