The Gallows Road International Speedway

[Dickie]

@ursus 143649 wrote:

I was just looing at Google Maps. Does “cross at Stenwood School over to Cottage” mean that you cross Gallows at the Stenwood School and then take the path paralleling the sidewalk on the east side of Gallows to Cottage?

In the evenings heading North I take the pedestrian cross walk across 66 (west side) and then cross at the school… even though there isn’t a light you can get a break to cross pretty frequently and there is a good amount of space to stop in the middle if need be. I then travel in the road and either duck down Cottage or stay in the bike lane until Iliff. In the mornings (heading South) I always exit the WOD at Sandburg and take it to Cottage. Even though the light is lengthy there I don’t mind the breather. I then cross and take the road for a few hundred feet and get back on the pedestrian bridge to cross 66…. I then tootle through the metro.

[consularrider]

@Dickie 143713 wrote:

In the evenings heading North I take the pedestrian cross walk across 66 (west side) and then cross at the school… even though there isn’t a light you can get a break to cross pretty frequently and there is a good amount of space to stop in the middle if need be. I then travel in the road and either duck down Cottage or stay in the bike lane until Iliff. In the mornings (heading South) I always exit the WOD at Sandburg and take it to Cottage. Even though the light is lengthy there I don’t mind the breather. I then cross and take the road for a few hundred feet and get back on the pedestrian bridge to cross 66…. I then tootle through the metro.

So being a father has made you reconsider your choices?

[creadinger]

@bobco85 143630 wrote:

They officially reduced the speed limit from 35 to 25 mph in March. https://www.alexandriava.gov/localmotion/info/default.aspx?id=90314 Before, the speeds would be 40+, but now the speeds are closer to 30-35 mph which is at least an improvement.

Yeah they also added “strictly enforced” to all the 25mph speed limit signs. I sometimes go that way when I ramble around Alexandria and now that the road is 25mph I confidently take the lane, heading south.

[huskerdont]

This was just a mental exercise for me, but now I need to drop off a car at Stohlman Subaru and bike back to Arlington via the W&OD, then ride the reverse later. I see some neighborhood alternatives for some of the Gallows sections, but it looks like some Gallows and Courthouse/Gosnell riding will be necessary unless I’m missing something. I’ve scheduled the appointment post-rush hour, at least, but still feel like I might gone die. I ride in the city every day, but suburban speedways are not my thing.

Interestingly, Google bike directions tells me to get off my bike and walk once I get to Route 7. Pretty funny. That’s the parking lot.

[bobco85]

@huskerdont 145505 wrote:

This was just a mental exercise for me, but now I need to drop off a car at Stohlman Subaru and bike back to Arlington via the W&OD, then ride the reverse later. I see some neighborhood alternatives for some of the Gallows sections, but it looks like some Gallows and Courthouse/Gosnell riding will be necessary unless I’m missing something. I’ve scheduled the appointment post-rush hour, at least, but still feel like I might gone die. I ride in the city every day, but suburban speedways are not my thing.

Interestingly, Google bike directions tells me to get off my bike and walk once I get to Route 7. Pretty funny. That’s the parking lot.

Food for thought if you look at the Strava heatmap for the area: http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#15/-77.23234/38.91551/gray/bike

If I had to bike there, I’d use the following route:
W&OD Trail -> Gallows Rd -> Wolftrap Rd -> Woodford Rd -> Old Courthouse Rd -> service road on north side of Chain Bridge Rd -> sidewalk on west side of Leesburg Pike
It seems like it might be a bit less stressful than taking the main roads.

[bentbike33]

@huskerdont 145505 wrote:

This was just a mental exercise for me, but now I need to drop off a car at Stohlman Subaru and bike back to Arlington via the W&OD, then ride the reverse later. I see some neighborhood alternatives for some of the Gallows sections, but it looks like some Gallows and Courthouse/Gosnell riding will be necessary unless I’m missing something. I’ve scheduled the appointment post-rush hour, at least, but still feel like I might gone die. I ride in the city every day, but suburban speedways are not my thing.

Interestingly, Google bike directions tells me to get off my bike and walk once I get to Route 7. Pretty funny. That’s the parking lot.

This is my neck of the woods, but I don’t ride in this direction often.

A shortcut to avoid Gallows:

At the top of the W&OD Virginia Lane climb stay on Virginia Lane;
right on Idylwood for a short bit;
then a very sharp left onto Helena Dr.;
right on Providence;
left on Oak St. to cross the beltway;
right on Harrity Dr (last road before Gallows);
left on Wolftrap Road to cross Gallows.
At the “end” of Wolftrap Road is a path through the woods to get you to its westward continuation.
From the other Wolftrap Road, right on Lord Fairfax or Woodford Road;
Left on Old Courthouse (although this looks intimidating from Googlemaps, it is much more lightly traveled than Gallows or Route 7);
Old Courthouse becomes Gosnell after crossing 123.

Route 7 now has broad sidewalks between 123 and the Dulles Toll Road in the aftermath of the Silver Line.

[Tania]

Old Courthouse/Gosnell also has two lanes in each direction so you can claim one for your very own.

[Rockford10]

I dislike the Old Courthouse/Gosnell connection, particularly coming back up the hill. Someone mentioned to me a few weeks ago you could get across 123 on a service road and then proceed on the sidewalk on Rt. 7, and it’s fantastic.

