Rolly Atkinson, who passed away last month after a long illness, was the man who personified bicycling in Frederick County for many years. Rolly transferred his allegiance from the canoe to the bicycle in the early 1970's and never looked back. Until heart trouble took him out of the saddle in the late 1980's, Rolly averaged about 5000 miles a year and had covered just about every mile of paved road from Germantown to Gettysburg and from Winchester to Westminster.

Rolly spent his working life with Bell Telephone as a linesman, installer and repairman. He loved working out of doors and turned down promotions to desk jobs. At one time or another he had been inside the majority of houses in Frederick County and had an endless supply of stories that he could dredge up to enliven a dull stretch of road between, say, New Midway and Union Bridge, where he knew a house where two widowed sisters had kept a Shetland pony in the living room. Rolly was also a one-man Michelin when it came to eating places within a 50-mile radius of Frederick. It was Rolly who introduced me to Baughe'’s restaurant in Westminster, a courtesy for which I will be eternally grateful.

Having just one bicycle club in Frederick seemed like a waste of good terrain to Rolly so he founded the Free State Cluster, open to any Frederick Pedaler who had completed a ride of 100 miles in eight hours or less. To make sure no one felt left out, Rolly coached anyone who showed the slightest interest and organized four or five century rides every season. Many of these rides were ridden for the benefit of the Frederick County Association for Retarded Citizens and attracted sponsorship from various local companies.

Rolly prepared cue sheets for dozens of century rides and the sheets were widely circulated among bicycle clubs for hundreds of miles around. During the 1980's it was not at all unusual for a couple of dozen cyclists to show up at the Red Horse and spend a weekend enjoying the beautiful terrain that we local riders too often took for granted.

Once a club from Brooklyn, New York arrived and phoned Rolly to see if he could act as a guide during their stay. Of course, Rolly accepted immediately and invited me to come along. We showed up for breakfast at the Red Horse and listened as the club president warned the members that they were now in dangerous redneck territory and that there might be people shooting at them during the course of the day. Rolly took it all in without comment and excused himself to make a couple of phone calls before we got started. Our basic ride was the three covered bridges and by the time we got to Loy's Station about 20 people had just happened to be out in front of their houses when we rode by and had called hello to Rolly and the group and asked whether they would like to stop in for a minute for some iced tea and cookies. True, this ride was a little contrived but it was rare for Rolly to ride for more than a few minutes without seeing someone he knew.

For many years the Free State Cluster's default ride was to start from Baker Park at eight o'clock every Sunday morning and ride to Woodsboro for breakfast at the Towne restaurant. There we generally met Norman Marceron and one or two other occasional riders from Westminster. Depending on the weather, unavoidable commitments and other factors, we would take off northward and put in an easy 50 or 60 miles, stopping for lunch somewhere along the way.

Norman left us a few years ago after a brave fight with cancer. Now Rolly has joined him. I personally believe that both of them managed to take their bicycles with them and are now enjoying the century route that we looked for for so long—a route that's downhill both ways.

RPM Cycling 2005 Stop, Swap and Save

32ND Annual WABA Winter Gala and Benefit Auction

2005 Kustom Bike Show & Competition

Intercountry Connector Cross County Bicycle Trail Dropped

After a year and half of study, the proposed Hiker/Biker Trail that had been part of project planning for the Intercounty Connector (ICC) has been removed from the project planning study. The State Highway Administration recently completed a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed 18 to 20 mile toll highway that will connect I-95 in Prince George's County with I-270 in and Montgomery County. This can be viewed at: http://iccstudy.org/DEIS/index.php.

As currently proposed the ICC study includes two corridors and a no-build alternative. The proposed hiker/biker trail that was considered in the ICC project planning study during 2003 and early 2004 has been removed from consideration in the recently completed DEIS.

If you want the ICC to include complete bicycle access you must comment now! Let the transportation officials know you opinion on this facility soon.

Public Hearings will be conducted on January 4, 5, and 8, 2005. You are encouraged to attend and speak.

On-Line comments can be made at the following website: http://iccstudy.org/deis_form.php.

