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And now for my results from the 2nd doughneuring ride… This time I managed to join the ride from the beginning! First stop was District Doughnuts in SE DC. This time I sampled the maple butter pecan. Hey… that wasn’t so bad. So far I think I liked this one best from District. It was more cakey, and I enjoyed the nuts and overall flavor. It went well with the chocolate milk.

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Next… a fresh beignet from Bayou Bakery in SE DC. Warm, and lots of marvelous powdered sugar. It was pretty reminiscent of the beignets that I had in New Orleans a number of years ago. Plus, the flying powdered sugar, adding little dashes of white to everyone around me, added free entertainment!

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Finally, we reached my ultimate goal of the day – Duck Donuts in Arlington. I had been meaning to visit one of these ever since I had heard of them. Freshly made, freshly glazed, awesome flavors! Gah… I loved them. I chose two – one with Irish crème glaze and caramel drizzle. The second had vanilla glaze with raspberry drizzle. Warm and sweet and melty and delicious. I’m not sure which one I loved better. They were the highlight of the day!

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Time to catch up on some doughneuring…

On March 2nd I was getting ready for a night shift and had stayed up all night. I seem to recall that this was one of those really windy days – one where I thought I might be blown over, and I had to walk my bicycle at some points because the wind was so strong. So there I was – riding into DC at about 5:30am having stayed up all night. I decided, amidst rushing into Harris Teeter to use the restroom, that I deserved a doughnut!!!

… and what a disappointment it was. I really like apple fritters, so that’s what I chose to sample from Harris Teeter in NOMA. The thing… it was worse than the massive offering that I’ve already submitted from Shoppers. Very, very bland. And – no glaze to speak of! It was almost like biting into a dense hamburger bun, with maybe the barest hint of cinnamon and sweet. I don’t recommend it.

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@Nadine 156868 wrote:

Thanks Millie! I don’t suppose you might be free to join us to ride that day??? SOmeone I was riding with today said that’s your stomping grounds — and it sure isn’t ours! We’ve been struggling with this route for years….and usually end up having a lot of map breaks.

Hi Nadine! Unfortunately I have to work long hours on Friday and can’t take off, otherwise I would absolutely love to! There are a few other folks around here who also live in the area… I will see if I can rustle up someone available and point them in your direction.

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Hi Nadine!

Couple of things about the route – at least in the College Park area (my stomping grounds).

After going around Lake Artemesia, instead of going north on the Trolley Trail after passing behind Paint Branch Elementary, I recommend going south. Then cross Campus Drive at a really excellent crossing that has an on-demand actual red light for pedestrians and bicyclists, continue south on Rhode Island Avenue, turn right on Guilford Rd. Continue through the route 1 intersection up Guilford Rd and past the religious student unions, and then take your third exit out of the traffic circle to continue on Campus Drive over to Adelphi.

The reason why I recommend this routing is because going up Campus Drive where Lynn S’s route suggests is a narrow, busy hill – both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Going up Guilford is still a hill, but it’s a lot more gracious and forgiving, and there is much less traffic. Oh, and since St Patrick’s Day is a school day, school will be in session… usually not fun at all to ride up Campus Drive with all the pedestrian traffic – not to mention vehicle.

My second note about the College Park area is to be wary about the fair weather crossings on the Northeast Branch trail south of the duck park. It’s can be a bit sloggy if we’ve had any weather, and people like to hold glass breaking parties in that section as of late. I usually avoid bringing a road bike through there, though it will probably be all right as long as folks are aware of the potential hazards.

Hope this helps. Lake Artemesia is such a nice place to ride around.

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I hope to join! If weather is what I consider beyond the abilities of my hybrid, though, I would opt out.

Thanks.

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I stepped on the scale yesterday morning and saw that I had lost a few pounds, so thought that a little doughneuring was in order. After all, I couldn’t let that stand…

Since the previous two evenings I had arrived home rather late from my bicycling escapades, I knew that I was going to be relatively local this time. Could there possibly be Mardi Gras-themed doughnuts on Ash Wednesday nearby? Not likely, but worth the shot.

After getting in most of my miles, I stopped at Shopper’s first (this is my second doughneuring visit here). No luck on the Mardi Gras theme, so I decided to pick up one of their cronuts instead. These doughnuts used to be known by a different name before Dunkin’ came out with their cronut and Shopper’s decided to change the name, but I don’t remember what it was. Nevertheless, the Shopper’s version costs about a third of Dunkin’s over-priced version, and it’s really tasty. Airy-ness with a little bit of layering and a tasty glaze. A worthy Wednesday morning snack.

I then crossed the street to Dunkin. Well, truthfully, due to the incredibly inhospitable section of Route 1 that I had to cross, I actually went up a steep side-walk, crossed at a nearby light, took the first right, and circled up from behind the Dunkin’ by cutting through the veterinarian office there. Oh. Oops. Geez. Somebody did not clean up after their pet…

Anyway, second visit to this College Park Dunkin. No luck with Mardi Gras-themed doughnuts, so instead I picked up their newest offering – the vanilla truffle doughnut. A vanilla-filled offering, it was every bit as saccharine as you would expect. Not outside of the realm of ordinary, but not my favored fare.

Oh, and since the parking lot was so… appealing… I first found a nice picnic table near the former REI before sampling either specimen.

