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.