Road routes with the trails being over crowded from COVID-19?

[Smitty2k1]

As I’ve read here and elsewhere most of the VA trails have been way too crowded to safety bike while maintaining 6′ physical distance during our shelter in place orders. I’m fortunate to live on the east side of DC with easy access to the Anacostia trail system, but even some parts of that are starting to get rather busy.

So I pose a question – with the reduced car traffic from the shelter in place orders, does anyone have any nice road loops in and around the city?

[viennabiker]

@Smitty2k1 199846 wrote:

As I’ve read here and elsewhere most of the VA trails have been way too crowded to safety bike while maintaining 6′ physical distance during our shelter in place orders. I’m fortunate to live on the east side of DC with easy access to the Anacostia trail system, but even some parts of that are starting to get rather busy.

So I pose a question – with the reduced car traffic from the shelter in place orders, does anyone have any nice road loops in and around the city?

I have found that almost all DC streets are very easy for experienced riders. In fact, streets that I would normally never set foot (or wheel) in are actually better than side streets since they are multi-lane with little traffic even during times that used to be rush hour–like Connecticut Ave NW or K Street NW. The main hazard is getting doored but again, wider streets make it easier to maintain a safe distance from parked cars and still not obstruct traffic in the slightest. The only place I felt mildly uncomfortable was upper 16th Street and even that worked out OK. During cherry blossom madness the streets around the Tidal Basin were to be avoided–but because of the thickness, not speed, of the traffic.

I’ve done a loop in NW that goes south on 14th street from the Takoma area to Arkansas (veering over and back from 16th street for a couple blocks around Walter Reed), then west on Arkansas on to Piney Branch and then Porter Street (through Rock Creek Park), up to Reno, then North to Western Ave, and then north east on Western Ave (getting from the end of Western Ave to the other side of Rock Creek means a bit of time on neighborhood streets and Beach Drive, but it’s not hard to navigate). Lots of variations on this ride.

[dasgeh]

Bike Arlington has a comfort map which should come in handy about now: http://www.bikearlington.com/maps-and-routes/

We’ve found that neighborhood streets, especially the ones that don’t go anywhere, are great for biking with kids. The bigger challenge is finding routes that are flat enough for your purposes (if that’s what you’re in to). A few weeks ago, I went through the Kidical Mass Arlington archive and labeled routes that I would not recommend at this time — all other routes are recommended for family rides – safe, flat(ish), short, but able to be repeated or strung together. http://kidicalmassarl.blogspot.com/

[Emm]

Steve O and I did the Contes Alexandria ride (on our own) 2 weeks ago. If you check on their facebook page, people have posted numerous route variations, all of which go through safe neighborhood streets in Fort Hunt/Alexandria. You can go from 23-55 miles depending on the route/hills you want to tackle. I may try to go out again this weekend and do one of the rides.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/758318671296278/

[bentbike33]

If you are on Strava (even free accounts), you can also use the Strava Route Builder feature to plan a ride and load it onto your phone or GPS. It can use the Strava Global Heatmap to string together rides along the most popular routes used by Strava members (turn on “Use Global Heatmap” in the tools menu).

Traffic on all the roads is like Sunday morning before church lets out, so even if your route’s popularity is based on weekend rides, it won’t matter these days.

[Steve O]

@Emm 199861 wrote:

Steve O and I did the Contes Alexandria ride (on our own) 2 weeks ago.

And here we are practicing our physical distancing at Ft. Hunt Park.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21454[/ATTACH]

[Smitty2k1]

@Steve O 199870 wrote:

And here we are practicing our physical distancing at Ft. Hunt Park.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]21454[/ATTACH]

Thanks folks! I’m comfortable biking just about anywhere in the city, was just wondering if anyone had any “nice” loops that would be good to take advantage of. I’ll have to just start wandering and see what happens.

[Steve O]

This is from WebMD.

[FONT=&quot]Place: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Outdoors is safer than indoors. There are few, if any, instances of people spreading the virus outside. If you must be indoors, try to keep the air moving with open windows or fans.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Time: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Your risk of catching the coronavirus seems to be dose-dependent. That is, the longer you’re exposed to it, the more likely you are to get it. Fifteen to 30 minutes in close contact increases your risk significantly.

Based on that, it seems highly unlikely one would be able to catch the virus from other trail users you happen to pass by, even on a crowded trail.[/FONT]

[Smitty2k1]

@Steve O 201395 wrote:

This is from WebMD.

Based on that, it seems highly unlikely one would be able to catch the virus from other trail users you happen to pass by, even on a crowded trail.[/FONT][/COLOR]

So far virus free riding the Anacostia trails near daily. Weekends have been busier and have been doing some road routes instead. Here are a few new ones I’ve enjoyed:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32704938
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32561222
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32545835
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32293368
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2326307
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31512220

[Author]

Posts