Peach Tree Loop
My original plan had been to do that ride in the Virginia mountains with the DC Tri Club this morning. But we didn’t end up getting to the Shaffer’s until after 1AM last night and I decided that getting up at 6AM for the ride just didn’t make any sense. Instead, I drove about 40 minutes away to Poolesville, MD and rode on some really nice roads out there.
First, I followed a 25 mile route that I found on Bike Washington’s website called the Peach Tree Loop (see map below). Then, I rode about 8 miles east on River Road, turned around, went about 10 miles past my starting point and finally rode back to the car. Some of the roads had a shoulder or bike lane, but mostly it was just riding on the side of the road. The nice thing was that there really weren’t very many cars out there and the cars that were there were generally very careful around me. There were a ton of cyclists on the roads. As for the route itself, it was tough – tougher than I’d expected it would be. I guess you could describe it as rolling, and there weren’t many long hills, but there were some pretty steep ones. I think I did a good job getting the calories in and drinking enough fluid. I felt good for most of the ride, but got really tired near the end of the ride. I can’t believe that I’ll have to do 52 more miles than that at Placid! Keeping the hilly Lake Placid bike course in mind, I was excited about getting some hills in today. After the way I felt today, I need to spend a lot more time on hilly courses over the next 16 weeks.
It was a fun ride and I would definitely recommend the loop and/or River Road to anyone looking for a ride close to DC. Also, Bike Washingtonis a great resource – tons of routes, along with accurate cue sheets (turn-by-turn directions) and commentary on the routes – terrain, traffic, scenery, etc.
Peach Tree 25 mile loop:
Bike – March 31
Distance: 60.7 miles
Time: 3:20
Average heart rate: 122
Course: Poolesville, MD and River Road
Conditions: Sunny, high 50’s, a little wind