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@viennabiker 145103 wrote:

So a bit of digging revealed:

1. In 2012, there was a detour to repair the embankment: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2062-Embankment-Work-on-WOD

2. In 2006, there was a detour to repair the bridge slightly west of there (as I recall, the detour was to the horsepath and there was a temporary wooden bridge): http://www.more-mtb.org/forums/topic/bridge-on-wod-trail-closed-due-to-storm-damage/

3. In the 1850s, when the trail was built there may have been other work, and the Civil War might have led to some disruptions, but google does not seem to be able to uncover any threads discussing any resulting detours.

Now I remember the 2006 detour. BTW, when I went by today, something was going on but the trail was still open.

As positive news, east of the center of Vienna they have finally opened the new trail by the community center. It was still the serpentine when I was there on Sunday. I certainly didn’t measure anything but the short new section might be the widest portion of the entire W&OD.

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@viennabiker 145085 wrote:

I stopped and read the message and promptly forgot about it until you posted this. I did a bit of googling and found this on the Friends of the W and OD site:

• Attention, Trail Users: impending detour on west side of Vienna
The creek that runs along the north side of the W&OD Trail in the vicinity of the western boundary of Vienna (between mileage markers 12 and 12.5) has produced significant erosion to the old railroad embankment (see photo). If corrective steps are not taken promptly, the Trail will soon be undermined. For this reason, on or about August 29th, NOVA Parks will begin a project to restore and to armor these steepening, crumbling northern slopes. This work will require a detour for Trail users along the gravel equestrian trail that parallels the paved trail to the south. NOVA Parks will grade and improve the gravel trail before opening this detour, which will span approximately 1,000 feet and be in place for roughly two months. When practical and safe, NOVA Parks will open the paved trail on weekends during the period of construction. Any questions regarding this project should be addressed to Project Manager Tim Heisler, who may also be reached by telephone at 703-352-5900.
http://www.wodfriends.org/news/

The good news is that the trail will still be open on weekends; the bad news is that on weekdays there will be a gravel trail. I remember a couple other occasions–one back in 2006 or 2007 and one in 2012 or so–in which restoration work required detouring to horse trail slightly west of where the work will be done now. Those detours could be negotiated on a road bike as I remember, but not without difficulty.

Some of the embankment work dates back before the Civil War, I believe. If only the work had been done right then, it wouldn’t require maintenance after a century and a half.

I recall what must have been 2012 when a bridge somewhat west of this was being repaired. The earlier one must have been only a weekday detour. I was not yet retired then and would not have been affected by a weekday detour.

I also recall a detour just east of Leesburg about two years ago and a lengthy one west of Leesburg when cables were being installed under the trail a couple of years earlier.

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It looks like there will be a detour onto the gravel west of Vienna for two months starting tomorrow. (I only half-read the sign.)

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@consularrider 145001 wrote:

Seriously drivers, did you not have a clue that on the hottest day of the year with full sun and nobody working Friday afternoons, that there might not be parking on that tiny one lane road to the Freibad Eschersheim? Maybe your first clue would have bee that the lane was totally blocked with illegally parked cars before the carpark and pedestrians and people having to walk their bikes with all the traffic, but no, you and a couple other bozos had to keep trying to force your way through. Guess what, even your Smart car wouldn’t fit!

I thought that Germans were more courteous to bikers than Americans.

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@ginacico 144829 wrote:

If I understand what the sign says, the hill was called Brandymore Castle because it “looks like” a fortress. Not because there was ever an actual structure there.

If you peer uphill at the pile of rocks, it does somewhat resemble the spires of a small castle. I assume that’s what they meant.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12314[/ATTACH]

Thanks.

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@ginacico 144814 wrote:

I should’ve said, please don’t invite the speeding jerks to take the dirt detour. The real question is how to make Tania’s trail etiquette more universal.

I don’t live there anymore, but many residents of those neighborhoods walk to EFC metro and often use the woodsy paths. Some of them are mighty narrow and couldn’t handle much bike traffic in addition to pedestrians. (And anyone who could actually pedal up to the “castle” earns kudos.)

The new ART 54 bus just replaced Metrobus 1E as transport to a metro station. Maybe it will get more ridership, we’ll see. Point being, there are lots of people walking in that dangerous section.

