An Odd Route

I rode this oddly-shaped route this morning.  I started around 9 am, after morning traffic but before afternoon thunderstorms.  30 km, just over an hour. Going further in any direction I would encounter street crossings, in some cases very busy highway crossings with multiple signal lights.  By staying within these boundaries, I can ride on paved bikeways for an hour and climb a few hills (uphill to the left on this map).

These bikeways follow, sometimes very closely, major highways but also connect a series of small parks.  I see all types of flowering shrubs and trees: forsythia, quince, plum, cherry, apple, dogwood, even some early magnolia today.  I hear cardinals in many of the parks, and encounter a few bicyclists, many runners, and pedestrians.  Where the maintenance crews have mowed, I smell fresh crushed chives (onions), a familiar odor from when we lived here.

At the weekend these close-in trails get very crowded so I will try to go farther west.  I started in that direction the other night, continuing on the Washington and Old Dominion Railway path.  I enjoyed the stretches between the cities (Falls Church, Vienna) but within the cities the path crosses all the streets at grade level, which means three or four major stoplight intersections and eight or ten stop signs over a mile or two.  I could cross to the north side of the river and ride on the canal path, with no intersections of any kind for 50 miles or more, but that path has a gravel surface.  I prefer not to get this bike dirty when I have no means to clean it and when I would have to bring it into this hotel.