Round 6 - A return to the familiar

 So I decided to get a fancy biking top. This was due to watching too much Tour de France and to not having pockets for my phone. 

There is a certain amount and bitterness in my household about people dressed in bike racing attire on the roads, we always shout to each other “The peloton!”, as they block traffic and generally present as road hazards.

I therefore made lots of disparaging remarks to myself as I got one. It’s green (my favorite color) and has butterflies on it.

I was blessed in my decision by a butterfly, and now feel I made an excellent choice.

This time we rode from Whites Ferry up to Monocacy Aqueduct. 

The ride brought us to home turf. 

I took Kiernan C&O bike riding for the first time a few years ago, on this very aqueduct. 

It was a pretty day and in the mid 70s. 

We only rode about 8 miles and saw quite a few groups headed south. 

We passed the Dickerson power station up close, and we saw the big stacks. 

Got an obligatory majestic bird shot. 

We found a massive tree. 

Also we rode on nicely maintained trail (much nicer than last time) in the shade. 

There was a good deal of still, green, plant covered water. 

We took turns leading off and chatted about the old Nintendo game Punch Out. 

This time we wore helmets. 

We haven’t done that in the past. I didn’t wear them as a kid or teenager, when I did the most biking, so I’m not really in the habit. I’ve seen lots of bikers with them and read a few brutal crash stories recently so we are going to try to remember them in future. 

Kiernan was rewarded for his hard work with a sandwich from pump  and rye .

Round 5: a nice lunch meet up

Round 5 took us another 8 miles up the path. We started at McKee Beshers wildlife acres and rode up to Whites Ferty Grill. 

We rode through the green tunnel and out of sight of the river the whole way. 

Our best nature encounter was with this big old turtle on the path. 

I moved it further on its way into the grass and we peddled on. 

This time it wasn’t just David who dropped us off. Megan came along and then it was a full family affair. 

They drove up to Whites Ferry and parked in the lot behind the grill. 

They ran for a mile towards us and we met up on the path and went for lunch together. 

The weather was in the low to mid 80s and the full shade of the trees was most welcome. 

Whites Ferry has been closed for a few years now. I hope they will eventually start it up again but the Maryland and Virginia owners are pretty set against each other. 

It’s a bit of a mess. I wasn’t a regular user of the Ferry but every once in a while it was a lovely option. I remember taking Kiernan on it one time after he saw a Caillou episode about taking a Ferry ride. I think he was like 2 years old. 

We ate a good lunch and saw some tshirts and hats with 184 mile C&O bike logos on them. We will go back and get some if we manage the whole thing. 

We have a few more bike to food stops coming up. 

Also we are getting closer to home so the car rides are going to get shorter (less than an hour) and we will be biking on the same sections we hiked on this spring to get ready for the Camino. 

Round 4: this time with padding

 

This time we biked from Pennyfield Lock to the Mckee-Beshers Wildlife Area. That was about 8 miles and we did it in around an hour and a half. We stopped once for me to look at the water.

Just as we were getting on Kiernan found a tiny frog.

David dropped us off and then drove up to the extraction point. Then he ran towards us for a mile and back to the car just intime for us to be done.

It was very hot.

We reached the part of the C&O where the canal is no longer maintained. It stops at a bridge. Next to that bridge was a group with a popup tent and a grill and lawn chairs. It felt very festive.

This time was less shakedown and more just riding along but we did make some changes.

This time I wore bike shorts and had a gel seat pad. This helped tremendously.

My butt didn't hurt until the last mile and once I got into the car it stopped  hurting immediately. 

Kiernan told me about how to improve my Mario Kart races. He is making me a spreadsheet. I do love a spreadsheet.

I think we could do more milage than that next week.

It hard to want to get up early but its much cooler when we do.

We did not this time.

I think we are likely to continue as long as it isn't too onerous. Waking everyone up early would I think cross that line.

The river really opened up in this section. We saw paddle boarders and canoers and kayakers and even a small motorboat.

 Just as we were getting off I found a white feathery caterpillar with golden horns.

I moved it off the bike and onto the foliage.

Good stuff.

We stopped to get Indian food on the way home.

 Map from: Bike Washington's 

3 years later: round 3

 

It’s not that we forgot or that we were too busy. We just didn’t make time for it. 

We picked up where we left off at Great Falls. You have to pay to get in even if you aren’t in a car. 

David dropped us off just outside the park and we paid and rode in. 

I’d rather throw my money at the park service than most other organizations so I handed over my credit card without the regret that transaction usually entails. 

My bike is messed up. The chain keeps skipping. I peddle and then suddenly there is no pressure and then it’s back. 

I took it to the shop and they fixed it but it’s happening again. 

I therefore took Megans bike with the seat raised up. 

It’s July so it’s hot. Moving at the pace we were, there was breeze the whole time and we had shade nearly the whole ride as well. 

Kiernan has been fighting a stomach bug for the last few days and neither of us knew how well we would fair back to the bikes so we did a short 5 mile trial up to Pennyfield Lock. 

It’s taken us 3 years to get 19 miles. 

It was a beautiful morning though. David drove my car up to the take out point then he went running and met us. 

I really hope we go again next weekend. 

I’ll need to either get my bike fixed or get a gel seat for Megan’s. Good gracious my poor butt. 

At Swains Lock we passed a big biker campground, lots of tents and hammocks. 

Also this section is full of porta johns. 

It was cool to see the old lock houses with their rent me signs up. 

When we got to Pennyfield lock we saw that it was a boat ramp lot. There were lots of kayaks and I went down to see what it looked like. I saw a great blue Herron and a cool tunnel. I think the tunnel is for kayaks and canoes to get over to the main canal. 

Those plus all the turtles and deer and birds made it quite a nice nature morning. 

There was some construction around. They had been cutting limbs and trees by the path and it was a little bumpy and stick strewn. 

Kiernan told me about a minecrafter who is doing ridiculous things with red stone. 

On the way back we got Indian frozen dinners for lunch and drank lots. 

So far so good