Saturday Ride

Last Saturday, Betsy, Sandy, Josh and I went for a long, and very pleasant, bike ride. We met in Georgetown at 9:30 for coffee and my mom's favorite breakfast burritos. I hadn't seen my parents since before we left for Florida (since June, I guess), so it was great to catch up. We talked a lot about bike plans and laughed at some scandalous(ish) stories of my dad's. We eventually got on our bikes, rode across the key bridge, and headed for our destination. In a hurry to get to our favorite (read: only one we've ever been to) bar in Old Town and watch the third place Women's World Cup match between France and Sweden, we stopped very little. We got there just in time and watched intently, drank beers, and ate food.

 

At half time, my dad and I took a quick ride across the Wilson Bridge and back. That is always a cool experience and, this time, I imagined what it'd be like to run over the thing. Probably just as cool and, obviously, much more difficult. We raced to get back and still missed the first twenty minutes of the second half. But it was worth it, in spite of the scrape I got on my arm (which Hadley tells me resembles Harry Potter's lightning bolt) from trying to ride in the "shade" of the concrete guard rail and scraping up against it as my dad and I got lost in conversation. Josh, on his own field trip at half-time, took this picture of the Bridge. I'll pretend that it was planned, and that we are some tiny little dots in the picture...

 

France lost which was a bummer but it wasn't enough to dampen our spirits on this beautiful day. We went for some ice cream and froyo and then took our time getting out of town. We stopped to watch a guy play what Josh has coined "wine glass music". It was awesome and very impressive.

We then rode alongside this guy, slowly moving along on his Penny Farthing, and laughed with him about all the people, including me, gawking and taking his picture.

On the way home, we stopped for a while at Gravelly Point, where Josh got a bunch of cool pictures. Every time I bike through here, I say that I want to come back sometime with this as my destination. To play frisbee or soccer or to picnic here would be so fun. So that is a new goal of mine. In 2011, before it is too cold, I will make a trip out of riding to and hanging out at Gravelly Point. Participants welcome...

We stopped in Georgetown to say our goodbyes and then Josh and I made the mistake of deciding to ride through town instead of on the Rock Creek Trail. After a long and super fun ride we rode hill after hill after hill in Georgetown, Glover Park, and on Reno Road. But really, it only made us stronger and it justified my drinking four beers later that night in celebration.

Besides making me happy, tan, and sweaty, this ride made me really miss biking. I do plenty of riding around the city but it is all for commuting. And commuting is great but I want to start reeeally riding more. I want to do a century with my dad and I want to ride to Mount Vernon. I also want to feel confident that I can successfully ride a bike 3,000 some miles across this country.