Written Comments should be made to the following persons:

Secretary Robert L. Flanagan
Maryland Department of Transportation
7201 Corporate Center
Hanover MD 21076
1-888-713-1414
410-865-1000
rflanagan@mdot.state.md.us

Neil J. Pedersen, Administrator
Maryland State Highway Administration
707 North Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
npedersen@sha.state.md.us

Public Hearing are scheduled at the following dates and times: http://www.mdot.state.md.us/Contact%20Us/TSOExecStaffList.html

Greenbelt
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
7601 Hanover Parkway, Greenbelt, MD
4:00 PM to 11:00 PM (or after the last speaker testifies)
Presentation at 5:00 PM
* Snow Date: Monday, January 10, 2005 (same location)

Gaithersburg
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Gaithersburg High School
314 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD
4:00 PM to 11:00 PM (or after the last speaker testifies)
Presentation at 5:00 PM
* Snow Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2005
James Blake High School (different location)
300 Norwood Road, Silver Spring, MD

Silver Spring
Saturday, January 8, 2005
James Blake High School
300 Norwood Road, Silver Spring, MD
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (or after the last speaker testifies)
Presentation at 10:00 AM
* Snow Date: Saturday, January 15, 2005 (same location)

Creative Ways to Climb Hills Faster
by Bill Preston

As we age, our speed on a bicycle (especially going up hills) suffers a long, slow, steady decline. Face it - we're just not what we used to be. To combat this, many of us find inventive ways of compensating - such as riding lighter bikes, replacing components with those made of carbon fiber, titanium or aluminum. Some even have gone so far as to replace bolts with titanium versions and install new wheels that approach the cost of George W. Bush's reelection campaign budget.

Perhaps the most difficult way of reducing your rider-bike weight is to actually decrease the mass of the rider. One can train harder (known as 'suffering'), eat less ('dieting' – literally meaning 'die' from 'ting' – the ancient Chinese torture by which chocolate chip cookies are placed in sight of a person who is prevented from eating them), or perform a combination of the two (ouch). No matter how you take it, it's tough medicine.

But there's something we've overlooked here. A simple, yet inventive way to lose weight. Painless (if performed correctly and with the proper anesthesia). Inexpensive (well, not really, unless you’ve got really good insurance (har!)). We're talking surgery.

Face it – we've got body parts we don't need. We've got some we don't use either. We've even got some with a lot of mileage on them, but no longer have use for (if you get my drift).

Let's start with the kidneys. Two of them were installed at birth - we only need one. Take it out! Donate it! You've performed a selfless act of courage and saved about 150 grams (source: the internet, which, as we all know, is always right). And it will only cost you a couple of grand. If you do it yourself and sell it on E-Bay, expect to net about $100,000.00!

On to the appendix. What's it used for? Nothing! It's some prehistoric remnant, a remainder from our past, unneeded and unused. Yank it! 140 grams just melted away for a measly $4000.00.

What else can we live without? At the obvious challenge of offending as many of you as I possibly can ("How am I doing, Clarence?"), here are some ideas: big toes, pinky fingers. And how about liposuction – ten pounds equals 4500 grams (for the bargain price of $2500.00)?

For men only: who among you are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to improve your hill-climbing ability? You won't be smiling like 'Bob' in those commercials, but you'll kick his butt on every hill climb. How much weight will you save? I'm not touching that one (har!).

(Editor's note: the remainder of this paragraph has been deleted; it was too disgusting even for this publication.)

We've accumulated a savings of about 4700 grams at a cost of perhaps ten thousand dollars. That's only about two dollars per gram. Not including what insurance will cover.

And, last but not least, the one I've obviously chosen as my last step in on-the-bike weight-reduction. You guessed it: Lobotomy ! Check out www.lobotomy.info for more details.

(Editor's note: The Frederick Pedalers wish to apologize for this truly tasteless attempt at humor by Mr. Preston. Please help us – write for the newsletter so that we can tell Mr. Preston to send his work elsewhere. Thank you.)

Funny Foto of the Month

Ok, so this is one way to work on your aero-tuck,
but why is this rider on a mountain bike...