HELP! Moving to town: avid commuter (365, rain, sleet or snow)… where to live?

[thecyclingeconomist]

I am a husband and father of 1 (God willing, maybe #2 in the future.) We are moving from a fairly rural community on the west coast.

Destination for work: I will be working in an office at 11th and K street.

I am willing to ride at least 5 miles each way but would like to keep it under 10 each way, AS LONG AS the route is safe, and hopefully on a class 1 (separate from cars) for most of the way. I’d like to remain parallel to a metro route if possible, due to the lack of experience riding in snow/icy conditions (when the weather negates cycling: I don’t want to have to drive in). I see that the orange and blue lines have a stop very close to my future office.

My total budget for rent+utilities is $2500+/- per month. We want a 3 bedroom, 1 parking spot, and hopefully a garage (we have a LOT of bicycles to house: currently the flock includes 11 bicycles between my wife and I.)

I deeply appreciate any help you might lend/advice you can give. I have commuted in a highly urban setting in the past, but again, would like to remain on paths if possible.

We are moving into the D.C. area the first week of June.

Thank you!

Topic

[GuyContinental]

I may get flamed for this but since you have a kid- I’d say 100% Arlington schools vs Alexandria schools.

The Alexandria location is closer to cool areas (old town) and the Mt Vernon trail. The glebe (120) area will have a bit of a urban street trek to the Custis trail but fantastic schools and a quick drive/ride to the urban restaurants of Clarendon (Wilson and highland area).

[thecyclingeconomist]

Hey Continental:

We have a 2.5 year old, so the school thing isn’t much of an issue for at least another couple years (in which time we’ll probably end up getting to know the area/purchase). I’m more into knowing the resources close by and how the commute will be up through Alexandria and then out the 4-mile-run trail onto the MVT.

Here’s my commuter as I plan to ride it (or at least very close to how it will be setup):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]910[/ATTACH]

Thank you!

[GuyContinental]

Frankly, the areas are pretty similar- from the Alexandria area you have Shirlington nearby with restaurants, library, movies, etc (closer than old town) which connects to the 4 mile run trail. Depending on where you are you can get to the trail through the neighborhoods and connect at Mt Vernon ave (be prepared from some climbing). On the Arlington side it’s a straight shot down lee hwy (29) to the Custis where it crosses I-66. Lots of folks do that ride daily so cars are “almost” civil for a major road. I’m biased because I live right near there but I love the area- lots of access to DC and I66 for points west and generally less traffic (but it’s bad everywhere here) than the Alexandria corridor.

[DaveK]

“The 29″… can tell you’re from Cali, no one talks like that here. The feedback you’ve already gotten is good but I have an unrelated question – how do you like that Novara 29er? My buddy is planning on buying one with his dividend/20% coupon this year.

[americancyclo]

Since you’re going to 11th and K, the Alexandria location will be about a 10 mile commute vs the Arlington location which is a 7 mile commute. I quickly plugged both start points in to ridewithgps.com and they are both downhill to DC, it’s just that you’ll have about a 200 ft climb to get back to Alexandria whereas the climb to Arlington is about 400 ft.

There are more big box stores just west of the Alexandria location near Bailey’s Crossroads (as well as an REI) but I loathe driving through that area, pretty cyclist unfriendly. To the east though, you have old town and Del Ray, both cool places to hang out. Old town has a bunch of cobbled streets, so be aware of that.

As to the Arlington location, your best best for food/drink commercial areas are going to be the Wilson/Clarendon Blvd streets between the Rosslyn and Ballston Metro stations.

[dasgeh]

I don’t know anything about the Alexandria location, but we’re moving to Cherrydale next month, which is just a few blocks east of your ARL location (btw – it’s “Lee Hwy” and “Glebe” around here). I agree that the R-B corridor (Rosslyn-Ballston; basically, the streets above the Metro line) is the “coolest” place to hang out, there are lots of great little retail options along Lee Hwy. We LOVE the Lee Heights shopping center — it has the Kiwi Cafe, Arrowine (yummy wines, beers, cheeses and cured meats), the toy store, even a Starbucks (though why you’d go there over the Kiwi Cafe is beyond me). Metro 29 is a delicious diner. Pasha and Portabellos (over in Cherrydale) are AWESOME. The guys who own Liberty Tavern, Lyon Hall and Northside Social (all in Clarendon — if you move to Arlington, you will get to know and love these) bought the Alpine at Lee and Glebe — I can’t wait for that to open. AND HOW COULD I FORGET HEIDELBERG BAKERY (Culpepper & Lee)? BEST BAKERY EVER.

The Lee Hwy stuff is more strip-mall-y and less attractive (and bike friendly) than the village-y atmosphere of Clarendon or Shirlington, or the colonial-coolness of Old Town. Still, it has its merits.

Oh, and with a kid, there are lots of little parks near Lee and Glebe, and you won’t be far from Chestnut Hills Park (on Harrison St) which is AWESOME. And we know lots of families with little kids (we have an 18 month old) both in Cherrydale and in the neighborhood near the hospital (which I think is Brandywine). And there are some really great holiday lights around there.

Ok, now I’m just throwing things at the wall. I’m an Arlingtonian and love it.

[GuyContinental]

@dasgeh 17950 wrote:

Ok, now I’m just throwing things at the wall. I’m an Arlingtonian and love it.

