I Heart Alexandria Loop – Group Ride Thursday, July 13

[bobco85]

Hey all, on Thursday, July 13, I’m going to lead a heart-shaped ride around Alexandria. The route is my attempt at creating a loop that answers the following question: Where can I ride my bike to get a tour of Alexandria?

There already exists an Arlington Loop (which has been widely successful), so let’s have one for the city of Alexandria!

Ride details:

• Location – Port City Brewing Company – 3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria, VA
• Date/Time – Thursday, July 13, at 6:00 p.m. – wheels rolling at 6:05 p.m.
• Route – https://www.strava.com/routes/8545058 & http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/1659150830
• Ride length: 20 miles, likely 1.5-2 hours to complete
• Fitness/experience – some hills, comfortable with on-street riding at moderate pace
• All riders should have a front white light and rear red light on their bicycles
• Post-ride thirst to be quenched at Port City

This ride will show off many of Alexandria’s fine biking facilities including: Holmes Run Trail, Eisenhower Ave Trail, Wilkes Street Bikeway, Royal Street bike route, Jones Point Park bicycle-training grounds, Mount Vernon Trail, Potomac Yard Trail, Four Mile Run Park Trail, Van Dorn St buffered bike lanes, Seminary Rd pedestrian bridge, and more.

I hope to ride with y’all soon!

Topic

[Nadine]

Aaaah perfect, a late but still light ride while my husband’s outta town.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[bentbike33]

@bobco85 162438 wrote:

This ride will show off many of Alexandria’s fine biking facilities including: Holmes Run Trail, Eisenhower Ave Trail, Wilkes Street Bikeway, Royal Street bike route, Jones Point Park bicycle-training grounds, Mount Vernon Trail, Potomac Yard Trail, Four Mile Run Park Trail, Van Dorn St buffered bike lanes, Seminary Rd pedestrian bridge, and more.

But not the Wayne F. Anderson Bikeway?!?

[bobco85]

Thursday is expected to be really hot and humid, so make sure you bring extra water. The refreshments at the end will also help (it is Port City Brewery, after all) 😎

Also, I’m adding a few blocks onto the route so that I can show folks something I think is really cool, but I won’t spoil it!

@bentbike33 162540 wrote:

But not the Wayne F. Anderson Bikeway?!?

My apologies! We will ride for about a quarter of a mile on the WFAB.

[streetsmarts]

Hi Bobco,
I can’t make the ride, but might use some cold refreshment. If so, I’d meet you all at Port City about 8 or so.

Question: I’ve never ridden over there; Google maps says to take Duke or Eisenhower (I’m coming from near West St. & Braddock Rd.) Anyone have a suggestion?

[bobco85]

@streetsmarts 162766 wrote:

Hi Bobco,
I can’t make the ride, but might use some cold refreshment. If so, I’d meet you all at Port City about 8 or so.

Awesome! We should finish the ride before 8, so we’ll see you inside!

@streetsmarts 162766 wrote:

Question: I’ve never ridden over there; Google maps says to take Duke or Eisenhower (I’m coming from near West St. & Braddock Rd.) Anyone have a suggestion?

Since I’d like to see you alive, don’t use Duke St! I recommend this route (starts from Braddock Rd Metro): https://goo.gl/maps/EpRMUT9kAom I sometimes ride that route as part of larger loops going through the area, and that portion of Mill Rd is pretty okay for riding.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

@streetsmarts 162766 wrote:

Hi Bobco,
I can’t make the ride, but might use some cold refreshment. If so, I’d meet you all at Port City about 8 or so.

Question: I’ve never ridden over there; Google maps says to take Duke or Eisenhower (I’m coming from near West St. & Braddock Rd.) Anyone have a suggestion?

1. Duke Street out there sucks.

2. If you go down to the Eisenhower trail to the Holmes run trail there is a park (Tarleton) with a short gravel trail that wiggles through basically to near the far end of Wheeler ave, which the brewery is on. You might not exactly feel safe there unaccompanied at night though.

[reji]

Looking forward to the ride, Bob! Nadine and I are convoying down, leaving the WOD/Custis junction at 5:15 in case anyone else wants to join us.

[komorebi]

I’m in the same boat as streetsmarts — I can’t join for the ride, but I’ll try to get to Port City by 8 or so to enjoy some liquid refreshment.

[Judd]

I’m at work until 5:30, but I’m gonna see if I can swing by the afterparty.

[bobco85]

Thanks to everyone who came, and special thanks to komorebi and Elaine who came to Port City Brewery even though they didn’t go on the ride!

My 1.5-2 hour estimate proved to be way under as we got distracted and delayed by many extra stops along the way (mimosa trees along Eisenhower Ave Trail, boundary stone along Wilkes St, Wilkes St Tunnel fun, East Coast Greenway midpoint, Wayne F. Anderson Bikeway signs, Seminary Rd bridge ice swap, my special detour of tiny bridges on Russell Rd, and probably more). The ride ended up taking about 2 hours 45 minutes in total (we also started late), and we didn’t get back to Port City until 9 p.m., just after they had shut off their taps, but not before we could buy some of their bottles. This was followed by some, ahem, not-so-legal drinking of said beers in an abandoned parking lot across the street (we couldn’t drink on the Port City Brewery premises after they had closed) involving hiding said bottles when a cop passed by (we’re true scofflaws).

Here are the pics I took (Nadine and reji have many more):

(left) Gotta do the ride before enjoying their beer! (right) Port City Brewing Company
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(left) at the start of the ride; (right) exchanging ice on the Seminary Rd pedestrian bridge
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(left) Sunset approaching; (right) My special detour to show the cool handmade bridges (more have appeared since my last visit)
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(left) Got back to Port City after they shut off their taps, so we bought some of their beer and drank in a parking lot; (right) You will notice there are no pictures of me partaking in the illegal activity of drinking in public
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[reji]

Thanks again Bob for an awesome tour!

[Author]

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