Day 09 Maryland has hills too.

We were up and out of Frederick at 6:36. The going was immediately tough. There were hills, hills, and more hills. Some were rollers, some we just cranked up, some we walked. We were very slow. In addition, it appears that you can’t get there from here. The map shows roads joining up that do not join, so we spend a lot of time asking directions, as well as being briefly on roads where bicycles are not allowed. Very stressful.

We made our first stop at a BP in Jefferson. This was one place where we needed to get directions, as our road did not join up with route 15, even though it clearly did on the map. We were 7.5 miles in and it was 8:10. We split a quart of Gatorade ($1.80). Our next stop was in Leesburg. It was actually 6 miles from the city center. We again drank to the tune of $3.55.

We finally got to town and went to the tourist info spot in the city hall. We met a couple of nice folks who gave us some information on how to get out of town and towards our presumed destination of Gainesville.    We took off down route 7 (not nice for bikes). That road had no shoulder, three lanes in each direction, and lots of fast traffic.

 We got off and saw a Wegman’s totally stressed out. Did we mention the temperature was in the 90's? So we stopped and had lunch. This Wegman’s was huge. Makes ours back home seem like grocery stores. We  each had a tortilla-less burrito for $5.00 (each). They were great.

Debbie asked for directions since we did not want to continue on route 7and as it turned out one of the guys who worked in customer service commutes by bike over a dedicated bike trail. He told us how to get to it and we set off. It was really nice. It is paved and has a line down the middle as if it were a highway. We met many other bikes on it but of course they did not stop.

We got off at our presumed end point and of course got a bit lost. We asked for directions but did not follow them correctly so we had to stop again and get new directions which we did follow. By this time we were truly beat. Did I mention that the temperature was at least 90? We stopped at a Subway for drinks and air conditioning. We both needed it but Debbie was really hurting from the heat and traffic. After cooling off a bit we headed out and within a mile or so came to a hotel, Candelwood Suites, and checked in. It was too expensive but we were beyond caring.

Showers, laundry, my course occupied the next couple of hours. Then we went to dinner at Chili’s, and did some marketing at a Walmart Supercenter. Now I am writing this.

Today’s data: 42.3 miles, mean speed a surprising 9.2. We were on the bikes for 4:36. We are  385 miles into the trip (although not all of it is on route).

Debbie’s emotionometer: Happy and cooperative in the morning, pleased to make a new state (Virginia), freaked out and hot and exhausted (crabby, crabby, crabby) in the afternoon.