Ramblin'

On the web I found a local bicycling club that makes and publishes turn-by-turn routes in the Northern Virginia area. Yesterday I selected a 34-mile ramble that includes Lake Barcroft and Lake Accotink, and crosses the Capitol Beltway twice. It's a combination of rolling hills through quiet suburban streets, connected by bicycle trails (some paved and some not) and parks. I used this as a sort of orienteering exercise as much as anything else. Including the ride to and from my house, it was a total of 50 miles. I started at noon and didn't return home until after dark; more than six hours of pedaling. I probably burned over 3,000 calories.

I only averaged about 8 mph due to the hilly terrain and frequent stops to check directions - there are about a hundred turns with directions like "BR TRO Queensberry 0.3 L T@SS Bristol", i.e. "Bear right to remain on Queensberry Drive for 0.3 miles, then turn left onto Bristol Street at the stop sign at the T intersection."

Had a blast! Got stopped by a Fairfax County patrol car; the officer admonished me for deliberately and flagrantly running a traffic light (guilty!), but fortunately it was only a warning and I didn't have to surrender my piece. Brother! That would have been an imbroglio!

Here's a GPS map that I made along the way. The route begins in Bluemont Park in the Seven Corners area and proceeds clockwise. The yellow lines indicate where the GPS unit "lost lock".