Road/Trail Conditions 2/14/2013

[Steve]

@slowtriguy 43923 wrote:

Point taken!

W&OD -> Custis -> Lincoln turnoff on one end and W&OD -> Bluemont on the other.

I assume then you’re going to somewhere up by Quincy/Lincoln. Not that its much different, but a lot of times to get up there I do W&OD -> Access turn off at S Columbus/S Park/S Aberdeen -> Cross 50 at Henderson/Quincy and ride straight up to Ballston. Just a thought if you are looking for slightly different scenery (especially because all the Bluemont crossings can be a little less than fun.

[dasgeh]

@slowtriguy 43923 wrote:

Point taken!

I normally take the turn, but from time to time, it is fun to keep on going down the W&OD. Unfortunately, with Ballston as the destination, most days the extremes of sane route choices for me range between W&OD -> Custis -> Lincoln turnoff on one end and W&OD -> Bluemont on the other. So there’s not a whole lot of variation there. On the other hand, there are those days where I get lost and somehow end up taking the, uh, creative route…

I think you live near me — I’m in Cherrydale, if you go North from the Lincoln turn off. If you’re just looking for variety, you could go the surface street route. Key Blvd is a great alternative (and the route I plan to take if there’s ever snow build up on the trails – hoping I never have to use it for that reason). You can also wind around to Fort Myer, but lots of the gates are closed now so you’d have to get to 2nd Street South, then take the HH Gate out and the 27 trail around, which can be a little hard to navigate. If you time it right you can zoom down the hill through the Cemetery, which is AWESOME.

[slowtriguy]

@Steve 43943 wrote:

I assume then you’re going to somewhere up by Quincy/Lincoln. Not that its much different, but a lot of times to get up there I do W&OD -> Access turn off at S Columbus/S Park/S Aberdeen -> Cross 50 at Henderson/Quincy and ride straight up to Ballston. Just a thought if you are looking for slightly different scenery (especially because all the Bluemont crossings can be a little less than fun.

@dasgeh 43994 wrote:

I think you live near me — I’m in Cherrydale, if you go North from the Lincoln turn off. If you’re just looking for variety, you could go the surface street route. Key Blvd is a great alternative (and the route I plan to take if there’s ever snow build up on the trails – hoping I never have to use it for that reason). You can also wind around to Fort Myer, but lots of the gates are closed now so you’d have to get to 2nd Street South, then take the HH Gate out and the 27 trail around, which can be a little hard to navigate. If you time it right you can zoom down the hill through the Cemetery, which is AWESOME.

Thanks Steve and dasgeh, and sorry for being slow in responding; work has been intense recently.

I’m actually coming from Falls Church City and ending right near the Ballston Metro. My typical route is W&OD->Custis->Lincoln->14th->Nelson->Fairfax. I sometimes take the surface streets through the Williamsburg/Yorktown area just for some extra miles and hills, and sometimes I’ll start by riding west to pick up the W&OD at Shreve/Virginia rather than north as usual.

I hadn’t thought about going down to the turnoff just past Route 50 on the W&OD — how is it crossing Route 50 at Henderson/Quincy?

I have used Key when heading off to meetings in DC, or when I, erm, “get lost” coming home and end up going all the way around (strange how that happens on nice Friday evenings…), but hadn’t really thought about going down the Custis to Lee Highway -> Veitch -> Key and on into Ballston. Come to think of it, I don’t know why I haven’t done that before.

Anyway, thanks again, and happy riding!

[consularrider]

@slowtriguy 44482 wrote:

… I hadn’t thought about going down to the turnoff just past Route 50 on the W&OD — how is it crossing Route 50 at Henderson/Quincy? …

Since you have the light it’s easy, but it can take a while to get the green light. Most of the time there aren’t a lot of cars waiting to cross.

[dasgeh]

@slowtriguy 44482 wrote:

My typical route is W&OD->Custis->Lincoln->14th->Nelson->Fairfax. I sometimes take the surface streets through the Williamsburg/Yorktown area just for some extra miles and hills, and sometimes I’ll start by riding west to pick up the W&OD at Shreve/Virginia rather than north as usual.

I hadn’t thought about going down to the turnoff just past Route 50 on the W&OD — how is it crossing Route 50 at Henderson/Quincy?

Just curious: why don’t you take the Custis to Quincy,then take the bike lanes down to Fairfax? Or take the Custis past that over the bridge over the exit from 66 to Glebe, down to the turnoff to Fairfax west of Ballston?

There are two lights where you can cross 50 having come up from the W&OD – Park and Henderson. In my very limited experience, Park gets the light more often. Either is super easy and safe. The hill coming from the W&OD though, not so easy.

[5555624]

@slowtriguy 44482 wrote:

I hadn’t thought about going down to the turnoff just past Route 50 on the W&OD — how is it crossing Route 50 at Henderson/Quincy?

Rather than cross at Henderson Rd, when I’m going through here, I usually take the light at Park Dr. I’ve never timed it, but it seems quicker. (I wish Pershing Dr wasn’t blocked off.)

[slowtriguy]

@dasgeh 44487 wrote:

Just curious: why don’t you take the Custis to Quincy,then take the bike lanes down to Fairfax? Or take the Custis past that over the bridge over the exit from 66 to Glebe, down to the turnoff to Fairfax west of Ballston?

I’ve tried the Quincy->Fairfax route in the past, but I always have one problem: when I exit the trail at Quincy, I’m on the east side of the road, and I need to turn south (left) to head toward work. That means I either have to cross Quincy to the southbound side (which is a pain because cars tend not to stop at that crosswalk) or I have to salmon for a while down Quincy and cross over. Maybe I’m missing an obvious solution — is there another way up to Quincy that ends up on the southbound side?

I do also sometimes exit at the little stub trail to 15th just west of Stafford, and then turn right on Stafford to head past W-L High School and on toward Fairfax, which works fine but cuts off a little distance.

Turning off on the overpass from the Custis directly to Fairfax means I’m salmoning up the sidewalk to Fairfax and Glebe, so I rarely use that unless I am running in and not riding.

@dasgeh 44487 wrote:

There are two lights where you can cross 50 having come up from the W&OD – Park and Henderson. In my very limited experience, Park gets the light more often. Either is super easy and safe. The hill coming from the W&OD though, not so easy.

Great — thanks to all!

Happy riding.

[DismalScientist]

@slowtriguy 44518 wrote:

I’ve tried the Quincy->Fairfax route in the past, but I always have one problem: when I exit the trail at Quincy, I’m on the east side of the road, and I need to turn south (left) to head toward work. That means I either have to cross Quincy to the southbound side (which is a pain because cars tend not to stop at that crosswalk) or I have to salmon for a while down Quincy and cross over. Maybe I’m missing an obvious solution — is there another way up to Quincy that ends up on the southbound side?

I do also sometimes exit at the little stub trail to 15th just west of Stafford,…

Just take the stub trail to 15th and follow 15th down to Quincy and turn right.

[slowtriguy]

@DismalScientist 44533 wrote:

Just take the stub trail to 15th and follow 15th down to Quincy and turn right.

OK, so this is the sound of me smacking myself in the head with a water bottle while I feel even dumber than I normally do.

Yeah – definitely the simplest way to get to Quincy from my direction. And I’ve even ridden that way some times. Now if I can only figure out why I didn’t *think* about that before posting above…

Just for kicks, I did try the W&OD -> Park -> Henderson -> Quincy route today, and it was a fun diversion. Thanks, everyone, for the recommendations.

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