Secret Bike Passaeways

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  • June 4, 2013 at 7:52 pm #913492
    Bilsko
    Participant

    So this Cyclelicious post, which links to this Google user-created map
    in Mountain View, CA got me thinking about all the secret passageways around DC. Many of them wouldn’t necessarily be secret to us, but I’m sure there are plenty that go unnoticed. I’m thinking of examples like the Chain Bridge portage along the CCT, or the Oxon Hill Farm cut-through (not really *that* secret) or the secret access to the underground Dupont Trolley station from the 15th St Cycletrack (just kidding).

    Got any good ones you guys want to share?

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  • June 4, 2013 at 7:54 pm #971880
    consularrider
    Participant

    Careful, they might want to start driving cars through them if they know the exist! ;)

    June 4, 2013 at 8:03 pm #971884
    jabberwocky
    Participant

    Some that I use a lot:
    -Foxclove Rd between Soapstone and Bridge Hill Ln in Reston is blocked for cars but passable by bike by going around the chain, which makes a nice connector between Lawyers and Stuart Mill.
    -Brockman Ln in Great Falls is continuous by bike between Seneca Rd and Algonkian Pkwy by going around the stones in the middle.
    -In the same general area, its fun to descend the end of Seneca Rd through the park and then come back out through the golf course to Watermark Place. Beware irate golfers.
    -In Vienna/Tysons, I often connect Montmorency Dr with Palm Springs Dr through the little pedestrian path.

    Dunno if these really qualify as secret, but they are routes that only work via bike.

    June 4, 2013 at 11:09 pm #971902
    Rod Smith
    Participant

    Not secret but the bike ramp with eight switchbacks that connects Eisenhower Avenue Connector to Clement Drive that I discovered Sunday is really cool and fun to ride. :)

    June 5, 2013 at 1:28 pm #971934
    jhr
    Participant

    @Rod Smith 54078 wrote:

    Not secret but the bike ramp with eight switchbacks that connects Eisenhower Avenue Connector to Clement Drive that I discovered Sunday is really cool and fun to ride. :)

    I just encounter this for the first time two weeks ago. I was riding a route I had assembled on ridewithGPS (apparently without paying any attention to how it was routing certain parts) and I was quite surprised that something like this even existed, much less that the gods of the internet had seen fit to send me through it. It was certainly fun to ride up, though.

    June 5, 2013 at 2:21 pm #971948
    americancyclo
    Participant

    @Bilsko 54052 wrote:

    Got any good ones you guys want to share?

    OK, FINE! I made you’re stinkin map!

    http://goo.gl/maps/vrjGr

    please add as appropriate.

    June 5, 2013 at 2:38 pm #971955
    dasgeh
    Participant

    I don’t know that’s it’s very secret, but that little trail through Lyon Park (from the Park to 50, behind Long Branch) is a great way to avoid the choice of a BIG hill or Washington Blvd. And we’ll be exploring it on the next Kidical Mass ride.

    June 5, 2013 at 2:39 pm #971956
    Justin Antos
    Participant

    Oakwood Rd. under the Beltway by Van Dorn St. always felt kinda secret to me

    Heading out to Cheverly, New Carrollton etc. there’s a bike-only link at Marblewood Ave to partly avoid Sheriff Rd

    From the Anacostia trail to get to Hyattsville, avoiding RI Ave by taking 41st Street

    Bilsko’s connection to the CCT from Potomac Ave NW and Norton St NW by Delecarlia

    The little link from the back of Westchester Park Towers to Greenbelt Park Road, that ronwalf helpfully pointed out lets you go from Pontiac Rd in Berwyn Hts into Greenbelt Park:
    8739027553_b0ce1ac940.jpg

    June 5, 2013 at 2:46 pm #971959
    mikoglaces
    Participant

    On the W&OD near east Falls Church Metro, riding streets instead of trail to avoid the circuitous route that takes you near the metro. Not so much secret – almost everyone does it once they’ve been riding the W&OD for any period of time.

    June 5, 2013 at 2:59 pm #971962
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The onroad section and connection back to the W&OD near the East Falls Church Metro station are poorly signed. It’s not supposed to be secret, but it sort of is secret. The first time I ever tried riding the W&OD from Shirlington and out to the west, I got completely lost in that section. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get back onto the trail from 19th Rd. They could add occasional markers, even on the street surface, such as a bike symbol every 50 ft. or so. Then an arrow indicating the two possible entrances back to the trail when traveling westbound.

    Even the following year, I think I got lost there because it had been a few months since I had ridden on the W&OD and I forgot where the trail entrance was.

    – Another confusing transition is between the trail head of W&OD and the Four Mile Run Trail in Shirlington. Again, the first time I rode there, I didn’t remember where the other trail was located. I rode over the Shirlington Rd. bridge into Shirlington and eventually Fairfax County before turning around and making my way back to the FMRT and back east to Potomac Yard and the Mt. Vernon Trail.

    – WashCycle pointed out the mysterious Wilkes St. tunnel at the south end of Old Town:

    http://goo.gl/maps/UaTw2

    It’s not much of a shortcut since cyclists can easily take parallel roads while traveling east-west to/from Union St. But if you are looking for a creepy Halloween-type atmosphere, take the path through the old tunnel. It’s eerie to ride there at night, especially with St. Marys Cemetery just 5 blocks away.

    June 5, 2013 at 3:10 pm #971967
    ShawnoftheDread
    Participant

    @americancyclo 54126 wrote:

    OK, FINE! I made you’re stinkin map!

    http://goo.gl/maps/vrjGr

    please add as appropriate.

    How does one add to it?

    June 5, 2013 at 3:17 pm #971970
    Bilsko
    Participant

    @PotomacCyclist 54140 wrote:

    – WashCycle pointed out the mysterious tunnel Wilkes St. tunnel at the south end of Old Town:

    https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201756796589186196371.0004de68bb40d0261f4de&msa=0&ll=38.89474,-77.086644&spn=0.02632,0.038581

    What the? I never knew about that one. That’s why I love this forum (and Washcycle)

    June 5, 2013 at 3:24 pm #971975
    consularrider
    Participant

    @Bilsko 54147 wrote:

    What the? I never knew about that one. That’s why I love this forum (and Washcycle)

    Nice for a cooling moment on a hot summer day!

    June 5, 2013 at 3:38 pm #971980
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    I fixed the link to the Wilkes St. tunnel location:

    http://goo.gl/maps/UaTw2

    I discovered it by accident a couple years ago. I’m sure nearby residents know about it, but those who are traveling along Union St. or the MVT may have never seen it.

    June 5, 2013 at 3:39 pm #971982
    americancyclo
    Participant

    @ShawnoftheDread 54143 wrote:

    How does one add to it?

    forgot to check that box…
    Public · Open Collaboration · 54 views

    OK, now go.

    June 5, 2013 at 7:58 pm #972025
    Mikey
    Participant

    I learned about this one during my two week course down in Fort Belvoir last year. It avoids about 2 miles of the nastiest sections of Pohick road and Richmond Highway, and provides a great link between Pohick (south of Rolling road) and Telegraph road (west of FFX Co Parkway).

    Sorry I couldn’t up load it, my government computer is not updated enough to allow me to edit your map. But here is a link to the location: the path is between points A and B.

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