Custis Trail Conditions

[Dirt]

@Mark: The plowing at the east end of the Custis trail helped quite a bit. The good line to ride is the same, but scraping off the crusty snow all around made it so that the penalty for getting off line was much less. That plowing was done during the day today for sure. It wasn’t like that before 0700.

@SMS: I would beg to differ. If you have the right tires, conditions have been MUCH better since Sunday. Sunday was thawing and everything was slushy. That is really hard to ride in regardless of tires. Nothing works well in slush. Monday and Tuesday had the trails frozen pretty hard. This afternoon started softening up a bit, but it wasn’t bad at all to ride. I’m not saying it was lovely like a warm summer morning… it was just all ridable with good winter tires (read studded). Definitely took a lot more effort to achieve any kind of momentum. That’s what winter is fore.

Tomorrow night is going to SUCK! Rain all morning and temps in the high 40s. The areas in the shade are going to be very difficult to ride.

Happy riding, folks.

Pete

[brendan]

@Dirt 2269 wrote:

@Mark: The plowing at the east end of the Custis trail helped quite a bit. The good line to ride is the same, but scraping off the crusty snow all around made it so that the penalty for getting off line was much less. That plowing was done during the day today for sure. It wasn’t like that before 0700.

…

Tomorrow night is going to SUCK! Rain all morning and temps in the high 40s. The areas in the shade are going to be very difficult to ride.

I rode from clarendon to columbia heights and back last night and, not thinking straight, took my usual course where I hop onto custis near Veitch and take that down to the key bridge. I found alternating cleared and “ice-rink at a steep angle” sections. Yikes. The walled off sections were the worst (neither plowed nor sunlight melted), and it seemed some of the cleared portions had to have been cleared by shovels or other tech, not sunlight. In any case, even on Nokian studded tires, I took the iced downhill sections at a walking pace – didn’t want to end up sliding across an intersection against the light. I took surface roads back up from the bridge to clarendon on the way home.

So…glad to hear they did some trail plowing today.

Brendan

[Dirt]

This morning wasn’t as bad as I thought for most of the ride. The section east of Lyon Village to Lee Hwy was BRUTAL. There’s an inch or two of slush on top of ice. I rode across it, but it wasn’t pretty. It took all the power I’ve got to keep rolling. This evening is likely going to be WORSE!

[brendan]

Dirt – temperatures in the mid 50s this afternoon, perhaps some helpful melt will occur? Good luck!

[Dirt]

The melting is a good start. Trying to ride during the melt is difficult. Luckily I have shopping to do in Clarendon tonight, so I won’t hit the really bad parts of the trail until I get to the far side of Falls Church.

Happy riding, folks.

[Dirt]

Melt started to help, but there are many sections of trail that are still icy across the whole trail, with no passable line. There are large ice patches on the far side of turns with little warning. I was out late tonight and the temps are dropping fast. Everything is freezing up.

The 50 degree temps today might make you think that riding tomorrow will be safe and easy on the Custis or W&OD. It will not be. 60-70% of the trail is clear. That 30-40% is gonna be nasty as heck in the morning.

Love,

Pete

[Wiggly Amp]

Thanks Dirt – another invaluable post

[Dirt]

As expected, lots of clear trail but still quite a bit of serious ice and many sections that do not have a clear path through.

[consularrider]

The hill from milepost 3 to the Veitch St access trail is still a sheet of ice and I couldn’t get traction going up it, even with studded tires. The stretch from Lyon Village to milepost 3 has lots of ice, but there is a narrow, mostly clear track. Lots of other icy patches from around St Annes past the Washington Blvd underpass. Also the Fairfax Dr access has some bad ice.

[DaveK]

From rosslyn to Veitch st the trail is mostly dry and clear, with the exception of a couple of icy patches where you’ll have to get off and walk. They’re small though.

[pge]

Anyone have an update after the rain and warm weather this weekend? Is Custis now mostly clear for tomorrow morning’s commute, or still icy?

[MJR77]

@pge 2328 wrote:

Anyone have an update after the rain and warm weather this weekend? Is Custis now mostly clear for tomorrow morning’s commute, or still icy?

Custis was generally OK Sunday morning, and W&OD was good from the beginning out to Lee Hwy/EFC, then sketchy in sections thereafter. Hopefully the warm weather the remainder of yesterday brought additional melting.

[Author]

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