After months of trying to organize my first-ever 100-mile bike ride, a few friends and I were finally able to pull it off on Sunday. It was great! We followed this route:
http://www.mapmytri.com/ride/united-states/va/arlington/washington/491183464
I plotted it out ahead of time on internet maps, but you just never know what it's going to be like until you're on the ground -- and in fact in almost all cases it lived up to its promise. A few roads I was afraid might be a little too busy (ie Damascus Road) turned out to be quite deserted pavement through nice forests and farmland. The ride was hilly but not overly so, with rolling hills for much of it. After our usual ride up Rock Creek to Garrett Park Rd, we hit a very nice, winding, almost completely wooded trail for the next 5-6 miles up to Lake Needwood. (The only flaw here was that, especially in the second half of the trail, we had to pass a number of packs of runners-in-training. But we weren't trying to break any speed records anyhow.) Then we burst out of the trees and after a beautiful downhill ride through Lake Needwood state park, we followed a busy road (115) for two miles or so, and then it was into the farmland of Northern Montgomery County. One of our turns was unmarked and we missed it, so we stopped to munch snacks and regroup. Then we hit a fairly big hill, and then a nice shady road at the northern peak of the loop.
Then we started heading, broadly speaking, back south: a busy road, more shady roads, and then it was time to cut through Little Bennett Regional Park on what looked on the map to be beautiful secluded roads. I was out of water, so when we saw a golf driving range a quarter-mile into the park, we stopped there for 10-15 minutes and all refilled our waters. Then we got back on the road. It was, in fact scenic. Very scenic. But when the road turned to gravel, that was a bit of a problem and several of those present began to think about certain famous past instances that I had led people astray. But when the road was blocked by the gate to a mysterious house, surrounded by barbed wire fence, we knew it was time to really backtrack (debate continues: drug dealer or Cheney's undisclosed location?). So we improvised a path around the park and quickly got back on track, crossed under Route 270 on the appropriately named "Old Hundred Road" and then proceed to roll through 16 of the nicest roads to be found anywhere, from 270 all the way down to River Road. Then a few uphill miles along River/Seneca Road (this was kind of the low point for me physically -- I noticed at this point that we were at about the 80-mile mark, and I can tell you, the idea of conquering the huge second BRE hill at that point on our upcoming ride seemed pretty inconceivable to me).
Then saw Berrysville Road enter on our left, and then it was the same route home from there some of us have done before, with a nice long stop at a Deli (on Glen Rd & Travilah; I had a nice 32-ounce fountain coke -- something I would never ordinarily buy, but which really hit the spot, a much needed infusion of corn syrup with caffeine to boot, and an ice cream sandwhich. I was in or near virgin territory here in terms of length of endurance so whatever my body screamed for I let it have). Then home via Persimmon Tree Road and MacArthur, with several stops on that home stretch for cramps, for drinks again at a gas station, and finally, for me to fix my rear tire which was flat from an ugly slash in it (fortunately my friend Bill Murray had brought a spare tire with him -- a very nice one actually -- which he graciously sold to me on the spot).
All in all, it was an excellent ride! Good roads, good scenery, good company, good weather (more or less -- it did top out at 92 and humid, but I didn't really notice until the very end). Here were the stats as reported by my friend and GPS owner Will Colston:
We rolled almost 110 miles and 5,783 vertical feet of ascent... Our moving average speed was somewhere between 16.1 (cycling computer) to 16.4 (GPS) with a moving time of 6 hours and 51 minutes and a stopped time of 1 hour 29 minutes.
Why was it called the BYOB Century? That's a story for another day . . . [Addendum: the story]
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