New to area

[SurlyTed1187]

Good afternoon Waba/Bike Arlington cohorts,

My name is Ted, I just moved into the DC area from Atlanta Georgia this week. I will be working for Adventist Rehabilitation as a Recreational Therapist in Takoma Park. I am renting a room in a house in the Takoma area of DC.

I am eager to start meeting, and riding with other cyclists around the area. I enjoy the weekly group ride scene, going for longer rides, 30+ miles on Saturday and/or Sunday morning around the area. I am wanting to find ways I can get involved with riding groups in the area, not only for riding, but also for socializing and meeting new people.

I am also interested in getting into bicycle touring, perhaps day trips, or overnight/cyclocamping type rides.

Where should I look for these different groups (besides here)? What about bike shop rides? Which ones are more racer-head (not me), and which ones are for riders of all levels (I fall in the moderate area)?

Thanks for your help, and I’m looking forward to meeting some of you on the road, or through other avenues,

SurlyTed

Topic

[Greenbelt]

Hello again Ted. We’re doing a casual group ride tomorrow out of Proteus in College Park. Looping around the Greenbelt area. Will be mostly slow riding; however, we’ll also go to Greenbelt National Park (smallest in the nation!), where roadies can open it up for some fast laps. Easy to get out this way — take the NW branch trail to the NE branch trail to the Paint Branch trail (or College Park trolley trail). -Jeff
https://www.facebook.com/proteusbicycles
http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2038-Le-Tour-de-Greenbelt

[rcannon100]

Welcome to the BORG. Resistance is futile.

Try the Potomac Pedalers website. http://www.potomacpedalers.org/ There are tons of rides, all over the city, of different lengths, and different speeds.

[SurlyTed1187]

@Greenbelt 18128 wrote:

Hello again Ted. We’re doing a casual group ride tomorrow out of Proteus in College Park. Looping around the Greenbelt area. Will be mostly slow riding; however, we’ll also go to Greenbelt National Park (smallest in the nation!), where roadies can open it up for some fast laps. Easy to get out this way — take the NW branch trail to the NE branch trail to the Paint Branch trail (or College Park trolley trail). -Jeff
https://www.facebook.com/proteusbicycles
http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2038-Le-Tour-de-Greenbelt

Greenbelt, is this ride a weekly ride? I definitely would like to get over to Proteus bikes, but I think I am going to work on getting my room together today, and I’ll probably go check out rock creek park since it’s just a couple blocks west from me.

I’ve also joined a couple of cycling and other interest groups on meetup.com, so that should help me get to meet some new people as well.

Thanks for your response.

[Greenbelt]

Our shop rides are still sort of random — not regularly scheduled. We usually go to DC or go to the Beltsville farms, so today’s ride around Greenbelt is a little different. We did them about every 2 weeks through the winter, although we may cut back now that the weather’s nice and there are so many other rides happening. I just post them on the group rides thread here a week or so in advance, in case anyone here is interested.

I think the next will be April 21, probably just short ride down the NE branch trail to Hyattsville for lunch, probably at Busboys and Poets. Then the shop is entering the Baltimore kinetic sculpture race on the 5th of May, which is always a great time (we’ll be driving to Bmore, not riding….) Then on May 13th, I think Laurie is trying to get a Proteus team togther to ride down to Bike DC (that would be a really early start…) I’ll put more info up as I get it.

[consularrider]

Another source of group rides is through various Meetup.com groups. There are several in the DC area with different areas of interest and skill levels.

PPTC was already recommended, but don’t forget about the Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club and the Baltimore Bicycling Club.

[creadinger]

For touring, one thing you have to look into is riding the GAP/C&O canal between Pittsburgh and DC. There’s tons of online resources available, but here’s the official website – http://gaptrail.org/. Living in this area, it’s just something you have to do if you’re interested in touring and have a bike capable of handling 300 miles of gravelly conditions.

General touring reccomendations:
One of the best touring resources I think is – http://www.crazyguyonabike.com. It’s filled with tour journals and information that you can live vicariously through other people until you have the time off to do a trip of your own. Also, if you go to http://www.adventurecycling.org you’ll notice that they have a couple of mapped routes through this area.

[Terpfan]

@SurlyTed1187 18136 wrote:

Greenbelt, is this ride a weekly ride? I definitely would like to get over to Proteus bikes, but I think I am going to work on getting my room together today, and I’ll probably go check out rock creek park since it’s just a couple blocks west from me.

I’ve also joined a couple of cycling and other interest groups on meetup.com, so that should help me get to meet some new people as well.

Thanks for your response.

You probably learned it already, but be forewarned that RCP is packed on weekends, especially when the weather is nice. From where you’re coming from, it’s a really easy way to shoot downtown and pop out in Adams Morgan, the Zoo, Georgetown or down by the Kennedy Center.

[DCLiz]

Bicycle Space, a fantastic bike shop located across the street from the Convention Center, has weekend social rides of all different levels. They’re a great way to meet likeminded folks! http://bicyclespacewdc.com/rides-events/month/calendar

[SurlyTed1187]

@DCLiz 18231 wrote:

Bicycle Space, a fantastic bike shop located across the street from the Convention Center, has weekend social rides of all different levels. They’re a great way to meet likeminded folks! http://bicyclespacewdc.com/rides-events/month/calendar

Thanks DCLiz! I’ll be there this weekend for sure! And I’ll try to get to the Thursday 7th street social ride too. I love riding after dark.

[Author]

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