Help! Looking for a bike route in the DC area

Chris Oubre

I will be traveling to the DC area for work next week. I will rent a tri bike for the Saturday long ride. I need recommendation on a safe bike route good for 4.5 hours of riding.

Paul Hough

Washington and Old Dominion Trail goes from Rosslyn way out towards the mountains. From the same starting point you can take the bike trail out to Mt Vernon.

John Henault

Chris - where are you staying? While you could do W&OD or Mt. Vernon, those are multiuse trails and I'd stay off them, particularly on the weekend. I will try to find a cue sheet or gps track for the ride, but your best bet is likely the MacArthur Blvd. to Falls Rd. to River Rd. and back. It is a heavily biked route (serious road and tri bikers), particularly on Saturday or Sunday mornings. You can turn it into a 75 to 100 mile ride fairly easily. I'll post the track once I find it.

Kerrie Freeborn

Hi Chris - Link below to mapmyride versions of various distances for serious cyclists and triathletes out of Capitol Hill (links on first post).  Or you should be able to find on a public page of the DC Tri site (dctriclub.org) - under train, bike, weekly rides, Saturday rides, forum posting, then go the first page and scroll down to routes where you can see they all start at Capitol Hill (and go through Georgetown) and show the ending spot and the distance.  Let me know if there is anything I can do while you are here.   Kerrie

http://www.dctriclub.org/forum/mess...amp;page=1

Wolf Gottschalk

Hey Chris-

x2 what John wrote. The W&OD is great but you'll find yourself popping out of aero frequently for stop signs/lights. The trail is also quite dangerous on the weekends with others on the trail (e.g. foot traffic, families with kids on bikes that turn at random, unexpected times despite your verbal warning on passing, etc).

Where are you staying? If you're staying in DC, then the other suggestions of hopping across the Potomac to MD and rides in DC are awesome (and the DC Tri Club people are very nice/friendly, etc). If you're staying in Northern VA, I've got a ton of routes I use of various distances, elevation profiles, etc. Let me know and I can set you up with a nice ride in the countryside next weekend for your long ride!

Cheers! Wolf

John Henault

Chris - just a quick follow up. The Capital Hill to Poolesville route contained at the link Kerrie posted is the route I referenced as the MacArthur Blvd. route. If you are staying outside of DC and are looking for a route to get to MacArthur Blvd., please post up. It looks like there are plenty of people in the area, so I'm sure we can help out.

Chris Oubre

Thanks for the great info. This is exactly what I was looking for. The Mt. Vernon trail sounds fun for a touristy/enjoyment ride.

I am staying in Falls Church VA

John Henault

From Falls Church, you have an easy ride to the ride we are talking about, if that's the route you want to do.

Find your way to the W&OD Trail from wherever you are staying. Take the W&OD to the Custis Trail, and follow the Custis Trail to the end of Lee Highway. You then take a left and go over the Key Bridge into Georgetown. Once you get over the bridge, take a left on Canal Road. Follow Canal Rd. for about a half mile and bear right on Foxhall Rd.. Go up Foxhall until (I think) the first light and then take a left on MacArthur Blvd. From there just follow the route posted earlier. The ride from Falls Church to MacArthur Blvd. will likely take about a half hour, so it will be a nice warmup before you hit MacArthur Blvd.

rlh2000

Grew up riding the Mount Vernon Trail! I lived closer to Mt Vernon and my family would ride into Old Town on Sundays and have brunch. Started with my dad pulling me in the trailer, then graduated to riding my own bike! So nothing to add to this thread- just good memories.