[consularrider]

The hill from milepost 3 to the Veitch St access trail is still a sheet of ice and I couldn’t get traction going up it, even with studded tires. The stretch from Lyon Village to milepost 3 has lots of ice, but there is a narrow, mostly clear track. Lots of other icy patches from around St Annes past the Washington Blvd underpass. Also the Fairfax Dr access has some bad ice.

[consularrider]

The MVT was even better this morning at 8 am. There were fewer refrozen bands of meltoff water than I had expected (or experienced on the W&OD in Arlington) and the only tricky place remained the last uphill stretch just before Lynn St.

[consularrider]

The W&OD from Sycamore to Shirlington is almost all clear with a couple problem spots on the wooden bridges and single tracking between Carling Springs and Arlington Blvd. 4 Mile Run from Shirlington to the Mt Vernon Trail is clear. Mt Vernon from 4 Mile Run to Lynn St is mostly clear, and can be ridden with just about any tire even where it is not.

[consularrider]

Rode from Roosevelt Island to 4 Mile Run at 5 pm. It is mostly clear with a few exceptions, and those should be easy to navigate with just about any tires. The usual problems just after you get on the trail at Lynn Street and on the flyovers near the airport.

[consularrider]

At noon, the W&OD from Roosevelt (just be for the Sycamore underpass and mile 5) to Walter Reed has a hit or miss plowing. The section from Bluemont to Glen Carlyn really wasn’t plowed, but there was a single clear track most of the way. The wooden bridges had not been cleared and I had to walk across them. From Walter Reed to Shirlington was not plowed. The plow was on something similar to a golf cart and someone commented that it didn’t have enough weight to plow cleanly. At noon it was parked by the caboose in Bluemont Park, so maybe it was heading east? The bike lanes on McKinley/Ohio, Patrick Henry, and George Mason were not clear as of 1 pm.

[consularrider]

I just saw a small plow on the W&OD at Ohio St in Arlington (about mile 4.25). I’m going to get the icebike out after lunch and see how much was plowed. This area has seen some plowing both this winter and in previous winters (like from Bon Air to Banneker Parks).

[consularrider]

I saw some signs on Sunday west of Vienna saying the trail would be closed, but didn’t stop to look at when or what for. It was 10 degrees warmer at National than Dulles this morning.

[consularrider]

Should have another chance tomorrow for the snow/ice bike ride. I rode part of the way down Clarendon with Chris last week.

[consularrider]

With my office having a two hour delayed opening, I didn’t leave home until just before 9 am. I took the combination of the W&OD/4MRT/MVT from East Falls Church to Rosslyn since it is flater than the Custis or on road routes. However, I detoured at Memorial Bridge over to the trail along the edge of Arlington Cemetary and up to the Ft Myer Gate so that I could avoid the Roosevelt Island wooden walkway and the climb up over the GW Parkway to Lynn St. Everything was iced over with a few very small clear spots and some slushy ice on the I-395 underpass at Shirlington. I was using 700×35 Marathon Winter studded tires and had very few problems as long as I took it slow and steady and did not make any sharp turns. I did not see a single other person on a bike in the hour and ten minutes I was out, just three runners. I could see a couple of tire trails most of the way and from the Crystal City access trail to the 14th St bridge, it looked like there had been about ten bikes that had passed this morning.

[consularrider]

I managed to get home last night before the freezing drizzle started coating the trails. This morning I rode a combination of the W&OD/4MRT/MVT from Bon Air Park, past Shirlington and the airport, finishing up in Rosslyn. All three trails were in the same condition, a coating of about one inch of snow over granulated ice. The bike tire ruts and footprints from last night had frozen and contributed to a rougher ride. I encountered and Arlington County plow in Bluemont Park that was heading west (had started on the W&OD at Columbia Pike). The plow had cleared the loose snow, but the ice was still there. No salt was being spread, and the driver had lifted the plow to go over the wooden bridges. I use Schwalbe Maration Winter studded tires and they did fine on all the surfaces. The worst was going over the Humpback Bridge where melt off from the GW PKY had run over the bike detour and refrozen as solid ice. I encounterd one cross-country skier and it looked like several cyclists were having problems maintaining traction and were weaving all over the trail. Only saw one spot where someone had clearly fallen. There was also one spot on the W&OD where tire tracks showed someone had slid off the road and across the trail (saw a couple of those during the mid-December snowfall on the MVT.

[consularrider]

Thanks to Brad for the planning and inspiration and both Brad and Peter for taking it easy on this old man with all the climbing. I finished with just under 52 miles and 3200 feet of elevation gain. Since I forgot to bring my camera, I too am looking forward to seeing the photos. And where is the Honduras Embassy? The address includes a suite number, so I guess it must be inside the INTELSAT building. Maybe we should substitute the Honduran Consulate at 1014 M St, NW, and we almost went by it anyway? It’s not much to look at, but at least they fly the flag!

[consularrider]

Sounds like an interesting concept. Will have to look at my commitments and post back on Saturday, or maybe see you at the WABA ride. How do we recognize you (if you are willing to share over a public forum)?

[consularrider]

Thanks for the info. I generally don’t want to totally ignore a user since even the worst troll may occasionally have some good insight. It just seems to me that sometimes threads get too off track, so I guess I just have to remember them, and not open new messages.

[consularrider]

@CCrew 1672 wrote:

That’s part of my route I take most mornings inbound. Jump onto Fairfax from the Custis. then down to the Key bridge.

Starbucks on Fairfax, Starbucks on Clarendon near the Apple store, and the Starbucks on Lynn are where I’ve had collisions. Must be something about that zombie effect of Starbucks that makes them so dangerous

So from experience Starbucks = road rash

What, no issue with the Starbucks on Clarendon at N Oak St? That’s where I always have to watch for right hooks with cars bearing right there down 17th St N and traffic merging into me from the left with the disappearance of the bike lane as you cross Oak. And you can’t blame Starbucks on Lynn St, it’s the cars coming out of the two parking garages that are the problem, and they have to stick their noses out to see around the cars that are parked too close to the driveways!

I have no experience with trikes, but one of my standard routes takes me down the Custis and eventually to Lynn St. What I’ve started doing is exiting the Custis at N Oak St and taking the contraflow traffic lane to N Nash St, left on Lee Hwy, right on N Moore and left on N 19th to the interection with N Lynn where the bus is waiting blocking the right traffic lane and the bike lane every evening.

[consularrider]

I will do like do on other forums and just ignore the threads that start getting argumentative or full of trolls. Maybe we can get an option to hide threads we have no interest in, or maybe that option is already here and I just don’t know where to look?

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