[petefromaus]

@Steve O 163752 wrote:

Hi Peter,
That was an awesome surprise when you showed up at Kitty’s bike wash fundraiser at Emm’s house. What a pleasure to meet you.
Now we all have two friends (you & vvill) when we go to Sydney. Safe travels to LA, and be sure to take a ride on Mulholland Drive.

Thank you for the invite Steve! Glad I saw the message just in time. It was my pleasure meeting everyone in this great community! Thanks for a tips RE:LA, really enjoying the cycling here also. Definitely do drop us a message if you’re in Sydney near Bondi! In the meantime, let’s keep in touch on Strava – https://www.strava.com/athletes/365948

[petefromaus]

@vvill 162394 wrote:

Your route looks fine, especially if you’re used to riding across Spit Bridge, on Pacific Hwy, etc. in Sydney.

Thanks for the tips vvill!

I’m seriously loving the rides here in DC. Have done two rides so far:

Thursday: https://www.strava.com/activities/1115686664
Friday: https://www.strava.com/activities/1117192880

Learnings from the past 2 days:
– Drivers are pretty friendly compared to the ones we have in Sydney. Everyone has given me a lot of room on the road.
– It does take 2 to 4 hours to get use to riding on the opposite side of the road
– Good to map out where you may get water from before you head out for a long ride in 80+f heat.
– Everyone that I’ve bumped into whilst cycling are always keen for a chat!

Will be looking for a nice recovery ride tomorrow morning, if I can tag along with anyone please let me know!

[petefromaus]

@Steve O 162215 wrote:

Your problem won’t be finding a ride; it will be choosing among all your options. Hope to meet you while you’re here.

Thanks for the links to these shop rides! You’re right, it’s starting to look like there are too many options, ha! I’ll start doing some more planning and “homework” so when the date is closer I’ll have a better idea and report back

@creadinger 162226 wrote:

Have you been to Tasmania? Anything you consider a must do whether it’s in or outside of Hobart?

No, unfortunately I haven’t been myself. However, a good friend of mine has done a decent bike packing trip around Tasmania and she blogged her entire journey that you can check it out here: http://www.jullietta.com/cycling/category/tasmania

@Steve O 162235 wrote:

Hey, one of us is now one of you (again).
You should look him up.
Here’s his Strava identity:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/120192

Sweet! Followed. If you guys chat and Will wants weekend long rides and or weekday training rides, let me know!

@KLizotte 162242 wrote:

You should plan on spending a few hours riding around DC itself. Lots of cool monuments and architecture.

Great tip! Thank you. As the conference shouldn’t take up the entire day I’m sure I could convince her to join in on a ride or 2.

@drevil 162243 wrote:

Another option is to do a monument tour at night, which is absolutely gorgeous and uncrowded.

I created a GPS route here that you can download if interested. I also added the usual stops I take, peppered with some of my pics (with the exception of the FDR one):

Brilliant! Thank you for the GPS route. Added to my list now.

I have also joined BikeArlington’s Strava group as I believe the “Recent Activity” tab will be a great resource for some research

[petefromaus]

Man, I love the cycling community. Thank you all so much for the great tips, recommendations and concerns!

@gibby 162188 wrote:

Welcome to DC and hopefully it’s not too brutally hot while you’re here.
I’m so jealous that you’re going to do this. Before my M-F 9-5 days, I rode those routes several times during the week and it was light traffic– but that was several years ago so I don’t know what kind of development may have sprung up in the meantime.

Another option, if you want to experience the Virginia side also, would be to take the W&OD trail out to Leesburg, Rt 15 up to the Point of Rocks crossing and Rt 28 down to your Strava route.

Enjoy!!

Thanks! Just did a quick google on the W&OD trail – such a gem you guys have here! Will definitely ride this.

@KLizotte 162191 wrote:

Just be prepared to bring lots of water and riding a little slower than normal if you aren’t used to the humidity. You will probably find that it is a lot greener here than you are used to which may or may not be a nice change depending on preferences.

There are mountains west and north-west of DC.

We tend to have scorching heat(up to 104 ℉) but no humidity at all. Thanks for the tip RE:water, I’ll make sure I have 2x bottles. I also love green scenery, we do get beautiful trees and bush as soon as you’re 30-40km out of the city. You can see some shots here – https://www.instagram.com/p/BTV7aiqlir0/

@KLizotte 162200 wrote:

Also, are you comfortable riding on the right hand side of the road? I presume Australians drive on the left.

Yep, this is one of my concerns however, my US friends have advised me that it may take a couple of hours to adjust to, so I think it may help even more if I ride with a few experienced folks at first!

@hozn 162198 wrote:

Here are a few route variations that do include the W&OD and avoid the most unpleasant parts of Rt. 15.

Finally, shoot me a PM and I can get you added to a Facebook group that coordinates rides (usually 6am rides) throughout the week. There’s also the 6am/7a NCVC club ride on Saturday if you’re looking for a good & fast ride — I think they probably average around 20mph, so you get a good 60 miles or so by 9am.

Brilliant, thank you so much for the list of routes. I will also PM you as I much prefer to ride with a bunch at the start.

@Steve O 162205 wrote:

If you want to start your ride after a fine cup of coffee and socializing with a fine group of cyclists, there are several options on that Friday morning.

If you were thinking of getting an early start, you could ride out to the Green Lizard at milepost 20 on the W&OD and stop there for FCC III partway into your ride. I believe it’s a small group, and I think they meet about 7:30am.
Otherwise you could start later and meet in downtown DC or close-in Arlington. The downtown one generally attracts some people who belong to DC Randonneurs, and they know all the roads. Click on link above for the whole coffee club list.

Pre-ride coffee sounds amazing. Will look these up now.

The full story is that I will have these 4 days all to myself while my wife attends a conference and I can’t think of a better way to spend my time other than being on a bike exploring DC, so if any of you are free for any long or even short rides i would love to tag along .

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