2010 Rivers Bridge Ramble Century- Orangeburg, South Carolina
This is my all time favorite bike ride in South Carolina!
The start/finish for the Rivers Bridge Ramble starts in the beautiful Orangeburg, South Carolina Edisto Memorial Gardens,
The Veterans Memorial greets visitors entering the Edisto Gardens.
During the warmer months, roses will also greet the guests.
Pathways in the Gardens will take you right over the Edisto River and place you amid cypress trees and an abundance of wildlife.
The North Edisto (as well as the South Edisto closer to Bamberg) is a black water or "brackish water" river, coffee in color. and moderately swiftly flowing.
Palmetto trees are the state trees of South Carolina and grace the ride in many places.
This is the artwork for their pretty T-shirt for this year's ride.
The banner above lists contact information that should be current for 2011.
It also explicitly describes the great cause for which the ride is:
GANG INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION!
The riders are offered:
Century (100 miles)
Metric Century (actual mileage is 67 miles)
Quarter Century (27 miles)
Orangeburg is between Columbia, SC and Charleston, SC.
Orangeburg has been a great retreat for when winter has gotten rough in the mountains around Asheville, NC.
With a few hours of driving I was able to pick up 10 or 15 degrees.
There is ample parking at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center.
Our smiling hosts are friendly and helpful throughout the entire ride.
I run into Jane from Charleston, SC and Sallie from Chapel Hill, NC.
John Pardee, of Summerville and the Coastal Cyclists of Charleston, SC, is a constant volunteer for the clubs and leaps to provide a "bicycle rodeo" for the kids. Cones and objects are placed in various places to provide a light obstacle course for kids to judge their riding skills.
Safety includes instruction, skills, and helmets.
The rides have great volunteers and support from the area.
This is a great community effort
The ride leader and chief is Chief Davis of the Orangeburg Public Safety Department.
Chief Davis is a very professional public servant and example of the department.
The Chief is an avid cyclist and is sporting new bike and equipment.
Chief Davis is consistently the fastest Police Chief in South Carolina.
(This is a challenge to the other "Chiefs" to Ride The Ramble!)
Many of Orangeburg's "finest" work the ride and support the riders.
(None of the riders were arrested in the Rivers Bridge Ramble!)
The holiday lights are being erected for the coming Christmas Season.
The Chief and support cars easy-roll us onto the route!
We flow east with the Edisto leaving the start.
This is a fantastic area all year.
The Chief is sporting the new Rivers Bridge Ramble Jersey.
Many familiar faces return.
The trees in the area still hold nice color in November.
The well dressed men and women are dressing in Rivers Bridge Ramble jerseys.
The Chief! Always professional and courteous.
The rose garden is a great backdrop for the beginning of any ride.
The Sun and Veterans Memorial warm us up!
It will be another great day for a Rivers Bridge Ramble.
We leave Riverside Dr. and cross Russell St. which is Orangeburg's "Main Street".
As we cross Russell, Riverside Drive becomes Stonewall Jackson Street.
We turn right on Glover Street and head south.
I recognize red flames in front! Jane rides out of Orangeburg like her hair's on fire!
My beautiful Edisto!
Riders "jockey" for a draft.
We turn left on Cannon Bridge Road.
We turn right on Cordova Road.
Jane has stretched the riders out and we haven't ridden a mile yet.
It's a struggle as we ascend a light grade (with intensity) from the North Edisto.
This pic was a little fuzzy so I accented it. It appears "watercolored".
Robert and I get away from everyone. The camera opens on a "wide-angle" setting. The other riders are not "that" far back.
Cordova comes early.
Paul Harrell of Harrell's Bicycle World in Columbia and many of his riders are absent today.
But Robert, here, is a "one man wrecking crew".
We bear left at the tracks staying on Cordova Road (State Road Sc 38-90).
My suggestion of waiting for a few more riders is approved by Robert, and we wait for a few riders to catch, so the "two of us" don't fight the wind too much.
He had killed off everybody in 4 miles and I would have been next!
The sun hides the copula and my favorite house on the ride. It's so beautiful anyway.
