Frederick County has twenty-nine historic bridges*, with ten on the National Register of Historic Places.  Among those are the Roddy Road, Loy's Station and Utica covered bridges, and the Legore Road stone arch bridge.  The rest are metal truss bridges built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

On this ride we'll visit, and in most cases cross, nine of these historic bridges: all three covered bridges, the Legore stone arch bridge and five metal truss bridges.  Just for fun we'll also stop at the famous Rocky Ridge Big Slide.

These bridges fun to look at and often fun to ride through (although metal grate decking aka "cheese grater" haters might disagree) but more significantly, these century-old bridges by their very nature can only be found on rural back roads with little traffic and no heavily loaded vehicles, which happen to be some of the most scenic and best cycling roads in the Greater Washington area.

* To read more about these bridges, their individual histories and the technical details of their construction, the Frederick County Division of Public Works publishes Historic Bridges of Frederick County available on the internet at https://bit.ly/HistoricBridges

The route is 44 miles, with just over 2000' elevation gain and a maximum grade of 6.1%, with rest stops at Loy's Station Park and the High's in Thurmont.

RWGPS:   https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32933609

Cue sheet:    https://bit.ly/2CTbmDj

Weather Forecast:  https://bit.ly/3g4CZwK

Directions to start:  Head north on I-270 to Frederick.  Continue onto US-40W.  In 1.2 mi continue onto US-15N.  Go 6.8 mi and turn right onto Old Frederick Rd.  In 1 mi turn left into Utica Park.

Ride leader:  Steve Palincsar mailto:palincss@his.com  703-655-8959

Advance registration is required.

All riders must agree to follow the  Guidelines for Rides During the Pandemic and agree to the Informed Consent for COVID-19 and the Release and Waiver of Liability.