I used to do intervals at the Anacostia River Park just east of the river. Not much traffic, flat, and perfect for 8-10 min efforts.
The National Arboretum can be a lot of fun as well—a couple of super-steep 3-5 min hills.
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Our winds have been calming down the last few days. On Tuesday they were gusting at 55mph, today they are just 32mph gusts and for a change they are supposed to drop at the weekend to a more manageable 17-19mph 
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Out for a brief ride on the trail this morning. Lazy start meant starting the Garmin at 5:20a, finished at 6:10a. Spotted:
1xDeer, standing there like a deer in a headlight (wait, he was a deer in a headlight). Usually, they are in groups, but I only saw this one.
1xBadger booking fast (not caught in this pic, but seen just before)
And, (hey @jmt) many frogs on the trail, like this guy. No, there weren’t signs on the trail and I almost ran over one thinking it was a leaf until I realized the leaf had eyes looking at me. It was about 2C according to my Garmin computer.
This ride was not 0.96 IF as TR is reporting below. The high IF is because my TR FTP is set at 250 per a recent TR Ramp test (on rollers, on my road bike) and for TR indoor workouts while my outdoor FTP remains set at 272 per Garmin telling me after certain rides (on my gravel bike).
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I grew up riding BMX and lately been having fun on this bike. It’s a fairdale Taj 27.5 tires! This thing rips even on some mtb trails, its my full rigid single speed 
I’m in Alexandria near the Four Mile Run trail and will use it to connect with the Mt Vernon trail or the Washington and Old Dominion Trail. Sometimes I’ll ride into the National Mall via the 14th Street bridge.
I’m usually mountain biking and will take the Mt Vernon trail south to Belle View to hit the jump line in the Mt Vernon District Park.
I’ve only been here for a few months and still learning the area.
This?
Man that looks like a lot of fun.
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Yes! Company owned by taj mihelich, if you know BMX he’s a legend. It really is just an all around fun bike for trails, neighborhood, wheelies, pump track and skateparks.
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Thanks. I moved back to the NoVa area this past summer after being away for four years. My September event was a solo century on the W&OD trail but started with a loop around the Pentagon and East Potomac Park / Haines Point. It was a fun ride but had lots of road crossings, so it was hard to get into a long sustained rhythm.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/55944976
With daylight returning I might try some early morning outside workouts before work, if I can find a safe place to ride. Anacostia Park might be my best option since it’s just across a bridge from where I work.
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I wish I could “love” this post instead of just “like” it. That look on that frog’s face is priceless! Nature is so amazing!
Your deer in the headlight reminds me that when I was out running early last weekend, I surprised a little group of young deer. They looked at me like they were teenagers caught smoking. Then they ran away.
The deer here are small and very skittish (more so than they are in the Santa Monica Mountains, where I ran a lot ages ago). I used to run in Richmond Park in the London area (lived there before here in CH) where the deer learned over the centuries that they are the boss, not humans (except during the twice-a-year cull). Here they are blocking the trail, and they don’t care.
Sort of like this big guy, who didn’t care I was there and wasn’t going to yield to me. They are supposedly harmless, but I always kept my distance because I didn’t want to be that “stupid American” that became a statistic by getting gored.
Anybody who runs or cycles in Richmond Park will have tons of similar pics. You get used to it, but it’s still weird.
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Did Jepson on the road bike today. First day on the road bike outside in 4 or so months and, bonus, first day this year in bib shorts with the temp a nice 12C-ish at the start (home) but Strava says the temp was 10C (50F). Either way, the sun was shining and it was glorious.
I should write I “did” Jepson or I did “Jepson” because the route didn’t lend itself to 4x8’ (plus surges), so I mashed the first two and second two 8s together. Both times, though, I ran out of hill 2-3min before the end. I focused on maintaining the prescribed power, which resulted in TR reporting this ride’s IF as .9, which it most definitely was not. The problem is my TR-tested FTP – which works for scaling my TR indoor workouts on the rollers and thus should be called Functional Training Threshold, FTT, in my opinion (hey @Jonathan) – does not work for me outdoors. Garmin recently told me, unsolicited, my outdoor FTP (or FTT :), is 272.
Nearing the top of the first climb.
Between the climbs is a gentle slope with a separate bike path for part of the time.
Stopped on the downhill of the second main climb for a pic of Zurich in the distance (look closely and you’ll see the blue water of Lake Zurich) since the road was generally closed to traffic (otherwise it’s too busy to safely stop.
Overall, a productive lunchtime ride that was also a nice escape.
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That’s amazing! I love rolling hills like this.
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Anyone else feel completely blasted after riding outdoors in the winter? First time out yesterday since Dec 7 due to the icy roads in Minnesota and just felt cracked after being outdoors. Wind chill was around 20 F so nothing too cold but greatly missed that serotonin
If you bring your mountain bike you can cobble together an hour or so ride on the urban singletrack in Fort Dup ont Park, too!
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I decided on a relaxed free ride today which started bright despite the roads being a potholed mess 
That thought was going to comeback to bite me.
I thought about heading over the Lomond Hills to Falkland but wasn’t sure I’d have time so I doubled back by Ballingry only to have Chelsea Tractor force me into a series of potholes on a steep descent. One of them probably the last put a hole in my sidewall. I should have replaced my sealant after a few p’tures last week and it would have been fine. I initially thought about the spare tube but decided to phone home and say I’d be late and they offered to collect me so I accepted.
