Saturday, June 26, 2010

Saturday on Rock Creek Parkway

Another scorching day today, so I suggested we go down to DC and ride on the Rock Creek Parkway, they close part of it to cars on the weekend. I have been going up and down it all week for work, so I had noticed that much of it was shady. So this morning we loaded up the bikes on the car and scooted on down there. We started in Chevy Chase and road down into DC. Near the Memorials we stopped to admire the view of the Potomac.


A little further along we came up from the backside of the Lincoln Memorial.
Then we continued on into Hains Point, which is very popular with the cyclists, low traffic, flat as a pancake, and a built in loop at the far end. As we rode around the point, we spotted this.
It seemed to be some sort of group activity where you paddle around on the Potomac and the guy standing at the front leads in classic drill sergeant mode. Kathleen was willing to bet money that the paddlers paid for the privilege, I didn't take her up on it because I am pretty sure she is right. After we rounded the tip of the point the other side faces National Airport.
At the other end of the park are a bunch of softball fields, this game was just about to get started.

There is also a golf course, tennis courts, and playgrounds all through the park. After a loop around and a quick stop at the Lincoln Memorial for the restrooms we headed back up the parkway for the car. As we had discovered on the way down, only part of the parkway is closed, so for the return trip we shared the path with the joggers, walkers and others, but there were lots of times where it was fairly quiet.
Once we got a little farther up to where the road was closed it was smooth sailing back to the car, plenty of room for everybody.
When I downloaded my data from the computer tonight, I got the biggest suprise, a new personal best top speed.
Actually, that is where we went through a tunnel on the road, I am pretty sure I didn't hit 200+ mph at any point today. Tomorrow Kathleen is running the Baltimore Womens Classic, so I am going to ride around and take pictures as I do.

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