A 10 to 20 mile ride on flat terrain

[lordofthemark]

I’m thinking that I’d like a change to lugging my MTB up hills. I want to see what I can do on it just riding on flat terrain, without worrying about climbing, taking advantage of downgrades to make it up hills, etc.

I live in Annandale and would like something I can get to fairly easily by transit (since I don’t have a bike rack for the car) I don’t think there are too many options that are accessible from the 16, 3A, 29k, or 401/402 buses. I guess maybe take the 29k to old town alex, and ride the MVT south? Or just accept the time it takes to get on metro and go into DC and ride around Hains Pt? But thats not a long ride (and will I get in the way of people going really fast there?)

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[TwoWheelsDC]

@lordofthemark 45910 wrote:

I’m thinking that I’d like a change to lugging my MTB up hills. I want to see what I can do on it just riding on flat terrain, without worrying about climbing, taking advantage of downgrades to make it up hills, etc.

I live in Annandale and would like something I can get to fairly easily by transit (since I don’t have a bike rack for the car) I don’t think there are too many options that are accessible from the 16, 3A, 29k, or 401/402 buses. I guess maybe take the 29k to old town alex, and ride the MVT south? Or just accept the time it takes to get on metro and go into DC and ride around Hains Pt? But thats not a long ride (and will I get in the way of people going really fast there?)

The MVT south of Alexandria is actually somewhat undulating. No big climbs or anthing, but plenty of sharp little dips and rises, with one decent hill up into Mt. Vernon itself. The flattest you’re going to get is the C&O Towpath, which isn’t paved, but would be a great ride on a MTB. If you can get to Rosslyn or Georgetown, you can get on there and ride all the way to Pittsburgh without leaving the trail, if you’re feeling particularly spunky

[vvill]

@lordofthemark 45910 wrote:

I’m thinking that I’d like a change to lugging my MTB up hills. I want to see what I can do on it just riding on flat terrain, without worrying about climbing, taking advantage of downgrades to make it up hills, etc.

I live in Annandale and would like something I can get to fairly easily by transit (since I don’t have a bike rack for the car) I don’t think there are too many options that are accessible from the 16, 3A, 29k, or 401/402 buses. I guess maybe take the 29k to old town alex, and ride the MVT south? Or just accept the time it takes to get on metro and go into DC and ride around Hains Pt? But thats not a long ride (and will I get in the way of people going really fast there?)

Hains Pt is mostly two car lanes in width, so you shouldn’t have any issues there. There are fast riders there often but not usually in big groups (weekday lunchtimes being one exception).

If you do go to Hains Pt keep in mind that if it’s windy it can be as tough as hills.

[ShawnoftheDread]

You can take the 3A to Falls Church or Rosslyn to go to Hains Pt. Or Fort Hunt is a flat and less windy alternative to Hains Pt. if you take the bus into Old Town.

[ShawnoftheDread]

The Cross County Trail is also pretty flat in many parts, and just a short ride away from you.

Edit: Never mind, I just noticed the distance you’re trying to do. CCT only has a few miles of flat.

[KLizotte]

On a nice weekend day, you may wish to throw your bike in the car and try out the Indian Head trail in southern MD. From Pentagon City it takes me 45 minutes to get there. It’s a rail trail thru residential areas/farm fields. There aren’t any hills and has only about a 2% grade. It’s very peaceful, quite new so the pavement is very good, no tourists, and is never crowded. It’s 13 miles one way so you could do 26 miles round trip.

Note: there aren’t any amenities on the trail other than a port-o-potty at one end and I think some water fountains. Free parking and picnic tables.

http://www.charlescounty.org/pf/parks_rec/parks/trails.jsp

The rail trail that runs from Annapolis to the BWI airport is also really nice too.

[dasgeh]

The 16 buses will get you to Pentagon City, right? From there, you can get to the MVT or into the District pretty easily. Yes, there are “hills” but nothing like the Custis.

[Amalitza]

@lordofthemark 45910 wrote:

I guess maybe take the 29k to old town alex, and ride the MVT south? Or just accept the time it takes to get on metro and go into DC and ride around Hains Pt? But thats not a long ride (and will I get in the way of people going really fast there?)

Agreeing with TwoWheelsDC, the MVT is actually much flatter north of Old Town than south. Bonus, if you ride it far enough north, you can cross into DC and throw in Hains Pt if you want.

I can also confirm Klizotte’s post on the flatness of the IHRT, where I ride several times a week, if you can get to it. It is flat, wide, straight, in good condition, and lightly traveled (at least on weekdays, not actually sure of weekends). I basically relearned to ride as an adult on the southern end of the MVT; the first time I got on the IHRT, my report was “nice trail, but kind of boring” (in comparison to MVT, without all those ups and downs and around curves and dodging pedestrians and all that I was accustomed to). Good for practicing sprinting, though.

[lordofthemark]

@TwoWheelsDC 45911 wrote:

The flattest you’re going to get is the C&O Towpath, which isn’t paved, but would be a great ride on a MTB. If you can get to Rosslyn or Georgetown, you can get on there and ride all the way to Pittsburgh without leaving the trail, if you’re feeling particularly spunky

I didn’t think of that – this what I’d like to do. I can get to Rosslyn easily on the 3A, and then its just across the Key Bridge to the towpath. Sounds like a great ride to do.

question – will I go much slower on the towpath due to the surface than I would on a paved road/trail?

[lordofthemark]

@ShawnoftheDread 45927 wrote:

The Cross County Trail is also pretty flat in many parts, and just a short ride away from you.

Edit: Never mind, I just noticed the distance you’re trying to do. CCT only has a few miles of flat.

I did the CCT the other day, its fine. What I disliked was on the way back, when I was tired, having to ride up from Wakefield Park to the ped bridge and then do the hills on Americana. Its not that I don’t ever want to do hills, I just sometimes want a ride that doesn’t involve them.

[KLizotte]

@lordofthemark 46017 wrote:

question – will I go much slower on the towpath due to the surface than I would on a paved road/trail?

Yes, but not by much on an MTB and you will probably be going faster than the folks on road bikes because your tires will grip the surface better. An MTB is far better suited to the C&O than skinny tires IMHO.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@lordofthemark 46018 wrote:

I did the CCT the other day, its fine. What I disliked was on the way back, when I was tired, having to ride up from Wakefield Park to the ped bridge and then do the hills on Americana. Its not that I don’t ever want to do hills, I just sometimes want a ride that doesn’t involve them.

I’ve grown so tired of my twice per day trips on Americana that I’ve started crossing at LRT. People give me more space on LRT anyway.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 46017 wrote:

question – will I go much slower on the towpath due to the surface than I would on a paved road/trail?

Depends on how fast you go on the road. I usually top out at about 13-15mph on the parts of the trail further north, the limiting factor basically being how fast I want to hit the potholes and rocks for fear of breaking something (cyclocross-style frame, 32×622 tires). You may actually make better time on an MTB from that standpoint. The nicer parts of the trail, where it’s crushed stone closer to the city, the limiting factor tends to more be the number of people on the trail. There’s also a speed limit, I think.

[Author]

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