From Teddy's toward George's

May 25, 2022

A short ride on the local bike trails

THE BEST PART of today's ride was the pleasure of seeing and riding once again with my old friend Pete, who I've not seen in probably five years. When we were each much younger, we worked together and enjoyed after-work jaunts from our office in Reston, VA out along the W&OD rail trail toward Leesburg and back.

We met up at the parking area adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt Island in DC (technically I guess the parking area is in Virginia but the island is in the Potomac so it's in the District of Columbia because Virginia's state line is the shore of the Potomac) and, after a few minutes of chitchat (we were each riding bikes that the other had never previously seen so we had to have the conversation about that... :) ) we headed casually south on the Mount Vernon Trail, in the general direction of what was once George Washington's house.

Start/finish: Theodore Roosevelt Island parking area; turnaround was the far side of Alexandria VA. Mount Vernon is about as far again as the distance from Roosevelt Island to our turnaround point.

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The most challenging aspect of this ride is avoiding collisions with other trail users, but at mid-morning on a weekday that's not a difficult task to accomplish. On reaching the south edge of Alexandria we elected to turn around and retrace out tire tracks, rather than continue the rest of the way down to Mount Vernon.

We kept a casual eye ahead and rode easily; our conversation meandered from topic to topic, as conversations will. We recalled other great trips we've taken together, ranging from a couple of days and nights traversing Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah Valley, to a week-long do-it-ourself tour in south central Virginia accompanied by other friends of mine.

Conquering Skyline Drive, some years ago.

Stopping in Alexandria on the way back up the trail we visited "Extra Perks", a coffee shop I chanced upon many years ago. It was nice to sit and enjoy a coffee and a pastry, even though we'd really not been riding hard or terribly long.

From days long past, proof that we made it to Skyland, near the highest point on Skyline Drive.

Passing by the turnoff to the park, at the end of our journey.

With another friend of mine, on a day ride up Skyline. I still have that jersey, but need to shed some pounds before it'll fit again. Maybe by the time I get home this autumn...

We hope to get out for another ride soon, before I depart for the west and disappear for the summer.

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