Congratulations to Alexandrai and Reston

[jabberwocky]

Coolness! I’ve always found Reston to be a nice place to ride, especially for such a suburban area.

[JimF22003]

OK, I guess I’m missing out on all the great places to ride in Reston. Much of it seems pretty unfriendly to bikes for my taste.

[jabberwocky]

@JimF22003 66784 wrote:

OK, I guess I’m missing out on all the great places to ride in Reston. Much of it seems pretty unfriendly to bikes for my taste.

Where are you riding? I ride around Reston a lot and have always found it good.

[hozn]

Yeah, I agree with jabberwocky, though my opinion on this has evolved with more experience/exposure. One one hand roads like Whiele and Sun{rise,set} {Hills,Valley} and Reston Pkwy are not themselves very bike friendly. But roads like Glade are extremely bike friendly (and a real pleasure to ride on). And I’ve started exploring further South too (not sure exactly where Reston ends), but for example Steeplechase, Soapstone (has bike lane), and Stuart Mill are relatively bike-friendly / low-traffic. Lawyers has some nice sections (e.g. w/ bike lane) but isn’t the most friendly option. Hunter Mill is not very friendly — and Fox Mill isn’t either I learned last week. But plenty of miles to be had without too much stress — and much, much better than Herndon.

I think the thing that makes Reston more intimidating to me than riding in Arlington is that there are fewer through-road options (e.g. going through neighborhoods isn’t always an option) and the artery roads are higher-speed (like 45mph). But I think it’s also just a matter of familiarity. If my idea of riding in Arlington was Lee Hwy, I’m sure I’d have a different opinion of riding in Arlington too — though I’d probably rather ride on Lee Hwy than Reston Pkwy.

Of course, this isn’t even mentioning the myriad of MUT options in Reston. If you don’t want to ride fast, it’s easy to get anywhere without going on any of the roads.

[KLizotte]

I suspect the MUTs and the WO&D is what got Reston the bronze rating.

I’m rather surprised Alexandria got silver since I don’t find it particularly bike friendly in terms of bike specific infrastructure. Perhaps the start-up of Cabi is what pushed them into silver. On the other hand, I do ride the back streets of Alexandria a lot and find them easy to ride.

If only we could get the rest of the Custis repaved!

[jabberwocky]

Yeah, the arterial roads aren’t recommended. Since Reston was a planned community, most of the smaller roads actually connect to other small roads though, so its generally easy to get from A to B without getting on major arterials. Lots of the smaller roads are great for cycling though.

Reston Parkway north of Baron Cameron is actually decent enough. It has a high speed limit, but is much more lightly trafficked and has fewer high-volume intersections. I wouldn’t ride it south of there if I could avoid it. If I’m heading north/south, I generally use the 286 trail or town center parkway/bennington woods to the west or some of the smaller roads (north shore, for example) or occasionally Wheile to the east. Depends on destination.

Like anywhere in Fairfax County though, it isn’t universally bike friendly. If you don’t know the area, its easy to get on roads that don’t work well. But I think Reston has almost no place that doesn’t have a good route to get to it if you use a little advance planning.

[lordofthemark]

@KLizotte 66794 wrote:

I’m rather surprised Alexandria got silver since I don’t find it particularly bike friendly in terms of bike specific infrastructure. Perhaps the start-up of Cabi is what pushed them into silver. On the other hand, I do ride the back streets of Alexandria a lot and find them easy to ride.

I think a lot of it is the City’s commitment, programming, etc (iincluding, but not only, CaBi) – and also the mode share. I think infra is only one part of what LAB uses for the ratings.

As for the infra they have the MVT, Holmes Run Trail, a growing scattering of bike lanes, and a lot of sharrows (I’m not completely clear on when a road with a sharrows becomes a bike boulevard). Though not nearly as many bike lanes as ArlCo.

[JimF22003]

Tonight I did HunterMill > Lawyers > Fox Mill (eek!) > FFX Cty Parkway. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t “bronze-worthy”

The few times I’ve gone off the beaten track a bit I’ve gotten into some really hairy high-traffic areas. I’m looking at the map now, and I see where Glade runs. I’ll have to try that one.

Here’s the route I did, if anyone cares to suggest some good variations:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/391478072

[MattAune]

@JimF22003 66863 wrote:

Tonight I did HunterMill > Lawyers > Fox Mill (eek!) > FFX Cty Parkway. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t “bronze-worthy”

The few times I’ve gone off the beaten track a bit I’ve gotten into some really hairy high-traffic areas. I’m looking at the map now, and I see where Glade runs. I’ll have to try that one.

Here’s the route I did, if anyone cares to suggest some good variations:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/391478072

I grew up in near Fox Mill Rd. There are ways to cut through the neighborhood.

Soapstone and Glade are also nice routes through the southern end of Reston.

Check out the Strava Heat Map. You will quickly see the neighborhood cut troughs and other off the beaten path routes that the locals ride. http://raceshape.com/heatmap/ Check out the Stuart Mill/Bennet Rd route. You can either get on the ffx co parkway trail or follow the heat map and route through franklin farm/fox mil back into reston.

