# Big rides near DC NoVa



## bwbishop

So Colorado has the Triple Bypass, California has The Death Ride, what does Virginia have? What are the big iconic rides out east here?


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## pmf

This will kick your @ss:

Mountains of Misery 2014

This one is shorter, close to DC and really nice scenery ... and some good hills. The topography estimates are waaay off

http://www.fauquierfreeclinic.org/wp/?page_id=240


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## nsfbr

I know some folks who did the Civil War Century this past September. 

From the website:



> *Civil War Century (102 miles) -- *Our most popular but very challenging route visits all three Civil War battlefields offering breathtaking mountain vistas along the way. This hilly ride has about 10,816 feet of climbing with four mountain climbs and lots of up and down in between. This is a difficult ride. You must commit to training for this event. It should not be your first century. But, if you do get tired, you can bail out at 65 miles, skipping Gettysburg (and the last mountain climb) in favor of a scenic nine-mile descent back to the start/finish. (*View Civil War Century Map* See instructions below)


Not that I'm the best judge of these things, but I'm pretty sure I'd die trying to do that.


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## springs

125+ miles, 16k+ feet of climbing. Not Virginia, but nearby in western Maryland.

Garrett County Gran Fondo


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## Gregory Taylor

In terms of "epic" PMF has is nailed - Mountains of Misery. 

The biggest ride in the DC area in terms of attendance is probably the Seagull Century, in Maryland. This is an anti-epic - the course is dead-nuts flat (the biggest hills are a highway overpass and a bridge). It is epic, however, in terms of mayhem. Flat, fast, and full of Freds. Nasty accidents abound. I've done it in slightly over 4 hours 20 minutes (ride time) on a fixie. That should tell you something. I don't do this ride anymore, which should also tell you something.


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## pmf

Gregory Taylor said:


> In terms of "epic" PMF has is nailed - Mountains of Misery.
> 
> The biggest ride in the DC area in terms of attendance is probably the Seagull Century, in Maryland. This is an anti-epic - the course is dead-nuts flat (the biggest hills are a highway overpass and a bridge). It is epic, however, in terms of mayhem. Flat, fast, and full of Freds. Nasty accidents abound. I've done it in slightly over 4 hours 20 minutes (ride time) on a fixie. That should tell you something. I don't do this ride anymore, which should also tell you something.


I've done that ride 22 times in a row and plan to keep on doing it. It was the first century I ever did. I've got every number for all those years. My wife and I do it -- spend the night before at the beach. The one day we get away from the kids. 

Its a decent ride if you take it for what it is. I tend to leave later ... around 8:00 ... to avoid all the dorks on time trial bikes. These should be banned. Its kind of fun to be out with 5000+ riders. We just take it easy for the first 15-20 miles. It spreads out after that. Some years, depending on the wind direction, we've done the alternate route which is kind of nice. You should try it Greg.


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## Gregory Taylor

Okay, I came off as too grumpy. 

I've never done the alternate route...I've done the "old" route a couple of time, including once in the company of some of my more recalcitrant friends who did not like the change in the route and insisted on maintaining tradition.


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## pmf

I sometimes question why I do it. Its flat and uninteresting. Too crowded at times. I have passed at least one serious accident (involving an ambulance) every year. And there's the mountains of chicken sh!t you ride by. Plus its expensive. I spend $60 in gas, $175 for a hotel (Mr. and Mrs. PMF stay in a nice hotel on our one night away from the kids), $75 on dinner and breakfast, $110 on registration for the two of us ... gads, that's around $400 when I could be relaxing at home yelling at the kids.


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## Gregory Taylor

The mention of manure brings to mind one particular Seagull. My friends and I turned down one of the many, many back roads that make up the Seagull to be met full in the face with an awful odor. The odor, which was lung-crushingly bad when we made the turn, got even worse as we pedaled along. It got to the point where I thought that the paint on my bike would start to bubble and melt, the smell was so bad. After a mile or so we passed the source of the smell - a farmer had parked a loaded manure spreader in the road, and we were down wind. 

I always got a kick out of the fact that the first rest stop is always in a little park along a creek where they had a bad outbreak of pfisteria, caused by runoff from the chicken crap that is spread on the fields.


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## bwbishop

Thanks, this is just what I was looking for. Definitely going to do Mountain of Misery and Civil War Century if registration is still open.


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## Donn12

Grand Fondo New York may be worth the 4 hour drive from DC. If a normal century is of any interest Back Roads Century is very close


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## pmf

bwbishop said:


> Thanks, this is just what I was looking for. Definitely going to do Mountain of Misery and Civil War Century if registration is still open.


Have fun. I've never done the Civil War century. I know people who have though. One hard thing about MM (aside from the hills) is that its relatively early in the season. That climb at the end is killer. You'll pass people walking up it.


