Good ride yesterday. I'm going to try to make this short, as I have a bunch of roles/permissions testing to do (funnnn) and need to get to the barn early this evening.

Started off at Westgate Park, then cycled east and then north of the Georgetown Pike. My turnaround point was at the end of a subdivision of houses with million dollar views. Sadly, the best view was obstructed by some monstrosity of a house… complete with gated driveway and security camera. I'm curious as to whether it's a famous person living there, or just someone who's tired of chasing view-seekers away.

There was one house next to it that's still under construction and void of any inhabitants - I figured I might as well get in a good look at the Potomac River before it's completed. After sliding down the driveway and traipsing through some mud, I got my reward:

Okay, I look like a tool in this shot. But isn't the river gorgeous?

After the gnats started to become unbearable, I hiked back up to my bike, dug the dirt out of my cleats and continued on my ride. As you can see below, I did some wacky ass stuff in hopes of adding a few extra miles in. Looking back, that one section where I cross Old Dominion twice instead of just going straight on OLD Chesterbrook was totally pointless. Sometimes I feel like half of my ride is spent waiting for a break in traffic so I can cross those busy road. Trying to ride across Dolley Madison/123 during rush hour is like playing real life Frogger.

It also didn't occur to me to check the elevation map before leaving, as I was hit with several hard climbs at the 20 mile mark. I was starting to get tired at that point and that half a Power bar's energy was long gone, so not the wisest move on my part.

Overall, 26 miles… 2 miles more than mapped due to a missed turn. (Not to be confused with getting lost.)

My Friday evening ride started off well, then started to go downhill (not literally) once I hit the last third. Thinking back, I think it started getting crappy when I took a wrong turn and did about four extra (and hilly) miles. As I've mentioned before, I get lost easily. I think it's a combination of:

a) a bad sense of direction,
b) the tendency to second-guess myself, and
c) a slight map dyslexia

that make things go south in a hurry. If my cue sheets aren't written just so, I get all bent out of shape and pissed off that I can't figure out where the hell I am. (Doesn't help that I seem to have a bit of that male "can't ask for directions" disease, too.)

As you can see below, there were lots of turns on this route. My detour occurred at mile 6.5, where I was supposed to make a left turn at a T onto Chesterbrook Rd. However, when I hit Chesterbrook, it wasn't at a T. Based on my previous rides in this area, I knew that there is an Old Chesterbrook Rd. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I convinced myself that maybe I had meant to write down Old Chesterbrook, and proceeded to make all sorts of exploratory detours (meaning left, straight, backwards - anywhere but right, apparently) to try and find Old Chesterbrook. It never occurred to me that maybe I should have just written "R on Regular (not Old, dummy) Chesterbrook" instead of "L on Chesterbrook at T."

I know, it's sad. I think too much. Finally I asked a guy where Kirby Road (my next turn after Chesterbrook) was, and finally I found myself back on track.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, though I think the portion to the west of the Dulles Access Rd was pointless (e.g., provided no scenery nor physical challenge) and I probably won't go back there. Anyway, my total trip miles added up to around 28, which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but I was spent… either from lack of fueling up sufficiently beforehand, or just the stress of the week had finally taken its toll physically. Or maybe I'm just old and out of shape. Nahhhh.

On Saturday, I contemplated not going out for a ride, but the weather forecast predicted rain for the next three days, so I dragged my butt out for a quick fifteen mile jaunt. (And yes, I somehow managed to get a little lost on this ride, too. It's inevitable, especially in Arlington, aka land of the fractured streets.) It was a nice day, and I'm glad I went out… despite leaving half of my rear tire behind when I had to do a sliding stop trying to avoid two drivers (who apparently didn't realize that stop signs = stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear before moving). Oncoming traffic being cars, pedestrians, dogs, squirrels, birds, small rodents… oh yeah, and BIKES! :rolleyes:

I swear I didn't mean to make this into a bicycling blog. But since that's all I do nowadays, I have nothing else to talk about! Unless you want to hear about me breaking my [shoe] heel this morning. Not one of my finer moments… my shoe is now being held together with elastic bands until I can epoxy the heel back on.

