Kidical…

[chris_s]

Just throwing out an alternative. It loses the coolness of the community gardens, but is much flatter. Still starts at a playground (Alcova Heights Park) and still ends at the Columbia Pike Farmer’s Market. It’s kind of a tour of South Arlington playgrounds (including a brief jaunt down a dead end so as to get to Butler Holmes Park because it has the biggest, coolest climbing structure I’ve ever seen at a playground).

I could extend it to hit more playgrounds but it is already 3.4 miles.

Also it’d be shorter and pass one more playground if it came down Walter Reed Drive to the Farmer’s Market but I wasn’t sure how folks would feel about Walter Reed. It has a bike lane until around 9th Road, but getting over to the Farmer’s Market would be a little squirrely – probably do a pedestrian style left turn.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3168626

[dasgeh]

Chris, that’s a great alternative. And really funny, because I started with “let’s end at the CP Farmer’s Market” and had something similar to you’re route.

What about this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3169244 (slight changes from yours so 1) we don’t have to turn around in a culdesac and 2) we go past the back of that park on Walter Reed)

I agree that it’s best to get to the farmer’s market using the light at 11th.

[chris_s]

Riding THROUGH Butler Holmes park? What a remarkably obvious solution that seriously never occurred to me. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

I think that route is the bee’s knees. Patrick Henry playground isn’t really visible from Highland but whatever. With young kids riding their own bikes I’d rather play it safe and stay off Walter Reed as you have indicated.

[dasgeh]

Harvest Ride is planned: http://kidicalmassarl.blogspot.com/2013/09/harvest-ride-sunday-september-15-2013.html

I reconned the route Friday, and it should be great. The first hill is a little intimidating, but it looks much worse than it is. Otherwise, it’s really pretty flat.

Chris, after the recon, I don’t want to go through the park — there are sharp turns in the path in the park, and the real killer – there are no curb cuts where the path comes out of the park near the basketball courts.

ARLINGTON COUNTY PARK DESIGNERS — Why would you ever have a paved path come to a narrow sidewalk and not have a curb cut to get to the road? Seriously. (Of course, this isn’t as bad as Falls Church, where there’s a bike path that doesn’t have it’s own curb cut — and the nearest driveway is pretty far. Sigh).

Anyway, it should be a great ride. Who’s in?

[chris_s]

@dasgeh 63498 wrote:

Chris, after the recon, I don’t want to go through the park — there are sharp turns in the path in the park, and the real killer – there are no curb cuts where the path comes out of the park near the basketball courts.

I’ll see if I can get this fixed as part of our next NC project in the park (which should be coming up for final design shortly).

[dasgeh]

@chris_s 63519 wrote:

I’ll see if I can get this fixed as part of our next NC project in the park (which should be coming up for final design shortly).

If it works with the design, it actually would be better if the path came around the west side of the bball courts then met the road at a curb cut. When you get the east side of the courts, there’s a drop off from the trail that would be iffy for a kid on a bike. (Sharp turn + Drop off if you miss the turn = not fun)

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 63498 wrote:

Why would you ever have a paved path come to a narrow sidewalk and not have a curb cut to get to the road? Seriously. (Of course, this isn’t as bad as Falls Church, where there’s a bike path that doesn’t have it’s own curb cut — and the nearest driveway is pretty far.

Where is this?

[dasgeh]

@americancyclo 63523 wrote:

Where is this?

The first is on the 1st St S side of Butler Holmes Park in Arlington. The second is one end of one of the little trails on this ride: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3320666 (I don’t remember exactly where, but it might be the S Oak St of the trail along Tripps Run).

[jopamora]

Looks like yall will ride past the Mid Autumn Festival at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center.

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 63530 wrote:

The first is on the 1st St S side of Butler Holmes Park in Arlington. The second is one end of one of the little trails on this ride: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3320666 (I don’t remember exactly where, but it might be the S Oak St of the trail along Tripps Run).

Yeah, that’s where it is. That whole Falls Church City Bicycle Path is garbage though. I found a PDF online and added it to Open Street Maps, but it’s pretty useless, filled with tree roots and sometimes even dangerous (The connection between Cavalier Trails Park and E Fairfax Dr are pretty miserable and havily trafficed with no good place to stage a crossing)

[oldbikechick]

We are thinking about joining the harvest ride tomorrow, but wondered about whether or not my 7 year old daughter is experienced enough. She’s been riding without the training wheels since about mid-summer, but hasn’t really been riding on the street, but rather car-less boardwalks and bike paths. I thought a group ride might be a good way for her to learn, but haven’t been on one of these so don’t know quite what to expect. Appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

[dasgeh]

@oldbikechick 64194 wrote:

We are thinking about joining the harvest ride tomorrow, but wondered about whether or not my 7 year old daughter is experienced enough. She’s been riding without the training wheels since about mid-summer, but hasn’t really been riding on the street, but rather car-less boardwalks and bike paths. I thought a group ride might be a good way for her to learn, but haven’t been on one of these so don’t know quite what to expect. Appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

Sorry I didn’t see this on Saturday, but I’m so glad you guys came. My husband (who was the caboose and actually saw you guys riding) said your daughter did great! He meant to say something to you before he left, but got derailed dealing with fussy baby.

[dasgeh]

The Harvest Ride was Super Awesome! Huge thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Extra special thanks to ChrisS for the route, Dirt for the ride marshalling/videography/photography/general spirit-lifting, and Grant for excellent caboosing.

Which reminds me, everyone is welcome at these rides. They’re fun, and you get to discover new neighborhoods, and you get to watch kids discover the joys of cycling.

[chris_s]

It was great seeing everybody on Sunday! Thanks again to dasgeh for all of your hard work!

I say we should try to work a cul-de-sac into every ride – it was awesome getting to ride past everybody

[dasgeh]

And on to the next ride. For those not on our facebook page:

The Arlington Fun Ride (http://ow.ly/oOVtp) is a great, family-friendly ride that goes mostly on the famous “Arlington Loop” (about 17 miles). For those looking for a more leisurely morning of riding, there will be a Kidical Mass Arlington-organized Kids Ride. We’ll meet in Crystal City at 10am, and ride for about 3 miles.

The obvious choices would be:
A: The MVT Loop (something like this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3339066)
B: The Pentagon Reservation Loop (something like this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3339183)
C: The Neighborhood Loop (something like this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3339208)

The good news is that all of those are about 3 miles, and all are flat, by Arlington standards. All of those example routes could be reversed.

Questions for you guys:
A: Will we be doomed by that FMR trail demolition? We were thinking of doing that circle clockwise (on the MVT first) so we don’t clog the CC Connector trail as everyone else is coming back from the big Fun Ride.

B: Is Long Bridge Drive too much of a mess? Looking at google maps, there seem to be paths through Long Bridge Park — could we take the eastern-most path from Crystal Drive to where it reconnects with LB Dr neat the storage place? I haven’t reconned (or ever been there) – are there curb cuts and such?

C: I designed the neighborhood loop to hit 3 miles and stay pretty flat – is there anything we should definitely ride past? Any roads to avoid? Any other considerations?

Thanks, y’all

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