[SkateDC] Formal Forty on the Fourth of July

[George Marinkovich]

In answer to a question about the Formal Forty:

Where is the turnaround point for the skate?

Smart answer: 
Wherever you feel confident about your ability to comfortably make it
back to the start and have a good time doing so.

Short answer:  A turnaround at milepost 32 results in a skate of at least 40 miles.  

Long
answer:  The W&OD Trail has mileposts every 0.5 miles.  The Red
Caboose in Vienna at the start is slightly before milepost 12. 
Milepost 32 is just inside the Leesburg
city limits, slightly more than a mile past where the W&OD trail
crosses Cochran Mill Rd (Rt. 653).  If you miss seeing milepost 32 and
you skate across the bridge over the Tuscarora Creek you've gone more
than far enough.  If you were to skate all the way to Route 15, then
you would be doing a skate in excess of 42 miles.

Milepost 32 on the
 W&OD Trail:  http://www.wodfriends.org/map5.html

According to Google Maps Pedometer the precise turnaround point for a 40 mile skate would be here:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2971545   Unfortunately, there's not a nice natural landmark to mark the spot.

If
you remember the last milepost you saw before you turn around you can
easily calculate your mileage to within about 0.5 miles of accuracy.

Sample Turnaround points:
10 mile skate (milepost 17): Wiehle Ave., Reston
20 mile skate (milepost 22): Sterling Blvd. (Rt. 846), Sterling
26 mile skate marathon (milepost 25): Loudon County Parkway
30 mile skate (milepost 27): Ashburn Village Blvd., Ashburn

Cheers,
George

--- On Sat, 6/27/09, George Marinkovich <skatewash at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: George Marinkovich <skatewash at yahoo.com>
Subject: Formal Forty on the Fourth of July
To: "WAR Skate List" <skatedc at www.skatedc.org>
Cc: "Rollerquest" <rollerquest at rollerquest.com>, "Julie Watson" <jwatso19 at jhmi.edu>, "Jeffrey Neal" <jnealpe at gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2009, 1:35 PM

WAR Skaters,

The Formal 40, a skating traditon, will once again be held on July, 4th (7/4/09).  We will be skating west on the W&OD  (toward Purcellville) from the Red Caboose in Vienna, VA.

We will be meeting at 8:15 AM and skating at 8:30 AM.  

Skate as much or as little as you like, the nominal (or formal, if you prefer) distance is 20 miles out and 20 back, but people will do whatever they feel comfortable with.  As in previous years we will be joined by our Rollerquest friends from Maryland and our Skaters Quest friends from Virginia.  This skate is always a lot of fun, hope to see you there.

As always, all wheeled, self-propelled conveyences are welcome.  

Directions to the W&OD Caboose in Vienna:
http://www.skatedc.org/resources/skatespots/caboose.html

Google Map Directions:
http://tinyurl.com/l6k8pm

My cell phone number is 301.367.8374

There are no definite plans for food and drink after the skate, but I for one, am fairly certain that I will be both hungry and thirsty.  I guess we will play it by ear again this year.  I'm up-to-date on all my shots, so I guess we could even go to Vienna Inn
 if we can't come up with anything better (but that shouldn't be too hard ;-)

Happy 233rd birthday, USA!


Enjoy,
George