Microtour

DC-Cobb Island

Why, hello there.

So this weekend I reunited with myself and so must blog about it in order for it to have really happened.

I rode my bike from DC to Cobb Island, MD, where my landlady lives. It was 67 miles down there yesterday and 60 miles home today, taking a more direct and yet more scenic route. When I set sail from my apartment with rear rack and one pannier (microtour, remember), I immediately thought, ah yes, this is the fullest expression of myself. Not to be too self-aggrandizing, but the transformation from pedestrian/occassional cyclist to bicycle tourist is similar to what I think Clark Kent experiences in the phone booth.

I left Cobb Island this morning at 6:30 and took a road through farmland with the morning dew hanging over it and I thought, "This is the thing from which all else flows." That is an epiphany that I have had before. I always want my life set up in such a way that I can get away for a tour, even a quick one. This means: having a bike in good repair, having a job with vacation time, and maintaining my health/fitness.

Highlights of the ride include:

-getting passed by a dork with a cotton t-shirt tucked into bib shorts and then reminding myself that I have all day to ride so there is no need to race with dorks

-passing a guy riding a rascal on the shoulder of the highway

-stopping for an apple and thinking that I was staring at deer yard art until the deer ran away

-40 miles on roads lined with honeysuckle and lilacs

-cheers from my landlady's neighbors when I arrived

Here are some pics:

At my apt in DC

I wasn't sure how I would get over the Potomac on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, but was delighted to get there and find a nice bike path with a plexiglass barrier that blocks the sound from the highway.

Hurray for bike infrastructure!

Osprey nest at Cobb Island. Platforms were put in to provide a place for the osprey to nest to prevent their extinction. Now they rule the place.

Goodnight, Cobb Island.

Good morning, Cobb Island.

There were chickens in the road!

I took this pic for my friend Brent, who is currently recovering from a bike accident. Last summer, inspired by one of these signs, he led a group of drunken fourth of july revelers in a protest calling for the end of road work.

The Potomac, taken from the middle of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the Washington Monument in the center.