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## majbuzz

My google search skills stink today, is MM on May 24th next year? That is pretty early but sure sounds like a good ride.

**nevermind, I just confirmed the 24th** I plan on doing it now.


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## ljvb

I like the Seagull.. it's relaxing.. except the one year (2 years ago I think), some Corvette club decided it was a good day to drive a convoy of old to new Vettes along the same path as the ride for 10 miles.. sucked to be them.. the exhaust from some of the older ones and ones with straight pips and cat deletes on the other hand sucked to be us..

Oh, and the 40+ mile an hour gusts kinda suck. I also did it on a cross bike, not the best for neck strain after 100 miles.

Edit: oops, forgot to add, there is also the local MS100, Tour De Cure, and a few others that happen in VA/MD/DC area.. and if you like MTB.. the Shenandoah Mountain 100 is a blast.. if not brutal


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## pmf

There's a ton of good centuries in the VA, MD and PA area. Before kids, I had no problem finding one every weekend starting in late August and ending in early October. I'd even do back to back ones on one weekend. There's a good mix of terrain from hilly to rolling to dead flat. 

I remember the Corvette thing at the Seagull. They all converged on Ocean City that weekend. There were literally hundreds of them racing up and down route 1 all night. Luckily my hotel room faced the ocean. It would have sucked to be near the road and listen to those jackasses all night. What you saw on the ride was just the tip of the iceberg. It did suck for them in their Corvettes going 15 mph. Whoever had the bright idea of "hey, let's drive over to Assateague Island" wasn't a popular guy.


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## moose82

I've done CWC and the Jeremiah Bishop Gran Fondo (in Harrisonburg). Doing MoM this year in addition to those two. The Reston Bike Club Century looks pretty challenging: it's always the weekend of my daughter's birthday, so I'm tied up.

As far as non-organized rides, it's not difficult to put together a 100 mile ride with well over 7k feet of climbing. Hills of MD, Naked Mountain, Mt. Weather, and Mt Blue, Skyline Drive, etc.

I'm in Fairfax and am always happy to do a big climbing ride. If you want company, PM me.


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## philoanna

I live on the Eastern Shore and train on these flat roads so I certainly wouldn't pay to ride the Seagull. I have however done the Civil War Century and the Metric at the Garrett County Gran Fondo and highly recommend each. The Gran Fondo has much steeper climbs.
I am considering doing it in 2015, but not sure as I have not trained much lately due to coaching a lot.
Good luck and have fun!


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## ChrisJ83

Zero mention of skyline drive, SkyMass is a good one its not a century.


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## NealH

Mountain Mama century out of Monterey is outstanding. Its usually the first weekend in August.


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## NJBiker72

Hiller than Thou in NJ has an intense rep. Might try it this year.


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## moose82

Has anybody signed up for these rides yet? I know registration opened up for a few of the big ones in the past few weeks.

I'm in for Mountains of Misery and Jeremiah Bishop GF. I'm skipping Garrett County: it's going to be a long spring getting ready for MoM and figure I'll chill out in June and do more family stuff. Less long/big rides and not having a full on training regime will be good.

Then in August I'll ramp it back up to get ready for the Civil War Century and JBGF. I might try to do a flatter century just for grins.


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## majbuzz

I haven't signed up for any yet. Still planning out my calendar for the year. MoM is on there though.

One more thing, if any RBR folks want to meet at the MoM and ride let me know. Unless you of course are a Cat 1/2 type of person. Have a nice ride.


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## dcorn

If you guys want hilly rides, do the Garrett County Diabolical Double. You're cheating yourself thinking anything else is worse. A friend of mine completed it, but he said a few of the climbs, he basically came to a complete stop and couldn't turn the cranks anymore because it was so steep. 

I did the Civil War Century a year or two ago and it was much more climbing that I thought it would be. Still think the Gran Fondo New York was worse, but then again it was cold and raining the entire 110 miles the year I went.


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## NJBiker72

dcorn said:


> If you guys want hilly rides, do the Garrett County Diabolical Double. You're cheating yourself thinking anything else is worse. A friend of mine completed it, but he said a few of the climbs, he basically came to a complete stop and couldn't turn the cranks anymore because it was so steep.
> 
> I did the Civil War Century a year or two ago and it was much more climbing that I thought it would be. Still think the Gran Fondo New York was worse, but then again it was cold and raining the entire 110 miles the year I went.


I went to GFNY that year, and a beautiful day last year. Much more fun last year. But try NJ some year if you like this type of thing.


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## moose82

If any of you guys did MoM yesterday, hopefully you had a great ride. It was a perfect day for it.


