Ride Diary

Point of Rocks, Md. and Berryville, Va.

It started out as a trip to the computer emporium to buy a new modem. The old one was fried by a lightning bolt. I told my wife I intended to take the "scenic route." At 150 miles, it turned out to be quite scenic. I didn't intend to go that far, but the call of the open road was too much to resist. Hoping for the best, I put sun screen on my face since I always get sunburn through the face shield.

I began in Georgetown and took the Clara Barton Parkway out to the Old Angler's Inn, then through the twisty uphill to Potomac, Md. The curves are not particularly challenging, so you can whip through them at a good clip. It was a little on the hot and sticky side. That was not to last too long. Once you're past Potomac, it's hard to believe you're only 20 miles or so from the White House. The western half of Montgomery County is still mostly rural and not built up to the extent of Virginia on the other side of the river. Or, at least what development that exists is artfully concealed. I continued on through Poolesville, Beallsville, Barnesville, and Dickerson to Point of Rocks. At Point of Rocks I gassed up, got something to drink and headed down to the railroad station to consume it. Watching trains is another past time of mine; unfortunately there were no trains. Point of Rocks gets its name because the Potomac carves a water gap through Catoctin Mountain there.

By this time a rain storm was brewing, so I suited up and headed west to get through the rain as quickly as possible. I had originally planned to head south towards Leesburg, Va., to begin the return leg, but it looked like the storm was intensifying down that way. I crossed over to the Virginia side and took the first right, which leads west to Lovettsville. Western Loudoun is lovely country and has great roads, even in the rain. From Lovettsville the road loops south to the town of Hillsboro, where I picked up Rt. 9 and headed west to Charles Town, W.Va. Luckily the rain had ended and it had cooled things off considerably. This road offers a relatively gentle climb of the Blue Ridge and a spectacular view of the Shenandoah River on the downhill side.

From Charles Town, I went south to Berryville, Va. and over to Leesburg on Rt. 7 and then down to Tyson's Corner. Rt. 7 is a rather soporific slab of asphalt, so I took the old business route through a couple of little towns. East of Leesburg it's lots of traffic lights and strip malls. Other than the Dulles Greenway, there is really no alternative, at least none that I know of.

Well, wouldn't you know, by the time I got to the computer store it had closed for the day. Oh well, I guess I'll have to run out there at lunch time.

It goes without saying that the NH performed flawlessly. Except for my gloves, my gear did fine. (Same gear as the wet Memorial Day run.) I hadn't ridden in the rain with these gloves before, however, and the underside of my fingers were jet black from the dye. It made my hands look like I had some ghastly skin condition. I didn't experience any problems with water penetration on my Shoei RF-200, so I guess the face shield is adjusted properly.