Finishing the Boundary

Crisp. Gentle breezes. 45 degrees. Sunny. Good day to curl up with some hot tea.

But no, I decided to finish off the Boundary Stone Route.

So I rode 20 miles to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens where I abandoned the route a few days ago.

It being Veterans Day the streets and trails were empty. So the ride to the gardens was pretty much effortless

Once in the route I failed to find the first stone at the intersection of Eastern and Kenilworth Avenue.

No worries. Just a few miles southeast on Eastern Avenue led me to the East stone.it was in a wooded area but the fence surrounding it was easy to spot.

The ride along Eastern Avenue was quite hilly but nothing like the climbing festival that awaited me in Southern Avenue.

The rollers would have been easier but for the red lights at the bottom of each descent.

Some of the stones are located in hard to find spots so I decided that to keep things moving along I would only look for the stones within eyesight of the road.

I rode the Southern Avenue roller coaster toward the southwest breathing in the crisp autumn air and a pretty significant amount of second hand marijuana smoke.

At the end of Southern Avenue the route takes you around a strip mall and to a bridge over a man made stream. Except the bridge was there. Instead was a man made rapid that I decided not to ford.

I could have ridden into an adjacent neighborhood to get to the last stone but decided against it. I’d have had to bushwhack through some high weeds and shrubs to find the stone. Then I’d get to climb up the nasty, bumpy hill at Oxon Farm. Instead I retreated to the frontage road of the highway and used that to ride up Oxon Hill.

The ride home involved a pleasant descent to the Potomac then a climb with a spiral ramp to get to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail.

The trail features numerous bone jarring expansion joints that Maryland transportation officials seem unable to fix or mitigate.

So my Boundary Stone make up ride is complete. It was pretty tedious and hilly. I’ll bet it’s a lot more fun with other people along for the ride.

The Mule and I managed to ride 43.5 miles today.

Tomorrow I go back to the hematologist for a status check on my blood clots. Tuesday I visit the pulmonologist for the same reason. No worries.