[MB1]

After a very cold Memorial Day weekend on Wednesday things started heating up. The forecast was for 5 days in the mid 90's.

Ah well, Miss M and her sister Phil wanted to ride. So we rode.

We drove out to Frederick MD and booked a hotel for a few days. The charm of Frederick is that there is plenty of country roads right outside of town and plenty of fine dining for some hungry cyclists.

We met on Thursday a little later than I would like but Phil had a long drive to get there. We headed south right onto country roads.

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After an hour or so we crossed the Potomac into Virginia and started following the Blue Ridge to Purceville.
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Ya, we were on country roads all right. Not much traffic and about as much shade as you could hope for on a hot summer day.

 

[KWL]

Interesting to happen upon one of your threads while you are building it. I'll return later.

 

[MB1]

..started following the Blue Ridge to Purcelville.....

Purcelville is the western end of the W&OD Trail. That far out of DC the trail is pretty empty and very shaded (which was good since things were heating up).

We took the trail to Leesburg where we stopped for lunch.
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It was somewhat amusing to read the headline on the local paper......
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From there it was a short ride down to the river where we caught the ferry back to Maryland.
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[MB1]

Phil was astounded by the flood markings on the Maryland side of the river.
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We briefly took the nice and shaded Tow Path to Monocacy. We could have stayed on the path a little longer but Phil isn't all that comfortable on dirt.
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We still had another hour of riding in the afternoon heat to get back to Frederick. Not much shade on those pretty farm roads.

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Good thing we know how to beat the heat!
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[MB1]

We got a much earlier start on Friday. Blew through town before there was much traffic and just like that we were on pretty and quiet country roads.
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Frederick to Gettysburg and back is a very popular ride, it seemed like every intersection had lots of markings for various rides. Nice wide empty farm roads in great shape with fantastic views. Ya, the Frederick Valley is a good place to ride. Did I mention the covered bridges?

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[MB1]

It is fairly common to turn a Frederick to Gettysburg ride into a century but with the heat wave and all I took us on the shortest route I know. In no time at all we were riding on the Battlefield.

It is a pretty impressive place. Even though it is the 150th anniversary of the battle we were there early enough in the day to avoid the really heavy traffic.
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[MB1]

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You tired of shots of empty farm roads yet?

Except for the heat we weren't tired of riding on them and the miles back to Frederick flew by.

 

[StageHand]

Good to see my future home has good riding.

 

[KWL]

I always thought a great base for riding in that area would be the PATC Catoctin Cottage in Catoctin Furnace on Route 806. It's owned by the state so it is not one of those members-only rentals the club owns.

 

[rebeccaC]

quiet country roads ftw....history a double ftw...sitting in the shade next to my bike with a waffle bowl from brusters a gazillion ftw

 

[MB1]

Good to see my future home has good riding.

Moving to Frederick?

Cool!

There is also great mountain riding available but we skipped it this trip because of the heat.

 

[MB1]

I always thought a great base for riding in that area would be the PATC Catoctin Cottageon Route 806. It's owned by the state so it is not one of those members-only rentals the club owns.

There is a second reason we picked Frederick!
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The very reasonable fine dining available all over town.

 

[MB1]

For the first two days we rode mostly north and south in very light winds. On Saturday the winds started to pick up from the south so it was a good thing we were heading east to DC where we would spend the night at home.

Since there is a vast network of farm roads around Frederick we only spent the first 5 miles or so on roads we had already ridden.

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Then we took Park Mills Road around Sugarloaf and River Road straight into town.

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[MB1]

Since we got such an early start we blew into town with plenty of time to spend a relaxing afternoon shopping and dining around town.

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[MB1]

Not much to say about Sunday.

We got up early and raced the thunderstorms back to Frederick. We got a good look at the sky clouding up as we rode back to Frederick, the closer we got the darker it got.

Wouldn't you know it, shortly after we finished the ride and say good bye to Phil the skies opened up and the heat wave broke.

Ah well, I'd rather be dry and hot than wet and cold and it sure was a great 4 days of riding.
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[Randy99CL]

Hi MB!
I've enjoyed your pics and they motivate me to get out and ride more!

Just wondering what camera you use? Your shots are always sharp with vibrant color.
They look better than what I get with my $150 Fuji, but I haven't got all the bells and whistles figured out yet either.

I wish they'd start a Photography forum here as I'd like to learn more about the video cams some use and I'm sure guys like you have a lot of tips you could share.

 

[MB1]

.....wondering what camera you use? Your shots are always sharp with vibrant color......

I shot all these with a many generations old ( in digital years) Pentax Optio W60 and process them in Apple i-photo.

Newer cameras seem to be much nicer but since this one still works why replace it?

 

[StageHand]

Moving to Frederick?

Cool!

There is also great mountain riding available but we skipped it this trip because of the heat.

I know the trails well, but I've only done a single road ride in the area - 50 miles, maybe 30 gravel miles. I'm excited about my new local riding.