# Washington, D/Northern Virginia Riding



## lucky13 (Apr 12, 2008)

I will be in West Springfield, VA in August visiting family was planning on bringing my bike for a couple days of riding. 

Can anyone suggest any cool routes in the area. I wouldn't mind riding into the Capital and exploring the city one day.


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## Slim Chance (Feb 8, 2005)

I live on the other side of the river and don't know much about the Springfield area, except that the traffic is bad. Think about taking your bike on the Metro to somewhere closer in like Alexandria. From there you can take the Mt. Vernon trail into DC. Or to Mt. Vernon. DC has added a lot bike lanes in the past few years, including one up Pennsylvania Ave.


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## Mcfarton (May 23, 2014)

check out potomac pedalers


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## cobra_kai (Jul 22, 2014)

There is also the W&OD trail, although it can be pretty crowded with joggers and families. The C&O canal towpath on the Maryland side is unpaved but is pretty nice, especially the sections a little further out from DC that aren't so crowded. 

There are a couple challenging rides a ways west on I-66 that I like as well. Any of the variations on the Mt. Weather climb are good. Further out there is Skyline Drive, a 105 mile road with no lights or stop signs and very scenic. It is very hilly though, virtually no flats. I just did a 92 mile ride on it that came out to be 10,200 feet of climbing.

Going north in Maryland there are some nice rides around the Frederick/Thurmont area. Check out the Civil War Century, there are several variations on that route for different distances.

This is a good resource for a lot of routes in the area: Bike Washington - Bike Routes in the Washington DC Area

Another decent climb is Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland and good views from the top.


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## crit_boy (Aug 6, 2013)

I live less than 5 minutes from west springfield. Very near to Lake Braddock high school. 

There are not really many good riding routes from west Springfield to anywhere. I know there are ways to ride into DC. But, they are not going to be relaxing enjoyable rides. You potentially have to ride in some to a lot of traffic. 

I have decent 30-50+ mile routes from my doorstep west to centreville and beyond. However, you have to sneezle through neighborhoods and possibly ride in less than perfect traffic conditions. 

You are not going to want to ride on braddock, rolling, or old keene mill roads. All are normally packed with cars going from 35-55 mph 2-3 lanes each way. OK, looking at google maps, I would generally avoid any road with a number (state route/numbered county road) until you are at least west of 123 (ox road). 

Potomac pedalers hold Tues and thursday night rides from wakefield park (audrey moore rec center). They are groups rides in neighborhoods during rush hour. As such, they are not my favorite. 

If you have access to a vehicle, you can check out reston bicycle club's tues night (6pm in reston), thurs night (herndon, 6 pm), or saturday group rides (9 am in herndon). The reston bike club century is aug 23. 

There is a Sunday morning ride from Arlington that is excellent. However, I would not recommend it if you are not comfortable at a decent cat 3 or faster type speeds on challenging rolling terrain.

If you are not going to have vehicle access and don't want to ride busy roads, I would bring a mountain bike. You can ride wakefield and accotink parks, which have some OK mtbing (also have tues and thurs mtb group rides - with PLBs). The area also links to the cct, which gives you gravel/limited paved trail access to the w&od trail.

For some bike porn, go check out freshbikes in arlington while you are here.


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)

You probably don't want to ride in Springfield. Drive into DC, or take metro with your bike and then ride from there. You can ride around the mall, then cross the 14-th street bridge (next to the Jefferson Monument and the Tidal Basin) and connect with the bike path in Virginia. If you go right and head towards Georgetown you'll cross the Key Bridge and can hook up with the Capitol Cresent trail, or the Tow Path along the canal. The Tow Path isn't paved, but its ride-able even with a road bike -- especially if you have wider tires. If you ride far enough on the Tow Path, you get to Great Falls which is kind of cool. If you go left from the 14-th street bridge, you'll be heading towards Mount Vernon. It's sometimes a hard trail to navigate if there's a lot of people on it, but it's scenic in parts -- it parallels the river and ends in Mount Vernon where you can buy lunch or a snack. Look on the web for maps.


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