Looking for a route/buddy for ride to work day

Welcome. Not my area, but good luck finding a nice route. -Jeff

So Aspen Hill to the area by like Shady Grove Adventist? It depends upon your comfort level with streets. There is a way to go mostly trails. You would take the Matthew Henson Trail (note, I’ve never ridden this section of it, only walked and don’t know how good it is) south and it will intersect with Rock Creek Park (RCP). You can then take RCP to Southlawn and take that up past the ARC skating rink area to hit Gude. And then right on Gude for however far it is. The only downside to Southlawn is that it’s kind of rutty on the road and has a climb coming off RCP.

You can allegedly meetup with the West Side Trail, which hits the Gude trail dropping you further up Gude Drive, but if my memory serves right, those aren’t MUP-like trails and are literal through the woods type trails. Unfortunately I don’t think there is another junction besides Southlawn or Avery, but Avery would be worse. It’s on the wrong side of 28 to pop off there and if you get off at Baltimore Rd then you’re on a narrow hilly road with a bunch of speeding teenagers.

I suppose a lot of it depends on where abouts on Layhill you’re starting from. There is also the mythical ICC path, but I don’t know how connected that is. GL!

@szack 83478 wrote:

Big time spin enthusiast, less experienced on the road and looking for best route to ride to work on May 18th. From Layhill and Georgia in SS to Research Blvd and Gude Dr in Rockville (approx.10 miles). Anyone know a route or going my way? Thanks!

Howdy! I work near Research/Gude. I ride about 3 days/week from the Twinbrook area. I usually go one of two ways:

1) Up Montrose, right on Tower Oaks, and left on to Wootton. I turn right on Hurley to get to W Montgomery (left) then onto Gude (right.)
2) Up Rockville Pike until I get to Mt Vernon Place (near Rockville Town Square,) where I cut through the neighborhood behind Town Square/the senior center to get to Gude.

Either way, if you’re up for meeting around the Twinbrook station, we can ride together Friday. I registered at Town Square, so I’ll be heading up the Pike (route 2.) In terms of getting to Twinbrook area, it looks like you can cut over to Viers Mill and come up Twinbrook Parkway, or just ride straight up Randolph Road. I don’t know what the riding conditions are like on Randolph, but I’ve found that early in the morning even Rockville Pike is pretty chill.