Custis Trail Alternative

[DismalScientist]

Veitch/Key/Highland/Wilson/Fairfax/Ballston-Custis connector !

[consularrider]

@pfunkallstar 15550 wrote:

Well I tried the Veitch/Key/13/16 option yesterday and it wasn’t that bad. 16th street has some AMAZINGLY bad potholes that are just the right size for a 700c wheel. Thanks for the heads up! If it is Tuesday-Thursday and between 65-85 degrees, I will be making use of this new route!

Today would be that day!

[pfunkallstar]

@consularrider 15601 wrote:

Today would be that day!

Yeah, riding in on the Custis this morning was like being a human/bike pinball hybrid! Perhaps my favorite moment was the girl on the MVT wearing the Georgetown shirt running directly in the middle of the trail, it looked as though she was trying to jump from stripe to strip – mind blowing! I passed her and she looked pretty grumpy that I had disturbed her. So Veitch it is!

[JeffC]

@pfunkallstar 15606 wrote:

Yeah, riding in on the Custis this morning was like being a human/bike pinball hybrid! Perhaps my favorite moment was the girl on the MVT wearing the Georgetown shirt running directly in the middle of the trail, it looked as though she was trying to jump from stripe to strip – mind blowing! I passed her and she looked pretty grumpy that I had disturbed her. So Veitch it is!

Don’t you just love that. You might have disturbed her sense of entitlement. At least most winter joggers know to stick far right. I kind of expect this type of behaviour on the MVT though, the scenery is distracting. With my mountain bike at times on the MVT I have just been known to pass by just driving on the grass.

[pfunkallstar]

@JeffC 15626 wrote:

Don’t you just love that. You might have disturbed her sense of entitlement. At least most winter joggers know to stick far right. I kind of expect this type of behaviour on the MVT though, the scenery is distracting. With my mountain bike at times on the MVT I have just been known to pass by just driving on the grass.

I took the alternative route yet again yesterday. I need to find a viable, i.e. non Wilson Blvd, alternative for the last stretch, but otherwise it is great! Can’t remember who said it, but Arlington side streets are amazing. If I ran, which I don’t, I would totally get off the Custis and on to some side streets.

[JeffC]

@pfunkallstar 15656 wrote:

I took the alternative route yet again yesterday. I need to find a viable, i.e. non Wilson Blvd, alternative for the last stretch, but otherwise it is great! Can’t remember who said it, but Arlington side streets are amazing. If I ran, which I don’t, I would totally get off the Custis and on to some side streets.

I always take the Custis in the morning, it’s never much of a problem then. There is a big upsurge in walkers once daylight savings time starts in a few days which also usually coincides with warmer temps. The alternate way to Falls Church is really useful in those nicer temp days, especially Tuesday through Friday. Monday for whatever reason is not so bad.

Hmm, the route I took never required me to go down Wilson, perhaps you live farther south. I live about 1.5 miles from EFC Metro and took the route I indicated in an earlier email, basically Veitch, Key, 13th, Quincy, 15th, 16th and then behind Westover I take Lexington to 22nd to Sycamore to get to EFC and then take some side routes to get on to Hillwood.

[baiskeli]

@pfunkallstar 15656 wrote:

I took the alternative route yet again yesterday. I need to find a viable, i.e. non Wilson Blvd, alternative for the last stretch, but otherwise it is great! Can’t remember who said it, but Arlington side streets are amazing. If I ran, which I don’t, I would totally get off the Custis and on to some side streets.

You’re not using Fairfax Drive? It’s wider and has less traffic than Wilson, and has bike lanes. Or do you hit Wilson further west? You must have massive calves.

[pfunkallstar]

No I just bounced over to Wilson from 16th and then trucked up the hill as to avoid certain death. I’ll definitely think about Fairfax though. Yesterday and today I was able to take W&OD to Custis since the freeze scared off most of the three-abreast trail joggers.

[baiskeli]

@pfunkallstar 15796 wrote:

No I just bounced over to Wilson from 16th and then trucked up the hill as to avoid certain death. I’ll definitely think about Fairfax though. Yesterday and today I was able to take W&OD to Custis since the freeze scared off most of the three-abreast trail joggers.

