It's been a long time since we've had such a great weather forecast for New Year's Day. I hope many of you will come out and celebrate with us before things deteriorate next week! We'll be riding our traditional New Year's "Weenie One Hundred" on Saturday and a beautiful horse-country loop on Sunday.
Please download and print out your own cue sheets and GPS files for the weekend rides by clicking on "Cue Sheets" (on the left side of thise page), and you'll find them there! When you open a pdf file, just click on "Print" to print the cue sheet. If you're unable to print the cue sheet yourself, let me know and I'll bring a hard copy to the ride start for you. I won't be bringing extra copies of cue sheets to the ride start unless you email me directly and advise me that you're unable to print out your own.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2011 -- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The "WEENIE ONE HUNDRED," starting from Hains Point, Washington, D.C. **MEETING TIME 7:30 am.** We have been doing this New Year's Day century almost every January 1 since1999 and will continue with the grand tradition. The ride begins with ONE lap around Hains Point, then heads down to Mount Vernon on the bike path. Next, we'll visit Mason Neck State Park on our way to Occoquan for lunch at the Riverside Grill. After lunch we'll ride to Fountainhead Regional Park and on to historic Clifton, returning to Hains Point via Burke, Annandale, the W&OD and Custis Trails, Theodore Roosevelt Island, and Memorial Bridge. With all the bike-path miles and little side trips (and unplanned THINGS that inevitably happen on this particular ride), it is quite likely that the dark monster will get the best of us. Accordingly, all riders should come equipped with lights. We actually enjoy finishing at dusk or later, as it's such a lovely sight to cross the Potomac River into our fair city and see the monuments all lit up. If you DO finish before dark and feel cheated, you can do laps around Hains Point until the cows come home. Slower riders should be familiar with the northern Virginia bike trails; we have attempted to produce an accurate cue sheet, but there are still several parts of the trails where navigation can be tricky. 100 miles, with a couple of optional shortcuts--you can omit the Mason Neck tour and thus cut off 13 miles, and later in the ride you can cut off 4 miles. You can also rack up a couple of optional bonus miles if you want to visit Fountainhead Regional Park. Beginning and end of the ride are pretty flat. There are some honest-to-goodness HILLS between Occoquan and Fairfax Station so don't be surprised when you encounter them. It was impossible to make up a useful GPS file for this route, sorry.
HAINS POINT (EAST POTOMAC PARK)
1100 Ohio Drive, S.W., 202-619-7222
Take I-395 north into Washington (over 14th Street bridge) and take the first exit for Potomac Park/Park Police. Turn left at the T intersection (Buckeye Drive, unmarked), then left into the parking lot near the tennis courts.
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2011
"LOVELY LOVETTSVILLE LOOP," starting from the VDOT commuter lot in Marshall, Virginia. **MEETING TIME 7:45 A.M.** This is a very scenic, fairly hilly tour of most of the classic Fauquier/Loudoun County horse-country towns and villages, including The Plains, Middleburg ("if you're not rich you're not welcome"), Purcellville, Waterford, Taylorstown, Lovettsville, Hillsboro, Round Hill, Airmont, and Rectortown. All on familiar roads; even the directionally challenged should be able to avoid getting lost on this one! Lunch in Lovettsville at Andy's Pizza & Subs. 99 miles, with plenty of shorter options.
Directions to the ride start:
MARSHALL VDOT COMMUTER LOT, MARSHALL, VIRGINIA
From DC beltway I-495, take exit 49 onto I-66 west, In 36 miles, take exit 28 for US17 toward Warrenton/Marshall. In 0.4 mi. take the Bus.17 ramp right toward Marshall. In 0.7 mi. turn left on Main Street/VA55 at traffic light. In ~ 0.2 mi. turn right on Frost St. & follow to parking lot at end of the road.
Crista