Robert has really been "doing his homework" - to OUR chagrin!
We organize a disorganized group and breeze on down the Cordova Road.
This is a beautiful spot. I snap a picture here often.
Brady, Ken and Micky Dee ride the Ramble in winter.
Above is a video made years ago during a winter excursion.
It is the exact spot of the picture above.
We drove some miles for warmer weather and smooth riding.
Great friends! Brady is from the Clemson area. Ken is Major Taylor Rider from DC.
It's still all smiles.
See Rock City!
Fans were few and far between!
The roads are easy for the most part.
We're headed southeast and there is an odd wind in our faces.
We turn right on Cannon Bridge Road and head south toward Canaan.
It's not a strong wind and we keep a good pace.
We spot a tandem just up the road.
Our group is now about 8 riders.
Cycle South Carolina is taken on some of these same roads.
We turn onto Faust street and Bamberg comes quickly.
Palmetto trees are my favorite trees other than the Live Oaks!
We have a very slight grade, hardly noticeable coming into town.
There will be a "reality check" ahead!
I thought these window shades were very unique.
Faust Street, right turn on Railroad Ave.
Left on Church Street
Left on Elm Street
Right on Carlisle Street
Left on Spring Branch Road
Pretty farms!
Quiet beautiful roads.
Beautiful cotton!
A right turn puts us on Hunters Chapel heading further south.
This home has beautiful tulips in the spring. It's a cozy place with a gas pump in the yard.
We're still having a great time. Now there are only 3 of us.
Robert has a "coffee break" and soon there are four of us.
Beautiful farms are everywhere.
I've always loved this old store.
Here we take a right on Ehrhardt Road.
We're in a "tree tunnel" heading down to the Little Salkehatchie.
This is always a nice respite in the summer.
The Little Salkehatchie is much smaller than the Edisto.
It might be called a stream in other areas.
Catfish, Red Breasts, and other Bream are found in this pretty little river.
This is a bit of "horse country" right here.
This is a pretty spot and horse farm.
We're still happy campers.
They're out of the Gate!
You need to see it all from a bike.
Robert pulls strongest and longest!
The road has been repaved into Ehrhardt and I'm very glad.
We'll take a left on 601.
I missed the same photo of the same men sitting on Main Street here as I did last year. I'm consistent.
We take a right on 64 East.
The volunteers are all supportive and all smiles as we roll on.
Roll on Robert!
We take a left on Mount Pleasant Road as we leave Ehrhardt.
Horses and more horses.
Pretty farms.
Nice graveyard coming up with dogwoods lining the road.
Too late to catch a local cyclist.
I love the Live Oaks and catching a cyclist in the same scene.
Robert is all business today!
We would be on and off smooth road and harsh road.
Not far we'll turn left on Ben Road.
We turn left on Rivers Bridge Road.
We turn right on 641
We turn right on State Road S-5-8 toward and into the Rivers Bridge State Park.
We're passing through the Rivers Bridge Memorial State Park.
We turn left on Rivers Bridge Road.
We turn right on State Road S-5-19.
We finally loop back into Ehrhardt Road and take a left.
Robert pulls hard!
Robert pulls long.
Robert is the beef today!
The rough road is taking a greater toll on my shoulder and back.
Here is an old school in the Colsten Community.
We have our stop about 67 miles.
We're laughing about something. I may have still been crying though.
You can see that I time this photo perfectly to catch everyone turned the other way.
On the road again.
Ehrhardt Road has taken us through our rest stop at 301 and to this right turn on Middle Place Road.
Jane pulled at about 19 miles per hour.
Robert pulled at about 21 miles per hour.
Micky Dee would pull at about 17 miles an hour.
And we take another right on Govan Road.
We turn right on Capernaum.
In Bamberg, we take a right on Weimer Street.
Quickly we take a left on 301/Main Street.
We quickly turn right on Church Street.
We held together as a group with Robert doing most of the work.
Some Metric riders are at the Bamberg rest stop. We passed this stop twice.
We turn right on Railroad Avenue (eastward).
We turn left on Carlisle.
We very quickly turn left on East Railroad Avenue (westward).
