Looking for long ride options (5-6 hours) in the Fort Belvoir area.
Google “futurehead century rides”. The guy trained for a bunch of iron distance events, and found some good routes–one of which goes down into prince william IIRC.
This group has some good rides in the area:
You’ve got the W&OD running from Shirlington to Purcellville. You can ride to the W&OD via the Mount Vernon Trail/Four Mile Run trail to Shirlington… W&OD is about 44.5miles long (so 89ish miles round trip).
You can do a bunch of loops at Prince William Forest Park (if you are looking for hills). The main loop is ~7.2miles but you can get creative and create a 20-ish mile loop.
If you are willing to drive a bit… There are lots of good roads out in the Gainsville/The Plains/Middleburg/Purcellville area or you can drive out to Front Royal and do the blue ridge parkway…
I did 6+ hours with LOTS of hills out of Gainsville a few weeks ago.
There are options in Maryland as well, but I don’t know those as well…
- C
Appreciate the ideas. The WO&D and Mount Vernon (multi-use trails) are absolutely not an option - way too much traffic and kids running around = danger zone!! I’ve done the Purcellville route and will likely head down that way for some climbing over the summer. I’m really looking for a 5-6 hour ride out of my front door in Kingstowne which looks like should be do-able but I just don’t know my way around well enough yet. The mapmyride routes show a 25-30 mile loop through kingstowne and down into Mason Neck State park but was wondering what else may be available. I’m really trying not to “drive to ride” for all my long rides.
“The mapmyride routes show a 25-30 mile loop through kingstowne and down into Mason Neck State park” (warrior_80)
I suggest driving to Mason Neck State park and riding that area. If you leave from Kingstowne, you’ll be biking on high traffic roads. Really not safe.
Note: I agree with you regarding WO&D & Mt. Vernon trail: much too congested to get a good training ride in. If I want a really good bike workout, I park at Fort Hunt and just bike the approximately 1.5 mile loop without stopping. Boring, but I enjoy it.
Potomac Pedalers organizes a ride in the Mt. Vernon area that you might like.
??? There is a bike lane down Buelah and Telegraph. Not much traffic at all when I rode it over the weekend.
That bike lane is not that long and I find a lot of debris on the road.
If you take Telegraph towards Mason Neck, there are no shoulders. Just be careful if you bike it.
my team has a long ride starting in alexandria this week, as a matter of fact. i’ve never done this route (link in site) nor will i be there, but if you’re interested, you should come out.
http://www.teamfexy.com/forums/messages.cfm?threadid=619B7B09-23C6-46D1-89B29D496B68F4F9
Here are your best options from your door in N. VA for any type of ride if you actually want to ‘train’ vs. ride-
http://www.racermateinc.com/computrainer.asp
http://www.wahoofitness.com/KICKRPowerTrainer/?returnFull=1
I am not trying to be a jerk; just being realistic. I gave up riding my bike outside when I moved to the area; I don’t live too far from you.
I won’t be around this weekend but would likely join at a later date.
I spend plenty of time on the trainer during the week. I rode 40 miles from my door Saturday morning with no problem and it wasn’t bad - I really didn’t see many cars at all. So, either I got lucky or our definition of traffic is different. I saw a 25 mile loop around kingstowne down to fort belvoir (one way) that seemed reasonable on weekends and then another that went down into Mason State park from the same area. Maybe I’m just being overly optimistic.
+1
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Well, it’s not that bad, but the routes are mind-numbinly boring
My winter long ride were fulled of variations of yhe poolesville route, and it gets old rather quickly.
Once a month, i drive out to skyline drive to change things up a bit
The B&A trail is nice!
Well, it’s not that bad, but the routes are mind-numbinly boring
My winter long ride were fulled of variations of yhe poolesville route, and it gets old rather quickly.
Once a month, i drive out to skyline drive to change things up a bit
I have no problem with boring- I used to ride a 42 or 57 mile loop everyday that was a completely flat square in the middle of farm land. There is a key difference that I guess I am distinguishing which is the difference between riding and training. I can ride just fine in VA, I can not train unless I am willing to sacrifice 45-60 minutes to get to a decent rode riding at 140-160 watts(max) while dodging cars. For example, from anywhere near kingstowne/alexandria/etc, you are riding 50 minutes to get a decent place on macarthur blvd where you can start training(and I still use that term loosely). So, if you have 2-2.5 hours to ride, you are looking at 85% of your ride just getting to/from a place to train. Again, just my 2 cents and a jaded opinion as I was spoiled for a very long time.
In either case, the trainer is the best training you will get no matter where you are, so you might as well embrace it.
Appreciate the ideas. The WO&D and Mount Vernon (multi-use trails) are absolutely not an option - way too much traffic and kids running around = danger zone!! I’ve done the Purcellville route and will likely head down that way for some climbing over the summer. I’m really looking for a 5-6 hour ride out of my front door in Kingstowne which looks like should be do-able but I just don’t know my way around well enough yet. The mapmyride routes show a 25-30 mile loop through kingstowne and down into Mason Neck State park but was wondering what else may be available. I’m really trying not to “drive to ride” for all my long rides.
getting 5-6 hours out the door in Fairfax country is going to be extremely challenging. I totally hear you on your concerns about the W&OD - summer weekends for-get-about-it; however, weekday mornings and any day under 50 degrees it can be quite good (minus the road crossings). I’ve been on it since 2003 and you can own it during the winter. This morning I rode 40K (in the rain) and only saw 5-6 people the entire way. Another option (but boring) is the haines point loop in dc.
Well, it’s not that bad, but the routes are mind-numbinly boring
My winter long ride were fulled of variations of yhe poolesville route, and it gets old rather quickly.
Once a month, i drive out to skyline drive to change things up a bit
I have no problem with boring- I used to ride a 42 or 57 mile loop everyday that was a completely flat square in the middle of farm land. There is a key difference that I guess I am distinguishing which is the difference between riding and training. I can ride just fine in VA, I can not train unless I am willing to sacrifice 45-60 minutes to get to a decent rode riding at 140-160 watts(max) while dodging cars. For example, from anywhere near kingstowne/alexandria/etc, you are riding 50 minutes to get a decent place on macarthur blvd where you can start training(and I still use that term loosely). So, if you have 2-2.5 hours to ride, you are looking at 85% of your ride just getting to/from a place to train. Again, just my 2 cents and a jaded opinion as I was spoiled for a very long time.
In either case, the trainer is the best training you will get no matter where you are, so you might as well embrace it.
and i’m annoyed at the 25min i need to get onto MacArthur from Pentagon City…
btw, your team has quite a presence here. Actually know a teammate of yours from work.
I do nearly 100% of my long rides up MacArthur to Potomac and branching out from there. Northern Virginia is largely a cycling wasteland.
I do nearly 100% of my long rides up MacArthur to Potomac and branching out from there. Northern Virginia is largely a cycling wasteland.
so true.
when i lived in NYC we sorta bemoaned the fact that there were only central park and 9W, except you can do repeats in Central Park and not get interrupted much by cops (i.e. Hain’s Point), and 9W has wide shoulders and leads you to all sort of terrains (a 4.5 mile 5.2% hill is 35 miles north of the city). When you ride 35 miles on MacArthur toward River Road, you just get the same old s***. i’d go bat s*** if it weren’t for the hours of podcasts i have.