Place to live?

your best bet might be to compare real estate mapping websites with the bicycling layer of google maps. I don’t know of any real estate sites that have ‘bicycling’ as a layer you can select.

Also good to know:
max desired commute time/distance?
are you willing to do a mixed mode commute?
preference for metro over bus?
urban/suburban?

Mount Rainer, MD Lots of houses in various stages of fixer up, often with very nice yards. Also Hyattsville Arts District or parts of College Park along the Green Line Metro. The cool kids go to charter/magnet schools. Basically you want to get in before the Whole Foods goes in (at that point the neighborhoods are discovered for good and prices go up).

It’s a great ride to DC from northern Prince George’s county, although not too many people realize it (you have to piece together a route from trails and neighborhood streets).

I commute from Old Greenbelt — about 15 miles, 65-70minutes.

This was a roundabout route we took for bike to work day http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2176630

Excellent road biking on the Anacosta Tributary trails and at higher speeds in the USDA Research Farms and Patuxent Wildlife Refuge. Here was my Strava from yesterday: http://www.strava.com/activities/114034628

@americancyclo 77582 wrote:

Show me where to find a place to live in falls church for under 300k

I have a 2br 1ba condo just off Lee Highway right inside the Beltway that I’d happily sell to you for under $300K.

I suppose a lot of it depends upon what sort living arrangement you’re willing to accept (condo, townhouse, home) and then what you would define as a good street route. If I were you, I would use one of those apps like Trulia or Zillow and filter the results for whatever pricerange (sounds like 250-300) and other specifications you have. Then work outward from the major trails in MD/VA/DC. Here’s a rudimentary listing: http://bikewashington.org/trails/ (I would ignore the last 5 as they’re not really commuter trails into DC).

It’s possible to get a home within a few miles of a trail for $300k, but not a huge home. Hence it sort of matters as to what you want. Someone correctly said below you can still snap up some properties south and west of Alexandria, which is where I live, but pay attention to the area as some parts are sketchy. If you’re looking for condo living, that’s very easy, and I’ve seen some for sale in north Old Town Alexandria (about a 7 mile ride for you right on the Mt. Vernon Trail) for $240-275k, but they’re small. (I know as I used to live there). In my case, there is also a large hill involved at the end, but there was a home or two right around that point that were for sale (small, but on decent plots) nearby.

I would also pay attention to living somewhat close to a Metro stop. At least so you can hop a bus and be on a train within 5 or 10 minutes. This gives you another layer of commuting capacity in the event of crappy snow or ice that seems to have been the thing this winter. (Or allows you to bike to Metro easily–something I do infrequently, but it’s a 7 minute ride and very easy). Certain areas also have dedicated bus routes (I only know the 11Y near where I used to live and then the S9 in DC) that run express busses from areas into DC.

Dcphilly,

I sent you a private message that has some information that you might find helpful. To access it, look at “notifications” in the upper right hand corner when you’re logged into the forum. I hope it helps you in your search!

I second (or third) the suggestion of Shirlington. From a cycling perspective Shirglington is pretty perfect, right there on the W&OD/4MRT and near the MVT. And relatively quick to get to the hills of N. Arlington and McLean.

Now, it would be easy to roll out the door and do 20 miles of low-stress riding. When I think of 50+ mile rides, I tend to gravitate toward Poolesville, Sugarloaf, and that general region (in MD). That is some of the most pleasant riding in the area IMO. The Loudon county gravel roads are a nice attraction too if you are into that. Point being that you’re not going to find the pleasant rolling country roads inside the Beltway, but you can easily put together a route with miles. Personally I find riding the roads of Arlington & McLean to be some of the safest-feeling road riding in the area. Drivers expect cyclists (and on the whole are very courteous), traffic is not crazy, there are often bike lanes or sharrows, and there are no shortage of [little] hills to give a great workout in relatively short distance. I love having the trails for commuting, but I always prefer to ride on the road when I am going out for a weekend ride.