January 2020

[Arlingtonrider]

14th Street Bridge – there’s some glass on the Virginia side of the bridge just before the ramp down to the MVT. I tried to brush some aside but there’s still enough to watch out for.

[CBGanimal]

@Arlingtonrider 196010 wrote:

14th Street Bridge – there’s some glass on the Virginia side of the bridge just before the ramp down to the MVT. I tried to brush some aside but there’s still enough to watch out for.

Thank you!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DrP]

While not heavy snow, by 6:30pm there were pockets of snow and slush on roads and trails. I was on roads in Lyon Park and Clarendon to Ballston, and then the Custis trail. The roads and bits, especially on the bike lanes and Custis has sections of snow, sections of slush and just wet areas. The temperatures may get below freezing tonight, so I half-fear the the Custis will be unpleasant in the morning. Crunchy snow I can handle. Ruts are passable. Icy areas, where puddles were, will be less fun. Are other trails any better? In Arlington, it might get just below freezing, so maybe it won’t be too bad, but sunrise is so late that I expect issues in the morning – especially on the hilly Custis. Maybe it is a W&OD morning?

[Sunyata]

@DrP 196132 wrote:

While not heavy snow, by 6:30pm there were pockets of snow and slush on roads and trails. I was on roads in Lyon Park and Clarendon to Ballston, and then the Custis trail. The roads and bits, especially on the bike lanes and Custis has sections of snow, sections of slush and just wet areas. The temperatures may get below freezing tonight, so I half-fear the the Custis will be unpleasant in the morning. Crunchy snow I can handle. Ruts are passable. Icy areas, where puddles were, will be less fun. Are other trails any better? In Arlington, it might get just below freezing, so maybe it won’t be too bad, but sunrise is so late that I expect issues in the morning – especially on the hilly Custis. Maybe it is a W&OD morning?

Wednesdays are my run to work day, and I bailed at EFC metro because of the ice on the roads, sidewalks, and trails. Granted, it was about 6AM and below freezing. Things might be better now that the sun is coming up.

[DrP]

I chose to take the W&OD in rather than Custis for the fewer and less steep hills.
The bit of Custis I was on to get to the W&OD was crunchy with some clear spots and some slick spots. The pedestrian bridge over I-66 (part of the detour) was very rutty and slick in a few spots.
I went through Bon Air and aside from frozen run-off in a couple of spots, it was good.
W&OD from Wilson to Columbia Pike was very crunchy until the last wooden bridge, then it was pretty clear – and all the way to the end in Shirlington.
I was shockingly surprised that 4MRT south of Shirlington was mostly wet in the underpasses – I feared those would be icy since there was no treatment, but it looked like that part of Arlington had a lot less snow then the more northern areas.
Meade-28th-Army-Navy was all good.
[The only problem I had was turning into the parking garage when my back tire started to come out from under me, but didn’t in the end].

I expect all to be defrosted later today and possibly dry with all that wind expected.

[arlcxrider]

A few icy spots on my neighborhood streets at 8:30, but otherwise good. And the usual frozen run-off on the Ft. Myer / Rt. 50 trail.

[dasgeh]

Thanks for starting the thread. Can the powers that be change the title to “January 2020 Road and Trail Conditions” for posterity?

Thanks!

[TwoWheelsDC]

W&OD east of Banneker is totally fine, just a few things to watch out for:

-the drainage areas on the western side of the Carlin Springs underpass (to include the ever-present puddle) will be frozen solid Thursday AM

-there will be some ice in the Wilson underpass, but it’s mostly narrow streams of runoff;

-the bends by the Banneker basketball court, and particularly the detour to Roosevelt/Sycamore, were icy AF even at 8pm tonight, so they will be even worse tomorrow

-several of the bridges through Glencarlyn are snow-encrusted, but not particularly slick

[Sunyata]

Roads/Trails from EFC to Courthouse this morning were fine with a couple of small exceptions. A bit of sheet ice at the intersection of the W&OD and Custis near Bluemont, I did not have to slow down or change trajectory to make turn onto the Custis. Another bit of ice at the intersection of 15th and Quincy, I actually had to slow down to turn cautiously into the bike lane for that one.

[Hancockbs]

On the ART, EBT was mostly clear, with a few easily avoided frozen puddles this morning. I suspect most of them will be gone tomorrow. The WBT was another story. There are several massive ice flows that covered the entire trail. Interestingly, trying to go around them in the grass/dirt did not work well because the ground was not frozen and my tires sunk in. due to the size of these and the wet ground surrounding them, I suspect they will be back in play tomorrow morning.

[Smitty2k1]

The last few miles of the Northwest Branch Trail, right before it changes to a hiker/horse trail only, are a disaster. The pavement is heaving from roots and the channels that let water cross the path were designed by a 5 year old. No wonder I was the only one on that section of the trail with the beautiful weather we had this weekend.

(Yes I crashed and I’m very salty about it)

[bentbike33]

There was a bucket truck blocking the Washington Blvd. underpass on the Custis ~5:40pm Tuesday, 01/21. They were working on something between the bridge beams, and the truck completely blocked the trail, although 2 unencumbered roadies ahead of me managed to climb over one of the supports and get past the truck along the sound wall. I bailed and went around through the neighborhood. Hopefully all clear now.

[huskerdont]

@bentbike33 197298 wrote:

There was a bucket truck blocking the Washington Blvd. underpass on the Custis ~5:40pm Tuesday, 01/21. They were working on something between the bridge beams, and the truck completely blocked the trail, although 2 unencumbered roadies ahead of me managed to climb over one of the supports and get past the truck along the sound wall. I bailed and went around through the neighborhood. Hopefully all clear now.

Since you were like half a mile behind me on the leaderboard yesterday and will inevitably pass me today, surely that was a feature, not a bug.

A couple of guys in front of me dismounted to walk through, but I didn’t even enter the underpass but went around. This morning, there were two pieces of plastic or something (stands for a sign?) still in the trail on the approach.

[Sunyata]

@huskerdont 197307 wrote:

This morning, there were two pieces of plastic or something (stands for a sign?) still in the trail on the approach.

They appeared to be broken pieces of Styrofoam packing. My terrible night vision initially thought they were small plastic polar bears facing each other.

[DrP]

@huskerdont 197307 wrote:

Since you were like half a mile behind me on the leaderboard yesterday and will inevitably pass me today, surely that was a feature, not a bug.

There was a strong burnt something-repair-like (rather than, say, wood) odor as I rode through. Smelled like something was welded. I remembered the post about the work after I went through, so I wasn’t looking for anything.

[Author]

Posts