I will probably be moving near Washington, D.C. to start a new job the coming fall. Wondering if anyone from that area knows of a good place to live? I still want to be able to train hard enough that I can stay at a competitive level. I don’t want to have to bike for an hour just to get a constant pace going outside the city. Is this even possible? Any ideas on cities? North Bethesda looks like a decent enough place, but I’m not sure how easy it is to bike around there. I have no particulars on direction, just somewhere within a 30-45 min commute to Washington, D.C. via public transportation or car.
I have an uncle that lives in Maryland. I think he lives in Silver Spring or somewhere near there. It looks like a pretty nice place but I didn’t stay there long so I don’t know about riding roads. It is about 5 mins outside of DC.
I’ve lived in Arlington, Alexandria, NE DC, and PG county, but at the time I didn’t do any cycling and not much running so I can’t help there, but it really depends on what part of the district you’ll be working in. You could use up all your commute time getting from one end to the other. There are many nice places in every direction from the district.
I grew up in Silver Spring and the biking is not that great. As a kid, I rode out into the country on New Hampshire Avenue, but it’s too built up these days.
I would pick Virginia over Maryland every day of the week. The Arlington area has a very active community as do areas going west towards Dulles Airport. The W&OD Trail is popular.
Northwest DC (the city is divided into four quadrants) is close to excellent bike and run trails, many of which start going out MacArthur Blvd into Maryland, then branch out. There’s a big tri community in the city. Virginia, especially the Arlington/Alexandria area, also has good roads. I’d focus more on your commute to work and how much you want to pay. Welcome!
I live in Bethesda. Within 30 minutes I am outside of most of the traffic and on country roads as I bike towards Poolesville. North Bethesda is a little more commercial, but still an relatively easy ride out. Takes a little longer to get out of the city and traffic from Downtown DC and Arlington, but they have a more active night life.
The W&OD sucks for biking on the weekend with all the walkers, runners, kids, street crossings, etc. Once you get beyond Herndon it isn’t so bad, but closer to town is terrible.
You want to be in Gainesville / Haymarket. It’s the edge of the sprawl! Riding is awesome and I can get to the rides from my front door! 45 min at most to skyline Drive as well. Plus, you would be near our new retail venture in Manassas 5500 SF of everything triathlon
I lived in Bethesda for several years. Depending on how close you are to the downtown area, the Capital Crescent trail is great for running (go early on weekends, lots of pedestrian traffic until you get 2-3 miles south). Many people also bike-commute along here during the week into Georgetown and DC. For riding, Beach Drive in Rock Creek park is mostly closed to traffic on weekends (some parts north are open). I ride this a lot early/late season, and it’s about 30 miles or so. For longer rides, I head out MacArthur Blvd. towards Poolesville, and you can easily do 60-80 miles with little traffic, although the first 15 miles can be busy. Lots of people do this on weekends. Both of these rides can be done without having to drive somewhere first. If you want to get a bit further out, there are many drivable options within an hour (Indian Head/Southern MD, Skyline Drive, Frederick and Hagerstown, etc.). I swim at the YMCA, but depending on where you are, there are several other pool options depending on what you are willing to pay each month. It’s a good place to be, and there is a strong tri community on both sides of the river, but as a MD resident…we only cross the Potomac if we have to!
You want to be in Gainesville / Haymarket. It’s the edge of the sprawl! Riding is awesome and I can get to the rides from my front door! 45 min at most to skyline Drive as well. Plus, you would be near our new retail venture in Manassas 5500 SF of everything triathlon
Whooooaaa wait a minute—what’s that Charlie!!! Where is this location?? Near the airport in the industrial park area that I’ve seen your trailers stored???
Oh yeah and I definitely recommend this area for riding/running–ok anything tri—but not so sure about the commute to DC if you work a 9-5 type job…
You want to be in Gainesville / Haymarket. It’s the edge of the sprawl! Riding is awesome and I can get to the rides from my front door! 45 min at most to skyline Drive as well. Plus, you would be near our new retail venture in Manassas 5500 SF of everything triathlon
Whooooaaa wait a minute—what’s that Charlie!!! Where is this location?? Near the airport in the industrial park area that I’ve seen your trailers stored???
Oh yeah and I definitely recommend this area for riding/running–ok anything tri—but not so sure about the commute to DC if you work a 9-5 type job…
If you are working in DC, Gainesville/Haymarket is one of the last places I would recommend living. You will spend 3 - 5 hours of your day commuting on 66 or on the Metro
So much of this depends on exactly where you’re working and what the commuting options are. Having moved to PG County for a while out of necessity, I can say that one of the nice things about the DC area is that there’s good riding to be had in basically any direction from downtown. If you’re working downtown and don’t want to spend your entire life commuting, get as close as you can to work but stay as close as your budget will allow to the Capital Crescent Trail, Beach Drive/Rock Creek Park, or another route that can get you out of downtown semi-scenically.
Georgetown. You’ve got the C&O Towpath and Cap Crescent Trail at your doorstep, and Macarthur Blvd, the bicycle superhighway, at your door for getting out to Potomac and beyond where the good cycling roads are. Rock Creek Park is next door for trail running. Trails on either side of the Potomac are a stones throw away, better for running than biking, but still good for bike commuting or getting to Hains Point for intervals.
An idea of where you’ll be working and rough price range would help. Commuting in the area sucks and the prices can get pretty high depending on what you’re looking for. For example, if living in the city, I’d live in Northwest near Sibley hospital in a 4 or 5 bedroom house. But there’s the little matter that there’s no way I could afford it.
Thanks for the advice everyone. It’s very confusing moving to a place I’ve never been before and I wouldn’t know where to start otherwise. At least now I have an idea of in general, where I’ll want to be. That being said, let’s assume that the budget is irrelevant (as long as you’re not sending me to live in a mansion). I would be working near to where Dulles Toll Rd/267 intersects I-495. So not actually in Washington, D.C., but rather in NE Virginia.
5500 SF of everything triathlon