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Mt. Vernon Trail Conquered; Four Mile Run Trail Partially

This is another biking update following up on my entry from last week. I’m continuing to increase the number of miles I can ride. Today I spent much of the afternoon on a ride and my milage total was a whopping 39.4 miles. This is a personal record running all the way back to some rides in the 40/50 mile range I did when I was in elementary and middle school.

I started at the Mount Vernon parking lot, which is the southern terminus of the Mount Vernon Trail, and rode north. I made it 10 miles, which was my goal, but felt pretty good so I continued on north on the trail until I reached the western end of the Four Mile Run Trail. I took off headed west on that trail, and went quite a few miles. It’s hard to find info about the Four Mile Run Trail online, but I’m guessing I rode about half of its 8.8 mile length (maybe even a bit more) before running out of steam.

The Four Mile Run Trail, which loosely parallels the eastern section of the W&OD trail (which I’ve already conquered), is very hilly and curvy and difficult.

So I rested a few minutes and rode back roughly by the same route (I skipped one super-hilly segment of the Four Mile Run Trail by jumping over to the W&OD), catching the southern edge of a thunderstorm and getting drenched just south of the Beltway, and survived. Next on my list: the rest of the Four Mile Run trail and the Custis Trail.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.