An active weekend

I decided to go for a long bike ride on Saturday, and headed off to explore new routes. I drove out to Davidsonville, Maryland, parked my car, and hopped on my bike. I headed west on MD-214, which is a country road with nice wide shoulders. I then headed north on MD-2 to Annapolis. MD-2 had bike lanes or wide shoulders for most of my route, but it was a little too busy for my taste. It's a lot of fun to bike around downtown Annapolis, and it's actually faster to get around by bike than by car.


Annapolis

I headed past the Naval Academy across the Severn River, and headed north on the Baltimore and Annapolis Trail. The trail is a rails-to-trails project, and is similar to the W&OD Trail. However, it is much shorter than the W&OD trail, with a total of fifteen point five miles versus forty-five It also doesn't make it all the way to Baltimore, but terminates in Glen Burnie. I headed up to Glen Burnie, at which point I turned around and made the trip back to my car. I was pretty wiped out for the last few miles of the trip, and the final mileage count was sixty-two miles. Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.

Today, I went hiking along Difficult Run up to Great Falls (Virginia) Park. The weather was beautiful, and it was a great day to be outside.


Difficult Run

A long Saturday ride

Yesterday, I headed out to Sterling to go for a ride on the W&OD Trail. The W&OD Trail starts in Alexandria and ends forty-five miles later in Purcellville. I usually park near the trail in Sterling, and then ride out west from there. The western half of the trail has significantly fewer road crossings. The trail west of Leesburg is very rural, which is a welcome change from the urban sprawl of DC.

About a mile west of Leesburg, I stopped at a clearing to strech. While I was stretching, a passing cyclist said, "Did you see the deer?" I turned around, and there was a deer munching on the vegetation. He didn't seem concerned that I was there, and even posed for a picture.


A deer having lunch

The highest point along the trail (591 feet) is at Clarkes Gap. The trail runs underneath an old stone bridge, and then winds up a switchback to the intersection of Colonial Highway and Rt. 9.


Clarkes Gap

When I reached the end of the trail at Purcellville, I was feeling pretty good, and decided to add an extra loop. I headed north on Rt. 690 up to Hillsboro. Since Hillsboro is near the edge of the mountains, the roads start to encounter hills. The hills are extremely fun to ride at 30+ mph down, but are rather challenging going back up. On the west side of Hillsboro, I turned on to Stony Point Road, and then on to Woodgrove. Woodgrove is a "Virginia Byway", and the scenery is beautiful. It's almost enough to forget the hill-climbing.


The mountains west of Hillsboro

I eventually made it to Round Hill, where I picked up Rt. 7 and headed back to Purcellville. From there, I headed back to Sterling, and made it back with the sun low in the sky. The total trip mileage was fifty-six miles, which wasn't bad for a leisurely Saturday ride.

How to shrink a sentence

It really does help to have friends in high places. Earlier this year, Scooter Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction in Federal Court, and sentenced to 30 months in jail and a $250,000 fine. Today, President Bush commuted his sentence so that Mr. Libby does not even need to spend one night in jail. The Republican establishment is applauding President Bush's actions. Sadly, many people in the Republican Party think that Scooter Libby's perjury was no big deal, since they believe that he was the target of a political witchhunt. Of course, many Democrats feel that President Clinton's perjury was no big deal either, since it was about an embarrasing sex act.

Unfortunately, perjury is a very serious issue, because it undermines the integrity of our judicial system. Too bad that the politicians in DC just don't get it.

Not quite the plan

I had originally planned a very busy weekend, including socializing with friends and going on a long bike ride. Unfortunately, life has other plans for me. I got sick on Friday night, and spent the weekend sleeping and watching television. I started feeling better today, but I am still totally worn out. The good news is, it is a holiday week, and I am hoping that I will be able to have some fun on the Fourth.