Art by Dave P; Ride by Vincent N, Monica N, Alex N and Dave P Strava link: http://www.strava.com/activities/132009402 19.1 miles Drawing Only 44.5 miles Full Ride Vin, Mo, and Alex joined me for a perfect spring ride through some of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the city with many gorgeous big houses and yards brimming with spring flowers! This ride had its full measure of hills. Starting and ending in Georgetown, we began by carrying our bikes up the Exorcist Stairs, zigzagging through Georgetown, and up Wisconsin. At the end of Whitehaven St we discovered a tiny pathway up and through the woods to the back of the Naval Observatory which we needed for Bunny’s tail. Security forces at the Vice Presidential Mansion eyed the 4 rag-tag cyclists carrying their bikes as we skirted the 14 ft high iron fence! Soon we were up by American University and cutting through the center of Ward Circle. At the back of Bunny’s head, the route called for a traverse on tiny roads through the Japanese Embassy. The locked entrance gate was guarded, and I had to negotiate with the uniformed security officer. He was adamant, “Definitely not!” but I asked him to call his supervisor, so he called his boss on a hand-held radio and handed the receiver to me. “Hello, Sir, my name is Dave Pomeroy and I’m here with my friends on bikes with GPSs and we’re making a STRAVA art ride of a giant bunny for Easter and the route calls for us to cross through your embassy grounds…it sounded preposterous (even to me), but miraculously, after a brief pause, he said it would be okay just to pass through! I waved over the rest of our party, who had been waiting a respectful distance on the other side of Nebraska Ave, but when it was time to actually open the closed gate, the supervisor recanted. In the end we had to circumnavigate the embassy and resume our route on the other side! Bunny’s ears took us through upper NW roads, streets and alleys, so we got to see the fronts and backs of many fine houses. Hill climbing began in earnest with Bunny’s paws, taking us repeatedly up and down the Palisades by Battery Kemble park. Bunny’s hind foot required getting over to Canal Rd or Capital Crescent Tr, but going via Fletcher’s Boathouse was wrong for the drawing. Well, our last and greatest adventure came at the “foot” of Hutchins Pl adjacent to the Georgetown Reservoir. We discovered an obscure way through the woods, carrying our bikes down the steep hillside to a level passageway, covered with grass and gravel, parallel to, but still on the hillside above, Canal Road with no way down! We followed the passage in the direction of Georgetown, and lo and behold, we again reached civilization, and a challenging, but passable, way down to Canal Street. A sprint down narrow Canal Rd, followed by Georgetown traffic congestion brought us back to where we had started. Bunny was done, but it wasn’t just a ride—it was an adventure!