Be my friend!

[Bilsko]

@lynnaiello 53180 wrote:

Hello,

I just moved (back) here after traveling through Los Angeles and San Antonio for the past 5 years. I did a lot of social rides in both cities and really miss it. I’ve only been back home for 3 weeks but am finally getting settled back in and would love to meet some new faces who love riding as much as I do! Soooo if you know of any social rides or just want to make a new friend let me know! I live in the Northern Virginia area, closer to Gainesville/Haymarket.

Okay then!
Lynn

Welcome Lynn! Nice to have a newly re-transplanted face to the DC area. You’ve come to the right place for finding rides and good company.
There are plenty of great rides down by you – here’s a fun one that a few of us (Dirt, dcv, jabberwocky, others…) did a few months back. The weather was MISERABLE, but the ride was a lot of fun.
The DC Randonneurs (dcrand.org) also do some brevets (200km) that leave from Warrenton.

What kind of riding are you looking for? By social rides do you mean 50-100 miles ‘club rides’ or shop rides or do you envision more of a ramble through town type ride (the Tweed Rides, or just about anything that Bicycle Space here in DC puts together)

As a side note – my old last name (story for another time) is also Aiello. Nice to see another one around

[jabberwocky]

Welcome to NoVA, Lynne!

If you mountainbike, I do a casual, no drop ride at Lake Fairfax (in Reston) on Wednesdays after work. If you don’t mountainbike but would like to try, I can probably bring a bike out for you.

I also do the occasional after work road loop with a few friends (also in Reston, usually meeting at the town center). They tend to be ad-hoc, not super fast but probably not casually paced either (though I don’t leave people behind and generally adjust pace to whatever people feel like). If thats something you’d be interested in, drop me a line and I’ll try and let you know when the next one is.

[dcv]

@Bilsko 53278 wrote:

As a side note – my old last name (story for another time) is also Aiello.

witness protection

[Dickie]

Welcome back to the area Lynn. There are plenty of good social rides in town and also cycling/social events to meet other cyclists. I would first check out DCpaceline for a list of all the group rides occurring each week in the area. This is a great resource especially for people new to the area. Many of the forum members frequent these rides. Also, the Tour De fat is this weekend and it will be an excellent chance to see the cycling community at large. Later in the summer Dandies and Quaintrelles will put on their annual Searsucker social ride which is the summer version of their tweed ride. Lastly, look for the forums Third Thursday Happy Hour. It will be coming up in a few weeks and the details will be posted here. This is a great place to meet many of the forum members.

[protectnya]

Hi Lynn,

I’m also in haymarket area. I haven’t ridden with them but haymarket bicycles does an evening ride on Wednesday nights. B group leaves from their parking lot at 5:45 and A group at 6.

I just got into cycling this past march through a friend and am loving it. I’m a former mt biker who stopped riding a few years back. As I’m sure you know there are lots of great places out here to ride! If you ever want some new routes I would be happy to share, or if you ever need a riding buddy.

Dan

[lynnaiello]

@Bilsko 53278 wrote:

Welcome Lynn! Nice to have a newly re-transplanted face to the DC area. You’ve come to the right place for finding rides and good company.
There are plenty of great rides down by you – here’s a fun one that a few of us (Dirt, dcv, jabberwocky, others…) did a few months back. The weather was MISERABLE, but the ride was a lot of fun.
The DC Randonneurs (dcrand.org) also do some brevets (200km) that leave from Warrenton.

What kind of riding are you looking for? By social rides do you mean 50-100 miles ‘club rides’ or shop rides or do you envision more of a ramble through town type ride (the Tweed Rides, or just about anything that Bicycle Space here in DC puts together)

As a side note – my old last name (story for another time) is also Aiello. Nice to see another one around

Thank you! That’s great news. My main bicycle is an 80s centurion road bike so I can’t really go off road with it. I don’t have a mountain bike but after moving here and seeing the trails available it may be a good idea to look into one soon. The rides in LA were definitely “party” rides, sometimes a little too big and obnoxious but with the right group was untouchable in the good times folder. Thanks for all the neat suggestions- I’ll be checking them out soon.

P.S. That’s amazing about your name. It’s such a unique name- you’re Italian? You should be my facebook friend- best way to communicate for me. I’m totally new to these forums, in fact I’m not even sure how this response will come out as I have no idea how to respond to one or all replies to my original post… haha.

@jabberwocky 53282 wrote:

Welcome to NoVA, Lynne!

