Questions for the DC ladies?

[Zen]

It's nowhere near where we'll be, I think it's up on U street

[divingbiker]

It's nowhere near where we'll be, I think it's up on U street

That's only a mile or so north of the White House. Not hard to get to at all, and there's a metro station nearby.

[Kalidurga]

Ben's Chili Bowl definitely looks like an interesting place that could be a lot of fun. They don't show the veggie items on the menu, but the mention veggie burgers and chili in the History section. Apparently, Ben's is a favorite of Bill Cosby! I haven't been to the Shaw neighborhood in years, but I know it used to be borderline sketchy. Zen, do you know if there would be a safe place for all of our bikes?

[Zen]

I must confess I know nothing about it except the type of food and the atmosphere

[divingbiker]

Ben's Chili Bowl definitely looks like an interesting place that could be a lot of fun. They don't show the veggie items on the menu, but the mention veggie burgers and chili in the History section. Apparently, Ben's is a favorite of Bill Cosby! I haven't been to the Shaw neighborhood in years, but I know it used to be borderline sketchy. Zen, do you know if there would be a safe place for all of our bikes?

I ride very close to there on my commute every day. That whole U Street area has been improving over the last few years, so it's not nearly so "sketchy." Sometime I'll take a detour down to Ben's and see if there's a spot for the bikes. I would guess if we tied them all together and kept an eye on them out the window they'd be fine, but I will look.

A bowl of veggie chili on a November day might be pretty tasty!

[Kalidurga]

We'll just have to make sure they're open on Saturday, which I didn't notice at the website. A lot of places downtown are closed on weekends.

That is just a first suggestion, though. We've got plenty of time to plan, so let's put Ben's on the list and keep things open.

[divingbiker]

We've got plenty of time to plan, so let's put Ben's on the list and keep things open.

I checked out Ben's Chili Bowl this evening, and I think we need to take it off the list. There really is no place to park the bikes. The sidewalk is very narrow, and there aren't any street signs or light poles to attach the bikes to. The only fixed thing is an electric/water/gas/whatever meter on one side of the building. But since the sidewalk is only about 7 or 8 feet wide, I just don't think it would work.

[Zen]

[Livin the Dream]

I had a few minutes at work today, so I called Bike the Sites to ask about what kind of bikes they have, etc. Their road bikes are Trek Pilot 1.2's; my road bike is a Pilot 1.0, so I'm definitely going to rent the road bike. She said they don't have a lot of them, but I'm thinking the first Sat. in November, bikes rentals aren't going to be terribly popular. Plus, I plan to be there when they open.

Do you think meeting at the Old Post Office pavilion would work to start the ride? It's right across from the Federal Triangle Metro stop. Bike the Sites doesn't open until 9:00, so that would be the earliest I could get started.

[Kalidurga]

Do you think meeting at the Old Post Office pavilion would work to start the ride? It's right across from the Federal Triangle Metro stop. Bike the Sites doesn't open until 9:00, so that would be the earliest I could get started.

That'll require a transfer at Metro Center for those of us taking the Red Line into the city but, as you pointed out, it'll be early on a Saturday morning, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Has anyone come up with any other lunch ideas? If we start and end near the Old Post Office, that should give us some good options. Here's a list of possibilities: Yelp.com: Federal Triangle restaurants.

[divingbiker]

That'll require a transfer at Metro Center for those of us taking the Red Line into the city but, as you pointed out, it'll be early on a Saturday morning, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Has anyone come up with any other lunch ideas? If we start and end near the Old Post Office, that should give us some good options. Here's a list of possibilities: Yelp.com: Federal Triangle restaurants.

Actually, it's much easier and quicker just to get off the red line at Metro Center and ride down the hill two or three blocks to Federal Triangle.

Re restaurants, we can end up anywhere, really, since we're on our bikes. Within a mile or so of Federal Triangle are (the other) Cap City Brewery, Indian, Thai, lots of restaurants in Chinatown (not just Chinese), tapas, Austin Grill, etc. The challenge might be finding where to tie up the bikes...Chinatown's not great for that.

I work up in the area of 14th and K/L, and here are some restaurants I know about. They're all less than a mile (uphill) from Federal Triangle, and all are pretty cheap (less than $10), and there's lots of room for bikes at any of these.

Bangkok One (Thai)
Mayur Kabob (Indian/Pakistani)
Casa Blanca (Mexican/Peruvian)

If we want to go somewhere where everyone can find something to eat regardless of preferences, I'd suggest the Cap City Brewery at 1100 New York Avenue, which is very near Metro Center.

As for the tour route, I don't know if there are more sites that folks want to add to the route. For the basic tour we could start at Federal Triangle and do the route we did before--down Pennsylvania to the Victims of Communism Memorial, Union Station, Capitol, etc, and end up at the White House. Then go to lunch!

[Kalidurga]

I thought it might be fairly easy to pedal from Metro Center, but couldn't think of which streets would be involved. Anyone from Va planning to hop the Orange/Blue line and join us?

The one thing we do need to keep in mind about restaurants is whether they're open on weekends. I know that my lunch options in the Golden Triangle area are way limited when I work on Saturday. Cap City would probably be open (which brewery/restaurant did we eat at last time?).

Re: The route- Sounds good to me to repeat the route we did before, since it does cover all the major monuments (excellent planning, Janice ). We did end up with a time crunch last time and couldn't see everything. I can't remember, did we figure out how much time the whole tour should take?

I'm beginning to wish 11/3 wasn't so far away

[divingbiker]

The one thing we do need to keep in mind about restaurants is whether they're open on weekends. I know that my lunch options in the Golden Triangle area are way limited when I work on Saturday. Cap City would probably be open (which brewery/restaurant did we eat at last time?).

I checked and the three restaurants I listed, and Cap City, are all open on Saturday.

[HillSlugger]

I'm beginning to wish 11/3 wasn't so far away

I'm hoping it's far enough off that my knees will be improved and allow me to ride

[Livin the Dream]

That looks like an awesome route! Janice -- from Kalidurga's comment you planned the route for your previous ride? It sure looks like you put a lot of work into it.

Would it make more sense to meet at Metro Center? I'll be heading down from the Hyatt, which is very close to Metro Center, to the Old Post Office pavilion to get the bike, so it's no problem to make my way back up there to meet everyone else.

As far as food.... I'm open to anything. I'll follow y'all to wherever you decide to go. The only thing I try to avoid is chains that I can go to at home