Having moved to Washington DC for work , I have spent some time looking at potential bike routes around the city. I brought my Dawes Super Galaxy touring bike rather than the single-speed , so I can do some riding on gravel trails. These routes are all longer rides. I think the shorter rides around town will emerge organically as I ride more. All these routes are adaptations of existing routes that others have posted online through websites like Komoot , ridewithgps , and bikewashington.org . I haven’t tested any of the routes yet, but I hope to try at least the three shorter ones over the next few weeks. As in my post about Edinburgh bike routes , I calculated the length of each route using R.
Arlington Loop
Length: 29.6 km, 18.4 miles
Recommended by both bikewashington.org and bikearlington.com . This loop follows the Mt. Vernon Trail down the Potomac river, then west along the Four Mile Run Trail, switching to the W&OD Trail, and finally back east along the Custis Trail, mostly avoiding roads.
DC Zoo Loop
Length: 33.3 km, 20.7 miles
This loop appears in various guises on Komoot, ridewithgps and bikewashington. The route follows the Rock Creek Park Trail going north, then connects through Chevy Chase and Bethesda on the Capital Crescent Trail down to Georgetown. It seems like this is a very popular route. The northern part of the trail varies a bit among sources, with some missing out Chevy Chase. Along the portion which runs along the Potomac river it is also possible to follow the C&O canal trail.
Anacostia Climbs
Length: 112.5 km, 69.9 miles
This route is a lot longer than the first two, but is still a loop. It has more bits on roads, and is generally more complicated to follow. I think I’ll need a GPS unit or to have my phone attached to the handlebars to navigate this one. The route came off Komoot, and has some weird detours which I think might have resulted from the original rider getting lost. The trail takes advantage of the Anacostia River Trail up through Hyattsville all the way to Wheaton Regional Park, then uses the Matthew Henson Trail to connect to the top end of the Rock Creek Park Trail, which it follows all the way down to Georgetown. The bit from 11th Stree Bridge to Hyattsville looks most complicated, and I wonder why they didn’t follow the Anacostia River Trail for that bit as well.
C&O Canal Trail
Length: 297 km, 185 miles
This route is apparently one of the most popular gravel rides in the country, running all the way from Washington DC to Cumberland almost exclusively on well-graded gravel trails along the C&O Canal Trail . Potentially you could go on from Cumberland all the way to Pittsburgh along the Great Allegheny Passage , which turns this into a 330 mile route.
I have wondered whether I could do this over a weekend, with one overnight stop and then taking the Amtrak back from Cumberland to DC, or vice versa.