Crossing the river and heading home

I woke up with the sun… and the frogs (seriously… all night with the croaking? Or whatever you call it?) ready for the last leg of the mini-tour. I had decided to cross the Potomac at White’s Ferry using the nifty private cable ferry… 2 bucks and a couple minutes of aquatic traversing:

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The campsite I stayed at the night before was just around the bend above. As I was rolling off, the guy who was sharing the other side of it with me was getting ready to kayak the rest of the way to DC. Lots of ways to find adventure…

Once on the other side of the river, I was able to bike a few more miles into Leesburg and grab a nice breakfast at a local diner. I had about 40 more miles to ride, and I wanted to beat the rain. I chose the Washington & Old Dominon trail, otherwise known locally as the W&OD, pronounced (unfortunately) “wad” – not kidding.

Not  a great experience. In fact, I don’t think I like the W&OD all that much. There’s not much shade, and because the trail is paved there’s a fair number of racer types who are more concerned about making their times than sharing the trail. It’s not everyone (far from it – I get along just fine with bikers of all stripes), just enough “Lances” to make the ride less enjoyable.

Next time I’ll take a little mud, some more shade, and a lot more solitude on the C&O.

Final tally for the day… 44.9 miles total. Total for the weekend, about 120 miles (roughly the distance from DC home to the cabin). Feeling pretty good about next month… the big hills are tougher fully loaded, but that’s what they make low gears for, right?