Do not ride the CX course at Gravelly Point for a while

[Raymo853]

This posting is from Jack Cheng an admin of the DC & NoVA Cyclocross Practice Group. It is about the CX course at Gravelly Point near Reagan National and 14th Street Bridge.

Hey everyone – please read this entire post.

We’re going to be temporarily pausing coordinated rides and practices at Gravelly. NPS is conducting a review of all the rules, regulations, community needs, etc. and some of us in the community will be meeting with them in 2 weeks for what should be a very constructive discussion.

Please spread the word. They fully understand that we’re not a coherent organization in any sense that can keep people from riding there, but the fewer people out there in the next 2 weeks the better.

I do not think we need to be worried about long term prospects. NPS is looking to learn about cyclocross and why we have been using Gravelly in particular. I think this is a great opportunity to show the park service who we are, what our needs are, and what we do to add to community (I’m thinking of things like Jason Berry’s spontaneous litter clean up).

We won’t be able to have everyone in the community at the meeting, but if one of you talented individuals out there has the skills and capacity to help pull together something we can show at the meeting as evidence of the significance of cross to your lives, that would be very helpful.

Topic

[Bruno Moore]

Duly noted. In the meantime, I know there’s that Anacostia course you’ve been working on, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to make one work out near Colmor Manor…

[Raymo853]

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10696502. This is the Analcostia River Park course I am trying to start.

[DaveK]

@Raymo853 126432 wrote:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/10696502. This is the Analcostia River Park course I am trying to start.

Phrasing. Boom!

Anyway, you’re going to run into the same issues here as with GWMP. They are both National Parks and any activity that appears organized will invite scrutiny and they’ll want to evaluate the impact on the facility.

[Raymo853]

@DaveK 126461 wrote:

Phrasing. Boom!

Anyway, you’re going to run into the same issues here as with GWMP. They are both National Parks and any activity that appears organized will invite scrutiny and they’ll want to evaluate the impact on the facility.

I do not know all of the reasons the Gravelly CX course fell ill of the NPS, but it was just not trail impact. Two non physical impact things help lead to the closure; being too close to the road and too close to the bike path. I saw many drivers flinch as CX riders came railing around the course looking for all intents to pop or crash into their travel lane. Then having the CX riders go less than one meter away from a heavily trafficked bike path at race speed was a bad idea and unsafe.

[ursus]

Just curious. Where exactly is the Gravelly Point CX course relative to other GP landmarks (e.g. the Port-a-Johns, the boat ramp, etc.)? When riding on the MVT in that area, I am probably paying more attention to other hazards.

[Tim Kelley]

@ursus 126501 wrote:

Just curious. Where exactly is the Gravelly Point CX course relative to other GP landmarks (e.g. the Port-a-Johns, the boat ramp, etc.)? When riding on the MVT in that area, I am probably paying more attention to other hazards.

Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/5611424

[Tim Kelley]

@ursus 126501 wrote:

Just curious. Where exactly is the Gravelly Point CX course relative to other GP landmarks (e.g. the Port-a-Johns, the boat ramp, etc.)? When riding on the MVT in that area, I am probably paying more attention to other hazards.

Link: https://www.strava.com/segments/5611424

[americancyclo]

@ursus 126501 wrote:

Just curious. Where exactly is the Gravelly Point CX course relative to other GP landmarks (e.g. the Port-a-Johns, the boat ramp, etc.)? When riding on the MVT in that area, I am probably paying more attention to other hazards.

https://www.strava.com/segments/5611424

[Tim Kelley]

ha!

[Raymo853]

Interesting to see how fewer riders are Strava-ing the course this year compared to last year.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9865[/ATTACH]

[Raymo853]

Actually this may be more insightful. I forgot the course changed this fall and the segment above is not the most often ridden. This short segment around the trees away from the bike path is probably the most commonly ridden and Strava-ed. It shows an increase and not a decrease over last year.
https://www.strava.com/segments/8268351

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9866[/ATTACH]

[hozn]

Yeah, from the increasing social media cz frenzy I would have expected a significant increase.

The route probably should be adjusted to stay further from the road. A car honked/started braking [on their exit ramp] when I hit that section. I guess they thought I was going to ride into the road.

I think it is a little funny how contrived CX is. I shall start a cycling genre that entails riding predominantly on wood chips; I will call it WC. It will require a new bike, of course. People everywhere will be hitting up the local playgrounds and office landscaping for their before- or after-work WC practice.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 126562 wrote:

Yeah, from the increasing social media cz frenzy I would have expected a significant increase.

The route probably should be adjusted to stay further from the road. A car honked/started braking [on their exit ramp] when I hit that section. I guess they thought I was going to ride into the road.

I think it is a little funny how contrived CX is. I shall start a cycling genre that entails riding predominantly on wood chips; I will call it WC. It will require a new bike, of course. People everywhere will be hitting up the local playgrounds and office landscaping for their before- or after-work WC practice.

Somebody turned running around aimlessly into parkour, so your idea has merit.

[PotomacCyclist]

But if they never invented parkour/free running, we wouldn’t have stuff like this:

[The video clip contains some action-movie violence and a lot of freerunning/parkour.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZxNbAwY_rk

[From “Casino Royale,” featuring Daniel Craig and Sébastien Foucan, the founder of freerunning and one of the founders of parkour. Some of these types of moves were seen in action/martial arts movies previously but not as an entire physical discipline.]

[Judd]

@hozn 126562 wrote:

Yeah, from the increasing social media cz frenzy I would have expected a significant increase.

The route probably should be adjusted to stay further from the road. A car honked/started braking [on their exit ramp] when I hit that section. I guess they thought I was going to ride into the road.

I think it is a little funny how contrived CX is. I shall start a cycling genre that entails riding predominantly on wood chips; I will call it WC. It will require a new bike, of course. People everywhere will be hitting up the local playgrounds and office landscaping for their before- or after-work WC practice.

I’m selling some sweet Lumberjack Brand Splinterless tubes. All the WC pros are using them.

[Author]

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