February 2015 Trail Conditions

[DismalScientist]

@Tom H 109350 wrote:

I’ve been taking Memorial (nice) and dealing with the MVT’s 8″ open track with occasional smooth ice and ruts for a slow ride between there and the immaculate TR lot. That’s on std 700×28 tires.

You are a candidate for the 110 trail between Memorial Bridge and Fort Meyer Drive on the south side of Rosslyn. That has to be faster than the untreated MVT.

[dasgeh]

@Ellen 109343 wrote:

I rode the TR bridge this morning with studded tires. I would not attempt it with regular tires. Most of the bridge and ramp is covered with frozen ruts. It was a real challenge and I am trying to decide if I am more afraid of the cars in G’town (and taking the Key Bridge back to Custis), or of going back over the TR bridge back home. I did feel like a real hero after I crossed the bridge. . . still trying to decide.

@Tom H 109350 wrote:

I’ve been taking Memorial (nice) and dealing with the MVT’s 8″ open track with occasional smooth ice and ruts for a slow ride between there and the immaculate TR lot. That’s on std 700×28 tires.

My normal commute is over the TR Bridge, but in the snow, I take the Memorial Bridge — > 110 Trail –> Marshall –> Meade, which becomes Lynn and takes you to the Intersection of Doom, as shown on this map.

[brendan]

@hozn 109348 wrote:

I don’t know what your normal pace is, but this sounds easily doable. The trail from Reston (maybe even Herndon?) all the way to Vienna will be 95+% pavement, so it won’t slow you down at all. Then Vienna to Falls Church is the slow part, but it’s not that slow, just chopped up; ride fast and it will end sooner. From EFC all the way into DC (AFAIK) you’ll be on beautiful plowed W&OD+Custis trail, so that’s a non-issue..

Thanks! Good to know. I’ll roll the dice on Reston to Herndon, I suppose I could surface-street it if it became awful (there were a few spots in that western segment that forced me off the trail proper for a bit a few weeks back).

The Big Dummy is heavy, but isn’t a fat bike (it’s just got a fat rider). It does currently have Nokian W240 26 x 1.95 studded tires installed. The rear end will be weighed down by bike supplies, bike tools (never know when you might need to tighten up a cassette, bottom bracket or crankset…), work clothing, ride-back clothing, extra lights, several work laptops and accessories. So, it’s a slog, but should be a steady one!

My normal home->work pace door to door is about 2:20, I think. It’s been over 3 hours once or twice when I bit off a bit more than I could chew in terms of ice on the W&OD.

Ok, depending on meeting schedule (and wrath of deity weather), I’ll plan to ride it tomorrow.

Brendan

[Mikey]

MVT from 14 th to humpback getting better. I was able to stay seated on slick 35s all the way to the marina parking lot on Columbia island, with some minor Flintstoning near the navy/USMC memorial. LBJ grove still required walking.

[NickBull]

14thSt -> Mt Vernon Trail -> Custis

Riding on Nokian Extreme studded tires. As others have noted, the west end of the 14th St bridge is a sheet of rutted ice. The guy who was ahead of me on gnarly cyclocross tires managed to traverse it with a bit of flintstoning but the guy a hundred yards behind me riding on narrow slicks went down. He was going slowly though and was already getting up as I watched so I didn’t turn back. After the humpback, the MtV was mostly singletrack bare pavement with 4″ high walls of snowy ice or icy snow, but in many places the singletrack was slightly-rutted ice and there was a 1/4 mile segment where it was so rutted that I could not ride it and had to go off-trail to where the snow was only three to five inches deep. I expected the wooden bridge to be bad but it was actually no problem. Someone passed me in the Roosevelt parking lot and it looked like he was just riding big 29-er MTB tires, not studded, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

It’s unclear whether staying on the Arlington side of the river is faster or slower than the DC side for my trip from the Custis to the fish market. The Arlington side is shorter, I think. The DC side has its own 1/4 mile segment by the volleyball courts that’s unrideable except by going off trail, but the rest is a mile of singletrack vs 2 miles on the Arlington side. But I like the more rural character of the Arlington side, plus I’ve ridden the DC side every day for a week, so I’ll probably ride the MtV again tomorrow.

