Leesburg VA to Milepost 0: Watergate, DC

7/11/2014 23m

Started today's ride in Leesburg. Used the hotel shuttle to get to White's Ferry and cross the Potomac. Started riding south. One of the riders didn't like the mud and felt a bit nervous, so they departed the trail around MP22.

Stopped for snacks at Great Falls, MP14. After that, the quality of the trail really improves as you get closer to the seat of power and funding.

After MP5 we'd insisted that the group stay in a single pack, just to keep the navigation simple. The turns through Georgetown do require some attention, it's easy to mistakenly move to a crossing trail, and the navigation to MP0 is a bit of a trick. We managed to move the whole group to MP0 and a successful group photo. They all did really well.

After the glory moment and the photos, it turns pretty quick into Friday afternoon in Washington DC and the logistics of what's next. For me, my wife Karen drove down in a van and picked up R and S and I. We drove back to Frostburg together, then K and I got out so we could ride partway back to Pittsburgh ourselves on the trail.