We left my apartment and rode past Arlington Cemetery and onto the Mt. Vernon Trail. From there it was a backwards Muffin Ride to Shirlington and the start of the W&OD. We tallied 8.5 miles before starting the trail. I was feeling very strong, but also a bit concerned with the heat. Temperatures were in the eighties and we left at midday. Luckily, things in this area haven't had a chance to get humid yet and so the heat was bearable.
We started at mile 0.0 and headed West not really pushing the pace much in the early going. We met Dana a few miles down as he was to meet us and ride at least a portion of the trail. He joined in the pacemaking and we gradually started to get respectable. The trail was extremely crowded in Arlington, but once we made it to Falls Church, things thinned out plenty to where we could move.
We never really got things going in a strict paceline, but we did pull things together in the Powerhouse stretch (Vienna Depot to Hunter Mill Rd.). Will told me later he was worried we were going to try and hold that pace for the duration. I just wanted to ramp it up and have some fun for a bit. Dana turned around at the turnoff for Performance in Reston and that left Will and I on our own.
When we reached Will's apartment, which is just off the trail next to Orbital, we stopped to refill our bottles and I ate a Powerbar to keep fueled. We were back on the trail shortly thereafter and got right back into our strong pace. The wind wasn't terribly strong, but it was in our face all the way out and the inclines don't favor those going West. As we passed through Leesburg, I was starting to feel a little bit of the effort. I was nowhere near worried about finishing, but more that we'd have to actually slow down and start thinking more about pacing ourselves.
I enjoyed seeing the land past Leesburg for the first time. It's nearly all rural and it's probably the most beautiful section of the trail. By the time we reached Purcellville, I think we were both a bit tired and ready for a break. My feet were hurting more than anything else and I was desperate to take off my shoes and have a seat. I did that and we looked around Trails End Cyclery for a bit. I introduced Will to the cyclocross bike as I start my campaign to get him out racing in the fall. I also watched a bit of a TDF DVD they had playing in the store and chatted it up with one of the young riders who works there.
Once we got going again, I knew we'd be going well. The slight downhills and a touch of tailwind gave us the boost we needed to really crank. We started riding as a tight pair, alternating the lead well and keeping the pace high (25+mph). I was able to rest well each time and felt great when pulling. I was feeling so good that I wanted to keep going all the way to the end, but Will was starting to feel the miles a bit, and so we stopped at his place again to fill up and fuel.
When we left on the final leg of our journey, Will was a bit sluggish with accelerations and I knew he was tired. I was stunned that I felt great. As we passed 80 miles and then 90 miles, I was a strong as I could hope for. The pace never dropped--even when I took over the pacemaking for good. Leaving his place gave me confidence because I knew the rest of the trail would be on road that I know as well as any. I know exactly how to ride the W&OD there.
We were both thrilled to finish the W&OD and we took a moment to savor our success. Then we had to get moving as I was supposed to be at a dinner at 7p. That's when Will started to crack a bit. I was easily pulling away from him as I tried to get us home as quick as possible. But I didn't want to finish without him and so we chilled out and took our time. We arrived home as conquering heroes, with 107 miles under our legs. My longest ride before this had been the 85 mile "Epic" ride at camp. That was over far more difficult terrain, but it's hard to beat this kind of volume.
Dist / Time / Avg / Max / Odo
107.17 / 5:36:01 / 19.1 / 36.1 / 1270.3
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