Bike Trip to Annapolis: 2 Emily: 0

This past weekend I had HIGH hopes of visiting one of my all time favorite places in Maryland, Annapolis, and was even more excited when I learned that I could make the 65 mile round trip travel by bike.  In preparation, I spent Sunday morning giving Bernard a thorough cleaning; after transversing 4,029 miles across the country it was the least I could do.*  Look at how clean that cassette is - looks like it just came out of the box. 

My hopes of a ride were dashed on Monday because I remembered I needed to get a drug test for school so today was going to be my day. I threw on my kit, printed myself a cue sheet, filled my camelback and tires and hit the road. 

Getting downtown was easy enough as I have made the trip several times since moving here.  At that point things became very complicated as my cue sheet did not line up with the bike trail signs posted.  Against my better judgement, I abandoned my cue sheet and decided to follow the signs.  Well let me tell you I got lost, very, very, very Alexandria kind of lost.  Thanks to my phone and some painted signs on the road I was able to get on what I thought was the right trail.  Who knew that three different paths came together and split off in different directions with no signage. 

The weather was great, I was seeing a lot of Baltimore I had never seen before and then I hit the Middle Branch trail.  Harmless enough, right?  WRONG.  The trail was in such bad disrepair I was nervous that at any moment I was going to blow a tire.  At one point I unclipped from my bike to walk it over some major branches.  In hindsight I should have taken it off the trail, but I forgot that I would not be doing out and back rides.  Also to add insult to injury this trail had taken me WAY out of the way. 

While I did not make it to Annapolis, I did get to see some new areas of the city and can warn people NOT to take the Middle Branch trail. 

*full disclosure my bikes are pretty much like my kids and I refer to them as if they are living, breathing people