By Ben |

Today was forecast to be the only truly glorious day of the week, so I took my bike out for a spin.  I followed about 3/4 of the Rock Creek Park bike trail, all of the Capitol Crescent trail, and the very end of the C&O Towpath -- that's the trail that Granny D covered on cross-country skis when she was running late for a press conference and an unexpected snow fell.

Early in the ride, I stopped to study the bicycle map -- which was both imprecise and inaccurate -- and another cyclist stopped to help me.  He was going much the same direction, so I followed him.  His name is Leroy Badger, and he lives in Utah but has ridden more than 15,000 miles since 2000, in both organized rides and informal jaunts all over the country.  He had a fancy road bike and a spandex suit, but without my trailer I had no trouble keeping up with him.

The cherry trees are just getting started.  I got a few photos of the early bloomers just in case I don't get back later in the week.  I stopped in at the city's central library and was surprised that they keep their maps in the history department... until I saw how old the maps were!  Not useful.

26.9 mi