GTcommuter

Hey DC commuters, I'll be up there for work end of next week and I've got two questions:

1- Is there a local shop where I can rent a bike for two days? I'll be downtown without a car and would like to ride around and explore. (this trip has made me seriously consider a Bike Friday)

2- Is there anything biking oriented that I should do? Nice trails, good LBSes, tasty microbrews?

Theakston

Bike Rental

Visitor's Guide

Good microbrews abound including Capital City (several locations Union Station is probably the best)
Rock Bottom (Arlington and Bethesda)
If you want a real long ride to a microbrewery
Old Dominion
It's just off of the W&OD trail about 30 miles from DC

balto charlie

Theakston said it all. Finding Old DOminion is a little difficult for 1st time visitors. If you are heading east on the OD it's on your rigth in an industrial looking complex. There's a small sign easily missed on the trail. It is worth looking for.

joshdcu

The Old Dominion brewery is worth a visit.

Also, while not a microbrewery, you may also want to check out the Reef in Adams Morgan; they've got a really good selection of draught beers and they do cask-conditioned nights on Thursday evenings (check out their website for more information, www.thereefdc.com).

false_cause

The city's great for cycling, and if you wanna just ride around downtown, there's a million sights and nice parks and the Mall. Rock Creek Park is nature-oriented, but I especially like riding northwest up Massachusetts Avenue past all the embassies, to around American University and northeast on Nebraska Avenue, then back south down Connecticut Avenue where you have uncountable options to stop and eat. The C&O Canal over in Georgetown is a nice ride in the Spring, though I haven't done that in years. Just riding around Georgetown has some trendy shopping if you wanna spend some cash, though traffic can be really bad on the main drag. The side streets are beautiful with some leaves on the trees. Along the river, it might be late enough that the cherry blossoms will be in bloom around the tidal basin. If you've never seen them before, you can't miss that.

Many of the suburbs are also very cycle-friendly if you're not battling rush-hour traffic all the time, with lots of spots to stop for food or drinks. I'm most familiar with Arlington and can recommend rides up and down the George Washington Parkway, around Arlington Cemetery and the Iwo Jima memorial. For the food and drinky part, there's a nearly continuous string of restaurants and bars from Rosslyn to Ballston out Clarendon and Wilson Boulevards, with shops and a mall in between. If you wanna do some distance, the afore mentioned W&OD trail is well maintained and goes as far west as you could possibly care to ride on a short visit to town. I suppose you could see the mountains out there if you wanted, though I'm not sure about that on a rented bike.

tulip

The Cherry Blossoms will likely be blooming, and even though the actual CB Festival isn't supposed to start until March 25, there will be many, many tourists, especially around the Mall and Tidal Basin. So be aware, get a bell for your rental bike, and be patient with the pedestrians--they are just having a nice time and are not thinking about bikes.

Other than that, all the bases have been covered. I don't know where to rent bikes, though.

Have fun and maybe we'll see ya on the road or trail.

false_cause

Also, East Potomac Park right on the river has a circuit around the public golf course there that I see tons of roadies riding. Except for when the airplanes are landing at National Airport, it's an amazingly scenic spot with a great breeze off the water.

And a final hopefully helpful note, if you get caught out in some weather or wanna get out to a destination to ride, the Metro system (subway) welcomes cycles aboard, just not during rush hour, so keep in mind that option and the restriction.

cc_rider

As others have said, this is a good biking area.

Here is the best site for local trails. https://www.bikewashington.org/

There is also a very active local club https://www.bikepptc.org/
You don't need to be a member to ride. If the weather cooperates, I'll be on the "Beach to Creek" ride this weekend.

And here's some rental places.
https://bikewashington.org/rentals/index.htm or https://www.georgetowndc.com/showshopslist.php?id=123
You can probably find more thru google.

Old Dominion Brewery is a long ways out. If you go down to Shirlington (Alexandria end of the W&OD), up to Bethesda (on the Capital Crescent Trail), along Wilson Blvd in Arlington (a ways off the Custis Trail) or in the old down town there are some good brew pubs. Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria are also good areas.

tlc20010

While it is not a microbrew, the Brickskeller in Dupont circle (22nd street just north of P Street) www.thebrickskeller.com/ is a beer lovers dream. They have several hundred beers on their menu--food ain't bad either.

joshdcu

I believe the menu may be over 1,000 (bottled) beers now, though they don't always have them all in stock (in fact, many will be out of stock...). The beer menu makes for a pretty good read, anyway. You might also try their other bar, R.F.D., which is on 7th Street (between H and I Streets) in Chinatown (well, more like "Chinablock," but hey...). R.F.D. also has a couple hundred bottled beers, and quite a lot on tap.

comradehoser

I second RFD for the beer. Brickskellar is a great place, but it gets annoying trying to guess which beers are in stock at any particular time. RFD has most of their beers on tap, which I like better.

also check out Franklin's in Hyattsville on Rte. 1/Baltimore ave. That is a very good brewpub, and it's a great place. Dogfishhead brewery (originally from rehoboth beach) also opened up a pub in Rockville, I believe. Their beer is pretty damn good as well.

billh

I was in DC area last Nov for business and had hoped to ride. I stayed in Old Town Alexandria, which was really nice. There is a bicycle trail that connects Old Town Alexandria with DC, along the Potomac, forget the name. Supposedly, there is an easy way across the river into DC proper.

I tried to rent a bicycle from Big Wheel Bicycle in Old Town Alex. but they wouldn't give me the 3 hour rental if I picked up the night before for an early ride the next day, and the shop didn't open till 9 or 10am. So I just went jogging. Also the light rail is really good, saw some cyclists take their bikes on, but I think one said they are not allowed during rush hour.

dynaryder

Bicycles are allowed on Metro(subway) during non-rush hours and on weekends. You need to take the elevators to the platforms and cannot use the center doors on the train cars. Most buses have bike racks on the front.

Cyclists can legally take the lane in DC. Sidewalk riding is also legal except in the downtown business district. And the drivers suck,so watch for idiots. You'll need a white light for the front if you ride at night,and might want to bring a decent lock as most of the rentals I've seen had cable locks.

For something to do,if you'll be here on Wed the 22nd,the DC Pirates will be playing polo at the park at 14th & K Sts NW at 7pm. Come out and watch,or join in(you'll be on a rental ). There's also the monuments downtown,and the Rockcreek,C&O Canal,Capital Crescent,W&OD,and Mt Vernon trails(https://www.bikewashington.org/trails/).