To me, a hill IS certain death.

If you’re on your way to the end of the Custis or the W&OD, you can either catch the Custis at the very end of Fairfax (to the right of the on-ramp to 66) or cross to the left and get on the Bluemont Junction trail to the W&OD.

[eminva]

@consularrider 15487 wrote:

I guess my recommendation would depend on which section of the Custis you find most annoying and where you are ending up. Here’s an almost all on street route from Rosslyn (Key Bridge Marriott) to the intersection of Columbia and Little Falls in Falls Church. It’s just under a mile longer than the more direct Custis/W&OD combination with a couple hills. The one section that I don’t like is the “trail” from Scott back to Key Blvd alongside Colonial Village.

I took this route home today. It was great. Nice scenery, nice hills and it wouldn’t have taken much longer than my usual route if I hadn’t been checking my makeshift cue sheet 21 times.

No matter what the weather over the next couple of weeks, I will repeat it four or five times to get it firmly planted in my head.

Thanks.

Liz

[KLizotte]

@eminva 16781 wrote:

I took this route home today. It was great. Nice scenery, nice hills and it wouldn’t have taken much longer than my usual route if I hadn’t been checking my makeshift cue sheet 21 times. Liz

Are the hills easier than taking the Custis (heading west)?

[eminva]

@KLizotte 16783 wrote:

Are the hills easier than taking the Custis (heading west)?

It may be the novelty of the route, but I found them to be more challenging. But then there were some places where I got to an intersection at the bottom of a hill and had to check my cue sheet to see where to go next, so I didn’t have the advantage of momentum like on the Custis.

The brief stretch on Washington was a fun downhill, though.

If you want the least hilly route west from Rosslyn, I would suggest cutting off the trail at Veitch, taking that to Wilson, then Fairfax to the Ballston-Custis connector. At least that’s the smoothest I can think of.

Liz

[adamx]

1. pick up an arlington county bike map. sure to get one at Rosslyn Pit Stop on Bike to Work Day.
2. West Falls Church to Rosslyn road options off of Custis are all hilly and have marked bike lanes or are designated bike routes.
an option: west to williamsburg to old glebe to military road. then up to custis or up kirkwood to 13th, jackson and key to courthouse.
an option: westmoreland to 28th to 27th to lexington to 16th to 15th to quincy to 13th cross kirkwood.
an option: intersection of Lee and W&OD to washington all the way in

[consularrider]

@KLizotte 16783 wrote:

Are the hills easier than taking the Custis (heading west)?

The basic answer is no. Riding west through Arlington you have to climb the hill sometime. The hill on Key Blvd from Nash St has about the same elevation gain as the climb on the Custis to N Scott, but is steeper. Then you go downhill to Quinn and climb part of it again! When you cross Kirkwood on 13th, you have a climb up to Lincoln. Then on 15th you have a climb from Stafford to Utah. And before you get to Westover, you climb on 16th next to Virginia Hospital Center from edison to Greenbrier.

The least climbing route through Arlington heading west is taking the Mt Vernon Trail to the 4 Mile Run/W&OD trail combinations. Longer, but the 300 foot gain from the river to East Falls Church is at less than a 1% grade. My time from Rosslyn to home is about 25 minutes taking the Custis (5 miles) v. 55 minutes with the MVT/4MRT/W&OD combination (12 miles)

[sjclaeys]

@JeffC 15660 wrote:

I always take the Custis in the morning, it’s never much of a problem then. There is a big upsurge in walkers once daylight savings time starts in a few days which also usually coincides with warmer temps. The alternate way to Falls Church is really useful in those nicer temp days, especially Tuesday through Friday. Monday for whatever reason is not so bad.

Hmm, the route I took never required me to go down Wilson, perhaps you live farther south. I live about 1.5 miles from EFC Metro and took the route I indicated in an earlier email, basically Veitch, Key, 13th, Quincy, 15th, 16th and then behind Westover I take Lexington to 22nd to Sycamore to get to EFC and then take some side routes to get on to Hillwood.

I found this to be a great route. Even though I still need to take the MVT to get from the 14th Street bridge to Rosslyn, knowing that I will soon leave the madness makes it much more bearable. Thanks for sharing.

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