Reston Century - 106 Glorious Miles

The Reston Century is 106 rolling country miles through small town USA west of Reston.  The rides starts at the Reston Town Center and travels through Herndon, Loudoun County, Leesburg, Lovettsville and a whole lotta smaller towns that barely warrant a zip code.  There was one town where I was preparing for Josey Wales to come walking down the street, it was that western looking.

Virginia is a beautiful country palace just a few miles from where we live.  It really does look like a relaxing and enjoyable place to live.  Tons of farms and animals cover the country side.  There's even a bison farm out there!  In all, I saw deer, chicken, bison, goats, cows, horses, a black rat snake along the W&OD trail (not as scary as the rattlesnake 3 weeks ago), turtles, chipmunks, squirrels, and a lot of farmer looking men and women.

I really enjoyed the first 70 miles of this ride, but then the weather turned really sour.  That weather slammed into us from out of nowhere.  I pulled off the side of the road with 6 other bikers.  We climbed a steep embankment because the road was narrow and it just wasn't safe.  I huddled behind a massive oak in an effort to get out of the 30-40mph rain gusts.  We were all miserable and getting chilly as it dropped at least 25 degrees with that rain.  Lightning was coming down on us like crazy and it was close.  Weather certainly has to power to humble oneself.

After 20 minutes of standing there and getting poured on, I was the first to leave.  Amazingly, 1/2 mile up the road it hadn't rained!  We were on the very edge of the scattered storm.  I warmed up quickly but then found another pocket of rain.  For the remaining 30 miles it rained on/off, fairly heavy at times.  I decided to stop at 7-11 during a particularly hard rain, and thought I would warm up with a hot chocolate.  First off, I about froze between the front door and the chocolate machine. That 7-11 was freezing!  The chocolate was good, as was the two pepperoni pizza slices.

I was off again and after reaching the W&OD trail head in Purcellville, I was definitely ready for this ride to be over.  I rode pretty fast for the final 26 miles on the W&OD trail.  It finally stopped raining as I reached the Reston Town Center and enjoyed the post ride meal.  The mango/strawberry salad was absolutely delicious, and the assortment of pasta wasn't bad either.

I'd ride the Reston Century again.  It's not a difficult ride, being there are no big hills.  Riding time was ~6.5 hours.  Next time, I think I'll bring a rain coat.

Posted in: bike,century