crossing rock creek park

[KLizotte]

Unfortunately I don’t know that area well enough to provide useful advice but wanted to welcome you to the forum anyhow. We look forward to hearing of your cycling experiences in the Netherlands; I’m sure DC is a bit of a culture shock in terms of bike friendly infrastructure. It’s still a fun place to ride though and you will certainly build up your leg muscles on our hills.

[jrenaut]

Welcome to the neighborhood. I’m on Harvard St just on the Columbia Heights side of 16th. This is a great neighborhood for biking – everything is super close – until you try to come home and you have to go up a giant hill.

I’m not sure what the best way for you get up to Tenleytown is. If I were you, I’d try heading up 14th, which has a nice bike lane, and turning left on Upshur. Right on Mathewson, left on Blagden, right on Beach, and left on Broad Branch. From there it depends on exactly where you’re going.

I don’t know any of these roads past Upshur, but I know that Beach is closed on the weekends to car traffic, and it’s like a bike wonderland. So I can only assume that the roads surrounding it are bike-friendly.

As everyone on here will tell you, try it on a weekend if you can to get an idea what it’ll be like. And if you have questions about the neighborhood, let me know. My wife and I have been here for 5+ years, and we love it (both before and after having kids)

[americancyclo]

On your way home you can take tilden to park to 17th or Adams mill is a fun ride, but it might be too much of a climb heading towards tenleytown. I’d try using a website like ridewithgps.com or similar to map out your choices. They have elevation data and will show bike lanes on the map.

[JeffB]

I had a longer reply but the Internet Gods were angry 😡

Anyway – I recommend crossing on Calvert St. During the week the Park is a traffic sewer anyways. Do yourself a favor and stop by City Bikes or WABA and pick up a copy of the DDOT Bicycle Map for Washington.

Here’s the route I recommend (take the suggestion to first ride it on a weekend):
Calvert St
X Conn Ave
R 29th
L Cathedral Ave
BR Woodley Rd
R 36th
L Porter
X Idaho
R 37th
L Yuma St
arrive at Tenley Circle

[Author]

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