Today was one of the most fun I have had in a while. With so much stuff going on right now, I badly needed this. I am exhausted, sore all over but satisfied and feel fresh inside. Before I begin, I must tell you something about me. I am a very impatient person, so for me to actually sit and type this whole thing is only because I enjoyed the day so much.
As some might know DC weather is probably the most screwed up I have seen. Its Feb and it was 55 deg F (about 10 deg c). I called my friend asking if he would want to go for a ride today hoping he would agree. We have tried to plan this couple of times before but never worked out. Well it turned out that he was planning one already with another friend of his. So everything was set for us to meet in front of Dean and Deluca in Georgetown at 10:00. I was thinking it will be a trail ride probably around 10-15 miles, but boy, was I wrong! before we started out he told me that its just going to be a mellow ride around the city. The thought of riding around the city sounded exciting but a mellow ride kinda brought me down a little bit. Again, thats just my hastiness talking, I am glad to say that the day proved me wrong.
The route really was all around DC and its vicinity. In all I biked around 50 miles (80 kms) today in about 6 1/2 hrs. It is amazing how big DC is actually. I have lived here for 3 years now, but more than 80% of what I saw today was new. You actually get to see the DC for what it is. Ah! the simple pleasures of life.You get to curse and be cursed at.
Anyway...This is the route we took. Started off with the white house, world war II memorial, through the canadian embassy to eastern market, RFK stadium where we found a newly built trail which goes along the Anacostia river(on the other side of Anacostia park) which then took us all the way to the newly built National Stadium crossing the river and cutting through the Anacostia Park. On the way, I was surprised to see a Battleship anchored on the river, only to learn that that was the Navy yard. Duh! of course it is, why else would it be there! We kinda got lost every once in a while and had to find our way around, which sometimes led us into these gorgeous view of DC from across the river. The sky was sunny but misty even at noon so the city looked like a bright shadow far far away. We also went through a couple of Marinas. One can tell the difference as we moved from SE to SW. The marinas on SW were much cleaner, boats looked more expensive. By this time we had capped around 27 miles(43 kms).
Surprisingly, I wasnt tired at all. Well, mostly because I was seeing things I had never seen before and had good company. Where was I? oh yeah, we had crossed over. Just into proper DC, not into another realm. On second thought, might as well. The difference between SE and the rest is appalling. I certainly dont want to get into that topic. I really cant figure how we did it now(even after looking at the map), but we somehow reached the Zoo cutting through GW univ and turning at various roads(hmm..isnt that a given!).
So, we started heading back home when my friend wanted to go through Georgetown univ also. So, we branched out and again somehow reached Georgetown univ from the rock creek park trail, and then headed to go through American univ which isnt that far and is on our way back. The final ride back home took us through Cabin John, Glen Echo where I saw the building which might have housed the first Red Cross.If you are interested, look up Clara Barton. This covered 46 miles and rest of the 4 miles, almost all of it uphill was just by myself. The only thing that got me home was that I wanted to pee so bad and the route didnt offer me any chances :-).
So, in all a very satisfying day. Until next time, you guys have fun out there.
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