Final ride 0316

March 16, 2023

Spring is springing

“In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

That may be true, but it's been a long time since I was a young man. My thoughts today turned in a different direction, toward thoughts of a ride.

AFTER SEVERAL DAYS of weather that would have made for challenging cycling, we catch a respite today. In place of the 40 degree temperatures and 25 mile an hour winds with 45 mile an hour gusts we've had for the past two days, today we are gifted with bright sun, a temperature just over 60, and light breezes. It's time to post one final entry and wrap this journal up; I'm officially closing the books on the Winter of 2022/2023 and declaring the 2023 cycling season to be upon us.

That said, let's not just rush into things will-he-nill-he. A base layer and arm warmers are still a welcome supplement to a summer-weight jersey, but there's no need for tights, long-fingered gloves, or my spandex skull cap. After all, though I'm not cycling in the Moroccan desert a la Racpat and Susan Carpenter, or winging my way to Sicily with Team Anderson or, separately, Jacquie and Al Gaudet, neither am I braving the snow fields and icebergs of Antarctica like Greg Garceau.

It doesn't take long to spot the first definite, undisputed indications that spring is underway here in the mid-Atlantic. One sure sign is forsythia in bloom, which I spot before I've covered more than a couple miles.

A cheery patch of yellow brightens up an already bright day.

Moving on, a red maple almost, almost ready to blossom. Known for their autumn colors, they're also pretty in the spring.

I've set off with no definite plan or route in mind but it occurs to me that the spring blossoms in this area are one of the real gifts that come with living here, so I decide to head toward some of the neighborhoods where there are lots of opportunities to view them. It's a week or so too soon for the famed cherry blossoms along the tidal basin in DC, which is just as well because it doesn't take me long to recognize that my decidedly casual approach to training and staying fit over the winter has not in fact done the job.

Happily there are opportunities closer to home, enabling me to save the cherry blossoms for another day. Patches of green have already emerged along the Millenium Trail and elsewhere, along with what I think are a few plum blossoms and some others I'm unable to identify.

I'm not sure what these are , other than purty.

Passing through a neighborhood on what was once my daily commuting ride, my eye catches a tree heavily-laden with big pink flowers, and at the base a patch of daffodils -- another certain harbinger of the arrival of spring.

Spring is undeniably here. The daffies say so.

Not everyone's quite ready to give up winter and embrace it though, apparently.

Passing by the complex where my office once was I'm not altogether surprised by the lack of traffic. The buildings are mostly tenanted by Federal employees, and the government has not yet really put the screws on its workforce to return to on-site work. I am surprised to note that one building, formerly an NIH lab, now appears to be wholly untenanted. It's possible that the labs have been relocated to other facilities nearby, though, so it's not clear that it's all about the COVID situation.

Whatever the case, my ride continues toward Rock Creek Park and Beach Drive. Before I get there there's a patch of mature trees displaying a profusion of graceful white blossoms; Google tells me I'm looking at a stand of Callary pear trees.

Whether these really are Callary pear trees is inconsequential: they're lovely to look at no matter what they might be.

Here's what the blossoms look like up close.

The tree trunk makes an excellent support for a portrait of my bike. Say hello to "Mad Max".

Entering Rock Creek Park puts me at the north end of Beach Drive. Were I so inclined I could follow the park all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall, but that's farther than I want to go today. From March through November, this part of Beach Drive is closed to auto traffic from Friday morning until Sunday evening each weekend. I'm a day early but that doesn't really matter: there are few cars and those that are out give plenty of room and are very courteous. There are at least as many cyclists out enjoying the day as there are cars on the Drive.

Beach Drive follows Rock Creek and exists in its forested flood plain. The forest floor has big expanses of these pretty little yellow flowers.

They're "fig buttercups", or "lesser celadine". They're pretty, but apparently also an introduced species that is aggressively invasive.

A couple of the many cyclists I saw today.

The Mormon Temple is a prominent landmark in this area. It sits atop a hill immediately adjacent to the Beltway and can be seen for miles, especially at night when it's bathed in the glow of its floodlights. It and the National Cathedral in DC are almost certainly the two most recognizable bits of religious architecture in the region.

