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Me: Cyclist foot-down stopped at stop line on Fairfax at Harrison.

You: Giant SUV heading northbound on Harrison deciding to turn left onto Fairfax, clearly believing that Fairfax was one way and you wanted to be in the right lane. Coming straight at me.

Me: “WHAT THE F(*@($^$ ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!”

You: Deigning to slow down and move ever so slightly to the right, after hearing me through your solid vehicle with closed windows.

Me: Trying to shuffle sideways with the bike and manage to make a couple of inches clearance for you and your giant metal box.

You: Look at me like I were a speck of dirt.

Me: Continuing to yell questions and profanity as you drove quickly down Fairfax.

I curse you. I hope that your blindness becomes complete so that they remove your driver’s license from you permanently. And someone knives your tires every day until then. And you realize that you are not the only person on the planet.

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@Raymo853 135047 wrote:

Arlington was very good at clearing it yesterday.

Actually, I was referring to the glacier in the parking lot in Bluemont park – across the bridge and south a tad from the trail heading to Ballston. This is where the county piled a LOT of snow (and do for all big storms). 4MRT runs through it.

However, I am glad to see that the Bluemont Trail is clear for when I am back in town later this week.

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Bluemont Glacier is receding (with a little help from the county) now possible to pass it on the trail, with the minor exception near the restroom building, but the area is easy to ride on.

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Very windy.
Especially on any flat or downhill or uphill.

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I did not see any icy patches on Trollheim at ~5:30 today. No guarantees that there weren’t pieces here and there, but not patches for slipping.

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So, if you use manual entries for strava, none of these special metrics work? I guess trying to tell from my ride title where I went is tough in an automated manner. But they all are in the DC area, so one might think that could give some basic, even if not perfect numbers (and yes, DCA is all wrong with temp – there are many times through out the year that once you reach the Gravely Point parking lot you heat up until you cross 4MR. And one very memorable occasion of walls of temperature differences. And then the fog days.). Oh well. I guess I pay for not having something recording my every move. Darn.:rolleyes:

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@komorebi 134612 wrote:

The MVT is flooded near the north end of the Washington Sailing Marina, by the s-curve. The trail is covered in several inches of standing water for about 50 feet.

MVT around Memorial Bridge, while currently clear of water, looks like not much higher river levels will cause flooding (water at the grass level; high tide now past). Something to keep an eye out for if you are doing a later evening commute – possible they will be higher than this morning. But sounds like the s-curve mentioned here will be bad then too.

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@Steve O 134546 wrote:

I had my own run-in with the Bluemont snow mountain/glacier.
After the Team 12 (& friends) HH on Friday, I took the wooded path home instead of the W&OD. Then suddenly there was an 16-foot high pile of snow in my way. And no good way around it either. I didn’t take its picture, though.

I decided to see how bad it was yesterday and rode up to it from the south (or is that east?). I tried both sides and the creek side is the easier to go around. The trail is still mostly there. There is one bit that you need to walk your bike around through some mud, but it isn’t far. The side closer to houses and the road requires all hilly grass/mud.

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@Tania 134453 wrote:

I’m heading out that way today – Claiborne to Purcellville and then a road loop so I’ll report back. I’m told there is some ice at the Sycolin underpass and hoping goose creek isn’t flooded.

Thank you. Ended up doing W&OD. Definitely clear path (only occasional narrowing due to snow). There was some bad glass west of downtown Herdon which took out at least one tire (other cyclists – who then clued us into it). Used shoes to brush much of the broken Corona bottle off trail on return – should be safe for cycles and paws.

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I think Bono has recovered from his bike accident. Perhaps he would be interested… Definitely a big name.

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It seems that most of the trails are now clear, but there are piles of snow here and there (aside from the Bluemont Glacier, that will take a while). Sundays are usually my long ride with a buddy and a clear trail would be prefer for this week. Anyone know if the following areas have extensive snow still:

Mount Vernon Trail to Mount Vernon, i.e., south of Wilson bridge to the Visitor center/gift shop

W&OD from Arlington to Herndon and further west (does it ever become an issue)

Capital Crescent Trail and Rock Creek Park Trail

Thank you.

