Tail Wind

East view from top of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Thank God for tail winds.

Got in 96 miles today... rode from my house to Sugarloaf Mountain and back. After waking up at 4:07 am, I left my house at 6:10 am and rode down through Rock Creek Park to Georgetown. Then, out Reservoir Road to MacArthur, up Old Angler's Inn hill to the BP. I picked up a co-worker, HF, at the BP and he joined me for 56 miles. HF arrived just as I got to the BP (he drove from Falls Church). He clipped in and we went up River to Norton, hung a right and then got on Glen Road. We hit all the hills on the way out, including Black Rock.


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Black Rock... an evil climb in the middle of the woods.

It wasn't until we got on Comus Road that we noticed the wind... it had really picked up and was in our face. We got to the foot of Sugarloaf and HF stopped to fill up his water. After he loaded up, he questioned why he did that... perhaps better to add the weight after the descent. For the record, HF beat me up the climb... but I wasn't too far behind him.


HF looking relaxed after the 2 mile climb up Sugarloaf.

When we got back to the bottom and headed towards Dickerson, we really got rolling. We may have averaged 27 mph over the 5 or so miles to the Dickerson Market where we refilled our bottles and rested for about 5 minutes.

I am proud to say that I didn't get us lost on this ride. The last time I lead a ride out to Sugarloaf, I got off track on a number of occasions. I dialed us in this day but when we got to Whites Ferry, I felt a lack of confidence of how to get back to River Road if we continued straight on Waschle so we just took a left on Whites Ferry and rolled through Poolesville to Partership Road. The wind was behind us and I think we were going 18 or 19 mph UP the rolling hills into Poolesville. We then smoked the three miles or so to Partnership, which is a flat stretch of road with a big shoulder. I like Partnership Road as it is a fast downhill to River Road. After making the left, there is the big hill up to the T and then comes the 10 mile ride back on rolling hills to the Falls/River intersection.

That stretch of road is usually when I start suffering and it was miles 72 - 82 for the ride today. Thank God for the tail wind. It is probably the fastest I've ever done that section of road before and we actually passed some cyclists who were way ahead of us. If the wind had been in our face, it would have made today's ride very painful. So, I am grateful for the tail wind. It was a nice push over those 10 miles.

I dropped HF off at the BP and continued cruising home. The only thing to report on the rest of the ride is that the AT&T National is this week and part of my ride home went right through Ground Zero over there. I rode on a section of Bradley Blvd. and the road was choked with traffic and pedestrians. My observation is that it seems like a lot of walking to watch golf. There were thousands of people walking and walking but I never saw a fairway or a green. Honestly, it looked like the Republican National Convention, too. I hadn't seen that many white people since I was at Verizon Center for a hockey game.


Left off Perismmon Tree onto Bradley and then WHAMMY... women with hats and guys with loafers and no socks.

Anyway... it's 4th of July weekend... so I'll get some training in, for sure. I had an uninspired swim last night after lifting weights... the first time I'd been in a pool since June 19. I need to get into a swim routine... I'm dialed in on the bike right now and am starting to feel real good running. Tempo run and swim tomorrow, perhaps. I plan on doing my first brick on Sunday. Next weekend... the Total 200! Todays ride definitely helped prep me for that ride. And, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. God is great.

Maybe Willie will post an update on how his training is going.


Would the ride go faster if I rode the bike rather than carry it?

-- TJ