I will be very, very glad when Sunday is over, because apparently this is just not my week.
Went out for a ride today… route included going up through N.Arlington, across Chain Bridge, down the C&O to the Capital Crescent Trail, then up MacArthur Blvd, mess around in the suburban street of Glen Echo, then back down Sangamore to MacArthur to Reservoir into Georgetown, then back to Arlington.
The first 3/4 of the ride was uneventful, except for me getting a little off-track and missing the [well hidden] path off the Crescent Trail. I have to say, the CCT is pretty nice, but there really aren't any good access points beyond the Arizona Ave. Trestle. Basically, in order to get to it, you have to bounce around on the C&O trail (which is perfectly fine… if you're riding on a mountain bike) for about two miles, then swing around and backtrack over the canal and onward. Essentially, beyond that, the next [obvious] exit point is about 5 miles up. Silly me, I managed to make my way all the way up to Mass Ave before I realized the only way for me to get to MacArthur was go back about 3 miles to Potomac Ave. I did NOT get lost. Really.
At that point (turning around), I fell off my bike going uphill… yeah. In short, I was going up a really short, steep path to get back to the CCT from Mass Ave, the ground was wet, and I put too much force on the pedals — enough so that the front wheel lifted off the ground and down I went. No damage, but I definitely felt like an idiot.
I've never been in this area of MD on a bike, and it was really scenic and pretty. MacArthur Blvd sort of has a bike lane. From what I've read, the road itself has long been a battleground for shared space. The bike path/lane is located along the south/west side of the road, which is a little disconcerting as it means biking against traffic… not to mention the lack of a guardrail means no barrier between you and cars whizzing by at 50 mph. Either way, I felt significantly safer riding on that path than on the actual road itself, which had no space or shoulder to accommodate bicycles along the other side.
Anyway, the last 1/4 was a little bit nerve wracking. When I got back to MacArthur Blvd and started heading toward Georgetown, my chain broke. AGAIN. This time I'm not going to blame the bike shop for putting it on incorrectly, but rather me somehow running over one end of it and making the Connex link break apart. Essentially, when I went to shift into my outer ring, it overshifted, so the chain actually came off the chainring to the outside and looped around my crankarm. The chain was drooping so much that it actually started dragging on the ground and my rear tire ran over it, putting enough force on the link that it came apart. (At least that's what I think happened.)
Either way, this time around I was prepared 
and had an extra Connex link with me, so I pulled over and put my chain back together. I walked back along the road and actually found the two pieces of the link (fully intact - that deserves a 
for saving $9 and not having to buy another one), which is good.
In total, it was a 27 mile trip… I must have done about 5 extra miles on the CCT trying to find my way to MacArthur, hence the difference on the map below:
