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Cross County Trail (CCT) Fairfax. A great trail which will take you from the shores of the potomac to the shores of the Occoquan. However, it is in various stages of completion and development. Some parts of the trail are just dirt path through woods, some are crushed stone, some are pavement, some are on county roads. Some is poorly marked – and some parts immediately transform without warning – at places you will be dropped into streams. It does cut through Wakefield which is a great mountain biking park. It does cross the W&OD. It does go near Lake Fairfax.

It is a fun adventure. Dont do it on a road bike (or bring lots of spare tubes).

This last weekend I took the subway to Springfield and biked north to Vienna on the CCT, and then went East on W&OD home. Gotta say, it was really fun.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1259[/ATTACH] Photo from Flickr

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Saw this at Anglers Inn today. Note the proximity with which NPS says you should signal your passes (hint: It’s not 5 feet).

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Fruity Cyclists on the CCT (the other CCT)

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(Did I mention that the other CCT is not overly bicycle friendly?? Let’s all play What Type of Pavement Will We Ride This Mile??)

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old-geezer rule gets invoked RIDICULOUSLY early nowadays

Ultimate Frisbee Masters is for kids over the age of 33. Grand Masters is for kids over the age of 40. In Washington DC the Grand Masters team is essentially not sustainable – they cant get players. I know it is counter intuitive that frisbee is a rough and demanding sport, but you actually take a beating. There are only two sports I know of with constant line changes: hockey and ultimate frisbee (and I knew a number of guys who loved playing both). It is almost entirely wind sprints, with hard cuts, and lots of dives landing on the ground. There are games during the evening at Washington & Lee HS in Arlington if you want exposure. DC’s “pro” team is Truck Stop.

I played ultimate until I was 46 with an aging group of fools. The last time I played, I literally could not walk for days – and then for the next few days I just hurt.

There are two factors that have brought cycling to the fore front in my life: (1) the replicants are teenagers and can their own butts home from school and (2) the need for exercise that does not beat the hell out of my body. I would be back on the ultimate field in a heart beat if I could.

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riding at Hains Point is to a cyclist what going to the track to do intervals is to a runner

I guess that’s sort of what is in the back of my mind. I ran track and cross country in high school and college. Cross country in college meant running in sub freezing weather through the corn fields of Ohio. Boy was I glad I had grown a beard.

The Ultimate Frisbee team had a habit of raiding track members. People who were fast were good for the Ultimate team. I think I started playing Ultimate my sophomore year and played for 25 years. To me, the difference of a team sport with complexity, compared to the linear mono dimensional experience of track where most training is a solo experience – was tremendous. I liked track. And I liked getting into shape. But it was boring. I LOVED Ultimate and I loved playing a team sport. I only gave it up when the AARP police started enforcing the no-geezers-on-the-field rule.

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I say this with the greatest of affection for you two, but why do it if its boring If part of the training is dealing with the boredom, then there is something I dont understand. (And this really isnt meant to be a challenge – the next time we are sitting and having a beer, I would love to hear why you guys do it).

For me, as discussed in the Work / Life thread, its intensity on the mellow road to no where. Today, if I get the work/life out of the way (this weekend its power cleaning the side walk…. no wait, I really could benefit from some *boredom* training)…. if I get done, then I may go wander the trails of fairfax, just cause I love the ride. Its the joy of the ride which helps me attend to the other parts of the week (like power cleaning the sidewalk)

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Well you can get a good breeze off the rio that can make it feel like biking uphill. Hains Point is outside my office door. I bike around it once in a while. My main take away: boring. I would rather do the Arlington Loop…. or just decide you are going to do X miles, strap the GPS on the bar – and wander until the odometer shows that you have completed your sander.

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Sure. After all, we are battling for the National Bike Forum Challenge as well, right??

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Several of us on Federal Cyclists Commission are from Arlington & Alexandria! One served on Arlington BAC I believe.

Go Arlington!

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Something Wicked This Way Comes…

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If you never want to see someone’s hate filled rant again, if you go to their profile, you can hit the IGNORE THIS PERSON link…. and their posts will no longer be visible to you.

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+1 Threats of violence should not be tolerated on this forum

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Anyone catch that IP address so it can be reported to the police????

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(A) You are not being a wimp. Be careful of dangerous weather. There is lightning. There is flash flooding. There are cars who cannot see you.

( I find with modern weather radar I can almost always shoot the gaps in the storms. Might mean sitting a little extra at work – but usually these storms pass quickly and you can shoot the gap. Pack a trash bag; they are light and if you do get caught in rain, you can put your electronics in it.

(C) However, if you are biking in the NAtional Bike Challenge, and particularly if you are riding for Bike Arlington, Bike Arlington B, or Bike Arlington C – then the weather will be far too precarious and I highly recommend putting you bike away until it is safe to ride again. Say November. 😮

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Well there is geocaching. And there are geocaching events. And many of those, particularly sponsored by NOVAGO, involve bike rides along the W&OD and such places. Maybe I should set up such a thing if there is such interest, cross feeding the NOVA Geocachers with the NOVA cyclists.

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