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I got the same response from NPS too. Sounds like all the e-mails are making a difference.

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Two so far.

Both on pre-blizzard snow/slick road night.
First on Fairfax after getting off Bluemont because a car slipped on the road and I tried to avoid it and went down.
Second on Harrison trying to go up hill and tire slipped for three or more attempted pedal rotations.

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Custis-Roosevelt lot-Key bridge-Hains Point-14th st bridge-MVT-CCC-4MR-W&OD-LittleFallsSt- surfacetohome

Trail Report, on a hybrid with knobby 38s that came with the bike.

Started at ~10am (note also walked Custis – W&OD to Columbia Pike and back starting at 7am, so bits of Custis not biked were walked)
Any trail plowed or otherwise to pavement had sections with a bit of snow and melting. I will not comment on these, except to say all trails will have icy bits should it freeze.

Custis was good. Only questionable part was Spout Run bridge which was puddly and slushy at ~10:15am. The divot folks have mentioned at Quin seems to have been filled.

Took trail from IOD to Roosevelt lot to see what MVT was like. The lot was unplowed, which surprised me (since it is for cars). I decided to turn around.

Key bridge was fine. Took sidewalk and first road (cobbled) down to cross canal. Hill down was too slick at that time and walked. The stairs down to the roadway were clear. Both trail and road towards merge with Rock Creek Park Trail was clear.

Rock Creek Park Trail along river, past Kennedy Center was mostly packed snow turning to slush, but there were bits of pavement, especially right along the fence at the River. Went past the volleyball courts. Slushy, but doable.

Passing under the two roads/bridges and in between them around Lincoln Memorial (river level) were chunky and little pavement – I walked/Flintstoned much of it to avoid potentially falling into the road or down the steps.

Took Ohio where most cars turned to Independence since sidewalk not very passable – I did notice that after the Statue the sidewalk was clear. Ohio to Hains Point was clear and great – many cyclists were doing loops like me.

14th street bridge was fine. Slushy bits and a bit of pavement heading to MVT. Someone was going at the ice on the MVT just south of the intersection – I thanked her. The area with the bridges was alternating between pavement, slushy and icy/too much snow to pedal. Walked or Flintstoned a couple of times. Once passed the trees, much of trail was pavement until on the west side of the parking lot at Gravelly Point. Then there was more snow than not to CCC. Some riding, some walking. Bailed at CCC. First bit down was good, but approach to tunnel was mixed slush/solid snow. Tunnel clear. After tunnel all snow – walked to tunnel. Tunnel and up to Crystal Drive clear.

Took service road behind buildings to 26th street – all clear. Then sidewalk on Crystal Drive to Potamac. Potamac to switchback to 4MR. All clear.

4MR to Walter Reed was clear. Then transferred to W&OD.

W&OD basically clear to about the pond (watch crossing at George Mason on the west side – very narrow area to get on/off trail). From there until Carlin Springs, sections were icy/slushy messes (yet ridable for me), some were not ridable, and others were pavement (and all better than at ~8am (at this point ~1pm)). From Carlin Springs to Custis occasional patches of narrow passable areas or packed snow and mostly pavement.

Took W&OD/4MR to Van Buren then the roads back to W&OD. Note that the little spur back to the trail is not clear, but the shoveled sidewalk in front of the houses on the right connect to the cleared sidewalk for the apartments allowing one to ride to trail connecting at the covered bike parking. Crossing at Lee Highway is “fun” on the west side. They plowed snow over the curb-cut and cleared the grass (now MUD). Mostly pavement, but some slushy patches to Little Falls St.

Took Little Falls St to Westmoreland and other roads home. All were clear, but that salt does get to you. Kind of like being at the ocean, but lacking the moisture of the sea air.

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CCC-MVT-CT all in pretty good shape.
I was shocked at how good Trollheim was. A few shady areas had snow/ruts, but easy to coast over.
Big thanks to Arl Co for brushing (plowing) CT, especially since it didn’t meet the 2inch requirement. While there were spots of snow/ice/ruts, none were large. CT was snowy on edges, but a nice area in the middle was clear all over (since there aren’t as many bikes or peds out now as in, say, Sept, a narrower trail is just fine).

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