Dolly's Bike Blog

This will be a quick post to reassure everyone that I am still alive and pedaling.  Hopefully, tomorrow I can fully update the blog.

Today was a long, hard, but fun day.  We left Alexandria and followed the Mount Vernon Trail past Reagan National Airport into the city and around the Lincoln Monument.  About 12 of us ended up together, somewhat lost, and had to traverse grass and numerous busy access roads to get to the trail along the Potomac.  We cycled next to Georgetown, then on to the Capital Crescent Trail, entering Maryland, and transitioning to the Rock Creek Trail.  The Mount Vernon and Capital Crescent Trails were quite busy with many cyclists heading to work with panniers or back packs.  No one called out the passes, so it was at times stressful.

The Rock Creek Trail is a beautiful trail through woods, along the creek, winding up and down.  There are lots of tree roots causing bumps in the trail, so you don’t make especially good time on these type of trails.  It was after noon before we exited the trails, only half way through the 75-mile day, and facing a lot of hills.

I rode with Susan R. and Janet B. for the hilly segments and we just kept going, a slow and steady pace.  One climb was over a mile long 6-8 % grade, and several pop-up hills over 12%!  I only walked two short segments.  We didn’t get in to the hotel in Owings Mills (suburb of Baltimore) until almost 6 pm.

So, you can imagine that I am exhausted, but with a great sense of accomplishment!  After a good night’s rest, I’ll be ready to face the challenges ahead!

Hot (90 degrees this afternoon), humid, and hilly – words to describe the day, not one of my favorite.  My Garmin reads 3802 ft of ascent today – hopefully I will find my climbing legs soon.  I did hit 29 mph on one of the descents!

As we left Richmond, we passed The Diamond, home of the Flying Squirrels, a AA team affiliated with the San Francisco Giants.  Susan G. from our group is a big Giants fan and is now sporting a Flying Squirrels T-shirt.

Not many photos given the conditions, and the distance (74.96 miles).  I must say the last 1.5 miles to the hotel was the worst due to traffic and no shoulder, but we all survived to ride another day.

We continue to ride on parts of the U.S. Bicycle Route System (U.S. Bike Route System) – someday it will be 10,000 miles around the U.S.

The worst part of the day was having to ride back 9 miles on the Colonial Parkway.  I took a photo of the road surface.

But then we transitioned to the best part of the day, almost 30 miles on a bike path, the Capital Trail, our first on this tour. We mostly paralleled Route 5, wandering first through hardwood forests, then wheat fields.  Eventually, the Trail will run all the way to Richmond, some 53 miles, though several segments are currently under construction.  I did detour to stop by Sherwood Forest Plantation, the longest frame house in America, once home to President John Tyler (Sherwood Forest Plantation).

After the trail ended, we were in an area of Civil War significance.

When we passed this cemetery, we assumed it was Civil War dead, but it turned out to be a more recent military burial site (many Vietnam veterans).

We were briefly on Bike Route 76, part of the Adventure Cycling National Bike Route system.  About 6 miles before the end, we rejoined the Capital Trail for about a mile, into Richmond.

Kathy Q. and I opted to stop at the Virginia State Capitol for some photos – and ended up drenched by a pop-up shower, luckily it was warm and the rain cooled us down for the final 3 miles to our hotel.

67.66 miles today; 1533.05 miles from Fort Lauderdale; 1761.54 miles from Key West.