Places to bail off the W&OD for a nice ride in So. Loudon

[creadinger]

It’s early in the season and I’m already getting sick of riding large portions of the WOD. Starting from Alexandria, it’s hard to get anywhere rural for long rides without taking it though.

I haven’t spent as much time as I’d like exploring the area of southern Loudon/northern Faquier counties (around Middleburg, Marshall, Aldie, and Haymarket, etc..). The times I have been down there I rode all the way out past Leesburg because I didn’t know of any bikeable routes to the south closer in. Does anyone have any routes that leave the W&OD before getting to Leesburg? Ashburn or even Sterling would be great.

I tried Cochran Mill Rd once, but that led to lots and lots of gravel. A couple miles of gravel are fine, but I’m mostly not a fan.

Thanks for the help!

Topic

[JimF22003]

I’ve never left the trail before Leesburg when heading west. I’ve driven some of those roads in a car (Belmont Rd, etc.) The whole area seems like subdivision hell to me.

I’d love some good suggestions for this area also.

[kcb203]

Get off in Reston at Wiehle and go north, then go right on Baron Cameron. These aren’t the best roads, but doable. Then take Baron Cameron across Route 7, where it becomes Springvale. Go across Georgetown Pike until you get to Beech Mill. You can then go right or left. All the roads between Beech Mill and Georgetown Pike are great–Seneca, Utterback Store, Springvale, Walker, and Riverbend. My rides look like a comb–Beech Mill is the spine of the comb, and the other roads I mentioned are the teeth. I wouldn’t ride on Georgetown Pike, though.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/422158640

[creadinger]

@kcb203 86111 wrote:

Get off in Reston at Wiehle and go north, then go right on Baron Cameron. These aren’t the best roads, but doable. Then take Baron Cameron across Route 7, where it becomes Springvale. Go across Georgetown Pike until you get to Beech Mill. You can then go right or left. All the roads between Beech Mill and Georgetown Pike are great–Seneca, Utterback Store, Springvale, Walker, and Riverbend. My rides look like a comb–Beech Mill is the spine of the comb, and the other roads I mentioned are the teeth. I wouldn’t ride on Georgetown Pike, though.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/422158640

That doesn’t solve my initial question, but I may have to check out the area you mentioned.

[jmeg8237]

Just joined the forum, so late to the party, I know.

Agree with a previous comment — really any place before Leesburg is going to be suburban. I ride around Ashburn (since that’s where I live) and I’ve learned some of the less-traveled roads where I can ride and still feel reasonably safe. After Leesburg it gets better. I won’t ride on Belmont Ridge to save my life. I did see a large pack on there for an evening ride one time, and there’s something to be said for safety in numbers, but I won’t do it alone. There are routes you can take that don’t require riding on Belmont, though, that can take you south down towards South Riding, Aldie and down towards Manassas. For me, all are a bit crowded with cars, though.

If you do wind out at the end of the trail, there’s a very nice loop that goes from Purcellville up through Hillsboro to Lovettsville, then down to Waterford and back to the trail not far west of Leesburg. It would be a lot to bike out from Arlington, do that loop, and then bike back to Arlington, but it might be worth a drive out to get you closer to Loudoun County. There are parking areas near the trail around Ashburn and Leesburg that would allow you to do the last part of the trail as well as this loop.

Hope this helps. I’m still trying to get an idea of other routes out in that area and if I find some I’ll post them here.

John
Ashburn, VA

[creadinger]

I’ve done some searches on RidewithGPS, for westward road routes past Dulles, but not much comes up. I agree that Leesburg seems to be the limit of bad suburban sprawl, but it just seems crazy that there’s nothing else worth taking.

I do know of (never ridden them), some routes that have a more southerly tack through southern Fairfax county towards Centreville and Manassas. Maybe that will be my best road option to get west. I could ride out that way, and come back via the trail when I’m tired of fighting for space on the roads all day. I need to do some more exploring.

I’ve done a loop like you describe many times. It’s nice! From Alexandria, it turns out to be about 120-130 miles round trip, so it’s a good full day ride, but it is a lot of trail. Sometimes I’ve avoided the W&OD return trip by heading into Maryland on Rt. 287 and riding back through Mont Co. I’ve done this mostly because I try to avoid the W&OD on nice weekend days because it gets packed. At 6am when I’m riding west it’s still empty.

[KLizotte]

How about hopping on metro all the way out to Shady Grove then heading out to the Olney or Poolesville areas? You can visit the Agricultural History Farm Park in the former.

[vvill]

Reston Bike Club does weekly road rides (during road riding season) leaving from either Reston or the Herndon caboose. I think The Bike Lane does one out of Reston too.

(I’ve done the Herndon one once and wasn’t a huge fan of it though. Not sure if they do the same routes every week.)

[creadinger]

@KLizotte 99294 wrote:

How about hopping on metro all the way out to Shady Grove then heading out to the Olney or Poolesville areas? You can visit the Agricultural History Farm Park in the former.

I ride up there a bit too. I have a variable 110 mile loop that goes north from home and uses a mix of road and trail up to Lake Needwood, then I continue up to Mt. Airy, then turn west to Urbana, and south to Poolesville and back home to Alexandria. Thinking about it – I spend a lot of time in Poolesville! There is a bit more exploring I can do around Frederick, but overwhelmingly I feel like the biggest gap in my local visit count is definitely southern Loudon and northern Faquire(sp) counties in VA.

I have not visited the Agricultural History Farm Park yet. Maybe I’ll put that on the list.

[KLizotte]

The Thurmont area is great for riding; very agricultural and far fewer cars than the Poolesville area.

[creadinger]

@KLizotte 99358 wrote:

The Thurmont area is great for riding; very agricultural and far fewer cars than the Poolesville area.

It is great, but that’s starting to stretch my ability for a door-door ride.

Thanks for the tip though.

[elbows]

I’m sure I’m stating the obvious, but consider metroing out to Wiehle-Reston, at least one way, to cut off what you see too much of. It’s a pretty fast trip from Arlington.

[creadinger]

@elbows 99501 wrote:

I’m sure I’m stating the obvious, but consider metroing out to Wiehle-Reston, at least one way, to cut off what you see too much of. It’s a pretty fast trip from Arlington.

No that is a great suggestion. The Silver line wasn’t open when I started this thread, but it is something that we could take advantage of to avoid some of the most congested, cross-street riddled, close-in parts of the W&OD.

On the other hand, metro doesn’t open until 7am on weekends, so it would be difficult to get significant miles in before the worst summer middday heat comes on. I’m from the mountains of PA and I hate the summer heat down here, so I like to get out before sunrise. In June-July that is before 6am. Heh. Some of my best rides out that way recently I arrived in Purcellville by 8am with 50 miles under my belt. I was relaxing at home by 1pm.

I just can’t believe there aren’t any worthwhile or safe road routes between Arlington and Leesburg.

[mstone]

@creadinger 99518 wrote:

I just can’t believe there aren’t any worthwhile or safe road routes between Arlington and Leesburg.

Why do you think everyone commutes on the W&OD? Look at the beltway crossings between Arlington & Leesburg and you’ll find few that I’d call “worthwhile or safe”. In general in Fairfax the roads that connect things over long distances have been “upgraded” to high speed car routes. There are a lot of bikeable small streets, but they don’t necessarily go anywhere without traveling one of the major roads. It’s even worse in general when you’re going east-west, because those roads were upsized first to support traffic in & out of the city.

[Author]

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