Ashburn, West Virginia, Appalachian Trail - 55 miles

Short Version: I rode my bike from Ashburn, VA to the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia and back again. It was awesome. There are some pictures below.

55 miles is a long ride for me

Longer Version: Sometimes I get as creative with my writing as I do with my adventures, but there is really nothing too interesting about the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad. It ran about 72 miles from Bluemont, VA to Rosslyn, VA. The first tracks were laid down in the mid 1850s. The rail line had no strategic part in the Civil war, it was sold, bought out, and put out of service many times until 1968 when it ceased operation all together. However it has now become a wonderful and frequently used bike path that runs from Purcellville, VA to Arlington, VA.

I hopped on the bike path in Ashburn, VA and rode it out to its west end in Purcellville. I have done out and backs to Purcellville a number of times, and always make it a goal to never get passed, however this time I took a few stops for pictures.

Once I got to Purcellville I had to do a bit of gravel road riding, now I love mountain biking, but gravel roads are awful especially when they have those washboard bumps in them. My road bike does not handle them well.

Although the road conditions did not improve for riding, the scenery did improve dramatically.

I almost turned back about 3 times, there were no trespassing signs everywhere. Usually this is not a problem for me, but for some reason today the signs were really speaking to me. I thought someone was going to come out with a gun wondering what I was doing on their road. I would turn around, walk or ride away for a minute, then stop, say to myself: “I’ve come 27 miles already, are you really going to turn around? I am sure it is just around the corner..”

And then I would see something like this and second guess myself again

At the end of the day I made it just fine, and found a spot along the Appalachian Trail at Wilson Gap to eat some banana chocolate chip muffins.

The ride back was initially much more fun because I spent the first few miles descending out of the Appalachian, but then it was the long haul back home.

I am not sure if I will do this particular adventure again, but it was fun while it lasted.