To Leave or Not to Leave?

This morning came too early. Much much too early. Yesterday’s full day of being a tourist in and around downtown Washington resulted in more than a few photos being taken. That led to more time being taken sorting through and formatting said photos. Add in the dinner (and beers) at Nicole’s sister’s place, and the result was a late evening where I didn’t finish typing up my daily update. The horror! So, as I said, this morning came much much too early as I had to wake up to finish yesterday’s update.

I also had to figure out what I was going to be doing today. I certainly had options. I could go back downtown to actually go inside some of the museums. I could get tickets for tonight’s ballgame. I could just hang out all day and relax (and help Nicole with some condo-maintenance activities). Or I could actually look at a map and figure out how I’m going to get to Florida before winter arrives. It wasn’t an easy decision but practicality eventually won out and I found myself packing up my bags and preparing for a day of riding.

All that indecision in the morning though led to a rather late departure time of just before 11:00. After a not-so-quick review of the map, I estimated I might be able to make it to Stafford, VA today. However, I’m not sure I ever believed that to be realistic – especially with the later departure.

Washington to Stafford is only 102 km (ie. about 60 miles). Actually, it’s much closer than that if travelling by car. However, I’m not. And I’m also not allowed to travel on parts of Route 1 – unless I want to have another visit from the State Troopers. Those two factors meant a lengthy and hilly detour was in my future. The other factor which I suspected would slow me down was the fact that today is Saturday and I figured the trails would be busy with joggers, walkers, and other cyclists. That would make getting out of Washington a slower task. And that was exactly what happened.

That said, the ride was still nice. The winds were somewhat gusty at times but it wasn’t a non-stop headwind. The first part of the ride was a bit redundant as I retraced my route towards Arlington National Cemetery. Once I got through that I was in new territory once again. I stopped to watch a few planes takeoff from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport along the way but it was a brief stop. As mentioned previously, I had to take a somewhat significant detour to avoid Route 1 which meant I was once again stopping regularly to check on my directions. Clearly that is both inefficient and frustrating. It’s also just the way it is.

Even though I’m not a morning person, I find my rides go much better when I start early. Today continued that pattern. In additional to all the things (ie. excuses) I just listed as reasons for today’s slower ride, the fact is I was just a bit sluggish on the bike today. By 1:00, I had only gone 30 km. And by 5:00 I still had over 40 km to go. By that time, my phone battery was dying and the chill resulting from the rapidly disappearing sun made me realize that I would not be getting to Stafford on this day. And that was okay. But it meant I needed to find somewhere to stay.

A not-so-brief search on several hotel booking sites revealed a reasonably good deal at a Days Inn which just happened to be a few hundred metres from where I was standing. The booking process would’ve gone faster if the booking site in question didn’t crash so often. Maybe it’s me but I find Priceline.com to have more website downtime than the others. After several attempts though, I was finally able to book a room.

Upon checking into the room, the gentleman behind the counter noted my Kitchener origins. It turns out, he has a long time friend who lives in Kitchener and he was actually talking with him earlier in the day. As he said, it’s a small world. Well, not quite so small when you set out to cycle it. But still small in the grand scheme of things.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 83.72 km
Time on bike: 4:29:37
Maximum speed: 51.12 km/h
Average speed: 18.62 km/h