Germany_chris

So I got promoted am PCSing to the DMV area, in my 23 years working for the Army both in and out of uniform I've never done the DC thing and now I am. I figure since this is by an couple orders of magnitude the biggest city I've ever lived in I want to find the bike nerd stuff I always read about. While a want local places the practical reason for the question beyond sight seeing is I think I'm going to leave my car at my parents house in SW Michigan since none of the apartments I've looked at outside of Belvoir don't offer parking or offer it for rent so I'm thinking about being car free like I was in Hawaii. If you live in the area throw some car free tips, places to look at, and really anything you wish you'd known before you got there.

Polaris OBark

Congratulations. I've never biked in DC, but have spent some time there. You can go pretty much anywhere via the Metro, and I would think it is arguably the best city in the US to be car-free. Congratulations, although I have no idea what the TLAs are.

LesterOfPuppets

I've never had a good time at the DMV.

Just sayin

3alarmer 

.
...The bicycle trail infrastructure in the DC metro area has expanded exponentially since I left there. But Ft Belvoir is way the hell and gone out in Fairfax County, downriver from Mt Vernon and Alexandria. There used to be a pretty OK bike co-op in Alexandria, and I'm pretty sure the one in Mt Rainer, Md (on the DC, Prince George county line off Rhode Island Ave) is still there. If you can figure out a good way to make it over to Mt Vernon, there's a MUP that goes all the way from Mt Vernon up as far as Roosevelt Island, and connects to a bunch of other trails you can use to cross over into D.C. Runs right along the GW parkway and the river. The most commonly used bridge for pedestrians and bikes used to be the Memorial Bridge, that runs straight from Arlington cemetery over to the Lincoln Memorial.

Alexandria is kind of a fun place to spend some time, and has plenty of bars, restaurants, historic houses, etc, etc.

Mostly, when I was there, I was over in PG county in Md. But I grew up there, so I lived all over, at one time or another.

3alarmer 

...I wish I had know what it feels like to cycle when the temps are in the 80's and the relative humidity index is in the 90's, before I got there. But not possible, because I was born there. So I was too ignorant to figure out there might be some place drier. When you rent that apartment, make sure the AC works well.

mschwett 

when are people from outside DC going to realize that "DMV" is already taken!?!?! stop trying to make DMV a thing!!

it would be like calling a metro area the FBI or CIA or IRS ... just no!

(and congrats on the promotion and move!)

Germany_chris

I'm an oldschool Floridian so I'm hoping to get my hot temp core back, but it's been a lot of years since I've done the 90 degrees and 95% humidity.

Fort Belvoir seems to be on a a peninsula and I've been told that there is an apartment complex to the south if you leave the gate and turn south that doesn't mean that any of those will be available or that I'll be able to get on. When I PCS'd back to the states in 2017 I tried to get a place on post but because I had no utility bills etc. the leasing company told me to pound sand. While I'm not in the exact same situation now I can't argue the fact that I've been in Germany from 2005 until now with a short stint from 2017 to 2019. I'd normally not go back but this org is new so I'd like to be able to leave my mark.

NOVA/NCR/DMV I'm not 100% sure what to call it but the Department of Motor Vehicles seems to be what the internet calls it (so I'm sticking to it) who am I to argue with "the internet"

LesterOfPuppets

What's it stand for anyways? DC, MD, VA?

Makes me think of Delmarva when I see it used as a place name, which is close to what they're talking about, but no cigar.
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Steve B.

This was my question. Never heard the DC metro area called the DMV. Only DC

Smitty2k1

I live in DC and everyone here refers to the DC/MD/VA area as "The DMV."

Polaris OBark

These are the folks who brought us all sorts of delightful acronyms, like SCOTUS, CONUS, POTUS, ICOR, CENTCOM, etc. Then there are all those jargon heads who revel in it and read Tom Clancy propaganda novels for entertainment.

Which of course is APPALLING (Acronym Production, Particularly At Lavish Levels, Is Not Good).

LesterOfPuppets

I suggest DeeFaMoPrince. Defamp for short.

Or BBZ: beltway bandit zone

mschwett 

that's kind of the point, it's only used by people who live there, without anyone having really thought through that almost everyone else in the US already has a place called the DMV, and it's where you go to get your driver's license picture taken. it's also a fairly recent development - i don't recall it ever being used outside the area more than 15 or 20 years ago, whereas the DMV for cars and their drivers has been called that for at least 40 years.

it's just dumb.

Smitty2k1

"Only" used by people who live there - 6th largest metro area in US over 6M people.

Polaris OBark

Which is yet another reason to be car-free in DC. You never have to deal with the TLA ambiguity of the DMV.

QED

Steve B.

Who knew ?

Polaris OBark

At least 12 of whom use this nearly pointless acronym.

mschwett 

actually, as a semi-contiguous metropolitan area it's third most populous, thanks to changing commute patterns that have caused more surrounding cities and counties to be considered together. until a million more people move to dallas, the top five in the US are unlikely to change for a while.



1. NY 23,143,097 (New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area)

2. LA 18,372,485 (Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA Combined Statistical Area)

3. DC 9,968,104 (Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area)

4. Chicago 9,806,184 (Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area)

5. SF Bay Area 9,482,70 (San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area)

so yeah, perhaps as much as 3% of the US population might think of DMV as something other than the department of motor vehicles.

wheelreason

Yeah, no one outside the area knows what DMV is. Ft Belvoir is not close to dc (I was thwere for a stint with NMCB-23), and US 1 down that way is a great place to relocate some skin and reshape a clavicle, don't let the 3 foot rule fool you. The riding in NOVA and SOMD is fairly good, and there are a few good clubs. Touch base when you get here. GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!...

denizen2

DC Bike Party happens every 2nd Wednesday of the month. It starts at Dupont Circle at 8pm and usually draws hundreds of bikers on a predetermined route through the city that usually lasts 2-3 hours and ends at a bar. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram.

Other than that, you can bike the C&O Canal, the W&OD trail out to Virginia, or the Mt. Vernon bike path down to Mt. Vernon if you like longer rides. Haines Point draws a racing crowd at lunchtime.

Owning a car is definitely optional here, and you can get by with a Capital Bikeshare account if you don't want to own a bike. Also, the bike network has grown astronomically in the last few years. Like the majority of my trips are in protected bike lanes for 95% of the time. I'll never not be in awe of biking down the Pennsylvania Ave cycle track toward the Capitol at sunset.

Polaris OBark

Based on the above, it should be DMVWP, so that we include the District as well as FOUR states. Why not Delaware while we are at it? It is closer than West Virginia FFS.

delbiker1 

I have lived on the Delmarva peninsula for 47 years, been in DC more times than I care to remember, and have know a whole lot of people from the DC area. I had never heard of it being called the DMV, but I guessed what it stood for pretty quick.

genejockey 

That's what I thought, too. I even remembered a place advertising "Delmarvalous Chicken"

genejockey 

It's pretty damn rural North of Frederick to still consider any part of PA to be part of the DC MetroGigaplex. That's like counting Salinas or Stockton in "SF Bay Area".

mschwett 

lol, well, CSAs are pretty large, certainly the largest definition of a region. the others all have flaws too, whether by the location arbitrary lines are drawn or the different commuting patterns of one industry or another. it'll be interesting to see post pandemic how badly scrambled they get, since the census bureau uses density of commuting (afaik) to determine whether a city, town, or unincorporated area is "part" of a MSA or CSA...

curiously it's not the closest part of PA which is included - shrewsbury is only 35 miles from baltimore, which would clearly put it into even an MSA in most places. it's way out in waynesboro! demographics are a weird thing.