climbs in washington dc

ciclamino

anyone know of any 1-5 mile climbs in the DC metro area?

XLR8R Man

That's a tough one. There is moderate climb taking the bike trail from George Town to Bethesda. If I want to work the climbing in the metro area off the Mt. Vernon parkway in Alexandria there are some mean hills in some area's off the parkway but they are not 1 mile in length.

I have a home in WV I stay in on the weekends that I do most my real hill work on that has a great 9 mile climb at 5-7% grade. This highway even has a bike lane go figure in WV?

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brightgarden

although i have never personally done it on the 'hard side' i suspect the rock creek parkway is a fairly hard climb as climbs go in the area.

wisconsin ave from georgetown to bethesda is a nice long climb (but you have to deal with traffic). you can start off from 34th st in g-town to avoid the m-street wisconsin mess (road's all dug up right now) [again, i am a total wimp: i have only enjoyed the thrill of biking DOWN this hill, and it is definitely steeper than the rock creek parkway in many places]

arlington county's bike map has yellow arrows showing hills and their directions. maybe some of the other jurisdictions have similar things... good luck

meb

I can't imagine any climbs approaching 5 miles here.

From Roosevelt Island along the Mt. Vernon Trail linking to Custis trail continuing beyond Roslynn is a climb exceeding a mile, maybe 200 ft. elevation change.

In Rock creek park, about a mile north of Tilden, there is an alternate route that climbs for over a mile heading toward the horse stables. Tilden from Rock Creek Park is a mighty steep climb for a little under a mile. Out of Rock Creek Park at Woodley Park toward the Zoo front is a nice climb exceed a mile, very steep in the Rock Creek to Woodley Park, gradually levelling off toward the Zoo front.

Capital Crescent from Georgetown to Bethesda exceeds a mile, but it is a very gradual climb. Little Falls Trail is full of steep segments and cutbacks between Capital Crescent Trail and McArthur- looks like it might have a steep lengthy trail south of McArthur. The hill in front of Sibley Hospital goes on a long distance, may exceed a mile and it's steep.

W&OD trail out toward Leesburg gets steep with some climbes. .
Arlington- Alexandria along Beauregard or Walter Reed are long gradual climbs.