Please read if you remember the Barnesville Bash - family member asking to reconnect

[Joan Oppel]

This message is from the son of the family that used to host the Barnesville Bash. They lived at the corner of Barnesville Rd and Beallsville Rd in a big old white house. 

As i was told many years ago ( I joined the club in 1990), in the 1980's PPTC riders would ride by the house and the young (autistic) son (Charles Meisnner) of the family would greet them. Over time the club riders and the son and his family became friendly and an "event" developed out of it, called the Barnesville Bash. There were several routes of different lengths, I don't remember where they started but I recollect doing at least 50 miles from somewhere that involved using the White's Ferry, but then returning on different roads. Again, as I recall, the event involved the faily serving drinks and hot dogs and possibly other items to the riders who gathered. 

If you remember and want to share memories or get in touch with Charles, his email and phone number are below. You can also reply to this message with memories and I will see that Charles gets them. But what he really wants is to talk to people he knew back then who started the relationship - which I think is the 1980's. 

Joan Oppel

(Unfortunately, I did not know Charles and was not invovled in any planning for the Bash, except to ride the routes a couple of times.)

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Charles meisnner (Pmin...@gmail.com) <mai...@mail2.clubexpress.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Subject: I was a legendary autistic member of Potomac peddlers ht my house in barnesville md….trying to recon
To: <pptcmai...@gmail.com>

Hi,,,,my name is Charles meissner,,,,I am a founding member of Potomac peddlers in the1980s we had legendary bike rides at my house 18040 baarnesville road barnesville md 18040 barnesville road barnesville md 20838……I am trying to reconnect with my pp Potomac peddlers from that era……my cell is 301.616.2272

[rzei...@gmail.com]

Following-up on Joan's email...For those of us who remember spending many broiling on Saturday's at the Meisner's...Here's an article from the Wash Post from 1990 on the Barnesville Bash

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/27/the-pedalers-pilgrimage/dc6cb881-d5c6-47cc-b762-20dbf767a950/

Cheers, Rita 

[Rita Z]

In case you can’t open the link I sent previously, below is one that is “gifted”. If you still can’t open the link but are curious about the 1990 article on the club, just do a Google search using “ Barnesville Bash” and “Washington Post”. 

Lot’s of interesting club history in the very long article. (The Post was a very different paper back then!)

One of the people quoted is former club president Richard Meinholdt. Besides being club president, Richard was also one of the leaders and maybe the originator of the long-standing Thursday night Tenley ride. It was his mandate that the after ride social take place at the awful, now defunct Zebra Room. Richard was a big believer in tradition.

Fun fact: Legend has it that Richard quit the club in a huff when the board voted to require ride participants to wear helmets. A different time, to be sure.

Here’s the gifted link to the article.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/27/the-pedalers-pilgrimage/dc6cb881-d5c6-47cc-b762-20dbf767a950/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzU0MjgwMDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzU1NjYyMzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3NTQyODAwMDAsImp0aSI6ImVjNTQ2ZTY4LWUwZDUtNDUxMy1iZTJhLTRhMzk1NDUwYmEyMiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9hcmNoaXZlL2xpZmVzdHlsZS8xOTkwLzA4LzI3L3RoZS1wZWRhbGVycy1waWxncmltYWdlL2RjNmNiODgxLWQ1YzYtNDdjYy1iNzYyLTIwZGJmNzY3YTk1MC8ifQ.TZWvHmzCUD23-wHd6KFYFqoypapybtX2xYjnX34-pIg

Cheers, Rita

Cheers,

Rita Zeidner
rzei...@gmail.com
703.402.5118 (cell)

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[Raymond Lopiccolo]

Wow, how about this way-back machine.  I drive by the Bash venue several times a week on my way to ride the towpath or to go to Frederick the back way and I often think about the Bash and the good times we had there.  I met a fellow named Paul Eisenhauer when we were both members of the Gaithersburg YMCA in the 80s and he got me to join PPTC and told me about the Bash.  I did the rides and attended it many times and it was always great.  Gotta love Trudy’s comment in that linked Post article about the “third trimester of life”, where many of us now find ourselves.  :-)

[Bruce Johnson]

Wow,  what a trip down memory lane! I somehow missed that article 35 years ago. To the best of my recollection, Richard's last name is Meinhold. I could see him resigning over the helmet issue; some of us felt that requiring helmets discouraged people from riding with the club and being educated about helmets' benefits. I certainly felt that way, even though I always ride with a helmet (but have forgotten one several times).

Nancy (formerly Bruce) Johnson
Herndon, Virginia

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[Steve Palincsar]

On 8/4/25 10:49 PM, Rita Z wrote:

In case you can’t open the link I sent previously, below is one that is “gifted”. If you still can’t open the link but are curious about the 1990 article on the club, just do a Google search using “ Barnesville Bash” and “Washington Post”. 

Lot’s of interesting club history in the very long article. (The Post was a very different paper back then!)

One of the people quoted is former club president Richard Meinholdt. Besides being club president, Richard was also one of the leaders and maybe the originator of the long-standing Thursday night Tenley ride. It was his mandate that the after ride social take place at the awful, now defunct Zebra Room. Richard was a big believer in tradition.

Fun fact: Legend has it that Richard quit the club in a huff when the board voted to require ride participants to wear helmets. A different time, to be sure.

He was the one who wore a WWI German Pickelhaube helmet in protest, right?

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Steve Palincsar
Alexandria, Virginia 
USA