[Nemisys]

@americancyclo 32673 wrote:

You cloud do a ride like this, from Crystal City, head north to the Custis Trail, West out to Vienna, VA (Whole Foods or Vienna Inn for refreshment), East on the W&OD, South on the MVT to Mount Vernon, then back North to Crystal City. That would get you a solid 60 miles with all off-street, paved trails
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1777437

PERFECT!

And also thanks for the link. That Ride software looks badass, looks like I can sync it to my Garmin watch.

Thanks again!

[Nemisys]

Hey Thanks for the great response! I’m a little shocked.

Let me be a little more specific about the ride. I’m primarily am looking for a training ride, but would like to get some scenery at the same time. Lets be honest, anything different than the desert I normally ride in will be awesome.

In Arizona, I use the canals as much as possible (they’re paved) and are dedicated to pedestrians. I try to avoid surface streets as much as possible an rarely ride non-bike-lane shoulders. I don’t want to become another statistic if you know what I mean.

Ok so I found a bike. Thanks Tim for the link to Revolution! I rented a Madone, and having only ridden my Scattante (ever), i’m pretty stoaked lol.

I’m picking it up in Crystal City, so I’m probably going to abandon the Chesapeake bay idea and head up into Virginia instead. I’m looking at the “Washington and Old Dominion Trail”, is this truly dedicated path? Completely Paved?

It looks like a good perimeter loop would be head up that from crystal city towards Leesburg and back down following the Potomac river. Is there a path along the river?? Maybe the “Chesapeake and Ohio Canal”?

The links to google maps is by far the most helpful, since I don’t know the area at all.

Thanks for the help so far. I wish we had this type of community in AZ.

[Nemisys]

First off. Thank you so much for the tips! Its always good to get some feedback when riding somewhere new.

I had planned on bringing all of my own stuff (light,watch,flat-fix,multi-tool). Some of the places advertise speed plays, I would rather not have to take off my pedals, but I could if I have to.

My goal is to put in about 60-70, I was looking at riding to Chesapeake Bay and back. That looks to be the right amount of distance.

Is this possible? Are their sufficient bike lanes?

Do you suggest an alternate ride of similar distance?

Thanks for the help thus far!

[Author]

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