A Tri-County Ride

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, so I headed out to the western edge of Loudon County for a bike ride. I'm not quite sure what fit of insanity gripped me today, but I wanted to bike over a mountain. I started in Purcellville, and proceeded to Snickersville Pike. Snickersville Pike runs through "hunt country", and is filled with large estates, horse farms, and vineyards. At the far edge of Bluemont, I headed south on VA-601. The road immediately starts climbing the mountain, and keeps going up. It eventually peaks at 1825 feet, about 1300 feet higher than when I started. By the time I reached the top, I was pretty worn out - and I still had another thirty miles to go.


Paris, VA

Down near Paris, VA, I left Clarke County and crossed into Fauquier County. I had to follow US-50 for a few miles, and thankfully there were reasonable shoulders to ride on. I headed southeast past Upperville, and then headed back north on winding gravel roads. By the time I finally made it back to Purcellville, I had clocked about forty-seven miles on the trip.