[MRH5028]

Depending on how far you are willing to go out, the hill on Hunter Station Road is good. Just head west on W&OD past Vienna, when the trail hits Hunter Mill Road get off and make the quick turn onto Hunter Station. Follow the road around and over the bridge, you will find the hill. Normally low traffic on the road as well. Riding out on the W&OD provides a nice warm up for doing a couple of “Ups”.

[MRH5028]

I think I passed you while you were receiving the ticket from the cop. Was wondering what happened. That intersection does suck for cyclists, as well as cars. Hopefully the judge is understanding and/or a frequent user of the intersection.

[MRH5028]

@americancyclo 59813 wrote:

I just wanted to add that I happened to be in a car yesterday driving south on Gallows. As we approached the trail crossing, we were passed by another vehicle that was going about 50 mph, and that was the general speed of traffic. Kind of horrifying when you think about having to cross that kind of high speed traffic on a bicycle, even when there is a traffic light.

The 35mph speed limit is just a suggestion that 90% of drivers on Gallows ignore. When it is obeyed it is only due to traffic.

[MRH5028]

This is a really cool idea. Imagine a crowd-sourced heatmap of problem areas. That way gov officials would know where to concentrate infrastructure upgrades/changes. Would be cool if CaBi integrated something similar into their bikes, that would provide a ton of data for this.

[MRH5028]

@mstone 141297 wrote:

I’ll plug crooked run brewing. You can pair it with the doner stop.

Ahh yes another good stop. Also Fireworks is right there too.

[MRH5028]

The mix of serious riders and casual riders is not ideal. They really need to separate into two events (Time Challenge Ride, Family Ride)

Even if they do that they need to do staggered starts and enforce them. For marathons they have different starting gates for how long you think the marathon will take you. They need something similar for this ride for laps and then stagger the starts by a couple of minutes.

I’m used to riding in tight turns with a crowd from racing cyclocross, but there were several times where I felt uncomfortable. Such as when riding in a crowd at 10 cyclists all in a row go whizzing by with no call at all.

Maybe ride marshals should pull people who do no call passes?

[MRH5028]

Taking a Saturday to ride the W&OD is a favorite activity that I rarely have time for. Couple of additional spots for people to check out:

-Old Ox has already been mentioned but there are a few other breweries close to the trail. Aslin in Herndon is a great stop, as is Lost Rhino in Ashburn (little bit further from trail)
-If hunting for food and a good turn-around point, check out Doner Bistro in Leesburg, about .5 miles from the trail Get yourself a Doner and a German beer
-Caboose Brewing in Vienna is literally steps from the trail as well
-Keep your eyes peeled for 7-11s out on the western end if you need a food stop or a refresh on water

[MRH5028]

@Emm 141278 wrote:

My neighbor was a ride marshal. He saw the person who crashed…and was pretty sure that they were either in very critical condition or didn’t survive it (he felt strongly it was the 2nd option and he is a medical professional…but since I saw no news on it I’m hopeful he was wrong). I guess the person went down face first.

Wow. I knew it was serious, but really hoped it wasn’t that bad. When we went by they were motionless face down with feet splayed out, I thought the worst would be conscious. Please update if you hear anything else.

[MRH5028]

Did the ride as well and saw the aftermath of the crash you mentioned, when we went through it must have just happened. When we were waiting at the end of the ride they were doing announcements that anybody who saw what happened should head to the police command post. Really hope they everyone is OK

There was also a crash on the downhill from the Air Force memorial, heard somebody crashed into a police officer.

This mix of people taking the ride way to seriously and people who are new to riding in groups is disastrous. They should really a) discourage the “race” mentality, and b) stagger the starts so people are spread out.

[MRH5028]

Commute in was good, glad there was no wind. My 10PM hockey game last night left my legs lacking power or will to move forward.

[MRH5028]

@VA2DC 140807 wrote:

My experience is that the sketchiest parts of that Fairfax segment are waiting to cross from the north side of the Fairfax to the south side at Wakefield in front of the Holiday Inn (the first light after coming off the Custis connector). Just a looonggg beg light, and lots of traffic that may or may not respect it going onto and coming off of 66. The other part that might concern a new rider is waiting in the bike lane to cross Glebe, where there are cars to your left waiting to go straight across and cars to your right turning right onto Glebe. When cars in the right lane have the green arrow (and even when they don’t), they tend to zip past you pretty quickly. Only pedestrians crossing Glebe will slow (sometimes) them down.

There’s a good-sized patch of gravel and debris as you start to cross Glebe at that intersection, and you have to swing into the through-lane or right-hand turn area to avoid it. Both maneuvers put you into the traffic flow. There’s also a lot of broken glass, gravel, and debris in the bike lane on the north side of the pedestrian island once you cross Glebe. Again, to avoid it, you need to stay in the car travel lane until you pass it and can swing back into the bike lane. I submitted a service request on both of these spots a week ago, but it still only shows up at “Submitted” on the county’s tracker.

To avoid the long light and crossing over Fairfax when coming off the Custis I cut through the Bluemont Junction Trail. When heading east on Custis get off at 10th St N and turn right at N George Mason. Use the light and crosswalks at Wilson to put you on the other side of George Mason so you can catch the trail. May be a bit longer, but easier than dealing with the crossover IMO.

[MRH5028]

@kcb203 140832 wrote:

I think the “official” route of the W&OD actually stays on the trail between 66 and the electric substation, then joins the road near East Falls Church Metro for a couple blocks, then rejoins the W&OD after crossing a bridge. Nobody goes that way on a bike because there are a few tight turns and it’s easier to just go down Van Buren.

This is the way I normally go out of habit. I didn’t know about the alternative route on Van Buren for a long time.

[MRH5028]

Ugh I seriously hate snakes. I have a mini heart attack every time I see one slither along the trail in front of me. I’m basically Indiana Jones really.

[MRH5028]

@Tania 140334 wrote:

Strava leads me to believe that you [MRH5028] were right behind me this am on Gallows!

That was me! Left a little earlier than normal today. I cut through the condo development to avoid light craziness.

[MRH5028]

@huskerdont 139895 wrote:

I prolly would have bought a $300+ Castelli jacket there, but they ignored me to the extent that I left. Who can afford to run a business like that?

Just sell $10,000 bikes.

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