New Ride Help

[eminva]

You should have no trouble navigating the Custis and W&OD — not sure which bridge you plan to take, but the Custis begins with the sidewalk right next to the Marriott Key Bridge up the first of many lovely hills. Stay on the trail and you will run into the W&OD (where you turn right).

Hopefully the directions are having you turn left at Gallows and then right on Prosperity just after the Dunn Loring Metro. Prosperity is an interesting one — typical suburban busy street with no bike infrastructure and poor road crossings from a bike or pedestrian viewpoint. There are wide sidewalks on either side for the first portion of the route, which you can bike on if you prefer because you won’t see a whole lot of pedestrians. South of Route 50, it is just one lane in either direction, no sidewalks and very hilly with fast auto traffic. Not sure what your usual riding style is, but if you are okay with that, great. Just wanted to make sure you were forewarned.

And you do know the Cross County Trail is dirt or gravel in places, right?

Have a great ride!

Liz

[ShawnoftheDread]

Thanks, Liz. I’m coming from 18 & K, so I think I’ll use Memorial Bridge. Would Key or Roosevelt be better?

Yes, I’m familiar with Prosperity and the Cross County. Might cut over through the neighborhood on a couple of spots on the two-lane section of Prosperity, and may skip the Cross County entirely to make the ride more direct (though I’m on a hybrid, so can handle it if needed).

An alternative suggested is to leave the W&OD at Van Buren to eventually make my way down Annandale Rd. and Hummer Rd, but that seems worse.

[DismalScientist]

I’m at 18th and M and normally use Roosevelt inbound and the Key Bridge outbound. Either provides easy access to the Custis. Whether you want to go over the Key depends on how much you like dealing with stopped traffic on M street through Georgetown.

[acc]

For the record, I’m a chicken. I’ve crossed Arlington Blvd and Lee Highway but I don’t like it. Your route takes you over both. Prosperity, after the intersection with Arlington Blvd, is hilly, narrow, and the cars whiz by fast.

Take a look at connecting the W&OD with Tapawingo. Look at connecting behind the Vienna Metro with a road, I think it’s Vaden. You’ll cross Arlington Blvd, then connect with the trail. You’ll end up on Pickett for a few blocks but the sidewalk is a good option. The park on your left will connect you to the Cross County Trail.
It’s a little further but a lot less harrowing.

[Dirt]

Where in Annandale are you going? Prosperity seems like an odd choice for routing to me too. I’ve ridden on it, but there are better choices.

I ride that corridor fairly often and there are some better routes.

Heading from the W&OD to the Cross County Trail at Audrey Moore Rec Center (aka Wakefield): http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1214797
There’s a way you can scoot for 100 yards on Gallows and get to the CCT pretty easily: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1214820

Gallows isn’t lovely, but they’ve been adding to the bridge and it wasn’t bad the last time I rode. I think they may be adding sidewalks to the bridge too. Something to consider at least.

I hope that helps.

PEte

[ShawnoftheDread]

Thanks. I was just checking out Gallows. It’s more direct at least, and I can avoid that two-lane uphill at Prosperity and Arlington Rd. I’m going to Wakefield Chapel and Braddock, just down the road from Audrey Moore. That should work.

[Dirt]

@ShawnoftheDread 20516 wrote:

Thanks. I was just checking out Gallows. It’s more direct at least, and I can avoid that two-lane uphill at Prosperity and Arlington Rd. I’m going to Wakefield Chapel and Braddock, just down the road from Audrey Moore. That should work.

The first route I linked is much nicer. You cross a few big roads, but they’re not bad if you’re patient and wait for a signal. I use that route every week.

[ShawnoftheDread]

How about if I went down Gallows further west — through Merrifield and past Fairfax hospital? Likely death?

[Dirt]

@ShawnoftheDread 20518 wrote:

How about if I went down Gallows further west — through Merrifield and past Fairfax hospital? Likely death?

There are bike lanes on some of that… I read about some new ones happening recently. It isn’t a very nice bike-friendly way to go. I play in traffic all the time and have ridden much, much worse. I would suggest, however, that you maybe scout a route out that is rated a little higher than “You’ll probably survive.”.

All else fails, Drive the route and see what it looks like.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Thanks again, y’all are great. I think I’ll go with Pete’s first suggestion, unless I miss the turn. In which case I’ll get off the trail at Sandberg, go down Gallows, and put myself real close to the hospital for when I get nailed.

[Dirt]

@ShawnoftheDread 20521 wrote:

Thanks again, y’all are great. I think I’ll go with Pete’s first suggestion, unless I miss the turn. In which case I’ll get off the trail at Sandberg, go down Gallows, and put myself real close to the hospital for when I get nailed.

If it is any consolation, I always seem to be hit by the nicest people. They’re really quite pleasant and feel really bad about running me over.

But seriously folks… I think you’ll be fine. I think the Ride With GPS links I sent let you print a cue sheet to help you remember the turns. HOpe that helps.

You’re doing this ride tomorrow? What’s your timing like? I could give you a guided tour if our commutes coincide.

Rock on.

Pete

[ShawnoftheDread]

Nice! Office is closing at 2:30 tomorrow, so sometime around then. I’m sure you’d catch up to me if you left work at 4:30, though. I’m the guy on the old Giant hybrid, wearing a red backpack and looking faint. As I said, my usual ride is Old Town to DC, 2-3 days a week since January — though I’ve ridden every day this week — so I’m just starting to get into it.

[JimF22003]

By the end of the day Gallows will have on-street bike lanes in both directions all the way from Cottage St up to Tysons Corner, FWIW. They were paving the last little section by Electric Ave at noontime.

[americancyclo]

I’ve been marveling at the new lanes between Oak and Gallows Branch. They look great!

[Dirt]

@ShawnoftheDread 20536 wrote:

Nice! Office is closing at 2:30 tomorrow, so sometime around then. I’m sure you’d catch up to me if you left work at 4:30, though. I’m the guy on the old Giant hybrid, wearing a red backpack and looking faint. As I said, my usual ride is Old Town to DC, 2-3 days a week since January — though I’ve ridden every day this week — so I’m just starting to get into it.

It appears that I’ve got a date to get dizzy at Hains Point with OneEighth that won’t have me rolling for the happy homestead until 1715 hours. I’ll catch up with you another time. Good luck!

[Author]

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