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Thank you all for the tips, this is very helpful, thanks!

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34 miles a day?

Speaking for myself, I couldn’t handle that much commitment of energy. Or time.

I consider myself lucky – I have a bike commute of 6.3 miles each way, and a fairly relaxing safe route although there are some tense sections. My route takes me around 30 minutes which I think is just right — not too long to be drudgery, but long enough to provide a good amount of exercise. For reference, I’m in my mid-40s and in pretty good shape (thanks to daily bike commuting for 3 years). Maybe I could do a longer bike commute when I was younger, but I wouldn’t want to go much longer than what I have now.

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Thank you all for the additional tips. I will try these out on a weekend.

@lordofthemark 98228 wrote:

How often are you looking to bike commute? While Mantua is an area with relatively reasonably priced homes and highly regarded schools a short (auto) commute to Tysons, as the above should make clear, what is close is different by bike than by car in this part of the world. If you are likely to bike every day or close to it, it probably makes more sense to look west of Tysons along the W&OD – after all you will not being dealing with DTR or the beltway, but will get the use of one of the best bike facilities in the region. If you are biking less frequently (or your SO is commuting and not biking) you may have to just accept the routes above. I personally like the GCCT and have done all parts of the route Shawn suggested except the last bit into Tysons itself, though never in one go (I used to live in Annandale) I also agree with MStone that Vaden is a superior crossing over I66 than Gallows.

No doubt, if your destination is Tysons Corner, it’s better to live off the W&OD (which I do now), and it’s difficult when you’re south of I-66.

The reason I’m considering the Mantua area is because of the reasons you mentioned above and because my children already go to Mantua ES (although we currently live outside that school district — our kids are able to go there because it’s a magnet school). Trying to make a long story short, we need to move anyway and my preference would be to move to a place where we could stay in that school (we like it) and avoid too much disruption to the kids. I know that there are lots of other good school districts, however, so I’m not totally set on Mantua, but if I could make that work, I would prefer to do so.

For a couple of years now I’ve been a daily bike commuter from Falls Church (Fairfax) to Tyson’s. I take low-traffic neighborhood streets to W&OD, then get on Gallows and into Tyson’s. 6.25 miles each way. It’s really a great commute, and I appreciate that fact even more now! I really don’t want to go back to car driving. I can go longer than 6.25 miles each way but I don’t want to go much beyond 8 or 9 miles. I think I could probably stay within that range in Mantua, depending on where we wind up (if we go that way).

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@dkel 98188 wrote:

+1 for this. Parts of Cross County are smooth and picturesque, parts are punishingly bumpy, especially if it’s a daily commute. On the right bike, it’s very doable, though, and quite fun.

Wow, I post my question late at night and in the morning see these great tips, thank you!

I didn’t know about that trail, but when look it up I can see that this route might work. I commute on a cyclocross bike with wide road tires (700 x 35c) so I can probably handle the trail parts OK. And if I can go through the “back roads” of Merrifield, I can hook up to Gallows Road which gets me to where I need to be in Tysons.

Regarding Cedar Lane, that might be the most direct route but I’ve driven that road on a car and I would not want to be on that road on a bike. 2 lanes, no shoulder. I don’t know if I would be ran over or shot first.
@mstone 98181 wrote:

Ouch, yeah, that’s tough. 66 is a real barrier to north-south travel all over Fairfax. I’d probably do Nutley but I wouldn’t like it. If you’re really in the just looking phase I’d look north of 66.

Good advice. I am still in the “just looking phase” and based on looking at maps I think you’re right — getting over Rt 66 is tough. You’re forced to take some heavily trafficked roads. I will look at neighborhoods north of 66 as well.

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@looch 51958 wrote:

I’m also considering making my first bike ride from DC (NorthWest) to Tysons. I’ve not made the commute yet, but would be interested in finding a group to ride with that could meet up somewhere in DC sometime between 7-8am this Friday, May 17. Let me know if you’re heading out from DC into Tyson’s and want to ride as a group.

Anybody have a Google map of a suggested route?

Peace!
~Erik

Erik, not knowing your start and end point, my general recommendation for the mid point is to get to the W&OD trail westbound. You’ll go through Arlington, then Falls Church, then hit Gallows Road. At Gallows Road, take a right. There is a bike lane that will take you right to the edge of Tysons. You can then go where you need to go from there.

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Around 6.2 miles each way, 30-35 minutes to bike each way, from Falls Church to Tyson’s Corner. Fwiw, the car route is 7 miles and takes around 20 minutes on average.

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Wow, thanks everyone for the replies and tips, I do appreciate it.

#1 – Glad to hear that I’m not a pariah for doing this. Biking home tonight, there were at least 20 cars in line waiting to go left at the stop sign. When I saw that line, I thought, “It would be crazy for me to sit in that line. And if I did, then I’d probably manage to fall over thanks to my clumsiness with clipless pedals.” So I moved to the front, stopped completely, made eye contact with the first driver in the line going left, signaled, and did a “wide turn” where I basically ride almost straight to the curb, then veer left. This gives the car(s) plenty of room. This seems to be the consensus.

#2 – I probably should not have said “blow through” the stop signs; what I do is more like the “Idaho stop”. The only time I really “blow through” the stop sign is if there are literally no cars, and I always yield if there’s another car that has the right-of-way. When it’s more crowded, I usually try to time my crossing to go with another car that’s going in my direction; I feel like doing this is actually doing the other cars a favor since I don’t “waste” one turn at the intersection. Plus I feel like if I go with another car, it “protects” me from the drivers at the other parts of the intersection.

#3 – I think I went through maybe one red light. That was after I came to a complete stop and there were no cars anywhere in sight. I’ll just stay there and catch my breath. It’s not worth it.

Again, thank you everyone. I am trying to be an ambassador for all cyclists so I do want to be respectful. One of my biggest pet peeves when I drive a car is erratic pedestrians who just jaywalk across the road, not in a crosswalk, without even considering oncoming cars—as a driver, it’s dangerous because I may need to slam on the brakes or veer, which could cause a crash. So I don’t want to do that to another driver when I’m on my bike. In my 6 weeks of biking to work, I have been very gratified at how polite and accommodating the cars have been to me. I was nervous about biking to work but I’ve only had good experiences so far. I hope I haven’t jinxed it.

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