Bikin’ to Ballston

Andrew and I might be insane, but we decided to say “screw it” to the 90% humidity today and hopped on our bikes. We ended up riding on the W & OD trail south from Vienna to the Custis Trail and then off to Ballston in Arlington. It turned out to only be about 10 miles, so this might be a trip we could do round-trip next time, with a movie at the mall as a rest-stop. This time, though, we took the Metro back to Vienna from Ballston. It was a fun ride — of course it’s generally fun to go someplace we haven’t been before, and this time the ride wasn’t too strenuous (thankfully, since it was hot and humid…mostly humid).

Pretty red flowers on the trail in Falls Church:

And there were raspberries everywhere — almost ripe:

Total distance: 11 miles (my odometer said 10.89 miles, but I forgot to put my computer on for about the first 0.1 miles, so I’m rounding a bit)

Tags: bike

Back on the Bikes

Andrew and I finally got back on the bikes today. We’d been away for the past two weeks with, first, my Dad’s visit, and second, a nasty cold. It was good to get back on the trail! We biked from downtown Vienna up to Reston to catch the 11 AM showing of War of the Worlds. We also stumbled upon the Reston Festival, with arts and crafts booths set up in Reston Town Center, along with bands and food. Also there, was this huge McGruff the Crime-Dog® balloon:

Total miles: 14.2 miles

Tags: bike

Biking Weekend

Andrew and I managed to get out on the bikes both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. It was a perfect weekend for it, too. Last weekend, when we did the PPTC ride, it was near 90 degrees and HUMID. This weekend, it was in the lower 80s with low humidity. Yay for great biking weather.

On Saturday we took the bikes up to the Vienna Community Center, and hopped on the W & OD trail heading south/east. This brought us to one of our favorite destinations: Hole in the Wall Books in Falls Church.

Total (round-trip) miles: 12.24 miles.

On Sunday we drove up to where the W & OD trail intersects Hunter Mill Road. We took the path north/east this time, and went into Herndon. This is the furthest that either of us has been on the path (except, of course, for our honeymoon, when we started at the other end of the W & OD in Purcellville).

Total miles: 15.58 miles.

Total weekend miles: 27.82 miles. Yay us!!

Tags: bike

PPTC — My first ride

I made my first ride with the Potomac Pedalers this morning. It was a ride along the Fairfax County’s paved path along Ox Road (aka 123) from the Fairview Elementary School to the Lorton Valley shopping center.

Here we all are at the shopping center:

A few thoughts on this ride and riding in groups:

• I found it fun riding with the group because it felt safer — cars seemed to respect us as a group more than they do in ones or twos.
• It was a bit nerve-wracking riding with a group, though, because I was constantly worrying about watching the signals from the rider in front of me, wondering if I’m close enough/too close to the bike in front of me, wondering if the bike behind me is close enough/too close, worrying that I’m slowing people down.
• This ride was supposed to be 13 miles (at least that’s what the schedule said), and a “D” level ride, which should keep a pace of no more than 12 mph on flat terrain. However, it ended up being 15 miles and the pace was more like 13-15 mph. I was fine on the way out, but it was generally downhill. However, on the way back, I just couldn’t keep the pace up, so I grabbed Andrew and we had the “sweeper” go on without us.
• After Andrew and I broke off at our own pace, we were able to stop, go a bit slower for a while, and catch our breath. In fact, we stayed about the same distance behind the group once I caught my breath. We were also able to enjoy our surroundings a bit more — I even spotted a deer off the trail that we likely wouldn’t have seen if we had been busy worrying about the other riders.

Overall I’m not sure how I felt about the ride. I did enjoy being part of a group; however, I was very frustrated that I couldn’t keep up the pace on the second leg of the ride. However, when I found out that “D” rides were supposed to be kept at a bit slower pace, I’m more upset at the leader. I realize that the other riders had no trouble, but if the ride is advertised as a “D”, I expect a “D”. We’re thinking about another ride in two weeks, but, frankly, I’m just not sure…

Tags: bike, suckitude

Hole in the Wall Books (II)

We biked up to Hole in the Wall Books again today. We didn’t have very much time last Thursday, since we needed to get back to the car before it got too dark, so we decided to head out again today and take our time at the bookstore.