If you mountainbike, I do a casual, no drop ride at Lake Fairfax (in Reston) on Wednesdays after work. If you don’t mountainbike but would like to try, I can probably bring a bike out for you.

I also do the occasional after work road loop with a few friends (also in Reston, usually meeting at the town center). They tend to be ad-hoc, not super fast but probably not casually paced either (though I don’t leave people behind and generally adjust pace to whatever people feel like). If thats something you’d be interested in, drop me a line and I’ll try and let you know when the next one is.

Hello! I do not have a mountain bike but will be looking into them soon as the trails around here are mostly off road. Reston town center is not too far from me. I’d probably like something like that. I’m still getting a bit settled in but as soon as I have a good night available I’ll ask you for details on the next ride.

@dcv 53292 wrote:

witness protection

@Dickie 53311 wrote:

Welcome back to the area Lynn. There are plenty of good social rides in town and also cycling/social events to meet other cyclists. I would first check out DCpaceline for a list of all the group rides occurring each week in the area. This is a great resource especially for people new to the area. Many of the forum members frequent these rides. Also, the Tour De fat is this weekend and it will be an excellent chance to see the cycling community at large. Later in the summer Dandies and Quaintrelles will put on their annual Searsucker social ride which is the summer version of their tweed ride. Lastly, look for the forums Third Thursday Happy Hour. It will be coming up in a few weeks and the details will be posted here. This is a great place to meet many of the forum members.

Thanks!! Great! That website is super duper! Thanks for referring me! I am going to tour de fat! I’ve been to a few of them, in Austin! It’s so much fun! I will definitely be interested in the Dandies and Quaintrelles ride as I really love the tweed rides I’ve been on.

@protectnya 53340 wrote:

Hi Lynn,

I’m also in haymarket area. I haven’t ridden with them but haymarket bicycles does an evening ride on Wednesday nights. B group leaves from their parking lot at 5:45 and A group at 6.

I just got into cycling this past march through a friend and am loving it. I’m a former mt biker who stopped riding a few years back. As I’m sure you know there are lots of great places out here to ride! If you ever want some new routes I would be happy to share, or if you ever need a riding buddy.

Dan

Neat! Good to know! I wonder if it’s road bikes or mountain. Sure, I’d love new friends to ride with, especially right next to me. My facebook is the best way to get ahold of me. http://www.facebook.com/lynnaiello

[protectnya]

Ops….sorry Lynn. It’s road riding with that group.

[jabberwocky]

@lynnaiello 53343 wrote:

Hello! I do not have a mountain bike but will be looking into them soon as the trails around here are mostly off road. Reston town center is not too far from me. I’d probably like something like that. I’m still getting a bit settled in but as soon as I have a good night available I’ll ask you for details on the next ride.

Mountainbiking is super fun! There is a great community of riders in this area, and a lot of really good trails. The local club for MTB stuff is MORE: http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/ Like I said, I lead a casual ride at Lake Fairfax on Wednesdays, and assuming you are roughly my height I’d be happy to bring an extra bike if you want to come out and try it.

[TwoWheelsDC]

You might also try looking at rides in the Warrenton area. There are some great, quiet country roads out there, with some nice hills, and the one time I rode out there I passed quite a few local cyclists. It’s also quite a bit closer to Gainesville/Haymarket than Arlington. I stopped into a shop there (Warrenton Cycling Center, I think) and they were nice…if the shop is still there, they’d have the best info on local shop rides/group rides.

[Bilsko]

Lynn,
I’m curious about the LA rides you did – any shop rides? Golden Saddle Cyclery, Swrve, and MASH (in SF) are the kind of shops that I wish we had here around DC. There’s just something about the West Coast riding vibe that is sooooooo appealing. From your description – I get the feeling that you should keep tabs on the Bicycle Space rides (they can get very crowded, but from what I hear they are lots of fun)

As for your bike – you should be absolutely fine for road rides down around Warrenton (or anywhere around DC for that matter). There are plenty of options for fun gravel grinders (see: Dirt), but lots of good roads and trails for the road bike. I’m on a heavy Surly with road tires 80% of the time, and also on an old 70s Schwinn also with road tires and there is no lack of places to ride.

As for my last name – yep there’s definitely Italian heritage there. Although from what I recall, on that side of the family its a least 2 if not 3 generations to get back to Italy.

[Rod Smith]

Dc Bike Party sounds like something you’d like. https://www.facebook.com/DCBikeParty

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