View From A Bike

I got in a really good ride today, and I have pictures to share!! :) I was supposed to ride with someone today, but we must have had a failure to communicate. No biggy, though. I wasn't particularly thrilled about the park he chose, anyway (once I saw it). I'll have to buzz him and try again later. I had waited for him for a while, then went to Mickey D's to pick up some breakfast. I then drove to Georgetown to ride the Capital Crescent Trail. I rode that trail all the way to Bethesda/Chevy Chase, and ran into Wisconsin Avenue. I'd only ridden about 7 miles to Bethesda and missed the tunnel that I was supposed to pick up. I got a little lost on some side street, and saw a couple of cute houses that are ready for Halloween. It made me nervous to ride on the street when the trail portion ended. I couldn't find the other connecting trail that would lead me to Rock Creek Park, so I just doubled back toward Georgetown. It felt like the ride would be too short, though. So I decided to try out the C&O Towpath, a trail that runs on top of what used to be an old rail line. That was a somewhat painful trip - it's gravelly and bumpy. I decided on the spur of the moment to just ride out to the Great Falls. That was about 11 miles from the point where the Capital Crescent Trail intersected with the towpath. I got some very nice pictures of the Potomac along the way. Hope you like them. So, all in all... let's see...

• 7.5 miles to Bethesda and getting a little lost
• 5 or so miles back to Fletcher's Boathouse to pick up C&O Towpath
• 11 miles from that point to Great Falls overlook
• 11 miles back to Fletcher's Boathouse to pick up CCT
• 2.2 miles from Fletcher's Boathouse to the end of the trail.

I put in about 36 miles today, almost 37. Not bad! I averaged around 9 or 10 miles an hour. A leisurely pace... My other biking buddy, the bigtime enthusiast, went out to the Eastern Shore (near Ocean City, MD) this weekend to do a "century ride" - 100 miles! There is a metric century (about 63 miles) that he encouraged me to ride, but I had a little trepidation about that, and I didn't feel like driving out to the Eastern Shore. Maybe next year! Lastly, here are my pictures. Click on a thumbnail to pop open a new window with the picture in all its glory. Mouse over the image to see the alternate text. Whew!