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I’m working, otherwise I’d infiltrate. But, have you considered sticking to the Maryland side of the river until WW Bridge? MLK Jr Blvd shouldn’t be too bad on a Saturday…

@Greenbelt 156120 wrote:

I’m thinking of an extended pastry ride that goes down the river, across to the Mount Vernon, then down through Alexandria and over the bridge to National Harbor. 10am-ish kickoff at the shop, 11am-ish from Shortcake Bakery. 1pm-ish from National Harbor; 2:30-ish from Bardo’s new beer garden?

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19297886

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BUMP: This is tonight, folks! Looking forward to gathering for frosty beverages before soggy weather hits us later this week.

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I’ve seen a lot of happy pursuit of pointless prizes out there. Reminder, this prize is still up for grabs! Who wants a multi-tool?

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I had been planning on going on the President’s Day ride, but had to change plans and stay local instead. Thus, I consoled myself with an EPIC BELTSVILLE DOUGHNEURING MINI RIDE. Yes, folks, you heard it – the best that Beltsville has to offer, minus all the gas stations, grocery stores, Starbucks, etc. There actually is a real gem in here – so read on.

First, a stop at the La Flor de Puebla Bakery (Houseplant Bakery? I kid.). I had remembered that there used to be a Korean bakery here, but it seems to have been replaced by one of the ubiquitous Latino bakeries that you see in PG County. Okay – no matter. I had sampled of Latino bakeries in the past – I would give it a shot. Upon entering, I saw that they indeed did have two varieties of doughnut – yeast chocolate frosted with sprinkles and yeast sugar-coated. The chocolate was more colorful, so I tried that…

NOPE NOPE NOPE! I tasted the frosting first – kind of a semi-sweet chocolate – not too bad – but then the bready part hit and it was simply awful. Doughnuts are not supposed to taste heavily of oil. I figure they didn’t have their oil hot enough when they fried them, because it was OILY! I ate a couple of small bites and then stashed it. By the end of the ride, the oil had soaked through the bakery paper, the paper bag, and had also liberally coated the inside of the plastic bag (glad for that extra layer!). Never again! Nevertheless, it made for a colorful photo:
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Second, I made my second visit to Raulin’s Bakery off of Route 1 – I was in desperate need of a cure after the last experience. This is where I picked up the Berliner (strawberry-filled, powdered sugar) and a bonus cinnamon-coated cake doughnut. Once again, upon tasting the cinnamon doughnut, I was questioning myself – why didn’t I go here more often? The slight crustiness, the soft interior, the taste of the bready part, the perfect amount of coating… all for a really decent price. Despite all the neat gourmet doughnuts in DC, I could very happily subsist on Raulin’s doughnuts for years. OMG SO GOOD! As for the Berliner, even though I’m not a jelly doughnut fan in general, this was also very tasty. It managed to be both substantial (heavy), and yet not a burden to eat the entire thing. Considering the filling still had strawberry seeds in it, I was happy to think that it wasn’t all “mystery filling.” If you are going to go to Beltsville for a doughnut, please stop here!
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I stopped at Panera for a pecan cinnamon roll, but consider that a little outside of the qualified entries. That was for my family at home.

Finally, since Costco was right across the street, I went there. Bike parking? Non-existent. It’s as if they don’t think bicyclists are going to go shopping for bulk. I did, however, find a appropriately-sized tree and locked up there. It was early, but the food court and the churros were warm. In my mind, the only way this is not a doughnut is in the shape. Fried dough combined with a cinnamon sugar topping – it even looked like one of the doughnuts I had just purchased at Raulin’s. It was.. okay. Tasty as far as the range of churros I’ve had at Costco in the past. After having just sampled the cinnamon cake doughnut across the street, the flavor of the churro’s bready part was far inferior. Luckily, it was warm and it had a really nice amount of cinnamon-sugar coating, so I was fine with it.
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Patriotic socks? I wore some – just wrong country.
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I will not be able to make it. My family misses me, and I haven’t quite trained them up to follow me anywhere I go… yet. Have a great ride!

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Yesterday I was riding my bike around Lake Artemesia. I had gloves on, so I couldn’t take a picture using my phone very easily. However, I improvised by touching the tip of my tongue to the touch screen. Surely that counts for some kind of Danger Panda? Amirite???

Just kidding.

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@Judd 155317 wrote:

For the Murlanders intimidated by the great impenetrable wall that we respectable Virginians have erected to keep you out of Rosslyn, I’d suggest meeting us at the parking lot of Theodore Roosevelt Island at approximately 11:20. The next best place would be at the Kennedy Center on the Potomac River Side around 11:35ish

Thank you! I should be able to meet at either one of those places, or at some point in between.

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Okay, I’m a little jealous of all these massive gatherings that folks in MoCo and Arlington seem to enjoy all the time. So.. just to show that we try to be social in PG County as well, here are two meet-ups from this morning.

First, Laurie, Mary, Brett, and Millie (3 from team six and 1 from team seven) at the Board and Brew in College Park:

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Second, Laurie, Mary, Kate, and Millie (3 from team six and 1 from team four) at Shortcake Bakery in Hyattsville:

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PS – I’m not expecting any points. Just trying to be social.

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@Judd 153970 wrote:

Date: Monday, February 20th
Time: Gather at 10:30 and ride at 11:00
Place: Starbucks at 1501 17th St N – https://goo.gl/maps/Ex7BZDauwfw

Dang. I misread this. I thought we were meeting in some easy-to-get-to DC Starbucks. When will the ride cross-over into DC for us Arlington-challenged riders?

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