He did post on Bike “Arlington” after all- I think that we are supposed to be biased In this case, we are right though…

[elcee]

@dasgeh 17950 wrote:

AND HOW COULD I FORGET HEIDELBERG BAKERY (Culpepper & Lee)? BEST BAKERY EVER.

Very off-topic, but I have to plug Natalia’s Elegant Creations in Falls Church. Their cannolis, made with very fresh cream, are simply divine.

http://g.co/maps/z849u

And it’s just a few blocks from the W&OD!

[americancyclo]

@elcee 17967 wrote:

Very off-topic, but I have to plug Natalia’s Elegant Creations in Falls Church. Their cannolis, made with very fresh cream, are simply divine.

http://g.co/maps/z849u

And it’s just a few blocks from the W&OD!

and they do high tea on Sundays.

[consularrider]

Disclaimer, as an Arlington resident, I am prejudiced in favor of my county over Alexandria (except for maybe the DelRay area). Just some random thoughts on your two proposed locations:

The Brandywine location in Arlington – By car one drawback is that you have to exit onto Glebe Rd (route 120) and that can be problematic during heavy traffic. By bike you could go out through Slater Park to N Culpepper St, which becomes Abingdon St and ride down to the Custis Trail and then have several different options to get to 11th and K. You can easily be car-free for your commute from that location since you have good bus connections on Lee Highway down to Rosslyn or down Glebe to Ballston to catch the Orange Line Metro if you are not inclined to bike the 7.3 miles on any given day. You are also well located for most services and shopping needs that others have mentioned.

The Bradlee location in Alexandria – this is across from the Fairlington neighborhood in Arlington and just up the hill from Shirlington with its variety of restaurants. This is about a 9.1 mile one way commute. It may not be quite as well located from a public transit point of view. There are a couple close bus routes that go to the Pentagon Transit Center where you can catch the Yellow Line to Mt Vernon Square. There is a great pastry shop in the Bradlee Shopping Center that I think is better than the Heidelberg Bakery on Lee Highway. Across King St on Quaker Lane are several small shops (including an LBS) and a few restaurants.

Your commuter bike setup looks a lot like my Giant Transend commuter, except I have a rigid front fork. You should fit right in.

[dasgeh]

Oh, right, bus connections. Look into the 3Y. It doesn’t run often, and only during rush hour, but it runs down Lee Hwy (I think from Lee Heights) to DC (I think Farragut Square). So it’s a few blocks away from you on either end, but otherwise a straight shot, and a good non-bike option.

[thecyclingeconomist]

@DaveK 17931 wrote:

“The 29″… can tell you’re from Cali, no one talks like that here. The feedback you’ve already gotten is good but I have an unrelated question – how do you like that Novara 29er? My buddy is planning on buying one with his dividend/20% coupon this year.

Sorry for my very late reply, as the 20% coupon already ended. However, I was one of the 8 reviewers on the actual REI website for the 2012 Ponderosa 29er. I do love this bike. I have it pretty frankenstein’d, as I have Schwalbe Big Apple 2.35″ slicks on it and a rack. I even have clip-on aero bars on it so that I can emulate my road bike position when I am on my commute. The remote lock-out on the front fork is awesome. The stock saddle sucked. The rear derailleur was also a bad one in my opinion (I swapped it out for an XT.) I swapped the cranks out to 170mm for my knee. If he’s gonna use it for commuting, its awesome. For single-track, excellent. For anything with hits over 3 feet, I’d recommend a soft-tail. Here’s a couple better looks at it: http://s776.photobucket.com/albums/yy49/TheCyclingEconomist/Absurd%20Commuter/?albumview=slideshow

Again, thank you to everyone for the information. We’ll definitely be checking out the food scene in Falls Church (my wife is Italian, so a legit cannoli is worth a check.)

Insofar as the “Arlington Bias”… it’s all good. But, I got a better deal on the Alexandria property, and the open greenspace that connects to our fenced yard is pretty awesome for the little one. I also look forward to riding up the Potomac as my commute rather than Custis (I’ve now ridden both.)

Here’s a link to my first ride in the D.C. area: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqqOU-oWtOc

Compared to California, everything is so close. I have to drive 48 miles to get to a Trader Joes from where I currently live.

Here’s where I ended up: 3751 Keller Ave. in Alexandria off of Kings St. just southeast of the 395. So, I’ll have an urban commute up the 4-mile-run Trail, then over and up the MVT.

I spent a week, and finally took a day off to rent/ride the area properly (as seen in the video).

See you all out there on the trails! You’ve seen my “Absurd Commuter” as I call it… and on the road… I ride a carbon Giant TCR: http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy49/TheCyclingEconomist/Bicycles/NewBikeFullyBuilt.jpg

[KelOnWheels]

Hey, we’ll be neighbors then! Once I get a working bike I can wobble along slowly in your dust as we commute

[Brendan von Buckingham]

I’m on pins and needles. Where’d you end up?

[americancyclo]

@thecyclingeconomist 18701 wrote:

in Alexandria off of Kings St. just southeast of the 395. So, I’ll have an urban commute up the 4-mile-run Trail, then over and up the MVT.

Glad you found a place you like! This is a great area to ride in, welcome!

[Author]

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