I got out for a ride today with a little help from Washington Women Outdoors. I'm finding it hard to motivate to ride alone in the cold, so signing up to ride with a group was the perfect remedy.
We met at Margaret Pierce Elementary School in Remington, VA, a little town east of Culpepper and south of Warrenton.
The day was sunny and cloudy, between 38 and 42 degrees, so we were cold when the sun disappeared behind clouds.
First stop, a battlefield in Brandy Station.
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| Peaceful expansive field. Always so hard to imagine armed conflict happening in these places. |
One fun thing about these country rides is discovering all the little country stores. We were sad to see this one, Bailey's Store, had closed up shop. Also, we hoped to go to the bathroom here.
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| Cute house across the street with interesting window. |
I need to keep this ride in mind for March/April when I'm looking to get away from the trails around home to build up endurance without the challenge of hills.
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| Flat, flat, flat. |
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| Further down the road there was a beautiful horse farm called Kelly's Ford. |
There were only five of us on the ride. Susan was the ride leader. I thought she was familiar and we figured out I had met her at the first Goose Chase in 2015. She and I had ridden together for a little bit and she told me all about WWO. She gave me a card which I somehow never lost. That's how I ended up riding with them.
Others on the ride today: Paula who is an economics professor from Chicago, Barbara who runs an association for schools for the deaf, and Lynn who was just getting back out on her bike.
This was the littlest country grocery I've ever been in. It was part store, part living space (it seemed). The old guy in here was watching TV and manning the shelves of peanuts and chips. It was also really really warm and cozy. We browsed for longer than necessary just to soak it up. Sadly, no bathroom!
We only had about 8 miles after this stop (I think). I got chilled after we left and stopped to put my gloves back on. Thankfully, our one hill on this flat ride came after this stop, so that helped us all warm up.
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| Cute house in remington just around the corner from the school where we stopped. |
