50 -60 mile bike ride around Washington DC

Suggestion: If you want to ride around DC, don't bring your car, as parking (and driving) can be
a nightmare. My wife and I took a train from a suburb called, I believe, Greenbelt, and then did
a ride around the major monuments. It seems you want something a little longer and more
challenging, though.

--
Low-Impact Rides In The LI/NY Area www.geocities.com/NYRides "David" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

We are driving from SC to Buffalo via Albany NY for the [censored] Ride in mid July. We would like to
do a 50 to 60 mile ride along the way. We have road bikes with fairly narrow tires so prefer a
paved trail. We will be travelling on I95. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Dave

There are several long paved trails in Virginia leading downtown. The Washington and Old Dominion
(W&OD) rail-trail runs about 50 miles from Purcellville out near the Skyline Drive into Arlington
with a spur to the city along I66 and a connection to the Mount Vernon trail at Roosevelt Island
in Rosslyn.

Contrariwise you could start at Mt Vernon (lots of free parking) and ride up the Potomac to
Alexandria and DC -- about 20 miles one way I guess.

David said:

We are driving from SC to Buffalo via Albany NY for the [censored] Ride in mid July. We would like to
do a 50 to 60 mile ride along the way. We have road bikes with fairly narrow tires so prefer a
paved trail. We will be travelling on I95. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Dave

The Capital Cresent Trail, starting in Bethesda, MD, threads onto the Mount Vernon Trail. A round
trip from Bethesda to Mount Vernon and back is almost 60 miles. It gives some great views of the
Potomac, and some of the nearby monuments. There also are a number of good food stops and nearby
bike shops (Revolution Cycles or Bicycle Pro Shop in Georgetown and Big Wheel Bikes in Alexandria).

If you do it during the week, the Mount Vernon and Capital Cresent are very nice rides. On weekends,
they become too crowded.

The Capital Crescent Trail has a web page which includes interactive maps and commentary on points
of interest, eateries, parking, etc. cctrail.orghome.htmlOpen ↗

The National Park Service provides a map of the Mount Vernon Trail
nps.govmvtmap.htmlOpen ↗

There is good information found at Bike Washington bikewashington.orgbikewashington.orgOpen ↗

There is also a site dedicated to the W&OD Trail (Washington and Old Domninion
wodfriends.orgwodfriends.orgOpen ↗

The Potomac Pedalers Touring Club posts many other ride cue sheets.
bikepptc.orglibrary.htmlOpen ↗

George said:

There are several long paved trails in Virginia leading downtown. The Washington and Old Dominion
(W&OD) rail-trail runs about 50 miles from Purcellville out near the Skyline Drive into Arlington
with a spur to the city along I66 and a connection to the Mount Vernon trail at Roosevelt Island
in Rosslyn.

Contrariwise you could start at Mt Vernon (lots of free parking) and ride up the Potomac to
Alexandria and DC -- about 20 miles one way I guess.

David said:

We are driving from SC to Buffalo via Albany NY for the [censored] Ride in mid July. We would like to
do a 50 to 60 mile ride along the way. We have road bikes with fairly narrow tires so prefer a
paved trail. We will be travelling on I95. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Dave