Loch Raven Reservoir

Tomorrow marks six months since my accident.  I've been riding the SV to work and back for the last two months or so whenever the weather has permitted, but today was the first real ride that took.

I wanted to get her out on the freeway a little bit and let her stretch her legs for a while.  Unfortunately, I'm beginning to realize that long periods in the SV's saddle don't allow me to stretch my legs enough and they can get a little bit sore after about 45 minutes or so.

Anyway, I wanted to go on a comparatively longer ride today than I normally do and opted to ride over to Loch Raven Reservoir, which is a body of water north of Baltimore, just outside the I-695 beltway.

After gassing up, I headed south on Rte. 24 to merge onto I-95, which for some reason felt a little frightening at first.  It might have been the idiot two cars ahead of me that almost swerved off the road as he exited Rte. 24 or it could have just been jitters from the accident.  Or maybe a combination of the two.

Right around White Marsh (as usual) traffic began to slow and become a little hectic. I opted to slow a bit and give some extra space.  Shortly thereafter, I merged onto Baltimore's beltway, I-695, toward Towson.

I was not terribly surprised to see how much traffic there was on the beltway.  It wasn't slow, but there were plenty of cars and, again, I opted to give a little more space to anyone that might want to merge in front of me.

I exited onto Dulaney Valley Road (Exit 27B), and had to take an immediate left and then a right to get onto Dulaney Valley Road heading north.

I followed Dulaney Valley Road for a long way, crossing a finger of the Loch Raven Reservoir and eventually came to a fork in the road.  I attempted to follow Loch Raven Drive to get a closer look at the reservoir.  The pavement was terrible - lots of LARGE potholes and bumps everywhere.  I hoped to follow Loch Raven Drive all the way to Cromwell Bridge Road, but the gate was closed and I had to turn around and continue on Dulaney Valley Road.  Interestingly, at that fork in the road (Dulaney Valley Road and Loch Raven Drive) I saw a sign for a Maryland Scenic Roadway.  The pavement improved and I was able to enjoy the road a bit more.

I followed Dulaney Valley Road to Manor Road and pointed my headlights to the right.  This was a detour that I hadn't expected (because of the Loch Raven Drive road closure), so I had to pull over in an Episcopal Church parking lot to pull out my phone and find a new route.

Having my bearings, I continued down Manor Road to Glen Arm Road.  Glen Arm Road is very picturesque and the pavement was nice.  There were a few fun little corners, especially as I approached Harford Road:

Harford Road, as I have mentioned in an earlier post, is full of lovely little bends and a beautiful landscape.  I followed it back to Business Rte.1 which I followed uneventfully back to my starting point near the Harford Mall: