I Got Lost in Springfield

I wish there had been more of these.

Tonight I set out for a good length ride on the Cross Country Trail.  I haven't been too far south of where the CCT crosses the Fairfax County Parkway and Rolling Road.  I quickly reviewed the map before leaving from work to go home so I would have a pretty good idea how to follow the CCT.  Perhaps a big cup of ginko-biloba would have help my memory for when I needed to make a turn.

I needed real riding gear, plus arm warmers and a raincoat for this ride.  It was just over 60 degrees and raining.  It pretty much rained on me the entire 2 1/2 hours of this ride.  I was warm enough and very happy to be pedaling somewhere I've never been.

I did well on the part of the route where I've been before :-).  Then a bad move where the CCT crosses the Fairfax County Parkway.  I was thinking I'd follow the parkway out to Scott Kelly's house, have him cook me up a steak and potatoes, then ride home from there.  It would have helped if I'd gone west on the parkway instead of south.  I believe it takes a PHD to navigate around Springfield.  Has anyone noticed there are like 15 Hooes Roads in Springfield?

I got on Rolling Road which I'm familiar with, or so I thought.  At this point I was completely clueless as to where I was, where I was going, which way was up.  One thing I was sure of is that a Scott Kelly dinner was looking less and less likely.

I found Fullerton Road which I'm familiar with.  Well, at least the Fullerton Road near Allentown PA.  I rode through the industrial park looking for the start of the yellow brick road to guide me home.  No yellow bricks, but there were two ladies outside some warehouse that I rode up to and asked, "Where am I?"   She explained the mystery road I was on was Backlick, AHA!  I've heard of that, now which way will take me to Springfield Mall.  Her final words were "Good Luck".

The ~4 miles North on Backlick was tough riding.  Strong headwind, plenty of cars, and decent rain.  I was pretty happy to finally see something familiar.  From here it was a quick trip further North to where I could re-enter Accotink Park and ride on known trails.

Total soggy distance was ~24 miles, in 2.5 hours.  There were a lot of stop lights, so that's my excuse for a slow ride.  Here's a link showing my unplanned route: My Crazy Route

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Annapolis Bay Country Century

The Annapolis Bay Country Century on Saturday Sept 3 takes one on a scenic tour of southern Maryland.  The ride starts at Northern Middle School in Owings, MD.  I've never been to this area before, and the one observation is that as soon as you get away from the urban lifestyle we're all familiar with, everyone owns at least one truck and half of them own an RV.  Yes, I'm jealous as I too would like to own both a truck and RV.

I pulled up to the school around 6:30am and started to gear up.  Bagels and bananas were laid out for a little breakfast.  Weather was very nice, just a little cool, and lots of sunshine.

I was one of the first riders out the gate near 7am and quickly came up to two other riders who were about the same pace.  The three of us set off on a blistering pace (for me) for the first 50+ miles.  We averaged over 20mph and had the outright lead going into Aid Station 1 about 21 miles into the course.  That was certainly a first, me in first place on a bike.

Aid  Station 1 - In First Place!

That lead lasted another 13 miles when the Coppi Team came screaming by us.  These six dudes obviously ride their bikes frequently.  They got up ahead and out of sight quickly, and I was surprised as anyone when we caught up to them at Aid Station 2 at 50 miles in.  

Aid Station 2 - Firehouse

At Aid Station 2, Dave (seen in the video below) mentioned to me that he might need to slow it down a bit as he was feeling the burn.  I agreed with him, but for the next 50 miles I was trying to figure out what he meant by slow down.  By my calculations, we were going as hard as we previously had.  Dave was a former racer of 12 years and was still really fit.  He no longer races, but still enjoys the long bike rides.  Here's a video of the crazy happenings at Aid Station 2.

The next Aid Station wasn't for 30 miles.  This was a long haul as there were lots of rolling hills with the occasional steeper hill.  No mountains or crazy climbing, just steady up and down.  The weather got a bit warmer and we took turns at the point.  There was considerable hurricane damage along the ride.  I couldn't count the number of trees that were down.  Most of the country side was in their yards with chainsaws and fire pits.

At mile 81 I was ready to be done with the ride.  Not only because I was getting tired, but there was this really cool beach called North Beach on Bay Ave.  There is a neat "kiddie" type pool setup with part of the Chesapeake Bay walled off.  Looks like a great place to bring little kids.  There's even a boat on the sand with a slide.

Aid Station 3 - North Beach, MD

Of course I had to take some video of the location.  I would have liked to stay longer, but I was getting the eye from Dave indicating he was ready to move on.

The road out of North Beach was about a 5 mile ascent.  Not steep, but very long. I was struggling a bit to keep up with Dave who looked to be just cruising along.  It doesn't take too many road rides to realize that two people are faster than one.  It's often difficult to keep up with a person in front of you to draft, but you realize that it's a lot more work and slower work if you don't.  Guess that's the mental toughness Coach Carvajal told me prior to the Wilderness 101.

The next 10 miles were arduous but I was able to keep the pace.  At mile 90, I started to whimper.  That crazy pace we had kept for the first 50+ miles had taken its toll on me.  The rolling country side was ok to navigate, but any time there was a more than mild ascent it was like the brakes came on.  Dave noticeably slowed for me a few times as I huffed, puffed, moaned and groaned.  This last 10 miles is the part of the ride that I need to forget in the coming days if I ever want to ride another century.

All these centuries are hard.  They're long, have different difficulties, and take a lot of preparation and toughness to get through.  Don't believe me?  Go try one.

Dave and I at the finish.

Here's the final ride recap.  Riding time was 5 hours 44 minutes.

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