72.68 Miles for George Washington's Birthday

After loafing around yesterday and doing absolutely nothing (other than feed myself and watch TV), I woke up today at 6:45Am and decided that I was going to make up for it by riding my bike 50 miles. A fitting way to celebrate George Washington's Birthday (well, aside from joining a re-enactment group and marching around with a musket).

I left the house at 9:30AM and headed for the trail, catching up with a group of 3 guys in their late 30s/early 40s (maybe older, judging from the short grey beard on one guy) heading East and I struck up a conversation, starting with "Nice shorts" to one guy, who was wearing the same shorts I was. I followed them East on the W&OD and up the Custis Trail, to the guy's house (his house is literally 30 feet from the trail) and exchanged information (remind me to carry a bunch of business cards wherever I go, now).

Then I jumped back onto the Custis, back to the W&OD-East to the Arlington end (which was my original plan for the day). Got to the end and noted the winds had picked up and it was getting a little colder, even though it was about 12:00PM at that point. After I had fed and watered and took a picture for posterity, I headed back West. I figured out why it was windy and cold: rain clouds were rolling in. Yay for low-pressure zones, sucking in the weather.

It wasn't supposed to rain today, but it did as I was passing through Reston (teh suck), and Winston Churchill's words "If you're going through hell, keep going" rang through my mind, pushing me on. I decided while it was nice and warm and sunny that I would try for a century, but now that it was cold and rainy and not-fun, I was seriously reconsidering. I decided that I would at least get to Partlow Bros. Barbecue in Ashburn and make a final decision.

So I got to Rte. 28, stopped, stretched, ate some food, and got back on the bike for the gradual-uphill slough and made it to Partlow Bros., which was open (thankfully). I went inside, had a sandwich and bought some supplies (I'd eaten both of my Clif bars by then, and I was out of Powerade and only had half a bottle of water left) and headed back out...into the cold. I decided then that I was done for the day, that I would head back.

Going back was a bit easier until just after Rte. 28, as it's all downhill and pretty easy to maintain 25mph. Then I got to The Gauntlet and my speed dropped to about 13mph--teh suck. Once I got to the parkway, I decided to make a pitstop at my parents' house, since it's essentially on the way back to my house anyways. Getting there, though, was pretty hard (and I knew it would be, so I wasn't surprised).

I pulled up, got inside, and knew that was it--I wasn't going to push it by going the final four miles to my house; I was already pushing it by going 70ish miles today, as the longest I had gone since the Sea Gull was 60 miles, and that was so long ago as to not be relevant to this season anymore (and the longest this year had been about 35 miles). My body gave up the moment I sat down inside; it was 3:30PM. I had been on my bike for 6 hours today.

My mom came home, and I got a lift to my house.

Oh, and I found out what happens when you don't clamp the cable down tight enough on the rear derailleur: your bike becomes a 2-speed, only being able to shift the front derailleur between the two chainrings of the crankset. Good times. Good thing I had my multitool--I was able to get it back to semi-working condition, but I'm going to have to go back and tweak it some more, as well as clean the whole bike now, since it was wet and muddy in some parts (like the very beginning this morning).

Statistics:
Distance: 72.68mi
Saddle Time: 4h42m09s
Actual Time: 6h
Start Time: 9:30AM
End Time: 3:30PM
Start Outside Temp: 55°F
End Outside Temp: 52°F (felt like 45°F for the wind, though)
Max Speed: 33.1mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 15.4mph
Avg SPeed (actual): 12.1mph