It’s off topic, but reading this post it sounds like Brandymore Castle is still there. I have probably ridden on that section of the W&OD a couple of thousand times (twice today) but have never gotten off the trail. I haven’t read the marker by the trail in a decade or two, but I thought that it said it was the former site of BC. Is it actually somewhere in the nearby woods?

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I was riding westward on the W&OD very early this morning and approaching Gallows Road. There was a man curled up and sleeping on the trail in my lane. I guess since it wasn’t 5 AM yet, I was at fault for being there.

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I was returning home to DC this afternoon after a long bike ride. I successfully crossed the Intersection of Doom and then the switchbacks. I was then on the sidewalk next to the entrance lane to the TR Island parking lot. I slowed down to my usual crawl to make the first of two 90 degree turns. After making the first turn I noticed that there was a woman standing on the path immediately after the second turn. I could only see the upper part of her since there was a car in the first parking spot. Thankfully I saw her because what I did not see was that there was a second woman sitting in the trail next to her blocking the oncoming lane. Had the first woman not been there causing me to just about come to a halt, I might have hit the second woman since I find it impossible to stay completely in my lane while making those turns. Also thankfully no bikers were coming towards me.

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@TwoWheelsDC 143831 wrote:

Ooof, that’s rough. I’m absolutely paranoid of passing in the grass due to a couple close calls getting my wheels caught on the sharp pavement edges of the trail by the Jefferson.

I have done that. 😮

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At about 11:30 this morning I was riding on the CCT from Bethesda to G’t’n. I was in the part between the water filtration facility (I think that is what it is) and the RR bridge over the C&O canal. That part is entirely downhill. The trail was quite crowded and I was having trouble getting by a jogger going in the same direction as I was. I had told her of my intention to pass as soon as I found an opening. When I finally did, a bike which must have been behind (Yes, I should have looked, but I was trying to find an opening) decides to pass me at the same time as I passed the jogger. Thankfully, there was no collision.

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@Dickie 143635 wrote:

I used to travel on Gallows everyday including weekends between Mosaic and the WOD Southbound in the AM and Northbound in the PM. I have seen speed traps many times in the church parking lot but they don’t seem to discourage the speeds. Because of the inconsistent bike lanes I now wander through the metro, cross at Stenwood School over to Cottage and then take Sandburg St. to the WOD, this is especially helpful in reverse heading Southbound in the AM. I just feel safer away from Gallows…. plus less flats (the debris in the bike lane is brutal).

I was just looing at Google Maps. Does “cross at Stenwood School over to Cottage” mean that you cross Gallows at the Stenwood School and then take the path paralleling the sidewalk on the east side of Gallows to Cottage?

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@Dickie 143635 wrote:

I used to travel on Gallows everyday including weekends between Mosaic and the WOD Southbound in the AM and Northbound in the PM. I have seen speed traps many times in the church parking lot but they don’t seem to discourage the speeds. Because of the inconsistent bike lanes I now wander through the metro, cross at Stenwood School over to Cottage and then take Sandburg St. to the WOD, this is especially helpful in reverse heading Southbound in the AM. I just feel safer away from Gallows…. plus less flats (the debris in the bike lane is brutal).

I am going to have to try that next time I want to get to the Metro from the WOD there.

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@dkel 143558 wrote:

Saw a car turn onto the W&OD heading toward Reston just as I was about to turn on. The car was going about 35 mph, and I only caught up because the driver eventually stopped to check her phone for directions. I spoke to her and convinced her to go back and get off where she got on, and then I followed to make sure she found her way back where she came from. She said she was lost. :rolleyes:

Heading to Reston from the east or west?

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@Rockford10 143474 wrote:

Pro-tip – You need to push the new water fountain’s button really firmly. Yes, when it’s 100 degrees out and the button is as hot as the burning fires of hell, you still need to push the button really hard and hold it for a really long time to get water out.

That is pretty difficult to do when the fountain isn’t even there.

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@americancyclo 143395 wrote:

Not sure, but in the meantime, there is a water fountain and a water bottle filler just up the Custis near the picnic area before you go under 66.

I realize that although I rarely use that one..

I suspect that they are replacing the one at the intersection with an all-weather one.

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