Nice day, it wound up being about 53 miles. I had a little extra excitement with not one but two flats! I only had one spare tube, so it was lucky the second one happened less than a mile from the end of the trail where the Trails End bike shop fixed me up. Why two flats? The last 5 miles of the bike trail had been freshly paved, and there was some small gravel bits, really almost stone dust, that had sharp edges. My tires picked this stuff right up and it embedded itself and poked through to the tubes. I changed one flat and picked out 5 or 6 pieces of gravel, rode a mile, and picked up a fleck of quartz that blew out the second tire. Morale of the story: carry a patch kit in addition to a spare tube, I used to do this but got out of the habit, but no more!
Perhaps the flats colored my opinion, but I wasn't a huge fan of the WOD trail. It's convenient, and I understand it's not too safe to cycle on the roads in Fairfax county, but by and large the trail isn't pretty until you get out past Leesburg. I hear it can get pretty crowded although with the grey day it was OK for me.
But, once I got off the trail onto Scott's Spring road (state route 690), and the Snickersville Highway, I finally
saw the Virginia countryside that I had come for. It was rolling hills with a few good climbs that taxed my fitness level, combined with some ridge riding with fantastic views toward the Shenandoah / Blue Ridge. Pics below are hopefully worth more than a bunch of additional words.
Lastly it was nice to pull into Uncle Jim's house and find Greg, Sara, Suzanne and crew ready to greet me with a glass of Chardonnay.
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