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With lockdown still in force I was keen to get a long ride done.
https://www.strava.com/activities/4854568438
A short ride last weekend gave me an idea: the watershed of the upper River Aire. A bit of searching came up with this: [url]https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/OperationalCatchment/3484[/url], pull the bottom end up to Steeton/Silsden to avoid Keighley (if you’ve been there, you’ll understand), onto bikehike and plot a route that follows the watershed as closely on legal RoWs as possible and I ended up with around 110km and 2400m of ascent. Mostly road and stone track there were just a few potentially boggy sections. Very little technical terrain - the descent of Stockdale Lane being the hardest.
With fine weather forecast I decided to head out yesterday for a “midweek” hit. I rolled down to the “start” at Steeton & Silsden railway station but since I met the route a little before that and hit the lap button at that point. The roundabout by the station was thankfully quiet and into Silsden before the long drag up and over to Draughton. Draughton’s phone box is one of those that have been repurposed, in this case as a book club, it made national headlines a few years ago when it was vandalised.
Down to the A59, crossing this can also be worrying as it’s a fast road with an overtaking lane at this point, then into Halton East which according to my unofficial schedule was to be my first hour point but I was ahead of that. The first off-road section will be familiar to those who’ve done the YD300 & YD200 routes as it’s the last downhill section. A bit harder going uphill! The gate marks my hour point. The next section leading up to the road is the first boggy section but I’m in luck - the farmer has filled in all the deep puddles and it’s pleasantly straightforward.
Not so pleasant is the strong wind that greets me when I get to the road, it turns out I’ll be riding straight into this for the next three hours or so. The climb up and over Barden Moor is taken steadily, no need to burn matches at this point. Two weeks ago much of this track was sheet ice, today it’s just slightly damp.
This gate was frozen in place a couple of weeks ago, the ice was about a foot deeper than the water here.
I’m still ahead of schedule at Hetton but the first “boggy” section slows me down. Normally it’s rideable but I have to walk a couple of hundred metres due to the mud caused by the farmer out feeding stock, just no traction so I’d end up spinning comically at a standstill. The subsequent rocky track is fine as is Boss Moor which isn’t as damp as I expected and the bit by the old barn hasn’t been churned up too much by the cattle so is rideable.
Once I’m onto Mastiles Lane the going becomes firmer but the wind is pushing me back, slight downhills where you’d normally feather your brakes need hard pedalling. My third hour mark comes and goes but I’m now well “behind” schedule, the last big climb for a good while leads to the top of Stockdale Lane.
I’m actually a bit cold by now - the temperature is nowhere near the forecast 10/11C and the wind is making that feel even cooler. My level of output is just enough to stave things off. As soon as I turn east at the foot of Stockdale Lane the effective temperature soars and I begin to warm. The next bit is one of those RoW anomalies - the BW just stops in the middle of nowhere. There are plans to link everything up and local riders have used it for years, the last time I rode it I met the farmers and had no hassle so I’ve no problem in including it.
Back on the road at Otterburn it’s easy going to Coniston Cold and the second crossing of the A65, again relatively quiet. I’m riding through the next set of fields when there’s a regular ticking from my back wheel, the rear brake has worn through, I’ll fix it when I get to the next road. Unfortunately I don’t have the right sized hex bit to undo the retaining bolt so I’ll have to do the rest of the route with just the front brake, luckily there’s only one steep descent remaining to deal with.
Another stoney track leads across to the the A59 (again) but no need to cross it as I drop down to the Leeds Liverpool canal and pass under it. The canal is followed, muddily, as far as the Pennine Bridleway in Barnoldswick then it’s the next big climb up Weets. Six hours ticks by as I start the climb, my unofficial schedule had me at the top by now. The climb is steepest at the start but then just seems to drag on and on. The last section to the next road is the last of the boggy bits, my rear wheel grinding at the brake pads that aren’t there.
From here to the end is nearly all road but I’m debating whether to modify the route slightly and just follow the main road for a bit rather than a long climb on a minor road. In the end I decide to stick to the planned route. After Foulridge there’s a ford to negotiate, well I say ford, it’s more like the road follows a river bed for 200 metres, it’s possibly the longest ford in Britain!
The ford ends just by the trees!
The last section - I’ve only ridden some of this in the opposite direction so make one or two minor nav mistakes but then it’s one of the very few bits of the route I’d not ridden before and it becomes really steep! Fortunately it soon eases off and after a couple of small fords it’s a steady climb up the other side.
Moon rising.
Eight hours sees me at Keighley Tarn, it’s nearly all downhill from here, just one off-road section to finish things. The light is going and with it the heat and I’m getting properly cold, no heat being generated. I turn off for the final bridleway and it’s an uphill I’ve forgotten about. The true last descent appears and sunglasses are inappropriate in the gloom under the trees. The road leading down to my finish is really rough as it’s made up of sleeper sized lumps of stone.
I debouch onto the main road next to the chippy along with a socially distanced queue. I hit the lap button 8hrs18mins. I ring my wife, turn on lights and head (uphill) back home.
Rather tired!
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I did what any self-respecting tester would do on a beautiful sunny weekend morning today… rode up and down a dual carriageway on my TT bike 
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Did three hours round local lanes in lovely sunshine and light winds
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Shoot! I’m sorry about the flat. The weather looked beautiful, at least.
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CIRREM 13. 100k gravel race in Madison County Iowa. Started out in the mid 30’s and warmed to the mid 50’s with full sun. Road conditions ran the full spectrum, hard and fast to wet and sloppy from the snow melt going on. It was great to get to ride outside for a change!
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