Tag: biking

• 

• 

• 

• 

Post 5 – Arlington has lots of quiet streets with big trees and riding through them is another pleasant part of the morning ride. Next is Pershing. You really cannot see on the picture, but there is a stop light at the bottom of the hill. And I know it doesn’t look very much like a hill on the picture, but it is one. If it is red when I get to the spot on the picture, I start down the hill, since it will be green when I get there. If it is green, I wait, since I don’t want to stop at the bottom of the hill just to start again. When you ride a bike, you anticipate things.
 
Next is Hwy 50 looking back at Pershing. This is a very long light, as much as four minutes. I almost always get caught there.

This new bike trail shown in the last picture parallels Route 50 and is a great addition. They built it only last year. I used to go through Fort Meyer, but that is closed off now. The alternative takes you miles away though not as pleasant streets. You could not go down Route 50 on a bike and expect to live very long, so you went way around. This trail takes care of the problem. Sometimes the horses are grazed near the bike trail, giving it a nice farm smell.
 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Post 6 – The bike trail along Route 50 is wonderful going toward Washington. It is all downhill. I usually sit up straight as I go down in order to pick up more wind resistance to slow down, since the only concern comes at the end, when you have to merge back into the street. As I wrote earlier, the biggest danger from cars comes when they turn. This is especially true when they make right turns. Drivers often just do not pay attention to bikes on the right. During rush times, traffic back up. People get sick of waiting and decide to turn right on the local roads in hopes of getting around the crush.

I cannot say anyone has come close to hitting me … yet, but I have had to be very careful and go much slower than the slope and general conditions would permit. After that, I get to pass the monuments on the Virginia side, such as Iwo Jima or the Netherlands Carillon.
 
 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Post 7 – As you come down the hill, you get a good look at Washington. It is a beautiful city. An unpleasant stray thought crossed my mind as I came down that hill. We think of wars as things that happen elsewhere or maybe not again, but this is fantasy. At some time, Washington might suffer the fate of Berlin or Warsaw, or maybe it will just be neglected and fall into ruin, like those many in the Middle East after the fall of the Roman Empire.
 
Washington is not a natural site for a big city. It is not like New York, Istanbul or London, which are prominent place where you would naturally locate a city. If Washington stopped being a political center, it would decline. Too heavy a thought for a bike rider. I ride around Arlington Cemetery, cross Memorial Bridge and come out past Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington.
 
 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Post 9 – I don’t go there anymore but I thought I should include the old USIA. Old USIA is now SA 44 (State Annex 44). I spent more of my career associated with this building so it still seems like home. The neighborhood has improved a lot since I started here. They put in a completely new garden like area with elm trees. This used to be a surface parking area. the picture with the trees is along Constitution Avenue and finally is new construction along the waterfront.
 

Post 10 – This completes my set on my bike Odyssey. Riding my bike to work has been one of the most consistent parts of my work life. Through changes in jobs, offices, success & failure, the biking has stayed more or less the same. I ride from March to November, so I get to see the changes of three seasons.
I arrive at work in much better shape than if I were to drive or when I take the Metro. You get a chance to think when you are riding and the cardio exercise keeps your brain fed with oxygen. By the time I get to the office, I have worked through many of the problems I will face. Beyond that is the sublime experience of mixing your effort with the peace of nature and the changes of the days and the seasons.

Different parts of the evoke memories of thoughts past. I understand that thoughts gestate but they sometimes come out as epiphanies and for me they are most likely to do this when I am on the trails. Biking in the morning calm is conducive to this as nothing else.
For my first twenty years, I rode both ways. Going back is harder than going to work, since it is more uphill and I am tired at the end of the day. Then I discovered that I could take the Metro back. You can take your bike on the Metro after 7pm. This was great for a couple reasons. For one, it extended my bike season. The gathering darkness used to stop me in late September. If I do not need to worry about the dark, I can ride through middle November.

It is sad to think that this will soon come to an end. It will be almost like the ending of a long and happy relationship.

I broke the fork on my bike and was using Espen’s heavier bike.  But I went to Bikenetic in Falls Church.  They got a new fork and fixed it up.   They could not match the color, but the chrome looks good and I again have the joy of riding my good bike.  I get to work about ten or fifteen minutes faster (it takes about an hour on the fast bike) on my road bike and it is more fun to ride.

I bought this bike back in 1997.  If this new fork extends the bike’s life for another eighteen years, I will be content.  My picture shows my bike at the Federal Center SW Metro stop.  You can take your bike on the Metro before 4pm or after 7pm.   It is 17 miles along the bike trails I ride from home to work.  On the way to work, it is usually a nice ride because it is cooler in the morning, more downhill on the way to Washington and very often the west wind provides a tailwind.  I can take a shower at Gold’s Gym and get to work fresh.  It is less fun riding home, so I arrange my schedule to leave earlier or later and take advantage of the Metro rules.

When I first discovered that you could take the bike on the Metro, you had to get a special permit.  I used to work at the Ops Center and I got off not too long before midnight.  I had to rush to the station to make sure I did not miss the last train.
 

I have been meaning to ride the W&OD trail from the start and finally got around to it.  Alex dropped me off at the start of the trail in Purcellville.  It was about forty miles to my house.  It was a perfect day for it, with temperatures at around 65 degrees and a wind of about eight MPH from west/northwest, i.e. mostly a tailwind.

The trail is pretty flat but tending down from west to east. You can see above the deep cut and they cut into the hills and filled in the low points. W&OD was the Washington and Old Dominion railroad line. Trains were unable to go up grades that were too steep.  Standard maximum grade for the 19th century railroads was 2.2% or 110 feet per mile. What was good for trains is good for bikes.

One drawback to the trail is that there are no shops and restaurants right on the trail.  I suppose this is not generally a problem. You can find accommodations not very far away, but besides one establishment called Carolina Brothers Barbeque at mile 27 in Ashburn, you don’t have a direct trail access.  I stopped at a place called Old Ox Brewery just before mile 25.  You had to go a dirt path from the trail, but it seemed a nice place.  I had a small beer before going on. You can see from the bike rack that others had similar ideas.

I am glad I finally made the journey. I have been thinking about it since I first discovered the trail back in 1997.  I run on part of the trail and I use it to ride my bike to work, but going the other way is harder.  It is more uphill and there really is no place to go.  I enjoy riding my bike, especially on these nice October days. But I think that when you get much beyond an hour of riding, it becomes more a challenge than just a pleasure. It is one of those things that is good to have done. I doubt I will do it again.