[OutsideTheLaw]

That section of the trail is about 1-2% downhill heading east from Ashburn Road about 3/4 mile back (the direction the assaulter was coming from) and correspondingly low-grade uphill heading west. So victim is passing some slower riders and assaulter is probably doing about 20 mph.

[OutsideTheLaw]

Clarendon Blvd and Lynn Street.

Saw the work done on Quincy this morning, it was great!

[OutsideTheLaw]

Remarkably sane, I couldn’t have done it without apoplexy.

[OutsideTheLaw]

As an Arlington commuter, I only do this when I’m going to Bethesda and want to avoid the “south on canal and back again” concept. If I’m heading to the city, I just take the canal down to Fletcher’s and get the CCT there.

[OutsideTheLaw]

September 28 — Northern Neck Century — http://www.riverride.org/

[OutsideTheLaw]

It’s been wide open all week, since Monday morning.

[OutsideTheLaw]

I’ve worked on L Street for 20 years and bike commuted the last 10. I ride all the roads in all conditions, both night and day — which is only to say I’ve seen it all.

I’d respond to your question, since you indicate concern about M Street, by suggesting you simply avoid Key Bridge. Instead of getting on Key Bridge from Rosslyn, just go down the MV Trail through Roosevelt Island and go over Roosevelt Bridge. At the Kennedy Center, head northeast through Foggy Bottom and GW Univ (I usually do H Street), and you’ll end up at the World Bank on Penna Ave. Stay east on Penna (there’s hardly ever traffic, since it dead ends at the White House) and then go north at a place appropriate to where you want to get on L Street, which is only 4 blocks away at that point. If you’re heading somewhere east of the White House, just go north on Madison Place (east side of Lafayette Park) off Penna Ave, past the VA on Vermont and you’ll be there in a jiffy, and you’ve encountered very little traffic since you left Rosslyn.

[OutsideTheLaw]

If you haven’t stared down the drivers making the right on red off I-66 onto Key Bridge while you’re in the crosswalk crossing Lynn heading south on the Custis / MVt you haven’t commuted in Arlington. Circle of Doom, indeed.

Try an alternate: come down Clarendon, left onto Lynn in central Rosslyn, then go with the Lynn Street traffic.

[OutsideTheLaw]

Very interesting thread.

[OutsideTheLaw]

“Also, 2 blocks away, I watched in amazement as two drivers blew through a red light to make a right on Lynn Street. They did slow a bit, just rolled right through. A cyclists turning onto Lynn from the opposite direction was nearly hit by one of the cars.”

I assume the writer means at Lynn and Wilson? My experience there is that the westbound traffic on Wilson (coming from the Artisphere/Route 110 areas) routinely run the red or glide through making the right onto northbound Lynn, and that cyclists making the left off east bound Wilson in order to head towards Key Bridge need to be extremely deferential to those cars. It’s not as bad as the Corner of Doom at Lee/Lynn, but it’s treacherous. Funny part is that there are frequently cops there looking for people who run the light northbound on Lynn (coming from the Route 50 area, heading towards Key Bridge), but cars seem unimpressed by that.

[OutsideTheLaw]

The C&O is, as Dismal says, unpaved. It’s also on the other (Maryland) side of the River. You can get there via Leesburg (off the WOD, up US Route 15) or, far nicer, via White’s Ferry (also accessed via Leesburg). And if you want to stay paved, you can ride the Maryland roads out of Whites Ferry back south to Washington/Georgetown, and finish in Crystal City, but now you’re up in the 80-90 miles area.

[OutsideTheLaw]

Loved the ride, and loved seeing some new places — I’d definitely never been on Texas and North Dakota before. Only thing I’d improve is to stagger the beginning, the first section (pretty all the way to Capitol Hill) was too crowded, too many lights (that we actually stopped for!), etc. We were 2 hrs 15 mins for the first 15 miles; a lot more fun when it spread out after hitting Ohio. Good peeps, too!

[OutsideTheLaw]

I live off Military Road and commute daily — and I have a total aversion to going one way all the time, so I’ve gone many different ways. Your route down to Chain Bridge is fine — I just ride Glebe, it’s not bad because the cars are slowed by rush hour in the morning — and you’ll have to deal with the bumpy C&O until you get to Fletcher’s where it connects to the CCrescent. But as everyone has noted, the ride home up out of the Chain Bridge Gorge (as I call it) is a b****.

So think out of the box. Several people have mentioned taking Military, and then to Lorcum, but Lorcum’s got a nasty (albeit short) hill too. You could just stay on Military until it crosses Lee and becomes Quincy, which is nice and flat all the way through Clarendon, and then downhill from there. But here’s the almost-flat route: take Glebe all the way to Marymount, then Old Dominion to Lee, and then pick up the Custis behind Lee Heights (check N. Utah Street). In the morning this is slightly uphill to Marymount. In the afternoon it’s downhill (once you’ve gotten up to Lee Heights, which is not bad coming off the Custis). Or mix and match — go your map route in the morning to maximize downhill and trails, and go Custis/Lee Heights/Glebe in the evening and avoid the Gorge.

Enjoy!

[OutsideTheLaw]

Live off Military Road and commute through Courthouse on way to bridges, so I hit two of these, love them — I’ve always been concerned that the drivers taking the right fork (staying on southbound Military, or heading onto 15th St near Courthourse) will waste me from behind as I’m staying with the main road that bears left.

Next location for this: foot of Clarendon Blvd as it reaches Rossyln coming down the hill, right in front of JBG’s ongoing project, where 17th Street goes off to the right. Almost been wasted there, too.

And don’t even get me started on the condition of Clarendon Blvd itself below Courthouse Road. The segment between Queen Street and Ode Street is totally unrideable now, except in the left lane, the right lane is barely paved and is two inches lower than the rest of the road.

[OutsideTheLaw]

Email sent for Thurs morning. You can deliver hot coffee instead of cupcakes.

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