25 March 2013 Trail Conditions

Our Community › Forums › Road and Trail Conditions › 25 March 2013 Trail Conditions

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 25, 2013 at 11:53 am #965591
    JimK
    Participant

    The W&OD at about 7AM. I believe the lone tire track is from Liz.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]2595[/ATTACH]

    March 25, 2013 at 12:14 pm #965592
    Dickie
    Participant

    Must have just missed you Jim. I rode from Rosslyn to Fairfax around 7:00am. The Clarendon/Ballston corridor was pretty slushy but not bad at all. The Custis and W&OD were really nice, the 1″ blanket provided good traction, but I would hazard a guess once more foot traffic compacts it it will become more slick. I did make the mistake of taking the pedestrian bridge on Gallows over HWY 66 at Dunn Loring to avoid the spraying cars and went down pretty hard due to it being all ice at that point… DOH, only 1 mile from work… how embarrassing… hip bruise pic to come I suspect!

    IMG_1015_zps468160c8.jpg
    W&OD – 7:15am at Madison Manor Park

    March 25, 2013 at 1:04 pm #965594
    slowtriguy
    Participant

    Rode in W&OD -> Custis from Great Falls to Stafford at about 0745. The trails were snowy but rideable on Armadillos, 26″. Traction was mostly fine except on a couple of the short bridges.

    March 25, 2013 at 1:24 pm #965597
    eminva
    Participant

    Yes, I believe those are my tire tracks in Jim’s photo because it appeared my bike was the first one through that segment of the trail. Perhaps my first time ever as the early bird!

    I passed two westbound commuters shortly thereafter, rolo and Dickie (saw you where the trail parallels Shreve Road).

    Dickie, I’m sorry about your fall! Hope you aren’t injured too badly. I’ve had two falls on the ice this winter so I can relate. Luckily, today I stayed upright.

    I was on the MTB with studded tires and it worked well. Hopefully it warms up and some of this will disappear by the evening. If it freezes again either today or overnight it will be a mess because of all the footprints, etc.

    Liz

    March 25, 2013 at 1:26 pm #965598
    consularrider
    Participant

    I hauled out the winter setup with studded tires, left home about 7:25 after shoveling out the driveway and brushing off the car for my wife. There were five sets of tire tracks on the W&OD from Ohio St to the Custis intersection and then only two all the way to Walter Reed. The only bad thing was the snow on the wooded bridges on the W&OD, as the snow packed under the tires, I could feel a little slip when the studs didn’t bite. As I got closer to the Potomac, the snow on slush turned to pretty much just slush, and as I headed north on the MVT, the trail was about 50% wet pavement, 50% slush. There were two disturbances in the force on the Roosevelt Trollheim that made me think someone went down (one at the southern end and one at the trail split).

    I’m keeping my fingers crossed that nothing really freezes, because that will be really nasty.

    March 25, 2013 at 1:51 pm #965603
    vvill
    Participant

    I was on 32mm CX tires and just unclipped and rode slowly on the W&OD bridges. Only experienced slight slippage on the one near Little Falls Rd. I passed quite a few commuters on my way through this AM, but I left later than usual to increase the chance of slushy meltiness and decrease the chance of any nasty ice.

    I expect tomorrow’s AM could be worse actually with the refreezing, I may have to break out the studded tire wheelset (which I already packed away, thereby guaranteeing their need one more time).

    March 25, 2013 at 2:11 pm #965605
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @vvill 47295 wrote:

    I may have to break out the studded tire wheelset (which I already packed away, thereby guaranteeing their need one more time).

    So this mess is ALL YOUR FAULT!

    All fingers point to Will!!!!! :p

    March 25, 2013 at 2:38 pm #965612
    Dickie
    Participant

    @eminva 47289 wrote:

    Yes, I believe those are my tire tracks in Jim’s photo because it appeared my bike was the first one through that segment of the trail. Perhaps my first time ever as the early bird!

    I passed two westbound commuters shortly thereafter, rolo and Dickie (saw you where the trail parallels Shreve Road).

    Dickie, I’m sorry about your fall! Hope you aren’t injured too badly. I’ve had two falls on the ice this winter so I can relate. Luckily, today I stayed upright.

    I was on the MTB with studded tires and it worked well. Hopefully it warms up and some of this will disappear by the evening. If it freezes again either today or overnight it will be a mess because of all the footprints, etc.

    Liz

    Thanks Liz…. na, just a bruised ego… had to happen in front of the metro of course for the world to see. Didn’t have the studs on which I am starting to regret now as the ride home might be pretty bad.

    March 25, 2013 at 2:45 pm #965613
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Just a dusting on the grassy bits here in DC. Streets are just wet, not snowy.

    March 25, 2013 at 3:08 pm #965623
    consularrider
    Participant

    @vvill 47295 wrote:

    … I passed quite a few commuters on my way through this AM, but I left later than usual to increase the chance of slushy meltiness and decrease the chance of any nasty ice …

    I was about ten minutes later than usual and counted only eight other people on bikes from East Falls Church to the Airport to Rosslyn. Five of those were after I got to the Roosevelt parking lot (last half mile). That’s the lowest total this winter. Missed seeing most of my “Bobs.”

    March 25, 2013 at 4:52 pm #965625
    TwoWheelsDC
    Participant

    I bailed for the metro today. The streets in Westover were pretty well covered and the bike lane on Washington Blvd wasn’t even visible, so I didn’t want to risk it without more winter-appropriate tires. But I did wear my BikeArlington scarf!

    March 25, 2013 at 5:55 pm #965629
    consularrider
    Participant

    @TwoWheelsDC 47319 wrote:

    … But I did wear my BikeArlington scarf!

    Dooh! (head slap).

    March 25, 2013 at 7:35 pm #965633
    Dirt
    Participant

    Trails are wet. Bridges are slushy. Bluemont underpass is flooding a little… only about an inch of water on it.

    March 25, 2013 at 7:51 pm #965635
    consularrider
    Participant

    @Dirt 47328 wrote:

    … Bluemont underpass is flooding a little… only about an inch of water on it.

    From just under a half inch of percipitation over several hours? I have never been able to figure out when that spot will flood and when it won’t. :confused:

    March 25, 2013 at 8:07 pm #965637
    Dirt
    Participant

    @consularrider 47330 wrote:

    From just under a half inch of percipitation over several hours? I have never been able to figure out when that spot will flood and when it won’t. :confused:

    If I had to guess, I’d say that a lot of stuff hung around outside the regular drainage in for form of slush and when temps rose enough, it was released as once into the creek, so it flooded.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.