Springfield to Shirlington.

The difficult part here is getting over to the other side of the Beltway, but at least you have one option. You have to get down Franconia which isn’t ideal but there’s a trail that goes under the Beltway just off of Oakwood Rd, which runs next to S Van Dorn St. From there you can take the trail along Eisenhower heading east until you reach the Holmes Run Trail. Head northwest along Holmes Run and then hang a right towards N Howard Rd., which you can take all the way to W Braddock Rd. Take a right on W Braddock, left on N Early St, right on Menokin Dr, right onto King St service road, left on Wakefield Dr into Fairlington, left on 34th St S crossing over 395, right on 31st St S and down the hill into Shirlington.

@cephas 46367 wrote:

If the distance matters to you at all, I wonder if you might be interested in a shorter, more direct route to the W&OD: through Lake Accotink Park and up through Vienna. I have limited personal experience on this route, except on Nutley St, (which I don’t advise if you want to avoid traffic), but I imagine something like this: http://goo.gl/maps/GgWO6

That’s the cross county trail. Decent route, not suitable for skinny tires, and you’d want to be careful in inclement weather. (There are some spots where you need to ford streams, which is dangerous when there’s a flood potential.) That said, it’s the most conflict-free north/south route in the county. I’d certainly advise taking a look; if you like nature, it’s a much nicer ride than the various sidepaths you’ll find in fairfax.

@cephas 46478 wrote:

That’s it?! I’ve heard about it, and I have wondered what the cross county trail was, but I always figured it would trace the county parkway more. Ah well. Knowledge is power. and with great knowledge comes great disappointment. as someone once may have said.

CCT is tied together from bits and pieces of existing stream valley parks. In some places it’s suitable for slicks, some places for suspended mountain bikes, but mostly in between. There are a few spots where the connections between different parts is awkward, and it’s still a work in progress. Note that this CCT is not to be confused with the capital crescent trail on the other side of the river.

If you do end up going this way, keep in mind that those river crossings, even at low water levels, can be ridden through, but often get very slick with algae. I took a fall two weeks ago at a similar crossing on Holmes Run, the tires just slid right out, and if you use too much torque to get up the ramps, you can easily spin out. But then again, I was on 25c road slicks.