We turn right on North Street.
A friendly couple are just ahead.
North Street becomes George Street after the Bamberg Memorial Hospital and Pawpaw Country Club.
"Keep going!", they say.
Just past here we take a right on Macklen Lane over to Old Charleston/Augusta Highway. We take a left and quickly take a right on 301. Macklen Lane tore me up. It was rough. My arm, shoulder, and back were crazy with pain. I'm really okay, maybe, for 30 miles or so without being overwhelmed with pain. We had 80 behind us here. I was a mess. Robert and Jane opened a gap right here that I could not bridge.
The rough road killed me.
The duo waited for me. And we were off on 301 to Snake Swamp Road.
We took our right turn on Snake Swamp. It was uphill from the South Edisto River. The hill isn't bad - unless you're riding with a guy named Robert!
After Swamp Road we turned left on Hudson Road.
We turned right on Blewer Road.
In Cordova we turn right on Legrand Smoak Street.
We then turn left on Orange Street.
We then turn left on Cordova Road and retrace our route back the way we left.
We turn left on Cannon Bridge Road.
We turn right on Glover.
We turn left on Stonewall Jackson Street.
Jane stopped at a rest stop and we didn't see her. She had a bad case of "hot feet".
A huge gap was between us and I couldn't leave her. She waited for me last year. There was just no decision to make really.
Robert was the best rider today.
Robert pulled the longest and strongest.
Robert was a great sport and patient.
He's a great team-mate.
So we parted with Robert with the best wishes for him!
There were many pictures I missed on our journey but if the effort is a hard one, few or no pictures are the greatest probability.
Some of these pictures are great considering how halfheartedly they were taken.
I was a pain MESS!
Pain ran down my arm from my shoulder.
Pain ran from the mid and lower back through the hip.
I wanted more of the tree here but the camera must have been heavy.
It's a crooked pic but I love it!
I can see the end from here!
I can smell the barn!
Jane and I were happier campers the closer we got- at least spiritually.
We're back to the North Edisto and back to Orangeburg.
Home again, home again, jogitty jog.
100 miles!
It felt like 101 though!
Great policemen make the world safer.
Like soldiers, their lives are constantly "on the line" for "Public Safety".
Like soldiers, they write blank checks with their lives, to be paid in full.
Orangeburg's finest have lost 3 officers from violent crimes.
They died trying to rid the world of crime and needless violence.
Let's help our police help us.
The police officers in Orangeburg are trying to make their community safer with gang awareness and prevention programs.
This Orangeburg Rivers Bridge Ramble bicycle ride can help make the streets safer.
Come out and support our police who support our communities.
Potential gang members are kids.
Potential gang victims are kids.
Victims are on both sides.
Gang awareness and prevention programs can make our world safer.
Let's adhere to the Golden Rule.
Let's raise our kids up.
Let's raise our people up.
It makes sense, economically and otherwise, to ride our bikes, promote "awareness and prevention", and enjoy beautiful scenery and comradery.
South Carolina Rides:
Charleston. SC-Wonders Way-Mick's Pics
Charleston, SC-Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park
North Carolina Rides:
Assault On Mount Mitchell 2010-A Virtual Tour
Cycling-May 2, 2010-Raven Rock Ramble-107 miles
Bike Fest 2010- A Tarwheel Bicycle Ride -15th Annual Rural Heritage Tour
June 12, 2010 Tarwheels & The Ken Har Memorial- Rawhide Bike Ride
June 26, 2010- Chatham County Habitat For Humanity 3 Ring Cycle Bicycle Ride
Mickey's Favorite Bicycle "Descending" Videos
Instructional:
Instructions For Having A Bicycle Ride
Dressing For Cycling In Cold Weather
Florida Ride:
France:
Epic Cyclists:
Major Taylor-A World Champion 1878-1932
An Ode To: The Wise Old Man - Woody Graham, Bicycle Bum
My Buddy Dave - The Birthday Ride - Whacky Facts
Poems:
When a Cyclist’s Chamois Freezes
Walking and hiking:
A Walk Around Downtown Raleigh, NC
