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@consularrider 206919 wrote:

Who’s buried here (and not under the snow)?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say U.S. Grant. :p

That being said, I heard at one point this was the most visited attraction in NYC and went off in search of a source to back it up. I quickly gave up because I have things to do, but not before I came across this gem (from the wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt):

The sarcophagi [of Grant and his wife] are placed above ground, leading to a common riddle by comedian Groucho Marx, who often asked contestants on his radio and television quiz show You Bet Your Life: “Who was buried in Grant’s Tomb?” The riddle is based on the use of the word “buried”, and since neither of the Grants’ tombs are underground, the correct answer is “no one”. However, Marx often accepted the answer “Grant” and awarded a consolation prize to those who gave it. He used the question, among several other easy ones, to ensure that everyone won a prize on the show.

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@bikesnick 205369 wrote:

The Battle of Hampton Roads took place in 1862. It was the first meeting of two ironclad warships, USS Monitor (Union) and CSS Virginia (Confederate). The Virginia was built on the hull of the USS Merrimack. The duel ended indecisively, but nations worldwide began changing shipbuilding practices.

This would go great with the Monitor and Merrimac formations just north of Moab on the road to Island in the Sky District at Canyonlands NP (although it might make for a long ride from here, it’s pretty easily done from downtown Moab).

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@AlanA 204294 wrote:

Beth.

Another clarification please. This time regarding streets.

I’ll give an example. Let’s assume that JEB Stuarts Cavalry used what is now Rt. 97 from Olney up to Westminster on their way to PA. How many times may I use this street? There are a few markers along the way, but may I use a stretch between two markers? You mentioned the different city/town rule, so would that apply to one continuous road as well? Would a random section in the middle of nowhere count? After all, the are marching from point a to point b with a purpose.

We have a fair amount of roads like that up my way. The National Road is another example.

Also, would a road that just involves a troop movement count? I have found numerous maps that show most of the troop movements along with the current name day of the road that was used. If I explain that it was used for “A Troop” going from “A to B”, would that make it more legit?

Just trying to figure out how to manage what I have to work with out my way.

Thanks.

I was pondering this same question during my ride today. I posted Lee Jackson Memorial Highway the other day in the Chantilly zip code, but it also goes into the Fairfax zip code (neither are incorporated towns/cities…Virginia is funny like that). Same thing with Lee Highway.

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Do you care if people can’t make it or will you just assume that non-registrants aren’t able to make it?

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Thanks for the clarification…it’ll make my route planning a bit easier

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@BicycleBeth 202905 wrote:

Don’t repeat the same exact historic marker for the duration of Freezing Saddles.

So if I come across a place associated with the Civil War, and there are two separate markers that say different things, I could use them both on separate days?

For example, let’s say that for the sake of argument that at the junction of 66 and the Beltway there are a pair of signs (about 25 yards apart put up at different times by different organizations). One sign says “Battle of the Beltway” and describes how contractors would raid the federal government with jacked up prices and false promises. The second sign says “Raid of the Beltway Bandits” and describes how the federal government was fleeced by contractors with their jacked up prices and false promises.

Could I ride to the first sign one day and then the second sign on another day?

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Is this on again this year?

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@zsionakides 199862 wrote:

This is fine for a confident rider, though I doubt the general public would ride this route, let alone even discover a route like this. The general public is either going with what they know (e.g. W&OD) or what’s findable in their neighborhood.

Why not? It only took me five minutes to create and I don’t even know the area. Is the general public not capable of finding routes near their homes? Is the general public not capable of using a map?

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An easy eight miles from Skyline Towers

Next?

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I’m looking at how to accommodate average cyclists who aren’t going to be comfortable dealing with most of Fairfax County’s high speed roads. While some neighborhoods can be biked from, there are a lot of apartment complexes and townhome communities that simply plug into the state highways, which I wouldn’t recommend for anyone.

I guess you missed what I included in my original post:

As an aside, my son and a few of his friends, who aren’t cyclists by any stretch of the imagination, rode from Fair Lakes to Alexandria and back the other day. They had *no* problems getting there or back.

