Year 2 - Day 6 Hunt Valley MD to Bowie MD
Today we are facing another day of rain. Waking up and looking out the hotel window, we note dry ground. This makes us somewhat hopeful, however silly that may be, due to the forecast! After eating breakfast in the hotel, we again looked out only to see that it had started to rain.
My theory with warm rain is to keep my core dry with a raincoat and let the rest of me, like everything below the waist, just get wet. I put on my jacket and hood, then put my helmet on my hood. This prevents rain from going down my back and due to the position we take when riding, slightly bent over, hardly any rain enters the front of the jacket.
The biggest two issues with riding in the rain are the reduced traction and keeping our electronic devices dry.
Traction is severely reduced in the rain, especially those white lines, white crosswalk pads, and arrows. These areas become very slippery. Additionally train tracks become like ice when wet. You have to slow down and become more cautious when crossing these road decorations!
Also in the fall, leaves begin to appear on the road and trails. Leaves can be a little slippery when dry, but when wet, these pretty little decorations can also become like ice.
We ride using our cell phones and the “Ride with GPS” app. The cell phone, in order to utilize the visual map option along with the verbal cues, requires battery backup. Without an external battery charging the phone continuously, the internal battery only lasts a couple hours. This requires that you keep your phone, along with your battery and any cables and connections dry.
My phone and battery backup operated fine on day 1. We rode about 4 1/2 hours that day and all my electronics survived. This day, after about 4 hours I noticed that my phone was no longer charging. I watched as my battery level went down and down. I acknowledge both low battery notifications and watched as the level was at 1% for several minutes. Eventually it happened, the phone shut down just outside of Annapolis MD. You can see on the map where my phone died in Annapolis, because it then drew a straight line to the hotel where my phone was eventually charged enough to power up!
We stopped for lunch in Annapolis. I thought that my issue was that the charging port of my phone became wet. I diligently dried the charging port on the phone, my battery backup, and the cable. I could not get my phone to charge or operate again. I was blind and relied on my fellow riders to guide me to our next hotel. We don’t carry maps any longer!
Dan had prearranged with one of his college friends to provide us with a tour of the Naval Academy. At lunch, we decided to postpone the tour until later that day until after we got to the hotel and got cleaned up. Once at the hotel, we realized that it would get very late if we went back to take the tour and get a meal. Unfortunately, we had to abandon the tour.
We arrived at the hotel and my first task was to diagnose my cell phone issue. We all rely so much on our phones! My worst nightmare was that my phone went bad. I plugged it into the outlet, and it started to charge. In no time it was charged enough, and I was able to turn it on! Thank you!
Now to figure out what went wrong during the ride! Battery backup charges my light, so it works. Phone now works! Must be the short double right angle cable! Who would have thought that the weakest link in this system was the cable!!!
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