Biking around Town Vol. 3 – Let’s Go Mountain Biking

Biking around Town is written by Josh Nadas (@dcliterate), a daily bike commuter & avid rider who works for the National Park Service, and lives in Mount Pleasant.

This week’s ride is completely weather inappropriate. It’s a mountain biking ride, and anyone who knows trails knows not to ride wet trails. It causes erosion, and makes the job of the people who maintain the trails harder. Also – too much mud is no good for the bike. Just trust me on that last bit, you can thank me later when you get extra mileage out of your chain.

This week’s ride is my local trail biking route. It’s great for cyclocross or cross country mountain (my personal favorite). I would not recommend taking a road bike on this path, you aren’t going to have very much fun. I live in Northwest – so any bike trip to Fort Dupont requires a lot of time on-pavement, but it’s worth it. There are parts of the Fort Dupont trail that actually make you feel like you are in the woods. It’s actually best to go in the winter (assuming there has not been too much rain) because in the summertime there is ample poison ivy. Just make sure the trail is either dry or frozen for a good time. Knee high socks are recommended for summertime rides here.

I really like this trail because I don’t have to get in a car to go Mountain Biking or Cyclocrossing. I can’t tell you how good that feels to someone who routinely spends an hour or two in the car just to go ride my bike. Is it world class singletrack? No. But it’s got great history – the Fort Dupont trail is one of the early places where you can legally ride a mountain bike in a National Park.

Finally, please forgive the odd-ness of the map. It starts and stops in two different locations. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the Map-My-Ride off until way too late. Have a good ride and keep the rubber side down.