Monday, May 25, 2015

Georgeous Prince George's

That's the PG County motto, and I hardly thought it applied given what I previously knew about PG county, mostly their car-centric Metro station design (stations surrounded by acres of parking, with poor pedestrian accessibility and no businesses).

After numerous trips out the C&O canal and surrounding areas west of DC I thought it was time to give the east side a try. I found a 200K route through the area. It doubled back on itself which can be boring if ridden frequently, but was ok this time. I shortened it to 80 miles so I could be back in time for an afternoon appointment.

Fridays are my day off and the metro starts running at 5am (instead of 7am on the weekends), so I can reach the start of the ride by 6am, perfect for warmer weather and it allows me to get things done later in the day. All I have to do is wake up at 4:45am, no problem, right?

Watching the sun rise over West Hyattsville.
This is why it's worth it to wake up that early... I remember now.
The USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Facility
Beaver Dam Road
But, you are still in Maryland. People love their trucks...and littering on the side of the road.

I ran into this a few hundred yards before I was supposed to cross the Patuxent River. I was really hoping it didn't turn into this. The closest crossing was many miles away and was on a major highway. I decided to investigate further. The small bridge was fine for bikes. But perhaps it had been damaged enough to prevent it from carrying car traffic. I saw 2 other walkers using the closed off road as well. Closing a road to cars sure makes it pleasant for walking and biking, and no more potholes, infrastructure problems: SOLVED.


I made it all the way to Deale, MD before turning back.

Made it back the metro at exactly noon for six hours of riding, including 15 minutes of breaks. I had some trouble eating enough food while riding, Clif Bars are not cutting it anymore (too much simple sugars). Time to do some more research on Glycemic Index, maybe I will switch back to using peanuts and orange juice like I did in France.

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