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I don’t have additional DC-area photos, but I can tell you a bit more about the ride. From my friend’s home in Arlington VA we made a beeline for the Mt. Vernon Trail. That took us past Reagan National Airport and then north to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. There we crossed the Potomac and that put us right next to the Lincoln Memorial. We then rode to the World War II Memorial. I had never seen it, so we dismounted and walked around for a few minutes. Resuming by bike, we went up to the White House and rode down the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue that is closed to motor vehicles. Then we rode to Georgetown University—my friend’s wife is an alumna—and down the steep hill on cobblestone-paved 35th Street. That was a hang-on-and-hope-you-don’t-puncture moment! We crossed the Key Bridge back into Virginia and climbed, climbed, climbed back to my friend’s house.
DC has a lot of bicycle-friendly infrastructure and I would love to see more of it, particularly the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath. It’s an unusually good place to be a tourist on a bike. I’m not sure how much I would like it for serious training: it didn’t look like a good place to go very fast for very long. It’s just so densely populated. With cars effectively canceling each other out in near-gridlock conditions, bicycles are probably the fastest things on the road. That’s both good and bad. I witnessed some urban riding techniques that simply wouldn’t fly in my little town.
Ride Strong My Friend. Thanx 4 sharing your 2000+ mile journey. Do you have more photos from the DC area ride w/your friend??
ReplyDeleteI don’t have additional DC-area photos, but I can tell you a bit more about the ride. From my friend’s home in Arlington VA we made a beeline for the Mt. Vernon Trail. That took us past Reagan National Airport and then north to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. There we crossed the Potomac and that put us right next to the Lincoln Memorial. We then rode to the World War II Memorial. I had never seen it, so we dismounted and walked around for a few minutes. Resuming by bike, we went up to the White House and rode down the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue that is closed to motor vehicles. Then we rode to Georgetown University—my friend’s wife is an alumna—and down the steep hill on cobblestone-paved 35th Street. That was a hang-on-and-hope-you-don’t-puncture moment! We crossed the Key Bridge back into Virginia and climbed, climbed, climbed back to my friend’s house.
DeleteDC has a lot of bicycle-friendly infrastructure and I would love to see more of it, particularly the Washington & Old Dominion Trail and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath. It’s an unusually good place to be a tourist on a bike. I’m not sure how much I would like it for serious training: it didn’t look like a good place to go very fast for very long. It’s just so densely populated. With cars effectively canceling each other out in near-gridlock conditions, bicycles are probably the fastest things on the road. That’s both good and bad. I witnessed some urban riding techniques that simply wouldn’t fly in my little town.