My son and his friends are below average cyclists; they were able to get from Fair Lakes to Old Town using side paths, sidewalks and neighborhood roads. If they can do it, your average cyclist should have no problem finding routes to ride while avoiding “high speed roads” (whatever that means).

Please provide examples of “communities that simply plug into the state highways” and I’m sure I can go to google maps and find a route for them to take.

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@zsionakides 199832 wrote:

In Fairfax County much of Annandale, Springfield, and Mclean are largely un-bikeable and have limited areas to pleasantly walk outside their immediate neighborhood, unless you enjoy walking/biking on a 4ft sidewalk next to a high speed road. Prince William and Stafford County are almost entirely un-bikable and un-walkable. Reston, Herndon, Vienna, and parts of Loudoun County are manageable, but nowhere near as accessible as much of Arlington and Alexandria (City of)

I rode all over NoVA in the hunt for parks during FS2020. While I found that McLean was the worst in terms of on-road riding (or sidepaths), I didn’t have any issues with riding on the roads in any of the areas mentioned above (not including Prince William or Stafford as they’re off my radar). I’d have even fewer issues now that there’s been such a decrease in traffic!

Yes, I do realize I’m probably an outlier and not the most accurate representation of your target demographic (folks who don’t ride daily — or even monthly — on a usual basis), but it’s not that difficult to string together neighborhoods in NoVA in order to avoid riding on main roads (where many of them have side paths anyway so that riding on the road isn’t even required). Sure, it might take a while to get where they’re going, but it can definitely be done with some foresight and planning.

As an aside, my son and a few of his friends, who aren’t cyclists by any stretch of the imagination, rode from Fair Lakes to Alexandria and back the other day. They had *no* problems getting there or back. (The problems happened the next day when they paid for their youthful exuberance lol.)

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Thanks, again, camiller, for this awesome pointless prize. As I’ve mentioned before, it got me out of the same old routes I’d take and get me to parts of NoVA that I typically don’t ride — as well as my first trip across the Woodrow Wilson bridge. Boomer and Josh were great competition and kept me going until the last day. (Although if my trip this week hadn’t been canceled due to covid, Boomer probably would’ve laid claim to the title as I would’ve been in the car on Thursday vs. on the bike finding parks.)

I stated early on that I was going to game the system by posting short segments and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize how short some would be. I think the shortest was 408 feet (between Rock Creek Park and Georgetown Waterfront Park).

I also had my first random encounter with a fellow Freezing Saddle participant (sorry, that I didn’t catch your name!) on my Dark Star segment.

Again, if this is a sponsored prize next year, I encourage others to try it out!!

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@n18 199511 wrote:

Vienna Police: Cyclist Allegedly Grabs, Shakes Kid for Sneezing Outside

A juvenile reported that he was on the bike trail near the Whole Foods Market with his friends when he sneezed. A cyclist who was riding by stopped his bicycle and began yelling at the juvenile about the pandemic. The man grabbed the juvenile by the sweatshirt and shook him, then left the area westbound on the trail.”

Holy schnikes…what kind of ass hat would do this? If I were a guessing man, I’d say it’s probably the same ass hat who thinks that passing pedestrians (or others cyclists) without slowing down and not yielding to oncoming traffic in the opposing lane is perfectly acceptable. :confused: 😡

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You were quite the challenger, Boomer! I would’ve fallen short if my trip hadn’t been canceled. Instead of driving to Georgia on Thursday, I spent the riding around NoVA day collecting parks before celebrating the end of FS2000 with a well deserved adult beverage of choice.

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I’m matteblack and I approve this year’s point scoring methodology (not that that means anything or anything). Seriously, though, I liked this year’s more than last year’s (my first foray in FS). I, too, set 10 miles as my new sleaze, which I termed a megasleaze (although some days I did a true sleaze).

Looking forward to next year, I would probably tweak it a bit, but not by much. Which parts would I tweak? Let me sleep on that and answer in November.

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