Recommended Route from Custis Trail/W&OD to 17th & L?

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  • April 12, 2011 at 4:57 pm #909868
    AshburnCommuter
    Participant

    Am thinking of bike commuting 1/week from Ashburn to downtown:
    – Used to riding on W&OD, but do not like riding in traffic.
    – Am planning to take W&OD to Custis Trail
    – What would be best route (with minimum traffic), starting at end of Custis Trail to downtown at 17th & L?
    – Will likely take roadbike, but could take mountain bike, if best option entails riding along the gravel trail on the mall…

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  • April 12, 2011 at 6:12 pm #925544
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    My route is down the Mount Vernon trail briefly from Rosslyn and cross the Roosevelt bridge right after Roosevelt Island. Get off the sidewalk and go on New Hampshire across Virginia and Washington Circle. Right on L for 5 blocks or so.

    April 13, 2011 at 2:29 am #925545
    eminva
    Participant

    Another possibility is to take Roosevelt Bridge to New Hampshire, but turn right on H Street. Take a left on 20th, then right on L Street down to 17th.

    This avoids Washington Circle if you find that a bit intimidating — which you might if you are new to city cycling.

    H Street is a more quiet street, but the downside is that it goes through the GWU campus so you will have more than your share of jay walking pedestrians to look out for. It is quiet in the summer, though.

    Liz

    April 13, 2011 at 12:25 pm #925548
    Dirt
    Participant

    @eminva 3139 wrote:

    Another possibility is to take Roosevelt Bridge to New Hampshire, but turn right on H Street. Take a left on 20th, then right on L Street down to 17th.

    Liz

    Liz has listed one of my favorite ways to scoot throught the city. It is much easier now that the World Bank isn’t blocking H St. with its construction crane.

    April 13, 2011 at 1:10 pm #925549
    AshburnCommuter
    Participant

    Thank you! Will try out how it goes.
    Next question: Roadbike vs. Mountain Bike
    Initial thought is to ride my roadbike, w/slick, skinny tires & narrow clip-in pedals. Only hesitations are:
    – Road conditions & skinny tires
    – Sudden/unexpected stops & unclipping (Mtn bike pedals are fairly wide, so pedaling with one foot unclipped won’t be a problem)

    April 13, 2011 at 3:32 pm #925552
    Dirt
    Participant

    Road conditions are pretty good. I ride my road bikes downtown all the time. I find the roads in my neighborhood in Falls Church worse than the ones downtown. The stuff that you might hit is visible from a distance that you can safely navigate around it.

    Pedals are a personal choice. I ride clipless 320+ days per year. I haven’t really found a reason to need anything that releases quicker.

    April 13, 2011 at 3:37 pm #925553
    consularrider
    Participant

    You’re looking at what, about a 45 mile round trip depending on where you start in Ashburn? Which bike are you more comfortable on for that kind of distance? The only real “rough” part of the route is dealing with the bumps along the Custis. I normally use a hybrid bike with a rack trunk for my 25 – 30 mile roundtrip daily commute which takes some of the trails you would use, but this week I’ve been on an old road bike with a seatpost rack. I find I average about one to two mph faster over the distance with my road bike. I would expect you will deal with more “sudden/enexpected stops” issues on your homeward commute in the evenings when the Custis and W&OD gets very busy on nice days. The past two Mondays they were real zoos. Even with that, I think you would rarely need to suddenly unclip as long as you were riding defensively. I have dual sided (platform/spd) pedals on the hybrid and use the platform side more in the winter.

    April 13, 2011 at 4:37 pm #925557
    OneEighth
    Participant

    Odds are, riding the mountain bike will require much more effort. The trail and road conditions are fine for road bikes, so there’s no need.
    Even on weekends, I’ve never had to stop suddenly and put a foot down. Ride smart and you should be fine.

    April 14, 2011 at 12:37 pm #925564
    AshburnCommuter
    Participant

    Again, Thanks for the input!

    July 7, 2011 at 2:30 am #927703
    vvill
    Participant

    My destination is 19th & K though I typically hop off it at Key Bridge and go through Georgetown (M to Pennsylvania) and Washington Circle. I might try 21st to H St returning though, as I hate my return commute part through the city (I usually go via K St underneath the Whitehurst, and then climb up around to Key Br). My only concern is that the Roosevelt Bridge bike lane always seems very narrow, the times I’ve driven by it.

    July 7, 2011 at 12:17 pm #927716
    CCrew
    Participant

    @consularrider 3149 wrote:

    You’re looking at what, about a 45 mile round trip depending on where you start in Ashburn?

    More like 55. I wouldn’t want to do that on a mountain bike with any regularity.

    July 7, 2011 at 1:26 pm #927721
    consularrider
    Participant

    @vvill 5392 wrote:

    My destination is 19th & K though I typically hop off it at Key Bridge and go through Georgetown (M to Pennsylvania) and Washington Circle. I might try 21st to H St returning though, as I hate my return commute part through the city (I usually go via K St underneath the Whitehurst, and then climb up around to Key Br). My only concern is that the Roosevelt Bridge bike lane always seems very narrow, the times I’ve driven by it.

    The route over the Roosevelt Bridge is actually wide enough (barely) for two bicycles to pass carefully in opposite directions, just slow down as you approach each other.

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