Trail Conditions — January 2014

[Greenbelt]

Anacostia Trib trails are mixed — some spots OK, some spots best avoided if possible.

Lake Artemesia and the Paint branch trail are pretty lousy in the shady and low spots:

[Greenbelt]

NE Branch trail is pretty bad north of East West Highway.

[Greenbelt]

NE Branch south of East West Highway isn’t too bad

[Raymo853]

@hozn 75628 wrote:

The W&OD from Falls Church out to Gallows was 95% hardpacked snow and ice. A few melted spots, but I would rate it as “jarring”, “occasionally adrenalizing”, and “studded-tires-requiring”.

Side note, are you running those cross size tires tubeless on those Crest rims? Am torn between Crests or Iron Cross rims.

[hozn]

@Raymo853 75654 wrote:

Side note, are you running those cross size tires tubeless on those Crest rims? Am torn between Crests or Iron Cross rims.

I am not running these particular Nokian (studded) tires tubeless, only because they were too tight to get the beads to lock in / leave the center channel (will try again when they are more used). But in general I have been using this wheelset tubeless for cx, yeah. I was also debating between the two rims. I chose the Crest mostly because I found the rims on sale. The tiny bit of extra width of these was appealing for tire profile and the bit of extra depth on the Iron Cross was appealing to add stiffness. I am very happy with this wheelset, though.

[Dirt]

Has anyone ridden East Capitol and Benning Road Bridges in the last day or two? I’m curious if they’re still snow-packed.

[delninno]

Thank you so much for the post!!!
You got me to ride in this morning.

at 8:00 Conditions from four mile run to dc on MVT via 14th street bridge are very decent.

Carlo

@dbb 75642 wrote:

Trail conditions continued

Gravelly Point just past the latrines

Downstream side of Humpback. After Mikey was done doing his track stand here, he failed to clean up after himself. Pretty crappy line on the downstream side of the Humpback Bridge. Line shifts sides to close to roadway.

Humpback was clear.

14th Street Bridge was clear. I only went about halfway.

[Subby]

I came in from Westmoreland/WOD to 4MR to MVT to 14th street bridge.

– 80% clear
– the short stretch of the WOD east of the Lee Hwy crossing (near EFC) is still a mess. I lost my line in the snow and had to Fred Flinstone for about 20 feet.
– one bridge on WOD after Bluemont is pretty bad
– 4MR is decent except for the concrete parts – lots of trail wide ice, bad in the transitions
– MVT is still pretty treacherous in spots…particularly on the bridges and at the underpass right before the “dismount and walk” stop sign.
– 14th street bridge is still mostly covered closer to the DC side – bad for 2 way traffic

Overall, still doable on studs or fatties but I wouldn’t be comfortable on anything else. Of course, I suck at riding upright, so…

[Phatboing]

On the W&OD between Falls Church and Gallows, the hard-packed snow has come … unpacked. It’s powdery-slushy on top, with ice underneath, and caused my rear end to flail about more than once.

(then I discovered that my rear studly tire is on backwards)

If it does end up being as windy as they say it’s going to be tonight, the big ol’ icy fustercluck of doom ought to be upon us tomorrow morning.

Is there a prize for not altering your commute even when the trail’s trying to kill you? I’d like that, please.

[myoglobinologist]

Rode in this morning at 7am on Custis & W&OD. C. is mostly clear, but crunchy in spots, especially where it dips under overpasses. The connector from the Custis down to Fairfax Drive is a luge run, however, and there is a serious pile of snow at the bottom where there is a conduit into the (drained) Beaver Pond.

Photos attached.

W&OD

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Connector down to Ballston.

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[dasgeh]

I opted for my snowy-but-hopeful commute today: took neighborhood streets (which were much better than yesterday) to main streets (just fine, except bike lanes, which were blocked by either snow or Metro Access vans) to Iwo Jima to Memorial Bridge. The trail by the IJ was fine, but the sidewalk leading to it was pretty bad. THIS WOULDN’T BE A PROBLEM IF ARLINGTON PUT A CURB CUT AT THE END OF THE TRAIL. The trail beside 110 was fine — there was at least a tire width of pavement the whole way (is this what mtn bikes call “single tracking”). The sidewalks to and across the Memorial Bridge were great.

Once in the District, I mistakenly thought that the trail beside the tidal basin, which was clear after the Dec storm, would be clear. Ha. It was ok, but very bumpy. Met a very nice CaBi commuter who braved it as well. The rest of the trip in the District was great.

[Raymo853]

@Dirt 75658 wrote:

Has anyone ridden East Capitol and Benning Road Bridges in the last day or two? I’m curious if they’re still snow-packed.

I too wonder since I need to ride over one of those or South Capital, Penn or MLK Tuesday. I plan to drive over South Cap tonight and will see what it looks like and report.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Steve]

@Raymo853 75681 wrote:

I too wonder since I need to ride over one of those or South Capital, Penn or MLK Tuesday. I plan to drive over South Cap tonight and will see what it looks like and report.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

South Cap St. Bridge is salted and mostly clear (down-stream side). A bit of slush/snow/ice on the two ramps, but nothing crazy. The path along S Cap St. inbetween the bridge and the north gate to Base is still pretty bad. Lots of snow and ice, fairly deep ruts, and not much pavement. If no one is coming the other way, usually a decent line can be taken, two wide puts you in some worse stuff. Nothing terrible, just not very clear. It’ll keep me on studded tires for another few days I have a feeling, but I’m also pretty risk averse.

[DaveK]

The only thing I have to add that hasn’t been covered already is that the open path around the Washington Monument on the north side is entirely hard-packed snow and ice. It’s rideable on 32s without studs if you’re careful.

[DCAKen]

The trail through Rock Creek Park is packed snow and ice. I went on Beach Drive instead from the Connecticut Avenue Bridge to Broad Branch.

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This was taken at the parking lot at Broad Branch. Is there any surprise that the lot is nicely plowed but the trail isn’t?

[Author]

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