Ride Help

[HillSlugger]

Hi,

I'm feeling the need for a no pressure, get-back-in-touch-with-why-I-love-to-ride ride. My first though is to do the C&O canal, but I expect that it will be raining on Thursday when I want to ride and I don't want to be destroying the trail. I am willing to get wet and I am willing to get dirty. Does anyone have any ride suggestions for me? Capital Crescent? W&OD? I've never done either so don't even know where to park, etc. Help!

[ny biker]

How far do you want to go? How far are you willing to drive for a starting point?

The Crescent trail is pretty short, but it links up with other trails at the Georgetown end (Custis and Mount Vernon) and also links with the Rock Creek Trail in Maryland.

This site might help you:

http://bikewashington.org/trails/index.htm

For the WOD in particular, there is also: http://www.wodfriends.org/

The eastern part of the WOD has more at-grade crossings and tends to be more crowded (although during a weekday in the rain crowds should not be a problem). I drive out to Reston Town Center and ride west from there when I want longer stretches without having to stop. There's lots of parking in Reston.

[HillSlugger]

I guess I'd like to drive less than an hour.

Are there any nature preserves with good biking trails closer than Blackwater?

[7rider]

You're thinking off road, and not on road?

[HillSlugger]

I guess I'm thinking off-road/trail because if seems "safer" if I'm riding in the rain and it puts me into a different environment where I may not feel the need to hammer. Biking through nature (if possible) vs biking on a road, different from what I've been doing.

[owlice]

I like this trail a lot: http://www.bikewashington.org/trails/ncr/ncr.htm

It's a better surface than the C&O.

How far do you want to bike? Depending on the length of ride you are looking for, I may have other suggestions.

[HillSlugger]

I like this trail a lot: http://www.bikewashington.org/trails/ncr/ncr.htm

It's a better surface than the C&O.

How far do you want to bike? Depending on the length of ride you are looking for, I may have other suggestions.

That would be more than long enough. I doubt I'd do more than 30 miles.

For this trail I would take my flat bar road bike (commuter); would I want my knobby tires?

[divingbiker]

You could drive down to Wheaton and get on the Sligo Creek Trail. You can ride as far as you want...it leads over to College Park, but that would be a hike.

[owlice]

I've certainly seen road bikes with skinny tires on that trail (NCR), but knobby would likely be better, I should think, especially if it's going to rain. The surface is pretty good even in rain, though, at least the times I've ridden it when wet.

For under 30 miles, you have a couple of other good options, depending on how wooded you want a trail to be. The NCR is definitely woods; I haven't been all the way up to the state line, but have done 15+ up, and most of the time, you will feel as though you are in the middle of nowhere. It's great!

But if you want part woods/part suburbia, you could do either the Baltimore and Annapolis trail (http://www.bikewashington.org/trails/ba/ba.htm), which is 13 miles one-way/round-trip 26, or some combination of the Anacostia tributary trails (http://www.bikewashington.org/trails/branches/index.htm). I do NW Branch/NE Branch/Paint Branch, which is 14 miles end-to-end, so 28 RT. I usually start on Paint Branch, because that is closest to my house. Some parts of NW Branch, and even the bottom of NE Branch, some people think are kind of dicey because they are, comparatively, somewhat economically depressed and very high immigrant areas, but I've never had a problem and I've ridden these trails by myself, and with my then-small child, too, many times. (Part of one of the kid's front teeth is out on one of those trails somewhere!)

The Paint Branch/NE/NW Branches ride doesn't feel rural, though there are wooded sections on it; the NCR ride definitely does. The Paint Branch/NE/NW ride gives you the option of Sligo Creek Park, too, which is also suburban mostly shaded parkland (so treed). NCR is not paved, though a good surface; all the others I've mentioned are paved.

[HillSlugger]

You could drive down to Wheaton and get on the Sligo Creek Trail. You can ride as far as you want...it leads over to College Park, but that would be a hike.

Hmm...

Can I park at Wheaton Regional Park to catch the north start? Does it continue beyond the 8.85 miles listed at http://www.fosc.org/SligoTrail.htm?

[divingbiker]

I'm sure there's no reason why you couldn't park in the parking lot at WRP. You just have to ride on city streets for a block or two to get on the trail. Or you could park in the shopping center on Arcola (can't remember what's there, maybe a Strosniders or Magruders? Regina would know) and pick up the trail from there.

The Sligo trail meets up with Northwest Branch/Northeast Branch/paint branch trails that Owlice mentioned. The trail goes over to Lake Artemesia in College Park (and maybe further, but that's as far as I've gone.) If I read those directions in your post right, you'd take a right when you reach the T after you cross the last bridge, and that would put you on the Northwest Branch trail (taking a left you'd be on the NW branch trail, but it ends after about a mile). There are some turns that get a bit tricky, but generally it's pretty obvious where you need to go.

[7rider]

Hmm...

Can I park at Wheaton Regional Park to catch the north start? Does it continue beyond the 8.85 miles listed at http://www.fosc.org/SligoTrail.htm?

There are some areas near WRP to park.

You can park at the Magruder's/CVS plaza on Kemp Mill.
The trail is just behind their plaza....to the right is Wheaton Regional Park, to the left, you cross University Blvd. and head on into Silver Spring and beyond.

Folks also park at the lot on Sligo Creek Parkway at the intersection of University Blvd.

You'd also be welcome to park at our house and ride down Randolph to Kemp Mill to Arcola to pick up the trail (3 miles on road).

[HillSlugger]

OK, is the Sligo Creel trail safe for a woman to ride solo? Anyone want to play hookie and ride with me?

[7rider]

As safe as any other trail or road or route, I suppose.

I'd love to join you, but I'm going to be at LAB's Bike Summit giving a talk on our office's "success and challenges" regarding bike issues.

[kmehrzad]

OK, is the Sligo Creel trail safe for a woman to ride solo? Anyone want to play hookie and ride with me?

I'm so tempted to play hookie TOMORROW. The day is going to be outstanding for riding ... 63 degrees, sunny, light wind. Were you thinking tomorrow or Thursday?