BAFS National Cathedral group ride + private tour

[ChristoB50]

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Ever wanted to check out that massive Gothic structure perched high above D.C.’s skyline? That’s Washington National Cathedral — the only place on earth you’ll find Darth Vader’s head in stone, the only American president laid to rest in D.C., an actual piece of the moon, and the world’s largest publicly-built LEGO cathedral (construction underway!) — all housed within the spectacular results of D.C.’s longest-running construction job. Beautiful art, architecture and craftsmanship abound throughout the awe-inspiring spaces of this active church.

Even if you have visited before, there’s more there to take in than a single visit could ever hope to encompass…
Join Chris Budny (BAF member Christob50), longtime cathedral docent, for a private extended cathedral tour following a group ride up Mount Saint Alban.

***Please Note: My private guided tour of the cathedral building is limited to 30 participants — please use the EventBrite link below to reserve a spot on that guided tour if you’re pretty sure you can attend. (ie, please don’t use EventBrite if you only plan to join the ride portion.)

Meet{Note Revised Times are now meet 8am, rollout 8:30am}
Saturday, March 9, 8:00am at Velo Cafe (730 Maine Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024)
Rollout at 8:30am
Note: If nasty weather is forecast for the ride, I will postpone to another date & notify everyone the night before.

Route
Approximately 8 miles. Much will be on D.C. streets (about 5 miles) with 2 miles on Rock Creek Trail (including the steep climb along Shoreham Drive to Calvert Street.)
Approximate route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29443536?privacy_code=l9JRtEEI6qNiUtSA
3 brief stops en route, for tie-ins with the cathedral’s history.

Pace
No drop. Stopping at stop signs & red lights; casual city-street pace.
Anticipating arrival at the cathedral by/before 10:30.
My guided tour of the cathedral will then run approximately 60-75 minutes.

Bathrooms
Available at Velo Cafe and at the cathedral.

What To Bring
Bike lock — bike racks are available in the cathedral’s parking garage.
Camera (photography is permitted in the cathedral)
$12 for Touring Admission to Washington National Cathedral (cash/credit).

Also kindly requested:

• Non-cleat shoes to change into (or covers leaving no exposed metal) for walking the marble floors.
• Outer ‘street clothes’ to put over your biking attire (if your attire is, let’s say, particularly aero or revealing. Donning shorts and a t-shirt would suffice.)

Note: The cathedral has no lockers or storage space for personal belongings, nor is food/drink permitted inside.

After Party
I plan to head just up the street to Cactus Cantina, for a “Mount Saint Alban’s margarita”!

Sign Up
There’s an Eventbrite for this event, which you must use to secure your spot on the guided tour:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bafs-national-cathedral-group-ridetour-tickets-57292395096

Topic

[ChristoB50]

Wow, what a great group of troopers y’all were, biking through the cold morning to get to our tour at the cathedral! Thank you all for making my ‘first time’ (organizing/leading a group ride) such a breeze! And thank you to the whole gang for picking up lunch; an unexpected treat! (The fact that the bill settled up with too much cash in the end, and you opted to buy LEGO’s for the cathedral’s fundraiser, is just terrific!)
I had a great time sharing the building with you — and pulling out some of my favorite “Wait! Just one more thing to show you!” features and spaces… Thanks for sticking around til the bitter end (4pm!)

Enjoying a well-earned beer/chips/sangria/tex-mex break at Cactus Cantina
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Master Builder at work on the LEGO replica of the cathedral (which will built entirely by the public)
(which will be 13 feet long, 8 feet tall and 7 feet wide, made of approximately 500,000 LEGO blocks when done. We added 30 to that effort today!)
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The die-hards, 70 feet above the floor of the cathedral, under the great West Rose Window at the end of the day.
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[komorebi]

Thanks for putting together an excellent ride and tour, Chris! Your passion and extensive knowledge really shone through. A++, would do again!

Learning about what might have stood at this location if Pierre L’Enfant had gotten his way:

Trying to imagine the time when everything west of Rock Creek Park was wilderness:

Woodrow Wilson’s tomb:

Inside the chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea:

[ChristoB50]

Thanks so much, Josephine—and especially cuz you were a major contributor in the success of the ride by patiently sharing your knowledge of DC streets and options — none of which I’d ridden a bike on before your input — as I planned, then frequently revised my intended route!

[komorebi]

I’m fascinated by the Lego cathedral fundraiser. I can’t wait to go back later and see how much progress has been made.

A few action shots from our group donation:

Those of you who didn’t stick around for Chris’s “wait, just one more thing” tour really missed out. We got to see the 7th floor observation deck, wander through the attics, and go outside.

And we got to stand underneath the West rose window, which might have been my favorite part of the whole tour.

Thanks again, Chris!

[Steve O]

I totally loved this ride and the tour. Thank you, Chris!!

I posted about 30 photos on my strava ride, which you may view here if you like: https://www.strava.com/activities/2202918144

[ChristoB50]

@Steve O 188453 wrote:

I totally loved this ride and the tour. Thank you, Chris!!
I posted about 30 photos on my strava ride, which you may view here if you like: https://www.strava.com/activities/2202918144

Glad to hear it; you’re welcome! Thanks for the pics link; you were busy with the camera! And with writing some poetry to go with…

[ChristoB50]

Hi folks… the warm weather has me thinking about organizing another group ride + private tour.
So I wanted to take an informal pulse of how much interest there is here for another ride. No date set yet but it would be a Spring Saturday perhaps late April to May, sometime…

Pic of the March 9th tour group seated in the Great Choir.
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[accordioneur]

@ChristoB50 189374 wrote:

Hi folks… the warm weather has me thinking about organizing another group ride + private tour.
So I wanted to take an informal pulse of how much interest there is here for another ride. No date set yet but it would be a Spring Saturday perhaps late April to May, sometime…

Yes, yes, yes! Was so sad to have missed the last one.

[Judd]

It was a great tour but I’m probably up for more of an annual cadence.

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[ChristoB50]

@Judd 189387 wrote:

It was a great tour but I’m probably up for more of an annual cadence.

No worries Judd; while certainly open to repeat attendees, I was thinking foremost about folks who may have wanted to do the ride and private cathedral tour ,but couldn’t make the March 9 date, for whatever reason…

[Steve O]

I have more tolerance than Judd for another, since you said you would show other cool stuff.

[LhasaCM]

I’m about 150% wanting to go on the next one (I’m still super bummed I missed the first one), but maybe only a 30% chance of being allowed with everything else on the schedule and testing the family’s patience with me and “another bike thing”…

[Judd]

@Steve O 189406 wrote:

I have more tolerance than Judd for another, since you said you would show other cool stuff.

There’s the Indiana Jones room…

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[dkel]

@Judd 189410 wrote:

There’s the Indiana Jones room…

Only “top men” are allowed in there. Who??? “Top. Men.”

[ChristoB50]

@Judd 189410 wrote:

There’s the Indiana Jones room…
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

See, that’s just how the urban legends get started…!
Like, “Can you direct me to the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs carving?” Or, “Where did the mason mix his wife’s ashes into the mortar?” Or, “I thought nothing in DC could be higher than the top of the {choose Capitol or Wash. Monument}”…

[Author]

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