B&A Trail Question

hmmm... I'd say park at the Ranger Station and ride through Severna Park to the end in Annapolis.  The map says that stretch is 9.2.

A pox on the B&A Trail!!!! Even if you don't need to slow down or stop for intersections (and in my opinion you'll find it hard to find a flat section that's not full of them), you'll need to hold back for other trail users and wildlife... especially if you ride on weekends or evenings.

How would you feel about a quest for a long/flat section of road where you have the right of way at intersections and there isn't much traffic?  My personal vote for that would the crofton loop... takes me about 9:30 to ride a single loop time trial... but you can do a multi-loop TT if you want longer (and then time for negative splits, etc) no problem.  The pavement is in great shape, there are no stop signs or lights and you have the right of way at all intersections.  Most of it has a very wide shoulder meant for parking cars but there are no cars on it.  And there are only two very minor hills... most of it is flat or VERY gradual inclines/declines.  Also it's a pretty popular place for croftonites to work out and I've found that cars are used to seeing people ride/run there and give a very wide bearth.

I'm sure I could think of some other rides that would meet your description.

PS - I ride the dreaded thing several times a month, despite my irritable ramblings.

Oh, believe me, I don't like the B&A Trail one bit, but I'm trying to think of someplace flat.  So, where is this mythical place of which you speak?  It sounds like it's only a couple miles long, so multiple loops sounds really boring, but I'll take it into consideration.  I really don't want to drive to Kent Island to train, especially with the Bay Bridge construction, but *ugh* it's so hard to find flat around here.

I can't.  Josh already put a hex on it. 

But if I were going to, theoretically, still ride it, how many miles to that overlook before you go down the big hill into Annapolis?  You know the place I mean?  It's been a while since I've been down there, but I think I'm remembering it right.

Have you considered the BWI Trail Loop.  It is 12.5 miles.  There are some hills, but also some flats.  From there, you could hit the top end of the B & A trail, from Glen Burnie to East West Blvd shouldn't be too hilly either.

Below is a link to a BWI trail site.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/greenways/bwi_trail.html

Stuart

Just to throw it out there, take a look at Ft. Meade. As it stands right now with the threat condition, etc. you can get on post fairly easily, and there's lots of good riding to be had on fairly flat, low-traffic roads. Especially on the southeast side of Ft. Meade you can devise several nice 1-2 mile laps of flat, fast goodness.

One example:

http://www.toporoute.com/cgi-bin/bicycle.cgi?routeKey=THNBLSIBIMTLBAU&calls=setNormalView,clearMetric,setFollowRoad

I ride 175 a lot, but it is not flat really.  For the area though, it is the closest thing I can work with.

The key thing for flatter races is to just be able to hold your position if you are aero.  Otherwise just getting out there and riding will be fine for the race.  I did all of my IM Florida training along 175, Rt. 2 and through Annapolis and did fine with that.