Yesterday's ride: not too bad. I did a really stupid thing on Tuesday and didn't bring my blinky light and dusk eventually caught up with me. This time I planned my route out a little better - I started off on the W&OD trail in Vienna, so that way I'd finish up the last third of my ride *off* the busy road. That way I'd have a little breathing room when it came to timing.

The weather was super - low 70s and no wind. The flowers on the trees are out in full force, and I had some nice scenery both on and off the trail. I originally wanted the route (as seen below) to go all the way up to the Potomac via the Country Club and Regional Park, but I realized I simply wouldn't have enough time to go up, take in the view, and be back before dark.

The major issue I had was Wiehle Ave. — according to the rough draft Fairfax Advocates map I have, Wiehle is supposed to be good for biking. Ummm, no. First off, I wasn't entirely sure if the asphalt path next to the road (up until to Baron Cameron Ave.) is really a sidewalk. My motto is "it's called a sideWALK for a reason." However, when it resembles a bike path…? I wasn't sure, so I put my dignity aside and rode there, since there were a total of 5 people actually walking on it. I'll have to ask around, but riding on the road might have been a little more kosher… and comfortable - damn tree roots and sand and whatnot had me all .

Once I crossed Baron Cameron, there's a very wide path along the right side that's much friendlier. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I ended up hopping on the tail of a Reston Bike Club evening ride heading down the Fairfax Cty Parkway. (Which has a bazillion foot wide shoulder and not as bad as it looks. ) I chatted for a little bit with one of them and he encouraged me to come along sometime. Normally I would, but with gas prices the way they are, I'm not too keen on driving the opposite direction to get there. I'll have to find something a little more local to Arlington.

Anyway… below is the route. I accidentally cleared my cyclometer before I had a chance to look at the mileage, but Map My Ride says it's about a 23 mile ride. By the way… kudos to MMR for finally getting the Google map version that includes the W&OD on it… now if only the "follow road" function would work on the trail so I wouldn't have to freehand it.

(I've lost count.)

Yesterday's ride was not as productive as I would have liked. My plan was to bike around North Arlington and do some hillwork training based on a cuesheet off MapMyRide. Unfortunately, the plan was doomed from the start, as I didn't get going until 6:30 or so, thanks to the insane traffic I encountered driving home from work. I also spent a good 10 minutes searching around my room for AAA batteries to put in a spare blinky light, since mine fell off and is now residing in a ditch somewhere in Great Falls.

Anyway, I finally hit the road and almost immediately got off course. If you've known me for more than 5 minutes, then you know I get lost very easily. I don't exactly buck the stereotype of dumb blonde sometimes.

After I crossed Lee Highway, I ended up missing a turn (due to a mislabeled street name on the cue sheet) and found myself on Spout Run Parkway. Turning around, I decided the best course of action would be to forget the various side streets I had written down and go straight to Military Road, which would get me back to my intended route.

Military Road is a series of rolling hills - great for training - AND, it has its own bike lane. I will definitely be going back there in the near future.

After hitting Old Glebe and turning back to the southwest, things went south again. (No pun intended.) I found myself up near Marymount University and the Washington Golf & Country Club… then somehow back on Military Rd. Crap. At this point, it was starting to get dark (making me glad I took along the spare blinky light), so I decided to just head back to Lorcom and back south… yet got off track when I tried to backtrack my original starting route (which I had messed up) past Glebe Elementary School and overshot my turn, ending up at Virginia Hospital Center. Whoops.

Even if I remembered what roads I had taken, my route map would look more like a mass of spaghetti than a logical training ride.

Long story short — do not trust MapMyRide's cuesheet generator, and always always always have a blinky light handy. :stupid:

*Note to self: get a map of Arlington, and/or buy a GPS navigator.