[jabberwocky]

@JimF22003 66863 wrote:

Tonight I did HunterMill > Lawyers > Fox Mill (eek!) > FFX Cty Parkway. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t “bronze-worthy”

Errr… Yeah, those are some awful roads. For your route, do Hunters Station to Lawyers like you did, but then make the first right off Lawyers onto Twin Branches, then make a left on Glade and follow that until it ends on Sunrise Valley. Make a left and a quick right onto the Fairfax County Parkway trail. Your mileage will be similar, but its a muuuuuuch nicer ride on Glade than Lawyers and Fox Mill.

If you want, here are a few loops I put together a while back for after work rides around Reston. All are setup to start and end at the Town Center, but it should be easy to modify them.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2481615
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2491307
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2491338
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2491358
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2921605

[JimF22003]

Thanks for the suggestions! I’m always looking for new routes.

[Rootchopper]

Alexandria barely deserves a bronze but a silver is overreaching by half. Go ahead and try to ride from Old Town to Landmark. Direct routes are gawdawful and the Holmes Run Trail is a confusing mess that turns into a whitewater flood zone during moderate rainstorms. Or try to ride from Holmes Run Trail to Shirlington. I hope you have life insurance.

And don’t get me started about the fiasco that commuters dealt with near the Wilson bridge when the Jones Point Park rehab was going on. Truly unsafe detours were put in place that changed on a weekly basis, each one worse that the last. The end result was black bollards at the bottom of a hill. The notion that it was VDOT or Homeland Security or somebody else’s responsibility was no excuse for the city’s inactivity.

The development of Potomac Yard has made minimal effort to accommodate cyclists despite the fact that it is pool-table flat and ideal for everyday cycling. The transition from the US 1 bridge trail over the rail right of way into Potomac Yard looks like it was designed to impede cycling, not encourage it.

Many of the landed gentry in Old Town are openly opposed to cyclists in their midst but seem perfectly fine with a steady stream of cars and buses clogging up the streets.

Clearly, a cultural change needs to happen before Alexandria is a bicycling friendly city.

[MattAune]

@Rootchopper 66940 wrote:

Alexandria barely deserves a bronze but a silver is overreaching by half. Go ahead and try to ride from Old Town to Landmark. Direct routes are gawdawful and the Holmes Run Trail is a confusing mess that turns into a whitewater flood zone during moderate rainstorms.

Eisenhower, Seminary, even Braddock is ok on the East side of VA 7/Quaker Ln.

@Rootchopper 66940 wrote:

Or try to ride from Holmes Run Trail to Shirlington. I hope you have life insurance.

I ride Beauregard all the time

@Rootchopper 66940 wrote:

And don’t get me started about the fiasco that commuters dealt with near the Wilson bridge when the Jones Point Park rehab was going on. Truly unsafe detours were put in place that changed on a weekly basis, each one worse that the last. The end result was black bollards at the bottom of a hill. The notion that it was VDOT or Homeland Security or somebody else’s responsibility was no excuse for the city’s inactivity.

The development of Potomac Yard has made minimal effort to accommodate cyclists despite the fact that it is pool-table flat and ideal for everyday cycling. The transition from the US 1 bridge trail over the rail right of way into Potomac Yard looks like it was designed to impede cycling, not encourage it.

I rarely get that far southeast so I cannot comment, but I do believe that Potomac yard will become very bicycle friendly once all the development is done, and CaBi will be at the forefront of that.

@Rootchopper 66940 wrote:

Many of the landed gentry in Old Town are openly opposed to cyclists in their midst but seem perfectly fine with a steady stream of cars and buses clogging up the streets.

This is true of most of America.

@Rootchopper 66940 wrote:

Clearly, a cultural change needs to happen before Alexandria is a bicycling friendly city.

I only wish that Fairfax county were even close to as bicycle friendly as Alexandria

[PotomacCyclist]

I actually like riding (and running) in Potomac Yard, most of the time. True, I tend not to ride during rush hour. But the bike paths are good for slower and more casual cyclists. Potomac Ave. could use bike lanes but in off-peak hours, it’s a good place to ride, although it can be tricky when drivers are leaving the theater at the same time after a movie ends.

Potomac Yard Park is scheduled to open very soon, perhaps in a matter of weeks. That means that the closed section of the bike path will re-open. There will be alternate parallel paths if you include the walking paths in the park. That can help separate pedestrians from casual cyclists, while faster cyclists probably should ride on the road. The trail will also extend under the Monroe Ave. bridge and lead to the Braddock Rd. Metro (or very close to it).

While some drivers do take advantage of the straightaway on Potomac Ave. to drive fast (and occasionally VERY fast), the road isn’t too bad. Not ideal but manageable, and more than manageable in off-peak hours. The absence of cross traffic helps a lot. Even as the area becomes developed in the coming years, there will never be any cross traffic coming from the east, because of the park.

I do wish that bike lanes had been added to the Alexandria section of Potomac Ave. But other than that, I think the road and the park are net positives for cycling in Alexandria and for better connections between Crystal City and Old Town.

[Rootchopper]

I agree that Potomac Avenue is fine for cycling now during the off peak. I imagine that many streets are great if you only want to ride on them when most people are in bed.

Wait until Potmac Yard is fully developed and all those new residences have cars. A silver level city doesn’t shove bike traffic off to the side on a path; it encourages them to be an integral part of the flow of people. From this perspective Potomac Yard is designed to fail.

[Author]

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