TUESDAY GROUP BIKE RIDE 12, 12, 2017
Cold weather one day warmer weather the next day, I had been watching the temperature for the past week, ever since I agreed to lead the Tuesday Group Outing. I had picked to do a Bike Ride in Suffolk starting from Driver off of Hwy 337 and the weatherman said Sunday & Monday would be very cold and on Tuesday it may warm up to low 60’s with Tuesday night and Wednesday being our coldest night for this winter. Well, we lucked out and had very good weather with the sun and nice temps. The wind wasn’t bad most of the ride and sometimes it was behind us pushing us along. (So much for the weather)
There was no Hardee's in this area for us to meet at so Bill opt for Burger King where 13 of us met around 8:00 A.M. for breakfast. We had some of everything like French toast sticks, bacon & egg biscuit and yogurt. Leaving here we drove up to the church and started unloading are bikes with 6 more bikers showing up, making our group 19 in all. We had Bob M, Maureen, Jack, Bill B, Marti, Ellis, J P, Bob S, Carl, Bill L, Steve B, Steve R, Jim, Margaret P, Vic, John, Margaret J, Bruce and Bill L rode his bike from his house about 5 miles. We had our safety talk and I tried to tell everyone where the route would run but most didn’t know the roads anyway, so I said if we would stay together we would be O K.
We started down the 4 mile bike route heading east from Driver towards I- 664. The wind here was behind us and we moved right along reaching the end of the paved route in a few minutes. I wanted to show the group the overpass where the train track had been moved a few years earlier and rerouted down between I- 664. This would give an area to build the bike route all the way to downtown Portsmouth, someday? Turning around here we headed back and road through one of the neighborhoods before making our way back to Driver. At the trailhead we had a stopped for a bathroom break and for water and a snack. We had gone 10 miles and this was about half of our total 20 mile trip.
Going through Driver to Bennett’s Pasture Rd. we now were on roads with traffic and we road in single file making a left onto this road. It was only a mile and one tenth and we headed back into another neighborhood and less travel roads. On this trip we saw a Bald Eagle, 3 deer, 4 dogs and a few squirrels, the bad part was the 3 deer had been hit by cars and were lying on the side of the road. Driving at night in this area you need to slow down and be watching for the deer and other animals crossing the roads.
Our next stop was at Sleeping Hole Park for our lunch and the wind had died down and it was 56 degrees, so we took over one of their picnic shelters and ate our sandwiches. On the write up I told Ellis to put down that I had a surprise for all and it was getting close to the end of our ride and some had asked, “where is this surprise?”, so I told everyone that we were going to the Obici Golf Course and have a private tour of the Obici Mansion which was built in 1924 and was called The Bay Point Farm Mansion. Amedeo Obici (Ah-may-day-o O-bee-chee) founder of Planter’s Peanuts had this built for his wife and he lived here until his death in 1947. The city of Portsmouth owned it in the 60’s and 70’s and in the 70’s built the golf course, and then the city of Suffolk bought it in 2008. The house was in bad shape, so the city using private funds from James R. Rountree restored the mansion to what it is today.
We only had 1.5 miles left and we biked into the parking lot about 1:45 P.M. All had a good time biking and everyone really enjoyed the tour and some said they were going back to eat on Thursday when it is open for all. They do have a snack bar which is open daily, starting at 8:00 A.M.
Bruce J
Click on the link to view Bob M's Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LPMLIpRleut8el6t2
Bill Billings' Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tTQXbm0BQMOMOEh22