last Sunday I had to drop the boys bikes off at Calleva for a week of mountain biking...

nice black rat snake climbing a tree

last Sunday I had to drop the boys' mountain bikes off in Potomac Maryland for a week of mountain biking at camp
the kids do not go to mountain biking camp
the kids go to camp where they have mountain biking
the difference is subtle
yet the difference is there

we drove up with the dog and did a ride on the C&O Canal
it was the first ride as a group since my accident in Asheville
it was the first time in a long since we had ridden on the towpath together
this was the first time we rode on this section of the towpath together



I remember this aquaduct from my childhood
as a young teen I would ride my bike from bethesda to various sections on the canal to fish and live out my Tom Sawyer\Huck Finn adventures

the water is not deep here... we would ride our bikes up and then cool off by jumping off the metal pipe into the shallow water
then one time a boy a few years older than myself jumped off the rail of the bridge
it was really quite a site

this kid takes off his baseball cap and his shirt then climbs up onto the rail
still wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots... yes cowboy boots
then jumped off the rail into water than was more than like no deeper than his height
I can not recall which side we jumped off or both
but we jumped off that bridge into that shallow water


our ride was an out and back
there was not much thought and even less research
we just parked the car and got on the bikes
there was the notion of heading up to White's Ferry
but no idea of the distance

the dog was hot and tired early into the ride
the canal is more of a swampy puddle at this point

the boys bulleted off ahead
I rode with the dog at a decent single speed pace
stopping intermittently so that Didg could catch his breath and cool his body in the swampy puddle where the canal should be 

there was some thought about getting a snack at White's Ferry
but then their was a reality that the one way to White's Ferry was more than we were looking to attempt
especially with Didg's response to the long run on the hot day

Didg's race pace dropped before our halfway point
Didg's pace on the way back was slow... I did not try to push it
I moved slow and continued to stop
the boys raced ahead without us


the boys were patient
they had waited in the heat without any water
we all left out with one water bottle on the bike each
most of our bottles were empty before we got to our turn around point

as said... there was not planning for this ride



we finished the ride then dropped the bikes off at camp
then we looked for someplace to grab some food on the way home
so I pointed things towards that cluster of commerce at the junction of Falls Road and River
there was talk about Chinese... but I was fingers crossed for Mexican

unsure of things we scanned the marque as we approached
there did not seem to be a listing of Mexican
but was saw Chipolte
Chipolte?

to our pleasure it was the pre-Grand Opening at Chipolte
there was some confusion as we walked it
something about them being closed
my boys handed the woman at the door a card they had been given in the parking lot
not sure what it said... but it turned out our meal was free

not just our burritos... but our cheese quesedilla, our chips and guac, and our fountain sodas

BONUS!
BURRITOS AFTER A RIDE
FREE BURRITOS AFTER A RIDE!
the only thing that would have made it better would have been a beer