136 miles on 13/6 gettit? Ok, moving swiftly on. This was essentially the same route that I toured over two days last year, but done in one day. It gave a great and varied ride on quiet country roads, with plenty of interesting scenery along the way. I included an ascent of Sugarloaf mountain, the nearest “mountain” to DC and a personal favourite point to ride to. Any ride from home to Sugarloaf and back is a solid day out. The forecast was mixed, with warnings of isolated thunderstorms and flash flooding. As the following photos show, there was some heavy weather at times during the day but thankfully I managed to stay clear of anything serious, only getting caught a few brief showers.

Departing Rosslyn at 6.45am – dirty clouds overhead

Approaching Sugarloaf Mountain

Heavy storm clouds near to Sugarloaf Mountain

Waiting out the rain

Summit selfie – at the highest point the road attains (pretty near the actual top)

View from near summit of Sugarloaf

Bridge over Monocacy Scenic River

Corn dryer, Mountain Road, Virginia – the same corn dryer featured in last year’s tour

Purcellville, start of the W&OD trail

On the W&OD trail

On the W&OD trail

Like Paper-Rock-Scissors, but the bike always loses

Flooding on the W&OD trail

Strava route:

Strava route