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## Donn12

I forgot about this thread and MoM...what else is coming up? I don't know if I am a crazy climber but I am going to do Jeremiah bishops ride


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## L_Johnny

Last year's Civil War Century: it got unseasonably hot and then a storm blew in, twice, during the ride. Luckily for me I was done by the second come around of the rain. And I could actually stop by a building on the first round to take cover from the wind.
The year before it was great weather. Let's see what we get this year.


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## moose82

Garrett County is in 3 weeks. I'm not doing that: looking forward to unstructured riding and hanging out with my family. I'm excited MoM is behind me and I crushed my goal time. A lot of my friends are doing GCGF though.

CWC and Jeremiah Bishop are in Sept. I'll be doing both of those again. Yes, CWC got super hot last year. I missed the marking in the road for one of the rest stops and ran way low on water. I just remember limping back in. I don't remember any rain though.

Reston Century is in August, but I always have a conflict that weekend.

I'm looking forward to some trips out to Skyline and The Plains for some fun, not worrying about total miles or climbing totals.

And Donn, regarding the Jeremiah Bishop ride, there are a few options that are all paved. There's a 78 mile route and new 100 mile route, both of which have two pretty big climbs. The first isn't super hard (it's on the main route as well): maybe slightly tougher than the climb to Dickey Ridge on Skyline. The 2nd one is definitely tougher, but it's only like 3 or 4 miles long. I haven't decided which route I'm going to do this year.


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## Jwiffle

dcorn said:


> If you guys want hilly rides, do the Garrett County Diabolical Double. You're cheating yourself thinking anything else is worse. A friend of mine completed it, but he said a few of the climbs, he basically came to a complete stop and couldn't turn the cranks anymore because it was so steep.


Try doing it on a 50 pound recumbent tricycle! Yes, I did. In 2011 I broke my wrist 2 weeks before the event, and I had already registered for the Diabolical Double (125 miles with something like 15,000 feet of climbing). Undeterred, I broke out my mom's recumbent trike. It was a beast, and though I ended up having to switch over to the century route (100 miles with 11,000 feet), I rode the entirety of it. Some of the climbs were over 15% for a mile (the sections of 23% were steep enough the front wheel started to lift, and I had to lean way forward to keep from tipping over backwards!). At times I was barely moving 1 mph, and people on bikes were flying by at 3 times my speed (yes, 3 mph).

Two years later I went back on my road bike, did the Double in 2 less hours than it took to do the century on the trike. The ride is definitely challenging, but a lot of fun. Was going to do it again this year, but had conflicting plans.


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## dcorn

That sounds terrible haha. 

Me and a couple friends did the GFNY again this year with muuuuch better weather. 100 miles and they added a bit of climbing. 2013 was around 6500ft and this year was 9600ft! Wasn't exactly prepared for that haha.


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## NJBiker72

dcorn said:


> That sounds terrible haha.
> 
> Me and a couple friends did the GFNY again this year with muuuuch better weather. 100 miles and they added a bit of climbing. 2013 was around 6500ft and this year was 9600ft! Wasn't exactly prepared for that haha.


That last climb hurt. I loved the no bicycle sign at the bottom telling people to get off and walk.


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## nate

I know this thread is now fairly old, but the Savage Century is another tough one and coming up on October 10. It's about 9000 feet of climbing including a couple short hills with max grades around 16%. It's a great ride though it is at a time of year when weather can be a factor. It goes through PA Amish country and starts in Newark, DE, on the border with MD and PA.


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## pmf

It's not a big ride in terms of people, and its not even 100 miles (longest ride is 57 miles), but it's beautiful and has some serious hills. Rappahanock Rough ride -->

Rappahannock Rough Ride | Fauquier Free Clinic

It's in Washington VA, about an hour outside DC. It starts at 10:00 which is kind of nice. No getting up at 5:00 AM to make the start.


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## moose82

nate said:


> I know this thread is now fairly old, but the Savage Century is another tough one and coming up on October 10. It's about 9000 feet of climbing including a couple short hills with max grades around 16%. It's a great ride though it is at a time of year when weather can be a factor. It goes through PA Amish country and starts in Newark, DE, on the border with MD and PA.


Hmmm...that looks good. I might see if I can't make that happen. It's like 2 hours from my house, but looks like a route I'd enjoy.


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## nate

moose82 said:


> Hmmm...that looks good. I might see if I can't make that happen. It's like 2 hours from my house, but looks like a route I'd enjoy.


I rode it in 2011, and believe it or not it was my first century. Nothing like doing it the first time with 9,000 feet of climbing. It was actually a lot of fun, definitely beautiful, and support seemed good. Like I said, weather can also be an issue. I imagine if it was cold and rainy it would be miserable. The time I did it the winds were 20-30mph, which definitely added to the hurt, but it was sunny. I think I wore knee warmers and arm warmers most of the day, so it was actually pretty good weather.

I had been planning to ride it again, but health issues have reduced my cycling quite a bit in the past two years. I'm glad I did it when I could.


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