Frederick Bicycle Coalition

South of Frederick in Montgomery County is a great collection of mountain bike trails in several parks with terrain a bit more forgiving than our collection of trails on the Catoctin ridge. By string together the parks you can put together a lot of mileage and cover a variety of terrain.

If you’ve never done it before, it takes a bit of work and some map reaching skills. But, what if someone laid it all out for you and they offered support along the way? That’s exactly what the MoCo Epic supported ride will be. It’s a fund raiser for local MTB club MORE which contributes much work here in Frederick as well as the rest of the region. The ride takes place on October 17 and has 3 options: 25 miles, 40 miles and 62 miles (metric century).

Fall will be a great time to do this, so sign up now or consider volunteering. This will be a great event to support local mountain bike advocacy and riding.

FBC’s first annual Ride with the Mayor event was a HUGE success!  Over fifty cyclists of all ages gathered around the Baker Park Bell Tower to join Mayor McClement on a bicycle ride to Harry Grove Stadium, where all participants received free general admission courtesy of the Frederick Keys*.   Mayor McClement rolled out in style on a vintage ROSS, complete with blue tires and matching blue grips and helmet (Tom Rinker is to be credited for his skills in color coordination).  Other familiar faces on the ride included Aldermen Shelley Aloi, Kelly Russell and Michael O’Connor as well as Frederick County Transportation Planner John Thomas and Spoke’s Neil Sandler.  Mayor McClement led the way to Harry Grove Stadium, complete with a bicycle police escort from the Frederick City Police.  (Many thanks to the Frederick City Police for keeping our ride safe!) Upon arriving at the stadium, supplemental bike parking was graciously provided by Mike Winpigler of Frederick City’s Department of Public Works.

The Mayor and Aldermen started the game off with the first pitch(es), and soon the Frederick Keys and the Potomac Nationals took to the field.  The game was a real nail biter, as the Keys won with a go-ahead run in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.  Francis Scott would be so proud.

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this event possible and a big thank you to all participants. Together we can make Frederick a more bicycle friendly place to live and play.  Please join us again next year!

*Many thanks to the Frederick Keys and Katy Fincham for your gracious donation!!!

More photos on the FBC Facebook page!

Click HERE for news coverage of the ride on WHAG

Heads up: This Frederick News-Post article reports a vehicle getting vandalized in the Frederick Watershed while the owner was out biking. This occurred on Friday between 1 – 4pm near Gambrill Park Road and Fishing Creek Road (which is the gravel road “T” near Salamander Trail on the north end of the watershed). Stay alert, be aware of your surroundings and keep your eyes peeled.

It can be tough to break the car habit and ride your bike instead, especially when the car is right there, outside the door and easy to hop into. Many people can get by with using the car a lot less and some people consider ditching it altogether or going from a one car family to a 2 car family, but hang on for those times they need the vehicle. Zip cars offer a great option for the occassion you need a car and don’t have one. The Frederick News-Post just had and article about Zip cars coming to Frederick via Hood College. Maybe this can tip some people to part with their car and use the bicycle more.

Looks like our own Gambrill State Park in Frederick (home of some great mountain bike trails) could benefit from this tree planting campaign sent to me from our friends at Patapsco State Park:

Maryland is now in 3rd Place in the Odwalla competition!!!

Keep reading to see how you can donate ANOTHER FIVE TREES to Maryland !!!

If you enjoy Maryland State Parks, you might want to consider helping DNR with a unique opportunity to show your Maryland Pride and support an exciting tree effort that will help increase tree cover in our State Parks. It’s FREE and your effort will take less than 2 minutes.

1. Visit http://www.odwalla.com/plantatree/_MD.jsp

2. Enter your email address, birth month and year, and pick 5 trees from the dropdown menu. (Your email address will not be used for marketing purposes!)

3. Submit your vote and Maryland State Parks will receive $5 from Odwalla to plant trees in Maryland Parks.

EXTRA CREDIT: Go back with code “MD8000″ from your Maryland State Park Welcome Kit and plant 5 more trees for total donation from Odwalla of $10 per person toward $200,000 available.

Maryland Park Service is now in 3rd place nationwide with $16,300+……but there is still $23,000 left to be claimed those states that promote the campaign the most.

Please forward this email to family and friends and any community or professional organizations, so they too can show their Maryland pride… with trees.

A few FBC members biked from Frederick City to Brunswick for their first annual bicycle festival. It was great to see the enthusiasm of participants and volunteers and soaking in the free music on a summer day was a great way to take a break mid-ride. If you want to see what you missed, check this link and then plan to go next year to help them make it bigger and better.

Sad news, as local papers are reporting a cyclist was struck and killed by a tractor trailer in Union Bridge today. Stay safe out there everyone.

Don’t forget, this Sunday, August 29th, is the Frederick Bicycle Coalition’s ride to the Keys game and participants get free admission. Full details here!