EXCITING NEWS FRIENDS!!!
One of my favorite podcasts is The Joyride Podcast which focuses on women cyclists – and it is awesome. I have been an avid fan of the show since close to the start of the podcast when I binge listed to all the episodes.
I was delighted to be a guest on the show on the first episode of season 3! If you want to listen to me talk about bikes with Cat, the host, check out Episode 31 of The Joyrode Podcast here – or wherever you listen to your podcasts!
ENJOY!
I’m sure I am not the first person to think this up, but I needed a cue sheet holder for my bike and 1) didn’t feel like paying $10 when I figured I could make one and 2) didn’t feel like waiting for it to be mailed to me. I decided to see if I could make my own with things I have around the house.
I forgot to post this! OOPS!!
My final day in DC! Kevin drove down the night before and I asked him to bring his bike so we could cycle around DC before he took me home. After going out to eat at Panera (by the way, the staff at the Panera near the Rosslyn Metro station were so friendly!) we grabbed our bikes, hopped on the Mt Vernon Trail and cycled to DC. I showed Kevin all the sights I saw a few days before since he hadn’t been to DC in a while – we really lucked out because there happened to be some sort of walk going on and a TON of streets were closed so we didn’t have to worry about cars at all. Then we got on the Rock Creek Park Trail and headed up to the zoo. The trail was lovely although it was very crowded along most of it – it was a Saturday after all.
Friday I had plans to meet with Jill from the Summit Chicks (Raina was out of town) – we had plans to meet for lunch to catch up and walk over to the highest point of Washington DC, which is in Fort Reno Park. I decided to keep my bike in my hotel room and take the metro. I haven’t ridden the metro since I was little on vacation in DC with my parents so I was a bit worried about making it on time, but it turns out that google maps makes it really easy. You just type in where you are and where you want to go and there are options for drive, bike, walk and public transportation – it was awesome. I typed in the time I wanted to be there and it gave me the time I should leave, the metro line I wanted to hop on, how many stops until my connecting stop, the connecting stop line – everything was really spelled out – piece of cake. I would HIGHLY recommend using that if you are somewhere and need directions!
This was the first FULL day I got to spend in DC – I looked at some maps and figured I would check out the Mt Vernon trail that would take me right to the Lincoln Memorial and from there I could navigate all the way around DC on my bike.
I rode around some streets in DC trying to find the least busy route to my hotel, but unfortunately Google Maps took me on some pretty busy roads that I didn’t feel comfortable riding on. I ended up walking my bike down that street until I got to the Francis Scott Key Bridge and was able to ride across on the pedestrian sidewalk. I checked into my hotel and was slightly embarrassed that it was a ton of business people and stinky lil me.
If you missed day 1 of my trip – start HERE! 🙂
I woke up in Leesburg, VA, packed up my panniers, and headed out to the front desk to wait for the shuttle to take me back to the Ferry. The 3 guys who were cycling the whole trail were on my shuttle again and we wished each other well as we got off the ferry and started the final portion of the trip to DC. They told me they would be taking their lunch break at Great Falls if I wanted to join them.
This video shows how you get from Georgetown to mile marker 0 on the C&O trail. It can be a little tricky to find – a lot of people think the trail ends in Georgetown, but SURPRISE!! You have to go about .5 more miles or so along the Rock Creek Park Trail and then turn into the parking lot for the Thompson Boat Center, pass a bunch of row boats and BOOM! Mile marker 0. It is such a lovely view to end a great bike trip! 🙂
Cycling through Georgetown into DC on the C&O Canal Trail.
Here’s the 5th episode of my bikepacking trip – I got to explore Great Falls along the C&O trail which was AWESOME!!
blisters and bug bites 