Nick

[CaseyKane50]

I took a ride on the MVT from Jones Point Park to the Four Mile Run Trail around 10 am this morning. Although, there has been some melting, the trail is rutted and icy in many places, including on the north side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and behind the abandoned coal plant. In many stretches there is a narrow passage cleared to the asphalt, but there are patches of ice within the passage.

Here a few photos and a video of my ride.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7933[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]7934[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]7935[/ATTACH]

[video=youtube_share;jY2txUTZlRo]http://youtu.be/jY2txUTZlRo[/video]

[vern]

@hozn 109348 wrote:

I don’t know what your normal pace is, but this sounds easily doable. The trail from Reston (maybe even Herndon?) all the way to Vienna will be 95+% pavement, so it won’t slow you down at all. Then Vienna to Falls Church is the slow part, but it’s not that slow, just chopped up; ride fast and it will end sooner. From EFC all the way into DC (AFAIK) you’ll be on beautiful plowed W&OD+Custis trail, so that’s a non-issue..

Based on your description and with the warm-up/thaw tomorrow, I’m thinking I can ride the whole way home tomorrow evening on slicks, rather than bailing at EFC.

[dkel]

@vern 109368 wrote:

Based on your description and with the warm-up/thaw tomorrow, I’m thinking I can ride the whole way home tomorrow evening on slicks, rather than bailing at EFC.

Ha ha ha ha!

Oh. You were serious.

[PotomacCyclist]

Well, at least it’s supposed to be near 40F on Wed. but I don’t know how much melting will occur. The rest of the week will be cold.

Next week looks a little better, in the 40s but with some rain and maybe a little more snow. This weekend is supposed to be the start of meteorological spring (March 1). How about getting some spring weather here in Arlington, DC, Maryland and the rest of the area?

[hozn]

@vern 109368 wrote:

Based on your description and with the warm-up/thaw tomorrow, I’m thinking I can ride the whole way home tomorrow evening on slicks, rather than bailing at EFC.

Well, Vienna to EFC needed studs last I checked. I am leaving my studded tires on …. all week, I am guessing.

Edit: and I will revise my 95% clear west of Vienna to be more like 90% clear. Maybe 85. In my excitement that they had plowed at all, I guess I misremembered the sections in Reston itself and the few shady spots that are still all snow-covered ice stuff. Still very fast, though.

[Dickie]

I’ve been riding the WOD from Gallows to the Custis interchange this week and I can attest that the Fairfax and Falls Church sections are still bad unless you have studs, and even then it’s bone shaking with all the ruts. Got home last night to find that my rear wheel cracked at the rim seam…. perhaps taking the moguls at speed wasn’t the best idea

[kevinal]

Try weather.gov instead of weather.com. In my experience, the predictions are just as accurate (if not more so), and you don’t have to put up with the annoying ads (weather.gov being the mouthpiece for NOAA).

[Boomer Cycles]

I find the WOD between VA Lane (mile east to the Custis Trail at EFC to be too treacherous for my roadie with skinny tires, so I have been taking to the streets through Falls Church (VA Lane -> Shreve Rd -> Fairwood Ln -> Timber Ln -> S. Oak -> Lee -> Park -> Maple -> Columbia -> Van Buren -> the plowed and swept Custis Trail all the way to Key Bridge!

[slowtriguy]

West Street (Falls Church)->W&OD->Washington->Westmoreland->Van Buren->W&OD->Custis->15th->Quincy->Fairfax->Ballston was pretty straightforward this morning.

There was a narrow strip of bare pavement along most of the W&OD between West and Washington, except for three significant patches of bumpy ice: between Spring and Oak, just west of Little Falls, and just east of Little Falls. Smooth sailing east of Van Buren – just minor scattered patches of mostly smooth ice. The basketball court ice rink was 99% dry.

Rideable with care on 2.5″ semi-slicks.

[mstone]

@Dickie 109377 wrote:

I’ve been riding the WOD from Gallows to the Custis interchange this week and I can attest that the Fairfax and Falls Church sections are still bad unless you have studs, and even then it’s bone shaking with all the ruts. Got home last night to find that my rear wheel cracked at the rim seam…. perhaps taking the moguls at speed wasn’t the best idea

needs bigger tires!

[Author]

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