W&OD + Custis + Mt. Vernon + wrong turn =

The Kennedy Center. Seriously, we rode to the Kennedy Center from Vienna.

After today's ride was cancelled, Chia and Ben (who were planning on riding today separately) called me: 12:30, from Vienna to the end of the Custis and back. I agreed--it would be far shorter than the 78 miles we were supposed to ride, but it would be hilly.

So we started out, bombing down the W&OD, turning onto the Custis Trail, and following that all the way down to Lynn Street. Chia suggested we keep going, as there's a parking lot that makes for a convenient turn-around point...and then we spotted where the Mt. Vernon Trail started, and we figured we could spare another 15 minutes, so we started on that. Except I made a fortuitous wrong turn and ended up on the sidewalk alongside Rte. 66, where it passes E-street and The Kennedy Center. Then we turned around and headed back up, up, up the Custis trail and its many climbs. I've been riding so much now that the climbs were easy!
Plus, the clouds went away, the rain went away, and the sun came out...and baked me in my cold-weather clothes. I ended up rolling up my sleeves and tights to get some skin exposed to cool down.

Statistics:
Bike: Trek 1500
Distance: 27.21mi
Saddle Time: 1h55m05s
Actual Time: 2h15m
Start Time: 1:00PM
End Time: 3:15PM
Start Outside Temp: cool
End Outside Temp: Warm
Max Speed: 28.2mph
Avg Speed (saddle): 14.2mph
Avg Speed (actual): 12.1mph

In fact, I think I should do that, starting after Tahoe: start in Vienna (i.e. on Tuesdays and Thursdays), ride down the W&OD to the Custis trail, take the Custis down to the parking lot, and turn around and go back. Those hills will be easy after a few weeks of that...