Exploring our nation’s Capitol by bike.
DC is, in my opinion, America’s best biking city; with great downtown lanes and Capitol Bike Share, all to take you on a self-guided tour of the monuments and other sites. It also links together a great variety of well maintained bike trails that take you into the suburbs and beyond into horse country.
The Mt. Vernon trail runs between the river and Memorial Parkway, right past Reagan National Airport (you can practically reach out and touch the airplanes at the gate from the trail skyway) and is a great ride into DC from National Harbor or Alexandria. The P Street Bridge which crosses over the river to the Jefferson Memorial connects with many great bike lanes that take you into the heart of DC. Ten minutes further north you can cross over the Key Bridge from Georgetown to the Lincoln Memorial.
Did I say spring was LATE this year? Good thing they plow and salt the commuter trails!
You can ride a century round trip on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail. I rode a half century out to Herndon, through Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna and Reston. The Capitol Crescent Trail is a really scenic route that takes you along the upper Potomac and into Bethesda and Chevy Chase. The Curtis Trail links from the Washington and Old Dominion Trail into Arlington.
With the convenience of intercity bike lanes and the option for some serious miles, DC has everything a two-wheeled traveler is looking for. Do you agree? What’s your favorite city to bike in?
Until next time,
Tailwinds!
Elisabeth Robert
I’m writing to you from the mountains in Tokyo, Japan, but my cycling heart was born in, and will always belong to, Philadelphia.
Philadelphia is poor, crowded, filthy, and probably a good decade behind on its street and public works maintenance, but there is something romantically beautiful about the passion that Philly cyclists stubbornly refuse to give up as they commute and messenge* across the town. It’s the fifth largest metropolis in the country, but it always feels like a town to me. I love zipping along the new bike lanes (and there are more and more every year) and seeing bikes (and their riders) that I recognize. We get to know each other and there is a special comraderie among Philly cyclists that is born from the unique dangers, thrills and commitment that we all share.
*I wanted to write the verb for “courier” but I couldn’t figure out how it conjugates.