If you get to Old Courthouse from the W&OD (Branch -> Echols -> Wolf Trap -> Lord Fairfax -> Old Courthouse) you can turn R on Boone and then cross 123 at the service road from the Bed Bath & Beyond into the Koons Dealership, wrap around Rt 7 on the sidewalk, pass the Metro Station and you are at the Subaru Dealership. You avoid the bad issues with Old Courthouse entirely.

See https://www.strava.com/activities/689089801 for the area around Tysons. In the evening, I left my office to go out that way (to the Tysons Biergarden) and then back to the W&OD on Gallows. While I dislike Gallows going north, it’s better going south.

[huskerdont]

@bentbike33 145508 wrote:

This is my neck of the woods, but I don’t ride in this direction often.

A shortcut to avoid Gallows:

At the top of the W&OD Virginia Lane climb stay on Virginia Lane;
right on Idylwood for a short bit;
then a very sharp left onto Helena Dr.;
right on Providence;
left on Oak St. to cross the beltway;
right on Harrity Dr (last road before Gallows);
left on Wolftrap Road to cross Gallows.
At the “end” of Wolftrap Road is a path through the woods to get you to its westward continuation.
From the other Wolftrap Road, right on Lord Fairfax or Woodford Road;
Left on Old Courthouse (although this looks intimidating from Googlemaps, it is much more lightly traveled than Gallows or Route 7);
Old Courthouse becomes Gosnell after crossing 123.

Route 7 now has broad sidewalks between 123 and the Dulles Toll Road in the aftermath of the Silver Line.

That jig to get to Oak Street is absolute genius. Don’t tell anyone about it.

Google street view shows the cut through Heritage Resource Park to be paved. Will give this a try, unless I go off-script, which is a thing that happens.

Other than a stealth run through the Pimmet area to get to the McLean Metro to take some Silver Line pics for work, I haven’t been to Tysons in many years–for a reason. Thanks.

[huskerdont]

@Rockford10 145514 wrote:

I dislike the Old Courthouse/Gosnell connection, particularly coming back up the hill. Someone mentioned to me a few weeks ago you could get across 123 on a service road and then proceed on the sidewalk on Rt. 7, and it’s fantastic.

I don’t think I’m going to like the Old Courthouse/Gosnell thing very much myself, but luckily I’ll be driving out that way first so can make up my mind whether to bike it or work around it. I dislike the idea of riding on the Route 7 sidewalk, but it may well come to that.

[dkel]

@bentbike33 145508 wrote:

At the top of the W&OD Virginia Lane climb stay on Virginia Lane;
right on Idylwood for a short bit;
then a very sharp left onto Helena Dr.

Rather than going to the end of Virginia and taking a right on Idylwood, I prefer an earlier right off Virginia onto Hurst, and then a left at the end of Hurst onto Idylwood. This makes the turn onto Helena less sharp, and also makes it a right turn; if you come from the other direction you risk having to stop on Idylwood to wait for an opening in traffic to make a left onto Helena. I don’t like the idea of sitting still on Idylwood, personally!

[Steve O]

I take a longer route that has more on the W&OD:

W&OD past Cedar
Right on the next connector – bear left to Malraux
Right on Richelieu
Right on Chesterton
Right on Electric
Left on Woodford all the way to Old Courthouse

My experience is similar to others: that during off hours, Tysons traffic is surprisingly light

[huskerdont]

@bentbike33 145508 wrote:

This is my neck of the woods, but I don’t ride in this direction often.

A shortcut to avoid Gallows:

At the top of the W&OD Virginia Lane climb stay on Virginia Lane;
right on Idylwood for a short bit;
then a very sharp left onto Helena Dr.;
right on Providence;
left on Oak St. to cross the beltway;
right on Harrity Dr (last road before Gallows);
left on Wolftrap Road to cross Gallows.
At the “end” of Wolftrap Road is a path through the woods to get you to its westward continuation.
From the other Wolftrap Road, right on Lord Fairfax or Woodford Road;
Left on Old Courthouse (although this looks intimidating from Googlemaps, it is much more lightly traveled than Gallows or Route 7);
Old Courthouse becomes Gosnell after crossing 123.

Route 7 now has broad sidewalks between 123 and the Dulles Toll Road in the aftermath of the Silver Line.

This was spot on (reversed) to get from Stohlman to home, with dkel’s Hurst change. Going through Heritage Resource Park and the Helena/Providence connection to Oak were especially helpful. As predicted, I didn’t like going up the hill on Gosnell, right off the bat out of the dealership and racing 100% in front of cars just coming off Route 7 as if they had just been released from jail, but drivers were okay about it–no buzzing or horns.

To make this post connect back to Gallows, on the drive over, I noted it has bike lanes in some places now. But thin little strips next to 45 mph traffic with distracted drivers was less enticing than one might imagine when I had this alternative.

I flatted on Wolftrap and was putting the tire back on when a woman who had just driven by and had seen me using my hand pump came back from her house and gave me a floor pump. I can get to maybe 90 psi with the hand pump, but it was very nice to top it off for the rest of the ride. Thank you, exceptionally kind person. It’s one thing to be nice, but to go out of your way to do it is another.

[Author]

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