[JimF22003]

@creadinger 82995 wrote:

We found St. Louis Rd to be pretty trafficky, vs. roads to the west.

It’s kind of a shame too, since parts of St. Louis are very pretty (and have much sharper hills than you might think.) The last time was on St. Louis, I was chugging up a 12% grade or so, and there was a dump truck coming up behind me. It wasn’t safe to pass, and there was an on-coming car, so he basically slowed down to my speed on that upslope. When he was ready to pass, he couldn’t get the clutch engaged at first, and was basically stalled there behind me with the engine stopped. Fortunately he got the truck restarted and was able to get going on the uphill. I don’t think he was any too pleased…

[JimF22003]

@mstone 82968 wrote:

Why is tapawingo getting the hate? I like tapawingo!

I like just SAYING Tapawingo.

Tapawingo. Tapawingo. Tapawingo!

[JimF22003]

I’ve never even seen the road called “Woodtrail Road” off of Airmont Road. If it’s actually there I don’t think it’s paved, if that’s a concern for you. Same with Unison road. I know Foxcroft Road is paved from St Louis in to Middleburg, but I don’t know about the other side of St. Louis.

re: amenities

Round Hill: a couple of country stores; not sure about restaurants
Airmont Snickersville: small country store
Atoka and 55: There used to be a country store here. Last time I stopped there they were in the process of turning it into a pizza place. Not sure if that actually happened or if the place is still open. It comes and goes.

[JimF22003]

Sorry if I undersold the hillage. When you ride the same hills all the time I guess you get used to the pain. I have a two-block 12% climb right out of my house. Tends to wake you up in the morning

[JimF22003]

I’ve been on worse

Only problem heading towards Leesburg is threading your way through the huge rumble strips (but at least they separate you from traffic) and it can be a little dirty so watch your tires. I wouldn’t head south from the turnoff for Whites Ferry on a bet.

[JimF22003]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[JimF22003]

I know most of the roads out there, but haven’t really correlated them wineries. The ones I’m familiar with are off of 522/Hume Rd, and Naked Mountain (although I think that one is defunct.)

There are some great roads in the area you’re asking about. Even 211 and 522 are rideable. If you can do a teeny amount of gravel you have some even nicer options (but a bit hillier.) This is one I just made up, that takes in some of my favorite roads:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4348154

There’s a small amount of gravel on Aaron Mountain Rd, and about 1/2 mile or so on Gid Brown Hollow, but it’s easily doable on a road bike.

This would be a great ride even without the wineries

[JimF22003]

It’s been a couple of years since I did this, and I think I read that they had changed the route this year (or at least the starting point.) If I recall they painted blue whales or something on the road for markings. Very oceanic. I never got lost anyway. You should be fine. Just follow the cue sheets. There should be enough other riders out there also to have somebody in front of you or behind you to lead you astray

Have fun!

[JimF22003]

Narc.

But the good kind

[JimF22003]

You’ll have to give me a bus-loading lesson some time

Here’s the way I go from (approximately) my neighborhood down through Lake Barcroft, across Rt 7, and down to the W&OD:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4238402

It’s only on Annandale Rd for one block or so. I find the route through Lake Barcroft to be very enjoyable. Lots of ups and down there, but nothing too hard unless you’re just trying for punishment

[JimF22003]

That’s cool with me! Everybody should ride where they have fun and feel comfortable. I just wanted to see if you wanted some route advice. Getting from inside the beltway across Gallows is pretty nasty. There’s only a couple of good ways. I was thinking more of the route I use to get down to the Carlyn Springs area, for going Eastwards. There’s some hills going that way though, no getting around it.

It’s funny about the bus and the metro. I’m from the country — as I grew up in Idaho. I’ve only ridden the metro twice, and I freaked out about it each time, worried that I’d get lost or do something dumb. I used to ride the bus in Cincinnati, but never tried to put a bike on one. I always imagine a whole bus-load of folks giving me the stink-eye as I fumble with the bike at the front of the bus

[JimF22003]

Since you appear to be getting pretty comfortable navigating around away from the bike trail, you might want to think about just biking down to the W&OD from Annandale. There are several quite safe ways to get there. I’m actually more nervous about putting a bike on a bus (I’ve never done it) than riding on the road

I can post up my usual routes if you like.

[JimF22003]

Sounds like fun. I’ve ridden that general area of the BRP quite a bit. There are some nice parallel side routes on either side of the ridge between Waynesboro south to Buena Vista. There are some places to get in some serious climbing too like up from Vesuvius, Crabtree Falls, Wintergreen, Reeds Gap etc. If you stay on the BRP with no side trips the route from MP 1 at Waynesboro down to Big Island is very pretty, lots of good overlooks, with some good climbs. On the parkway itself the climbs are not as steep as the side roads but still pretty challenging. It’s further south than Lynchburg, but I recommend the section of the BRP that goes from Big Island up over Thunder Ridge and down to Peaks of Otter. That goes from the lowest point of the parkway in Virginia (about 700 feet) to the highest (about 4000) feet over about 13 miles.

[JimF22003]

Speaking of toys at Gravelly Point, a year ago in the spring there was a guy on “roller skis” complete with ski poles stopped in the middle of the trail watching a plane take off. As it went by, he slowly pivoted to follow it, with his ski poles tucked under his arms. Just as I was coming by the poles swung right out into the path like two spears pointed right at my chest. I barely missed becoming a shishkabob….

[JimF22003]

@dkel 79203 wrote:

It was pretty quiet when I rolled out at 8:00 am. Of course, it was still 37 degrees at that time. Both Rockford10 and I saw some crazy stuff out there later in the day, on completely different parts of the W&OD. Sometimes I think there should be some kind of training requirement for MUP use.

But as soon as you get all trained up, you tend to avoid the trails and hit the roads in preference.

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