[ebubar]

Did my commute for the first time today. Sligo Creek trail to Georgetown Branch to Capital Crescent. Carry the bike at the Key Bridge Connection stairs (which I have to admit took me like 10-15 minutes to find!) then over the climb at Rosslyn. Doable, albeit quite slowly. Then up Lee HWY to Old Dominion and arriving at Marymount. 19.3 miles and it took about 2 hours. Of course, that’s throwing in all the stops to figure out where I was going, turning around when I realized I missed a turn, stopping for the occasional traffic light and slowing down for bike trail traffic jams on the CCT. Plus the stop to take a picture on the Key Bridge! All in all a nice ride. We’ll see how I feel this afternoon, I may be metro-ing back home. Regardless, I will sleep like a baby tonight.

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[ebubar]

@jopamora 26866 wrote:

Going through DC the traffic lights will keep your average pace down.

I just thought of this today on my ride to the takoma metro. My current route along maple has around 10 stop signs/traffic lights within a 1.9 mile span. I’ve noticed that I can really push myself and get an average pace of 11-12 mph or take it easy and have 10-11. It seems all those stops drag my average down. I can even see it on my Strava plots: jagged peaks the whole way. Stop and go is so frustrating, but I guess it’s a good workout!

[ebubar]

I took a look at all the suggested routes using mapmyride and took a look at the elevation changes. They all seem pretty modest/non-existent until the Chain Bridge or Custis portions. Chain Bridge looked ridiculous for my meager skill level. Custis looked doable in the near future. I have a couole comparable grades that I can take from Takoma metro home to work myself up a little.

I have a teaching lab, research lab and an office so the one way trip is definitely possible. Might try that out soon. Maybe next week a day before the academic year gets crazy!

[ebubar]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! My inclination was to go the trail routes and avoid downtown until I can maintain a higher average pace.
It sounds like I’ll need to work on my hill climbing abilities. As it is, I’m tired after just riding up Maple Avenue between Philadelphia and the Metro!

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