BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Denise and Stuart Talbert came from Maine for their first Cycle Across Maryland and couldn’t believe the number of seniors participating.

“I just can’t picture my parents in spandex,” said Denise Talbert, 42, who grew up in Dundalk and did the 54-mile ride Sunday. “The Eastern Shore is such a great place to ride, though, and hey, if you liked cycling and were ready to retire, this would be the place.”

Sunday concluded the popular, 850-registrants-strong, four-day bike fest, with young, old and in-between alike getting in their last miles before heading home. Saturday had featured a 100-mile ride, as well as several shorter routes; the longest ride on the final morning was 54 miles.

“This is a good fundraiser for us,” said Paul Lebow, president of One Less Car, the Maryland bicycling and pedestrian advocacy organization that organized the event, “and it’s fun. There is a split here of hard-core cyclists and recreational riders; however, people get to know each other and everyone loves it.”

Charlene Rollins, from Richmond, and Mary Ann Huntley, a University of Delaware math professor, met six years ago at a ride in Washington state, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, which held it’s national rally this year at Cycle Across Maryland, and got together for this one, too.

“I ride because I don’t want to look like a math professor,” Huntley joked.

The treks took cyclists through wetlands and into the Janes Island State Park. The middle leg went through Crisfield, a small town that doesn’t appear to have changed in the last 50 years and is known as “The Crab Capital of the World.”

“We got the J.M. Tawes Clam Bake here Wednesday,” said Donald Howard, 70, offering a good reason to stay for a couple more days. Howard is a volunteer at the Marion Fire House, a rest stop for cyclists, just outside Crisfield.

“This is the third time Cycle Across Maryland has asked us to be one of the break spots. I always say ‘Yes’ — everybody’s having a good time and you meet people from different parts. They’re already asking about next year, and I said, ‘Just let us know.’ ”

rcassie@baltimoreexaminer.com