This is not your air-conditioned minivan, easy motel living, lounge chair vacation in Ocean City.
This is a 265-mile ? if you?re up for it ? four-day cycling tour across the rivers, through the state parks and along the wetlands of Maryland?s Eastern Shore.
The 18th Annual Cycle Across Maryland this weekend moves from Western Maryland to the beaches, bridges and backwater towns of Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties ? and Trap Pond State Park in Delaware, too.
The sold-out event, with 850 riders, is based at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and organized by One Less Car, a statewide bicycling advocacy organization.
“The great thing about Cycle Across Maryland is that normally, when you want to go for a bike ride, you to have ride through a bunch of traffic first,” said Towson?s Bob Carson, the tour director. “Here, you just walk out your front door and you are in the country.”
“The attraction of the Eastern Shore is the simple beauty of the place,” said Stacey Mink, executive director of One Less Car.
Hills and mountains are good for separating the men from the boys in the Tour de France, but this ride is for fun.
Different distances are available each day depending on how fit you feel in the saddle, and include everything from casual 17-mile jaunts to 100-mile adventures.
Food and Friends, a nonprofit organization in Washington serves seven Maryland counties, and uses the event for fundraising. The group is asking each of its 120 riders this year to raise $1,900.
Stacy England, a special-events associate with the group, rode last year and is looking forward to doing so again.
“I wasn?t an avid cyclist, but I?m becoming one since I started doing these rides,” England said. “It?s for all abilities and it?s a chance to get on the road and ride with some friends and meet some new people as well. I?m from the Midwest, and for me, it?ll be my first visit to the Eastern Shore.”
No doubt, it will look ? and feel ? a lot better at 15 mph than 60.
