Goal Achieved: My quest for 100 miles

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 28 total)
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  • #911720
    bluerider
    Participant

    Yesterday, I headed out from the Adams Morgan neighborhood in lovely DC and rode to Purcellville, VA via the W&OD trail. It was the first time I had ridden the whole thing, finally clearing the Century mark!!!!!! Stopped for a couple of Haute Dogs in Purcellville for lunch.

    My body is broken but I am happy.

    #945852
    consularrider
    Participant

    Well done! I did my century in the other direction yesterday, riding through DC out to Annapolis and back for the first time. It was rather a muggy day for all that exploring.

    #945855
    jrenaut
    Participant

    @consularrider 25309 wrote:

    Well done! I did my century in the other direction yesterday, riding through DC out to Annapolis and back for the first time. It was rather a muggy day for all that exploring.

    Not to hijack the thread, but what route did you take? I live in DC but grew up in Annapolis and have thought about biking there sometime, but don’t know how one would do it (Route 50 is somewhat bike-unfriendly).

    #945856
    off2ride
    Participant

    Congrats on your century ride. :)

    @bluerider 25305 wrote:

    Yesterday, I headed out from the Adams Morgan neighborhood in lovely DC and rode to Purcellville, VA via the W&OD trail. It was the first time I had ridden the whole thing, finally clearing the Century mark!!!!!! Stopped for a couple of Haute Dogs in Purcellville for lunch.

    My body is broken but I am happy.

    #945860
    Dickie
    Participant

    Well done, I’ve been meaning to do the round trip for some time but always get distracted by other routes. How were the dogs?

    #945861
    bluerider
    Participant

    @rsewell19 25317 wrote:

    Well done, I’ve been meaning to do the round trip for some time but always get distracted by other routes. How were the dogs?

    The Haute Dogs were awesome. Had a Three Piece Suit and an L.A. Dog. with some fries. Not the best food for a long ride back but a reward. I couple of energy gels and a Gatorade got me through the heat.

    I guess Haute Dogs is going to open a store in Alexandria. So my you are a lover of meat in tube form I highly recommend it.

    http://www.hautedogsandfries.com/

    #945863
    creadinger
    Participant

    Congrats on the century! I think the W&OD played a key role in my first century a few years ago.

    My wife and I did PMC training rides this weekend. We rode out to Purcelville on Saturday, spent the night in Leesburg, then crossed the river for the hilly return to Arlington via River Rd on Sunday. She saw the entirety of the W&OD, White’s Ferry, Poolesville, River Rd, 41st St, and Military Road all for the first time, but none of that was as cool as if we had gone to Haute Dogs on Saturday. Dangit! I didn’t know it was there. Next time I guess.

    #945865
    bluerider
    Participant

    Indeed, Haute Dogs is down Main Street and right around the corner in a strip shopping center. Its a great end of W&OD reward. My first experience was awesome!!!!!

    I am training to ride the Civil War and Seagull Centuries this fall so its good to clear the 100 miles mark this quickly. Planning a ride to Mount Weather to kill myself on hills with the hope that the Civil War won’t be so punishing. I may be naive.

    #945876
    TwoWheelsDC
    Participant

    @bluerider 25322 wrote:

    Indeed, Haute Dogs is down Main Street and right around the corner in a strip shopping center. Its a great end of W&OD reward. My first experience was awesome!!!!!

    I am training to ride the Civil War and Seagull Centuries this fall so its good to clear the 100 miles mark this quickly. Planning a ride to Mount Weather to kill myself on hills with the hope that the Civil War won’t be so punishing. I may be naive.

    I’m on pretty much the same training regimen for the CWC…doing 100 miles is relatively easy, but throw in 9000 ft of climbing and it’s a serious challenge! So I’m hoping to make at least one or two trips out to the Blue Ridge before Sept. to practice the long climbs. I think the hills around here are good practice though if you really push yourself. I did some riding in the NC mountains a few weeks ago and the main climb basically was 2200 feet of climbing in 10 miles…it was tough going, but I survived without too much drama even though it was the first time I’d done such a long climb like that. Also, the big thing I learned from my first organized century is that it’s waaaaaay easier when you have folks to ride with…kinda removes the element of mental fatigue, which for me is a big one.

    #945881
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Congrats!

    I tried riding out to Purcellville when I did my first century a couple years ago. But some nasty storms earlier that week had knocked over several trees across the western section of the W&OD. I didn’t make it that far past Leesburg before I was forced to turn back because of the downed trees. I rode back to D.C. and then did loops around Hains Point to get over 100 miles for the day.

    #945885
    DaveK
    Participant

    We were out there yesterday on the W&OD as well heading out in the morning to come back via White’s Ferry/River Road. I wanted to change the route to come back via the W&OD instead of Maryland but I was overruled in the name of avoiding afternoon Fred traffic on the W&OD.

    #945890
    bluerider
    Participant

    The Fred traffic wasn’t that bad surprisingly.

    #945896
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    LOL

    I like the phrase “Fred traffic” although I don’t like the actual Fred traffic so much.

    There was a bit of Fred traffic on the MVT. Normally I try to avoid riding on the MVT but I wanted to go over to Hains Point. I really can’t stand the people who try to do fast time trialing on the crowded sections of the MVT, and who make aggressive passes in between two-way bike traffic on the trail. Go over to Hains Point instead!

    #945902
    creadinger
    Participant

    @DaveK 25343 wrote:

    We were out there yesterday on the W&OD as well heading out in the morning to come back via White’s Ferry/River Road. I wanted to change the route to come back via the W&OD instead of Maryland but I was overruled in the name of avoiding afternoon Fred traffic on the W&OD.

    Yeah, for some reason I think we hit the Fred jackpot on River Rd yesterday. I’ve never seen so many cyclists on River Rd before and I’ve done it 100 times. It’s not like the weather was super nice either. Fortunately because we started out in Leesburg they were all still heading west at 9am. Everyone seemed to be well behaved except for two ladies out by the planetary radio emissions discovery sign. They were riding VERY wide 2 abreast and had 3 cars stuck behind them. They obviously did not care about the frustrated drivers behind them because they ignored the calls of “Car back!” from within their own group.

    #945903
    Justin Antos
    Participant

    That website makes me want to ride to Purcellville – right now.

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