Biddies Gone Biking: WWO - New Year's DC Ride

To kick off the new year, Laurie and I did a Washington Women Outdoors ride in DC. The planned route was to start in Georgetown at the Capital Crescent Trail head then ride 15 miles around the monuments and Haynes Point. I rode from home to get some extra miles and planned to ride home in the car with Laurie.

I arrived at the Key Bridge right on time and was happy I'd estimated the distance correctly. Almost exactly 20 miles from home to Georgetown.

Water Street

We congregated at the trail head with a good group: Amy (hiker, ride sweeper), Jessica (retired surgeon), Barbara, Susan (leader), Babs, Lynn (cross country rider) Laurie, Me. We rode down Water Street and past the restaurants on the waterfront (Sequoia's). From there, I was following as we threaded through the meager crowds to hit the monuments. Next stop was in front of the Lincoln Memorial where we looked out over the reflecting pool toward the Washington Monument.

Reflecting Pool w/Washington Monument

In front of Lincoln Memorial

The whole group: Me, Laurie, Babs, Susan, Barbara, Elaine, Jessica, Lynne, Amy

We didn't take time to walk up to see Lincoln. Will have to visit with him next time. Instead, we biked over to the Vietnam Memorial where we walked our bikes past the wall.

One of the women on the ride, Lynn, lost her brother 49 years ago tomorrow in the war. We stopped so she could find his name on the wall.

We rode past the WWII Memorial, which I didn't even bother to take pictures of. I just don't like that memorial. Too imposing. Too much concrete. Anyway, we past the Washington Monument and the trash cans that were overflowing because of the government shutdown. Then we stopped at the Botanical Gardens which were able to stay open because they were still operating under last year's budget. I've actually never been there before. We wandered around for 10 minutes and used the bathrooms (previous bathroom stop also unsuccessful because of shutdown).

Lynn, Babs, Barbara, Susan, me, Amy

Inside the Botanical Gardens

Laurie and I in the botanical garden. We didn't plan to match the poinsettias!

It was too hot to linger long in the gardens - they were hot a humid, a risk to our body temps on a chilly day. So next stop was the National Christmas Tree. This year, they decorated it in orange.

After the tree, we made a brief stop at the Washington, DC War Memorial. Apparently, it is the only memorial in the city dedicated to DC residents. It's also a popular wedding spot. Jessica, the retired orthopedic surgeon, said her son was married here.

(LtoR) Amy, Susan, Laurie, Jessica, Babs at the War Memorial

Next stop, the Martin Luther King Memorial. I love this memorial. This is the view looking through to the Tidal Basin. King's sculpture is on the other side.

From the King memorial, we went on to another of my fave guys in American history - FDR. His memorial is sprawling and filled with quotes about economic justice and equality.

My bike under the words:
Freedom of speech.
Freedom of worship.
Freedom from want.
Freedom from fear.

I am not the only one who likes to take bike portraits, it turns out. Here is Jessica's bike, posing at the FDR memorial.

After the FDR Memorial, and much walking since many of these memorials don't allow biking through them, we finally stretched our legs a bit and rode around Haynes Point. There were a number of other bikers there enjoying this new year's day ritual. We had the wind behind us on the way out, and in our faces on the way back. It felt good to actually ride.

The Washington Monument had a cool dark cloud behind it when we passed on our way to Haynes Point but I couldn't stop for a photo. On the way back, I made a point to stop, but it had lost much of it's allure as the clouds had spread out.

After Haynes Point, the group stopped in Georgetown to get a coffee at Starbucks. Laurie and I headed out for the car so that we could get some lunch elsewhere.