Almost Heaven, Maybe Hell

Today I came within a foot of Heaven or maybe Hell. More about that later. My riding partner Dick is now infected with whatever is going abound so I road by myself. I was feeling strong so I just took off in the morning and road the 93 miles at a steady pace. On days like this I dedicate my ride to someone battling MS. Today I road for Audre, a member of the Hungarians, my local MS team, who is dealing with MS. Audre is a strong cyclist and she battles MS through exercise and an incredibly positive attitude. She’s a wonderful young lady.

More rural Virginia, blah, blah, blah

Again the ride started through rural Virginia but as I got closer to DC the traffic really picked up and I was on a lot of four lane highways. Most of these highways had a wide shoulder or a bike lane. It was a perfect day to ride and I made good time even though there was a lot of climbing. At mile 70 I had a flat after running over some debris that I couldn’t avoid.

I eventually got to Mt. Vernon and was happy to get on the old and bumpy Mt. Vernon Trail. It was crowded and a biker nearly ran into me. Some of the trail was flooded by the Potomac River. Once I got to Alexandria a new’s film crew was set up at the bottom of King Street. The river had flooded much of the area near the Torpedo Factory and many streets were blocked off. Big news!

I made my way to The Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria. I was less than a block away when a car accelerated to cross traffic right as I was riding through. I hit my brakes and slid sideways just enough that the car missed me by inches. A little shaken I continued to the church, showered, and immediately went to Yates’s Corner and Lena’s Pizza and Tap House and had a cold beer or two to calm my nerves.