Two covered Bridges cruise
Okay, I know this is supposed to be the 3 covered bridges tour - but I've never actually found that third covered bridge. I've found the one on Utica and I've found the one up on Old Frederick Rd...
Now, I could actually look up the location of the third, but that'll spoil my joy when I randomly happen upon it...
Friday afternoon, I left work intending to go get lunch, saw how absolutely gorgeous the weather was, and just grabbed a cliff bar from my car and declared that lunch. I knew there was a Halloween party at 2, my boss had already left, and I figured I'd finish my work and just leave early so I could get out for a ride in the warm weather, because earlier last week was just miserable in the wind and cold, yet I was trying to ride as much as possible since I knew daylight savings time was coming and I wouldn't have so many opportunities.
I was out the door at 3:30 on my "fast" bike in a t shirt & shorts, had a bunch of layers packed for later on. I have 2 road bikes and despite the 2nd having nicer components and wheels, my fast bike just feels faster and is more fun to ride.
When I know I have several hours to ride, I like to cross over to the east size of 15 and ride around in that area. Last time I did it, I found Legore Bridge, which is just a really gorgeous stone arched bridge...
I was just enjoying the weather and was stopping to take pictures every so often. I'll include some of the pics, but a lot of them are of leaves. Another forum I post on was having a photo contest last month for leaves.
Once I crossed 15, I headed up old Frederick Road - passing the covered bridge on Utica, through Creagerstown, and up till I got to Loys Station covered bridge. I'd taken a few photos at Utica, but wandered about for quite a while at Loys Station taking pictures.
Eventually I realized - okay, it's 6:30, I've got maybe an hour left of daylight left and I'm an hour from home, so I decided to turn left at Rocky Ridge road after the Loys Station bridge, figuring I was heading towards 15 and would find some way south... I did veer off on some road because there was a sign for a bridge with limited weight bearing on it - so I thought it might be the 3rd covered bridge, but just ended up having to turn back about a mile in when the road turned to dirt. I ended up going through Thurmont, and there was this nice old town where as I was peddling up a hill 3 kids started calling to me from the front porch they were on... "HI!" So I'm shouting hi back - one boy says "Nice Bike!" I shout "Thanks!" and then they start wishing me a good evening, at which point I decide that I'm going to stop shouting at kids when I'm trying to ride up a hill, because fast bike is a double and not even a compact double... I'm fine with most hills around Frederick (nope, haven't gone up gambrills on it), if I think about the hills and really keep up my momentum... But shouting and hill climbing wasn't working so well.
I stopped at some point to put on all my layers, turn on all my lights, and had a fun ride back watching the trick or treaters start emerging. I got in at 7:30, turned on my porch light so I could pass out candy, and it seemed everytime I was trying to peel off a sweaty layer, there'd be a knock on the door... I went about 35 miles total. I made a bit of a mistake and didn't eat for about 5 hours after I got back, which seemed to really impact how much energy I had on Saturday when I went for a ride.
Saturday was a much more sedate ride just around Bethel & Mountaindale Rd - maybe 20 miles. I saw a really fantastic father & son team - the son looked like he was about 12 years old, full aero position, maybe a bit big on his bike, but just spinning like crazy, his father was also full aero and drafting about an inch behind him. I saw them twice and both times they were just flying along. It made me feel quite slow and pokey paced.
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