Back from DC : what a great time I had!

This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 10 months ago by KLizotte.

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October 7, 2011 at 8:50 pm #910461

Fontinalis
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I have spent a few weeks in DC and around and have immensely appreciated the bike paths. I rode the Anacostia Trail System (between College Park and downtown Washington), did the C&O Canal from Georgetown to White’s Ferry (W-O-W), the W&OD trail from Purcellville down to Leesburg and south all the way to Four Mile Run, Curtis trail and Mount Vernon, and more. I rode in Washington, and used the Metrorail too with the bike.

I am totally in awe with the bike paths you guys have in your area. And I was even more impressed by some motorist behavior. Ok, in town, they are not any better then in my city (Montreal), but outside of the more dense area downtow, a few occasions where cars who had the right of way on a 4 lane road/highway stopped to let bikes cross the highway (on W&OD trail I think). Now, that is unheard of in my neck of the woods! And that happened over and over much to my stupefaction. So, I just wanted to come by to thanks again the people in this forum that answered some of my questions prior to coming to the DC area and help me in this little trip to DC. And saying , yes, there might be all sorts of things that you are not happy with in the DC area, in regard to bicycling, commuting, etc., but I am telling you : you have great paths!!!!! And lots of them. And you got the weather on your side.
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October 7, 2011 at 9:03 pm #930849

Arlingtonrider
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I’m so glad you had such a great experience! Come back and visit again sometime, and be sure to check in on the forum to say hi. We have a great group of people who’ve worked really hard to make biking so good around here, and I’m sure they love hearing from you. We appreciate them too, and everyone seems to chip in a little with information and ideas to keep things moving forward.

October 7, 2011 at 10:13 pm #930852

Greenbelt
Participant

I’m glad your trip worked out well. I have visited Montreal a lot when my daughter was a student there, and we are very jealous of your cycletracks in the city areas. I could get anywhere in Montreal by bike, and most of the way on a protected track. Very cool. I hope someday soon we’ll have as many bike commuters as Montreal. We’re getting closer.

But the real question is: Do you have pictures?

October 10, 2011 at 2:00 pm #930879

Fontinalis
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Only a few given it was raining every other day and my camera is not waterproof.
So only a small travel blog (in French) and not all pictures are mine either.
http://voyagedevelodc.posterous.com/

So, as blog go, the end is at the top. You got to go back to get to the beginning, but it is only a few pages long anyway.

PS The bike featured in one of the post (Home sweet home – ou presque) is not the bike I used to tour DC, but the one I had left home and that was stolen while I was gone. (
The bike I used to tour is a Rocky Mountain Metro 30. Not the lightest, but a real workhorse when it comes to touring. And those Shwalbe Marathon tires I got – again not the lightest – made me the only member of the group to not get a flat tire or blow out (on the C&O, some areas are pretty rough). It is, all in all, a very good bike for just anything, commuting, touring, leasure ride on a Sunday. Bought used for cheap (it had been used by a tour operator for a few years of bike tours) and I have put approx. 3000 to 4000 km on it, each season, for 3 years in a row now. Just to say that one does not need to spend tons of money to bike! I had to add this to my comment, this is, after all, a forum about …biking!

October 10, 2011 at 3:19 pm #930882

Greenbelt
Participant

Nice blog! I recognize the entries labeled “Randonnee” from my commute!

October 10, 2011 at 3:51 pm #930884

Fontinalis
Participant

Thanks. But it is but a modest effort to keep people back home informed of my (mis)adventures!

Yes, I did put the Vimeo clip, and people were quite impressed by the fact one could preview a ride in such a neat way.
I wish I had had such a camera for the C&O canal ride, that was so … well, it was raining that little misty rain, and it fit perfectly with the mood of that little time bubble that the Canal creates, with no or little references to today, you are really thrown back in time. That would have a made a nice clip, but much needed image stabilizer. lol

October 11, 2011 at 2:13 pm #930902

baiskeli
Participant

Glad you had fun. So nice to hear something good about our drivers too.

I still have fond memories of riding a tandem with my wife in Montreal.

October 12, 2011 at 1:02 am #930921

Fontinalis
Participant

@baiskeli 8994 wrote:

Glad you had fun. So nice to hear something good about our drivers too.
I still have fond memories of riding a tandem with my wife in Montreal.

Tandem hey ? My boyfriend wants us to ride a tandem. But I really don’t know…
Any particular advice for keeping us safe and… sane while teaming up on a tandem ?

October 12, 2011 at 4:15 am #930923

KLizotte
Participant

I’m happy to hear you had such a nice time here even though you experienced the worst September weather in living memory. Wow, was that an awful month! I hope you are able to return again in either October or May when the weather is usually fabulous and the trees have changed color or the azaleas are in bloom. Don’t bother coming during cherry blossum time – highly overrated in my opinion. Usually very windy, cold and rainy plus hotel prices double. So sorry to hear about your theft though; I hope insurance will help pay for a new bike.

I visited Montreal years ago for the comedy festival (August I think). We had a fabulous time and were amazed by how everyone was bilingual. Need to go back again….
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