January 2015 Trail Conditions

[Subby]

Lee Highway from EFC to the Key Bridge is so so so great on slicks. And when I say great, I mean wet and cold and occasionally terrifying!

[dasgeh]

My neighborhood was 100% ice free on sidewalks and roads that had been cleared, and the precipitation coming down was definitely rain. I thought I’d have smooth sailing, and was planning to brave the TR Bridge.

Well, the Custis was smooth sailing, but luckily I took it super slowly on the MVT/TR parking lot connection after the IoD — the asphalt part was fine, but the bridge was slush, turning to a sheet of ice on the curvy, downhill part. I stopped at the top and could barely get traction to turn the bike around. There were remnants of a pedal right there, so I assume someone discovered the ice the hard way.

After successfully turning, it was smooth sailing on my Fort Myer Drive -> Iwo Jima -> 110 Trail -> Memorial Bridge snow/ice work around. Even the sidewalks past Lincoln were clear.

I worry a lot about tomorrow. The Custis had puddles in all the usual places: after the Lee Hwy bridge, in the divets of the moguls. With rain continuing tonight, then freezing temps over night, I don’t see any hope for anything but ice-puddles tomorrow. I may switch to my road-only commute tomorrow (Arlington streets –> 2nd Street South –> Fort Myer –> ANC –> Memorial Bridge).

[hozn]

Yeah, I wonder if I need to put the studs back on for tomorrow AM W&OD commute …

[Phatboing]

Oh my, I hadn’t even thought of tomorrow. The WOD’s going to be a skating rink going west. Wheeeeeeeeeee

[dkel]

I’m starting to be glad I left my studs on. Won’t the rain do away with the snowy bits of the W&OD between Gallows and Park?

[Powerful Pete]

Just to confirm what Dasgeh said, the curvy bits on the bike path coming down from IoD were very treacherous (no pedal there when I passed, but sounds like we were there more or less in the same time frame).

Trollheim is now completely passable – there is still a bit of ice and slush but there are good clear bits.

Hains Point is also fine, if a bit wet… :rolleyes:

14th Street Bridge is also 100% A-ok. Nothing much else to report beyond the Metro PD Escape parked squarely in the middle of the 15th street cyclepath, forcing me to ride into incoming traffic to get by. The representative of Washington DC’s finest just stared at me. 😡

[Steve O]

@dasgeh 104983 wrote:

I worry a lot about tomorrow. The Custis had puddles in all the usual places: after the Lee Hwy bridge, in the divets of the moguls. With rain continuing tonight, then freezing temps over night, I don’t see any hope for anything but ice-puddles tomorrow. I may switch to my road-only commute tomorrow (Arlington streets –> 2nd Street South –> Fort Myer –> ANC –> Memorial Bridge).

This is all going to be playing by ear. Latest hourly shows rain stopping about midnight with temps still above freezing. Supposed to drop below freezing about 5am. So it all depends how much drying out occurs after the rain stops and before the water freezes.
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[sethpo]

The sidewalks and residential streets were very slick earlier but since I waited until 10am (thanks MoCo schools!) it had melted and was fine. The CCT was mostly clear with a few slushy spots. Very few didn’t have a clear path and only a handful of those felt like there was still ice under the slush. So, overall it was fine albeit about 10 min slower than normal out of an abundance of caution.

I’m worried about tomorrow as well…

This was pretty typical on the CCT.

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[Arlingtonrider]

Could the first people in tomorrow morning please post early reports? It sounds like it could be either very bad or just fine.

[Dickie]

Left Rosslyn at 6:30am on 700 x 32 knobs, no stubs. Headed west on Wilson to Fairfax Dr and then the Custis connector. All good… well salted. The Custis to the WOD had a few slick spots, but nothing worrisome. The WOD was fine, Brandymore was a little slick. The WOD through Banneker part was pretty bad, lots of slick spots and black ice… nearly went down. I bailed and took Sycamore street to 16th and stuck to streets until hitting the WOD at citizens bridge. From there to Gallows the WOD is decent, some black ice and slick spots…. citizens bridge was slick as well. Gallows is salted and fine. My ambient temp was 33º but this was dropping so conditions might actually worsen into the morning.

[rolo]

@Arlingtonrider 105034 wrote:

Could the first people in tomorrow morning please post early reports? It sounds like it could be either very bad or just fine.

The W&OD from Sterling Road to Buckthorn Lane were very doable with slicks this morning. There were a few small patches of ice that required me to slow from my already slower-than-usual pace, but overall it wasn’t bad. When I left Sterling this morning, it was 35°. It’s now 32° in Reston and I suspect it will continue to drop as the day progresses. There were a few wet puddles that will turn to ice if the wind doesn’t dry them up soon.

[dbb]

Crystal City Connector clear to the MVT

A bit of ice remains on the northern MVT bridge at DCA but clear lines were abundant

Portions of the MVT to 14th Street were actually dry!

Ice/slush just north of the upstream span of the 14th Street Bridges (about 20 feet)

Bridge clear

Into the District, the only issue was a Park Police cruiser parked in the crosswalk at the northern entrance to the Jefferson. Had a brief but unsatisfying conversation with the officer who seemed unconcerned.

[hozn]

Similar to rolo’s experience, W&OD from Arl to Reston was fine on slicks.

[americancyclo]

Just wanted to add that although there is little ice, most of it is harder to see, at least it was before dawn. Be cautious if you know there was ice on the ground in the past few days. It may have melted enough to turn to black ice.

[vern]

@hozn 105157 wrote:

Similar to rolo’s experience, W&OD from Arl to Reston was fine on slicks.

Ditto that. The only place I saw meaningful ice was on the east side of the Carlin Springs underpass, where there was a fair amount of ice down to the 2nd wooden bridge. Otherwise, WOD was clear from Reston to the end of the line in Shirlington.

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