It's three miles due east along the bike trail from my house to work. But as I have mentioned before, there exist these weekday morning cyclist coffee clubs and a few of the members of my Freezing Saddles team made plans to meet at the Thursday Vienna coffee club at around 7 AM. So, to show team spirit and get a little workout in besides I hopped on my bike at dawn and set out in the 20 degree air at dawn to ride eight miles west - the wrong direction, that is - to have coffee with a group of people whom I had never before met but who are my virtual team mates. Yes, that made good sense.
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| At Caffe Amouri |
I must recommend Caffe Amouri in Vienna for their hazelnut scones and big mugs of dark roast coffee. Yum! Plus, it was good to meet Mike, Mike, Rob, Elizabeth and Chris, and Vincent, as well as the other cyclists who were there. We sat for about 40 minutes and then headed back east. I managed to keep up with the "real" riders through Vienna but I fell to the back of the pack - but not too far behind - once they hit the more open section of the trail. I pedaled hard to keep up (my legs felt it for two days afterwards) but they lost me on the long hill climb up over I66. Thanks to fortuitous timing of a traffic light I caught the group again in Falls Church and rode with them again for the last little bit before we reached Madison Manor.
I hadn't come prepared to bike all the way to work. Instead, at Mad Manor I got off the trail and biked home, where I took a very quick shower, dressed for work, grabbed by laptop and stuff and (horrors!) drove to work. The best part was that I got to brag to people at a meeting later that morning, including one guy who is a serious cyclist but who retreats to an indoor trainer in the winter (wimp!) about my crazy stunt.
I'm not sure I'll do this again until the weather gets warmer, but it's a good distance for a morning workout - will be nice in springtime.
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