Of bikes and baguettes

Disclaimer: This is Gina's post. I did *not* go to an all-women overnight camping trip (because Gina wouldn't let me). -- JoeP


I’ve always liked cool weather. I would rather ride along the frozen Potomac in 16 degree weather rather than in 90 degrees with humidity. So it was with some apprehension when Rose, Julie, Maili and I set off on our overnight camping trip at Cedarville forest, with a forecast of HOT and humid. But great company is great company – no matter the weather. So there we were, roasting marshmallows on an open fire and eating baguettes with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and vegetarian chili. But enough about food, we also managed to do some riding. We wanted to do the green and brown trails but we didn't know where those trails began so we decided to do the orange trail instead. We were all glad it was an easy trail lest we get heat stroke, then we decided to go to the blue trail. We met a group of bow hunters on the blue trail and they “advised” us to go another way instead because there were more of them ahead. I was thinking that this is a bike trail too and we should be able to ride it but after hearing loud thuds from arrows in the distance, we decided to go the other way. I was not pleased but I would rather not risk my neck this time and ruin a good day.

The next day, after a quick pancake breakfast, we decided to pack up camp and head to Rosaryville for more riding. This is a really fun trail, and well marked too! We met three guys riding in the opposite direction. They were spaced five minutes apart with two of them asking if we saw their friends. I guess for most guys, it’s not “macho” to wait. Julie suggested to the last guy that he should try riding with women. Not that women are slower (okay, we were slower than them) but we tend to ride together and not keep gaps of five minutes. It was a very hot day and we were sweating like crazy. At one point, Julie squirted cold water on us (as if we were doing a wet t’shirt contest) and that felt good. Finishing the ride with a waiting cooler of ice cold Gatorade was heaven, but the best thing is we all finished it together and we’re gonna do it again… but next time we’ll make sure the weather forecast is in the 70s.


rose, maili, julie and gina's kona at cedarville