The ride feels shorter and shorter each time that we do it. Today, like Thursday, I actually made it up the big hill going east just after the Beltway. But today, unlike Thursday, I also made it up that same hill going the other way. Whoo Hoo!

Our destination:

After we got back, Groom Bear, in the back seat of the car, felt the need to be protected from my driving:

Another after-work ride

We’ve had little opportunity to bike on the weekends, with the panda-hunting trips and wedding errands, so we went out after work tonight. Sadly, it will soon get too dark too early to ride after work.

Tonight we took the W&OD trail from Vienna towards Falls Church. We made a little side trip to Hole in the Wall Books on Broad Street (aka Route 7). It’s just a block or so off of the W&OD trail, and the road has sidewalks, so it’s an easy ride. There I picked up a few books on the 100 Most Challenged Books of 1990-2000 list. Banned Books Week is Sept 24 – Oct 1 this year, and I want to release books like I did last year.

On our way back, I took a couple pictures:

The road behind

and the road ahead:

Total miles: 10.4

After-work ride

I’ve started feeling a bit restless and couped-up, so I dragged Andrew and me out on our bikes tonight. It was 93 degrees with 70% humidity and a 40% chance of severe scattered showers (though the sky looked clear). I didn’t care…I needed to get out.

We loaded the bikes on his car and drove up to the W&OD trail in Vienna and headed off toward the southeast. Considering neither of us has been biking for aobut a month, I think we did fairly well. We made it up the hill just past where the trail crosses the Beltway (though I did have to walk up about a quarter of the hill…on the other hand, that’s further up the hill than I’ve ever made it on the bike).

I made us stop on the Beltway bridge on the way back. My hope was to get a picture of a car or two passing under us, but only managed blank street. The traffic wasn’t dense enough, I guess. But I still think the picture looked kind of cool:

Total miles: 6.7

Biking the W&OD on my own

Andrew and I were going to go down to Georgetown to go panda hunting, but Andrew’s back started to spasm about half an hour before we were going to leave. He seems to be doing okay, but it continues to twinge at odd times, so it seemed best not to do all that walking today.

So, I packed up my bike and drove up to the W&OD trail to get some biking in. I first tried to park at the Hunter Mill Road lot, but the car in front of me got the last spot, so I drove down to Vienna and parked there. The one thing I had forgotten was that while biking out of Vienna, north towards Reston is all on a slight down-grade. That’s all well and good, but that means that the last 3 miles of the trip back to the car is on a slight up-grade. That’s a miserable ride, especially with temperatures of 85° F and 50% humidity. Oh, and I reached bicycle-seat intolerance around mile 8, making that last two miles a real joy. Oh well, at least I got out and met my 10 mile goal.

Total miles: 10.1

Biking, Odd Sermon, and Errands in Vienna

We went out on the bikes again today, though this time just up to Vienna for a few errands (a stop at the bike shop to get Andrew a kick stand and me a small bag to carry an extra inner tube and a few tools).

On the way, we took a picture of a sermon title Andrew had spotted earlier in the week:

(I googled “+cat +bedpost +tie” and found the origin of this sermon title on several pages. Here is one called, The Center of Your Home. Do a search for “cat” on the page if you don’t want to read the entire sermon.

Andrew pointed out that this is similar to another urban legend where the bride cuts off the ends of the brisket because that’s the way her mother prepared it.)

Total miles: 8.0 miles

Biking to Alexandria (Second Time)

Last year, one of our final bike trips was from the Rossyln Metro station down to Alexandria along the Mount Vernon Trail. This year, we got off the Metro one stop earlier, at Courthouse, and went from there to Alexandria. While this added a couple miles to the trip, it didn’t actually add to the difficulty, because the extra bit was all down hill.

I took a couple pictures along the way:
Toward Downtown DC (it was a hazy day, so this isn’t the greatest pic)

A cool ship docked in Alexandria by the Torpedo Factory:

The George Washington Masonic Memorial:

Along the way, we stopped at Regan National Airport to see the Pandamania pandas there.

Total miles: 14.5