BikeDC

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.

Safety Club from Optimist International.

I don’t know – it made me laugh.

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.

One of the best places for an after work ride is Hains Point. It’s great for a number of reasons: it’s flat, there are very few cars, and you can go as fast as you want (be mindful that the National Park Police will stop cyclists for running the stop signs). For an after work cyclist, or someone who just wants a nice pedal without interference from motor vehicles, Hains Point is a haven. The only drawback to riding at Hains was getting there – or so I thought.

I’ve been riding in DC for many years, and I always gotten there by taking ohio drive near 14th street. The problem with Ohio drive is that you have to bike for about 200 feet on the onramp to 395 southbound, a dicey proposition. In fact, it’s downright rough. At that particular juncture, most cars are accelerating to merge onto the highway, and it can be tough to maneuver the bike over two lanes to get over to Hains Point. So when my friend Kevin told me about the bridge to get there, I was pretty excited.

As you can see on the map below, there is a very nice cycling path on one side of the memorial bridge. Originally, I thought this path was some kind of secret – but based on both the bike and foot traffic, it’s clearly not. With that said – if I have been riding as long as I have without know about it – then maybe you don’t know about it either. You pick up the path by heading down to L’Enfant Plaza, and riding out to the edge of the road. On the sidewalk, near the small park and observatory point, there is an easy to overlook gap in a concrete retaining wall, which marks the entrance to the multi-use pathway. The only difficulty is that you have to get your bike up and over some taller than average curbs. Not a big problem.

This path is really fun, easy, and provides a great view of the fish market. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do – even if it’s way too cold for laps at Hains Point.

Coldest Day of the Year Ride:

Big Bear Cafe
1700 1st Street Northwest
Saturday, January 26th, 2013
10:00am – 1:00pm | FREE!

The planet may be getting warmer, but this week is getting colder. Way colder. So in concordance with our ancient traditions (of two years ago), this Saturday, January 26th, The Bike House gathers for our Coldest Day Of The Year Ride.

Meet at 10 a.m. at Big Bear Cafe for a casual, easy loop around the SE Riverfront, Kingman Island, and the National Arboretum. Cue sheets may be on hand, but as a group we may abbreviate or deviate from our plans for mercy of our fingers and toes.

The ride will regroup at Union Market and end around a fire in Capitol Hill with warm beverages. Bring a lock for when we get there. And please wear warm clothing: mittens, balaclavas, long underwear — whatever you need.

See all of tonight’s and the week’s events here.  To add your event, click the events tab up top and then click “add an event”.  You can add concerts, museum/gallery exhibits, fundraisers, sporting events, bike rides etc. You can add anything you think will be of interest to PoPville.

From Capital Bikeshare:

Security measures and traffic restrictions that will be put in place for the upcoming inauguration will have a significant impact on Capital Bikeshare. Please take the time to read the information below regarding the specific impacts the inauguration will have on our service. In the past, the Secret Service have changed plans and have shut down access as events happen so be prepared to change your route or to make new plans. Be flexible!

Station Removals
Due to security measures being put in place for the inauguration, Capital Bikeshare will be completely removing stations in the area of the inaugural parade route (from the Capitol to the White House) starting this week.

On Wednesday, January 16, the following stations will be removed:
• 10th & E St NW
• 10th & Constitution Ave NW
• 15th & NY Ave NW

On Thursday, January 17th the following stations will be removed:
• Reagan Building/14th & D St NW
• 14th & G St NW
• 14th & H St NW

Station Reinstallation
Removed stations will be reinstalled starting on Wednesday, January 23rd and be completed by Thursday, January 24th.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Dear PoPville,

I found this bike in my back parking spot this morning off an alley in the u street area. I’m assuming it is stolen and someone dumped it because the back tire was flat. I would love to reunite it with its owner.

If this is your bike please me email me at princeofpetworth(at)gmail and I’ll connect you with the OP.