[JimF22003]

I wheedled myself another ride out to Purcellville with my buddy after work tonight, so I’m going to have another 35-mile tailwind (I hope.) I wanna go right now

[JimF22003]

Excellent. I have gotten all the way to the start point of a “big ride” more times than I care to remember (it was three times) and realized I’ve forgotten something crucial. Usually it’s my shoes for some reason…

[JimF22003]

The route actually took me past three bridges. I just showed the two purdiest ones. The ones on my route were in Utica, Loys Station and Roddy/Roddy Creek.

Pay no attention to how slow I was. It was windy

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/287929924

Here’s all the pics:’
http://s263.photobucket.com/user/JimF22003/story/19409

[JimF22003]

@DaveK 47326 wrote:

Boy that looks familiar…

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?636-OneEighth-Sighting&p=45084#post45084

Yeah, but did you run into a gang of 50-something Harley riders at Loy park? Those guys were some scary looking lawyers and dentists…

[JimF22003]

From Saturday, following a Potomac Pedalers cue sheet that hits some of the covered bridges around Thurmont. Added a side trip up into Gettysburg for a 65-miler.

[JimF22003]

@DismalScientist 47064 wrote:

You can avoid about 3 miles of the towpath by taking Keep Tryst Road and Sandy Hook Road between Weaverton, MD and the opposite side of the bridge into Harper’s Ferry.

When I ride between Brunswick and HF, that’s how I go. There’s still a stretch of 340 to take from Knoxville (180) to Keep Tryst, but it’s rideable. It looks like a freeway, but it’s not (exactly)

Here’s a ride I did that uses this route. I sometimes cross the C&O into HF when going this way, or when coming back through Hillsboro:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212106175

[JimF22003]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/03/21/record-blocking-patterns-fueling-extreme-washington-d-c-march-weather/

[JimF22003]

@GuyContinental 46433 wrote:

http://app.strava.com/activities/44427004 Speed, Cadence & Max HR say it all.

Hey I’m not going to show my work. I was fast, for ME, but I wasn’t “fast”

[JimF22003]

Oh yeah, that rocked. A little colder than I expected, but a ton o fun.

[JimF22003]

Hmm,

JimF22003 is “Jim F”… now I’m exposed

[JimF22003]

The “sidepath” in front of the shops at Mosaic is really just a wide sidewalk as far as I’m concerned. Too many curb cuts. Too many pedestrian intersections to compete with peds for. Just because it is wide and partially blacktopped doesn’t make it a good place to ride a bike. It’s the same reason I no longer take the old sidepath on Gallows where we now have actual bike lanes, or why I usually ride on Virginia Lane instead of the W&OD where it crosses over I66.

[JimF22003]

@lordofthemark 45689 wrote:

So it turns out this is definitely a bikeable route from Annandale to Mosaic.

Nice. And if you can get to Mosaic it’s pretty safe to get past the metro where the bike lanes begin on Gallows.

Speaking of which…. why with THREE traffic lanes in each direction in front of the Mosaic District was there not room for actual bike lanes?

[JimF22003]

I ride west of Herndon after dark all the time… So do tons of other people. I hope they don’t plan to start enforcing this for people who are riding safely and are properly illuminated…

[JimF22003]

When I’m riding on Skyline Drive, or the BRP, the altimeter shown on my garmin is usually within 25-50 feet of the road-side markings, which I consider pretty good. Weirdly when I get down to the Potomac, say on Hains Point, it often shows at -150 feet or so.

[JimF22003]

Yesterday I drove out on River Rd to start my ride at Rileys Lock. I passed a bunch of riders.

My reactions to seeing and dealing with them were all over the map. First thought: oh, other bikes — cool!. Then, OK how am I going to pass here so they know that I don’t think they’re a problem? I don’t want to buzz them, but I don’t want to go way out into the other lane, so they think I feel inconvenienced by them? How do I pass in such as way as to indicate, I’m showing respect, you’re not a problem, keep on carrying on boys and girls!

In one case two riders were riding side by side, and one was basically riding directly in the center of the lane. That’s not something I would do on a busy narrowish road like this. Truthfully I think it’s kind of a jerky thing to do. I could see how it would piss off some drivers, but at the same time I suppose it could be justified as “vehicular cycling” or something. So… do I get mad about it or not? How do I think it will reflect on me as a cyclist?

In another case I couldn’t pass for a few seconds because of oncoming traffic. Again, it didn’t bother me a bit except that it made me have to think about my strategy — how slow do I need to go to time the pass — could I squeeze by or not (answer was not, but I bet a lot of other drivers would do it because in truth there was room enough, but it would be a bit “buzzy” to the riders.) When I pass are the riders going to think I’m all PO’d at them? Don’t accelerate too fast or they’ll think I’m gunning my engine in order to make some kind of a point…

I think it comes down to the fact that driving a car in the presence of cyclists causes you to have to do a little extra thinking, and that’s not something even I really enjoy having to deal with. It doesn’t make me hate the cyclists at all, but it can take even drivers with the best of intentions out of their safe zones, and that can cause stress.

Unfortunately some drivers deal with stress by running you over….

[Author]

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