July 4th

On July 4th, it's usually hot and muggy in DC. This year it was very pleasant, low-humidity, cloudy enough to block the hot sun but not dreary.

To celebrate, I rode my bike to an unknown destination with my friend Neil. It was hands-down the best ride of the season. We rode first to Leesburg, an historic town established in 1758 but now a thriving and growing metropolis, probably soon to be considered a DC Suburb. Our trail crossed their main street Independence Day parade. Leesburg is about 23 miles from my house. After Leesburg, we forged ahead to Waterford, another historic town - much, much smaller than Leesburg - and I think established in 1733. They too were having their town parade, where I made a huge social blunder that will not be revealed at this time.

In Waterford - note to other cyclists: no refreshments available - we chatted with a friendly 4th-of-July-traffic guy who told us about a 17 mile loop that would bring us back to Waterford after traversing a road named Taylorstown that "would kill us." I thought he was referring to the hills - which were numerous - but later realized he was probably referring to the apparent pickup-truck-cyclist-road-rage. Really, I felt I was pre-road-kill for most of the ride.

Another thing that was scarey was the hills. I'm not happy about going up them, but seriously, I'd much rather go up a hill than down a hill. I clocked 30 miles an hour on my computer at one point. It just feels out of control to go any faster.

After out loop we headed back to Leesburg for lunch - new place "Fire Works", serving Fire baked pizzas or something like that. Strange that one of only 2 places open in Leesburg actually sounded like the events for the day. I snapped the picture of the umbrella over our table with my cell phone. After lunch, I was ready for a nap but still had to get home.

Total mileage: 74 miles Total Calories Burned: 5938