Dreamers

Tonight I watched the documentary "Documented" and the subject being discussed here is immigration.  The document is a  touching story of a boy who came here from Philippines when he was 12 years old and has now lived in the USA for over 18 years. The documentary brings front and center a critical dimension of immigration and that is the perspective of a person who is considered as illegal under the current laws in the book and has yet been acknowledged by the rest of the society to be a productive contributor.

Regardless of one's view on the current situation, there is no denying that there is something is not going right. One can only hope that we have not lost that window of opportunity to address the problem by bringing to bear the basic sense of dignity and fairness with which most Americans conduct themselves. 

Back in the saddle

After taking a break of 1 week, I did a 50 mile ride and this was a nicer ride. I left Chantilly and went to The Plains VA a truly small country town by inter state highway 66. The first leg of the route took me through familiar territory (Route 50 - John Mosby Highway). This stretch has rolling roads and is a good way to get warmed up. At approximately 7 miles from the start, I took route Route 15. This stretch felt like a steady climb until I hit route 55(Approximately 18 miles from the start). Route 55 was another case of rolling roads but more often it felt that I was on the ascent than the descent. This route runs parallel to route 66. Finally 9 miles later I arrived at The Plains VA. By this time I was beginning to tire more than usual. It was around 10 AM and already 80 degrees. I headed back and then took a detour via Route 626 to Middleburg. This route was probably the most part of the ride.

However about a few miles later I appeared to have taken the wrong turn. My GPS navigator on the phone was working. Clearly this is a wireless dead zone. So I continued till I saw a USPS mail delivery truck who had stopped by for mail deliveries. She was not certain if I was headed to Middleburg. Never the less I continued to cycle and when I passed Boxwood Winery, I knew I was on the right track. A mile later the rode intersected with Route 50. I passed through Middleburg downtown  and took my first break approximately 37 miles from the start. Clearly I should have taken more breaks. A few miles later I passed through the historic town of Aldie and took a second break by the historic Aldie mill established nearly 200 years back.

The next stop on the trip was the British Pantry. The stop was apropos given my trip to United Kingdom next week. I had a little bit of the Cliff bar and embarked on the final stretch passing through Stoneridge before arriving in South Riding.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/457156818

(Check the 3D Model ride. It is really cool. You will need Google Earth Plug-In)

Cycling to Paris

This is the first post in my blog. I will start with a post on my first 50 mile bike ride of the year(did the previous day on 06/07/14). I started at around 630 am today morning. Normally I cycle in Washington and Old Dominion Rail Road Trail and today I decided to cycle  from my house to Paris (not the one in France but in Virginia). Along the way I saw a number of different sights including a Buddhist temple at the 6 mile marker.

A few miles later I passed by the historic town of Aldie At the 15 mile marker near the town of Middleburg, I paused and took a photograph of a civil war site. Along the ride you could see a couple of houses with the confederate flag.

Several years later, as I was getting closer to my initial destination Upperville, there was a lot of traffic on account of the Upperville Colt and Horse show. 

Finally I reached Upperville at the 21 mile mark.

Only a couple of weeks earlier, I happened to drop one of our close friends at the Upperville church shown below; they were attending a marriage that featured someone related to the great, great grand daughter of General Washington.

At this points, the rolling hills of the Piedmont were in full flow.

I then proceeded to return back and pretty much took the same route. I was a bit peeved off when I reached the house and opened the "Mapmyride" app. I had cycled 49.80 miles. So I cycled around the block near my house to cross the 50 mile mark. This ride was slow and I got delayed further due to a fall near Middleburg. Never the less I was satisfied with the workout given that I had not done any cycling all of the week due to travel.

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/598878877