Viewed from Beach Drive it's somewhat less intrusive, but still obviously visible.

Here's what you see from the Beltway when you're headed west, between Georgia and Connecticut Avenues. It's hard to miss, even harder to misidentify.

After making the decision to add the gratuitous climb up the hill to the temple, my front wheel finds itself pointed back down to Beach Drive. It's time to consider turning for home. On my way I find more signs that spring is in the air.

The spreading of mulch: another sign of spring.

Turning back north, I'm intrigued to discover that a bicycle lane has been carved out of MD 187 / Old Georgetown Road. For as long as I've lived here- going on 35 years now- this road has been a major suburban trafficway, carrying three lanes of traffic in each direction. Although I occasionally braved the cars 30 years ago, time and circumstances have conspired to keep me off this road for quite some time now so it comes as news to me to find that the right-hand lane in each direction is now a bike lane, cordoned off from the auto lanes by flexible reflective white pylons.

I could follow the Bethesda Trolley Trail, which more-or-less parallels the road but I'm intrigued and want to follow it for as far as it goes. I also want to see how far that is; it might be all the way to a shopping area that connects to the trail network that will take me back home.

Sure enough, it does. On the way, I pass the site where the old Woodward High School building stood. The property was donated to the County by the Shriver family (yes, those Shrivers) on condition that it be used in perpetuity for educational purposes. It was a high school for many years but was outgrown and overtaken by a newer, larger facility just down the road, at which point it was pressed into service as a "holding school". Holding schools are buildings occupied temporarily by the faculty and students of some other school that is undergoing extensive renovation and is therefore unsuitable for daily classes.

Either stripped to its metal skeleton, or razed completely and now rising from the ashes.

For a few years my wife taught in the old building while it was serving as the home for a middle school, so I'm interested to see the changes underway.

Just before I reach the commercial area my attention is caught by something else new: the Josiah Henson Museum. This is also something I'd not previously seen, since I travel this stretch of road much less often than I once did. It stands on the remains of the Riley Plantation, where Josiah Henson was a slave. He was the author of the original "Uncle Tom" slave narrative, so in a very real sense this is the true site of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" later popularized by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

The museum stands where there was once a modern Colonial style home. Montgomery County knew the history and significance of the site but it was kept out of the public eye until the County could acquire the property and protect it, which it was able to do in the 1990s.

Once encompassing over 260 acres, time and development have encroached on the plantation and whittled it down to just 3.5 acres. It's still a small piece of tranquility alongside a major suburban roadway, though.

The original plantation house. It didn't look like this for most of its existence, however: it was renovated and substantially expanded in the early 1900s.

A stately old tree stands behind the house; oh the stories it could tell.

It was sobering to me to see the numbers presented in this way.

Concluding my unanticipated brush with history- I had forgotten this place was here until I rode past- it's time to head for the barn. Passing through downtown Rockville, I find one last sure sign that winter is past: the skating rink's been taken down and the astroturf play area has been re-laid in front of the library.

The library is out of frame to the left, but the astroturf is in place.

Heart

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Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 292 miles (470 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	7

Bill ShaneyfeltNice closeout ride!
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1 year ago

Keith AdamsTo Bill ShaneyfeltThanks! It was a really pleasant day and I was in no hurry so it was also a really relaxed, relaxing ride.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamYour photos are beautiful. Nothing like spring blooms to lighten the heart and give one hope for the new season.
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1 year ago

Keith AdamsTo Janice BranhamBetween the various types of flowering trees and the riotous colors of azaleas (still to come, generally sometime in May), spring in the mid-Atlantic is a really beautiful time of the year. On a warm sunny day with a gentle breeze stirring there's a great deal to enjoy (unless you've got pollen allergies).
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamSounds lovely Keith. We're flirting with an idea for a spring tour up the southeast and mid-Atlantic coast, and you sure paint an enticing picture.
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1 year ago

Keith AdamsTo Janice BranhamIf your plans bring you within a couple hundred miles of the DC area I'm up for a meet-up somewhere.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamThanks! The plan is pretty amorphous now, we'll see how things develop. I appreciate the invitation.
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1 year ago