Ride 3: Delaware
The First State (but also the third state)
State: Delaware (#3)
Area: Southern Delaware
Route: Back roads from Bridgeville to Fenwick Island
Final Mileage: 51.22
Date: May 25, 2020 (Memorial Day weekend)
When we decided to knock out Delaware, which is not even a two-hour drive from Baltimore, we truly had no clue what was in store for us. Neither of us had spent much time in the state other than to drive through it on the way further northeast. We don’t say this in a demeaning way! But rather to signal just how little we knew about Delaware or its landscape.
Given our lack of familiarity with the terrain, we decided to let Strava help us create a route. And real talk: Strava’s magic led to us having an absolute blast on this ride and discovering all kinds of things to appreciate about this tiny and oft-overlooked state.
Admittedly, it wasn’t clear at first that this would be the case. The segments the app strung together had us beginning in Bridgeville, a town with a population of 2,366 and a square mileage of 4.82, and taking a series of remote roads eastward to Fenwick Island (just south of Bethany Beach on the East Coast).
But, as most cyclists will attest: In Strava We Trust. So we took off, unsure of what lay ahead.
The route took us through several remote back roads, which happened upon small suburban communities that seemed to pop up and then quickly vanish with regularity, far from any actual metropolitan areas.
The landscape was so varied and pretty—and the roads so flat and easy to ride—that we barely noticed our mileage (or took pictures!). This likely contributed to Delaware being one of the fastest rides we’ve done to date, as we hit the 50-mile mark at just over 3 hours of riding time.
We ended the ride at Fenwick Island, where we met up with Mary Kate, who had been kind enough to not only drive us to Bridgeville but then pick us up at the end of the ride (with some solo beach time in the middle).
Because we were just two months into the pandemic, the area was fairly empty. And, given the frigid water temps and chilly gusts of wind that had picked up by afternoon, we didn’t spend quite as much time at the beach as we might have liked. But it in no way diminished our time in Delaware, which we are not bound to soon forget.
