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@peterw_diy 143775 wrote:

How are the shoulders? Lately some of Alexandria’s MUP repaving has created some seriously steep (>65deg), tall (>3″) shoulders that are likely to cause wipeouts and injuries for anyone who wanders off the trail, as kids tend to do.

But Potomac Yard is the worst, especially the sections that abutt the free on-street parking, where car doors are frequent hazards for southbound traffic — Potomac Yard has included hazards since opening day.

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Dunno if anybody else was curious or especially still cares, but I always wanted to see what’s on the other side of this tunnel and finally did this weekend.

It’s a fenced in, locked, abandoned parking lot. It doesn’t connect to anywhere. It’d be a cool place to build a skatepark or something useful to anybody.
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I know S Arlington better than your neck of the woods so here’s some hills that came to mind that seem relatively close to you:

This segment is a serious hill very close to where the 4 mile run trail meets the intersection of Glebe and Mt. Vernon ave.
Crossing that intersection sucks, but once you head up Arlington ridge road and take that first right to head up the steeper part of the hill, there will probably be no car traffic at all. June St. there turns into a very little known, narrow paved trail that goes up into oakcrest park at the top.

You can also take S. Eads street from the 4MR trail and turn left and go up Ft. Scott Drive to the park, to about where this segment ends. I’m surprised there is no segment there up Ft. Scott drive, the hill is fairly long, above 8%, wide and with lower traffic. Only downside is that it T’s with busy Eads at the bottom.

There’s also that kidney shaped hill loop, the gunston side being steeper. The intersection with Valley drive is probably not fun during rush hours though.

Is going up 28th just as bad traffic wise as 31st? It’s a beast of a hill.

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Yup. Farmers market. The Draft House. Delicious restaurants. The draft house. Papillon Cycles. The draft house. Judd’s Pool, my cat’s vet, The draft house, more ways to get east west quickly, potentially fun hills, the draft house… Instead I avoid the place almost as much as I avoid Clarendon.

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yeah big improvement

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@jabberwocky 143616 wrote:

The problem is that Gallows looks like a highway. Its relatively straight, multi lane and high traffic. You can set whatever speed limit you want and do as much enforcement as you want, but its not gonna really slow people down because the road design invites high speeds.

Same basic problem as the GW parkway.

This is like Quaker Lane btwn Duke St. and King in Alexandria. It has a posted 25 mph limit with electronic monitor signs everywhere but the old wide straight many lane road design demands and achieves a consistent 35 mph minimum at all times.

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Forget 30%.

Anybody here who can go up and down the 14% Glencaryln Wall 5 times in a row without taking a breather has rights to demand a beer/coffee from me at any of our get-togethers .

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Oh I realize you’re talking about that thing that used to be the Alpe De Crystal segment with the stairs that go up it. Didn’t see anybody there at 8am ish

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it was on the MVT north of where 4MR ends

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Yeah two guys were up there on the trail during this morning’s commute with a small vehicle and lots of scattered foliage. Working their way from north to south towards the recently repaved area near the airport’s gwmp on-ramp.

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@KLizotte 143388 wrote:

Dickie could simply turn right like most cyclists then pick up the trail again by passing through the apartment complex next to the turn off. A little out of his way but may be safer if the intersection is an issue.

Yeah there is actually a path/parkinglot between the two apartment buildings there that directly connects the trail to the street well before it heads under Mt. Vernon Ave. It would mean following the flow of the usual right turn down the hill, and then turning left into the parkinglot where the fence ends (and where there’s a long straightaway in both directions for all of your signalling and viewing needs). If you’re trying to cross glebe to get to or past the Giant parkinglot area, any of the crossings there are as good as any of the others (awful)

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If it works out for you time wise, tomorrow morning (and every Tuesday) a bunch of us regular bike commuters meet up in the Crystal City water park right at the trail connection between Crystal drive and the MVT. People start showing up about 7am and stay till 730 or 8ish, whatever works, to chat and sip coffee, and we frequently bike convoy into the city together. Come say hi!

I see from another thread you already heard about the Crystal City Coffee Club so I’ll just add another “You got this!”

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Ian, not even a pikachu could get me to return to flicking my pokeballs in public

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That’s not stereotypical, it’s prejudiced

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The redesign that happened there in the south side of crystal city is the most baffling infrastructure change I’ve come across. There are ways to get through there relatively safely as an alert cyclist, while avoiding constant road raging commuters, but they now require breaking laws. South of that unnecessary nonsense, after a winter and spring of feeling my life put at risk on a daily basis: I prefer to cross rt 1 at glebe and get on Commonwealth than to spend any time at all on Potomac avenue.

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