First ride of 2023

January 30, 2023

Slow and easy

JUST ONE DAY SHORT of the end of January I've finally managed to log a ride in 2023. It was not long. It was not epic. It was not one for the record books, except insofar as the record book contains records of nearly all my rides. Still, it was a ride.

It took an act of willpower to set off, and a bit more to continue at the start. The day was mild- around 50 when I stepped out the door around 11:30- and without much wind. However, it was also cloudy so there was a pallid, shadowless, gray cast to the landscape. Those conditions do not inspire me to ride, or even really to be outside. Having spent far too much time "living well" recently, however, meant that a ride was definitely in order.

But where?

My first impulse was to fire up Ride With GPS and look at places I seldom if ever ride. Having done so, I realized that the reason I seldom if ever ride to those places from my driveway is that there's a lot of ground in between that isn't especially conducive to recreational, relaxing riding. It's safe enough but neither particularly enjoyable nor notably relaxing. Also, to reach the unexplored area would entail a ride of a greater length than I wanted. So, exploring the northeast was off the list.

My "day ride area" as I think of it. The blue circle is more-or-less the limit of day ride distance when the ride starts from my driveway, as they generally tend to do these days. Green encloses the region I know to be rich in good riding opportunities. Red areas are places I wouldn't want to ride due to heavy urbanization and / or lack of many good routes to reach the area. Gray areas are the ones I haven't yet really explored in detail, or where I would probably need to drive to get to the starting point.

Often, I ride south from home toward Bethesda and DC, using the well-established road and trail network. Today, though, that didn't particularly appeal. For one thing, travel in that direction takes one into increasingly dense suburban and ultimately urban surroundings and that wasn't what I was after. For another, one of the principal roads I'd use is open to auto traffic during the week; I prefer it on weekends when it's closed to cars and becomes the exclusive provenance of cyclists, walkers, and roller skaters.

Having eliminated two points of the compass from consideration, that basically left the southwest and northwest. Since my last few rides have been out to the northwest, the southwest was the winner by default. I know these roads very well, having traveled them routinely for many years. No predefined route was needed so I hit "Clear Map" in RWGPS and elected to simply follow wherever the handlebars and front wheel pointed me.

Despite being on my road bike- the bike that sometimes seems to propel itself- I was in no hurry nor did I particularly feel like exerting myself, so it was quickly established that it would be a slow, casual, lazy sort of affair. The cloud cover meant that I didn't warm up especially quickly, which in turn cast some doubt in my mind as to just how far I needed to go before I decided I had ridden "far enough". There were several moments early on where I was on the brink of turning back, but my willpower was just strong enough to prevent it.

To add a bit of diversion and variety, as well as to strengthen and buttress my motivation, I decided at some point to turn the ride into an opportunity to photograph some of the homes along the route, and to turn down some of the "No Outlet" lanes and byways that I've never previously traversed.

Potomac is an area where many, if not most, of the residents are in the "one percent" category. The homes are on lots ranging from an acre to several acres (except for the newer ones, built in groups by real estate developers rather than custom one-offs built singly over time), and many boast floor plans enclosing 5,000 or more square feet. I'd guess that nearly half are half again larger.

This house is one of several on a short lane that were clearly all built from a common plan and blueprint. Each one, however, has been customized in the years since they were constructed so they're no longer identical. They're also of a very traditional pattern which saves them, at least partially, from being modern McMansions.

New kid on the block. I'm sure that when it's finished it will be tasteful, elegant, and understated.

More to my taste, if only because it's been there a while. I especially liked the assembly of adult and child sized Adirondack chairs neatly arrayed on the lawn.

Another one saved from garish newness by virtue of echoing older architecture, and having stood for at least a couple decades so it's begun to get a patina of age.

I could almost hear these two trees talking to one another. The one in front was saying "When I grow up I want to be an ocotillo!" to which the one in back is responding "So how about it? Can you see me as a saguaro?"

Now this is more like it. Tasteful, restrained, set well back from the road. If I had $10,000,000 to spare I might make them an offer.

Or this one, though I'd have to run the Canada geese off.

This one borders on McMansion status but at least it's on a decent-sized plot of land and has a few preserved mature trees to break up the scene.

I shudder to think what 3.72 acres of "creekside retreat" might run for in this area.

What this means to a cyclist is that there's not a great deal of traffic, speed limits are often 25 mph and never more than 35, the roads are not six-lane suburban arteries, there's a lot of tree cover to enjoy, and numerous small streams and drainages include rights-of-way that will never be bulldozed and developed into tract housing. The streams also guarantee that there's not a flat spot of more than 50 feet anywhere along the way, and there are several small ravines that give a bit of sharp relief to be negotiated.

Early in my ride. This is a pleasant enough stretch of road, but the clouds took some of the enjoyment out of it.

Getting more like it. This little bit runs next to a stream for a half mile or so, so it snakes and winds gently along the edge of the flood plain.

This house needs to be set back a thousand feet from the road, and sited on ten or more acres, to do justice to the architecture. Instead it's less than fifty feet from the road to the front door, and the house is crowded onto what looks like a quarter to a third of an acre. It's a shame, really, because as it is it just looks gaudy and pretentious.

Reentering Rockville along the Carl Henn Millenium Trail I rode past a sign I don't recall having ever seen before. I may have missed it, or it could be new.

I had no idea that's what Rockville was called. Now I know.

The clouds have dispersed, it's gotten warmer, and I'm enjoying my ride. Happy Keith!

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Today's ride: 17 miles (27 km)
Total: 82 miles (132 km)

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Janice BranhamGood to see you back in the saddle Keith. I like the easy casual affairs.
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1 year ago

Keith AdamsTo Janice BranhamThanks Janice. For winter rides, even on mild days such as today, "easy" is definitely a virtue, along with "relatively short".

Time was that I'd bundle up and go out for a forty miler in 25 degree weather. Now a 25 miler in 40 degree weather is more than I want.
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1 year ago