cyclezealot

I am going to the League of American Bicyclists, Annual National Summit at the end of March. I'll be staying in the DC area for almost a week; followed by a couple of days stay at Delaware City, DE. Two questions.
Any suggestions as to favorite rides about Washington DC. ? RIding up the Potomac on the Maryland side must be special. What are our member's favorite bike paths about Suburban DC.?
I have friends in Delaware City. DE, any suggestions?
Looking over a Delaware Map, I see one marking, of which I can find no definition. They are called 'Byway or National trials." They are extensive and appear to connect far-flung cities( should far-flung be appropriate to Delaware? )
Any suggestions? Do we consider Delaware cycling-friendly? thanks

axolotl

There are a lot of great trails in the DC area. On the Virginia side of the river, the paved Mount Vernon trail goes all the way to Mount Vernon, passing thru "Old Town" Alexandria. The paved W&OD Trail goes 45 miles all the way from Arlington to Purcellville west of Leesburg, VA, though IMO the nicer parts are once you get outside the Beltway. From the Potomac riverfront in Georgetown, you can immediately get on both the paved Capital Crescent Trail which begins at the end of "K" St, NW, or the unpaved C&O Canal towpath. The two paths are almost adjacent for the first 2 miles or so. The first few miles are along the river and are very pretty. You are completely removed from traffic, with just the river, forest, & the canal. If it's not muddy, you can ride the C&O Canal towpath all the way to Great Falls, MD. If it is muddy and/or you prefer to stay on pavement, you can take the Capital Crescent Trail about 4 miles until you go through the Dalcarlia tunnel just past the MD line, then go up (probably by walking) a short, steep footpath to get up to MacArthur Blvd. Then you can ride in a bike lane adjacent to MacArthur Blvd all the way to Great Falls, though lots of racing types prefer to ride on MacArthur Blvd itself. Or you can remain on the Capital Crescent Trail until it ends about 3 miles further in Bethesda, MD. There's a bike trail along Rock Creek Park in DC and past the National Zoo. Once you get a bit north of the zoo at the intersection with Broad Branch Rd, Beach Drive is closed to motor vehicles most of the way to the Maryland line and attracts cyclists, runners, & walkers. It used to only be closed to motor vehicles on weekends & holidays, but since Covid hit, it's closed all the time.

jamawani 

Been years, but - - -
Hwy 9 south from Delaware CIty has fairly low traffic.
The bridge over the C&D Canal is kinda long, high, and without a shoulder.
There are share the road signs before & after.

But once you get south of the bridge, it's pretty light traffic - esp. for the East.
And the scenery is tidewater marshland - gorgeous.
And you can detours over to the Delaware shore.
Nearly all of the shoreline is preserves south of the canal.
But because it is open, windy days can be tough.

indyfabz

If you’ll have transportation you could drive down to Lewes and rides in and around Cape Henlopen State Park. There is a trail system in the park and pretty much all the way to Rehoboth Beach, which is a nice place for lunch.

Might be a little early to see dolphins off the beach, but you never know.

kaos joe

I've done some riding in that area and remember the bridge well. We started in Delaware City, where I walked into the police station and asked for recommendation of where to park. They told me to pull right in to their lot. Don't know if that would happen today. I also remember riding on 9 accompanied by a healthy number of biting flies that could get you right through the shorts, but seemed to have a top airspeed of around 12mph. They were easy to stay ahead of, but we could see a pursuit group behind each others butts. A flat tire would have been not desirable.

BikeParrott

I rode the C&O last September and would highly recommend riding up the towpath from DC to Great Falls. It is a really pretty portion of the C&O. I was also really impressed with all the cycling infrastructure in Washington. As axolotl said there are a lot of good trails in the DC area.

biker128pedal

Off the Mount Vernon trail the trip across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge has a good view.

A bride on the Mount Vernon trail.

axolotl

In DC along the Potomac, there's a bike path sidewalk that's a continuation of the Rock Creek bike path going down river after the intersection of Rock Creek Pkwy & Virginia Ave. It goes right along the river past the Kennedy Center, and you can either continue to Memorial Bridge and cross the bridge to get to the Mount Vernon trail, or take a branch path to remain in DC. It goes under the approach to Memorial Bridge toward East Potomac Park/Hains Point. The bike path ends, but it's a very nice ride to continue on the road to loop around East Potomac park to Hains Point, which has minimal traffic most of the time. Also in this area are the MLK memorial and the FDR memorial. You'll be riding along the river almost opposite DCA-National Airport on the VA side. The Jefferson Memorial is also right by there. From near the Jefferson Memorial, you can get onto the 14th Street Bridge. Both that bridge and Memorial Bridge have good bike path.sidewalks for bikes & pedestrians. (Memorial Bridge goes from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington Cemetery.)

alan s 

A nice loop in Virginia is the Custis Trail, WO&D and Mount Vernon Trail. Check out bikewashington.org for many suggestions.

AeroGut

For the Delaware city portion, there is a trail along the C&D canal from Delaware City west to Chesapeake city. You can either return the same way or come back on roads and hit lum's pond state park, depending on whether you want to deal with traffic. More info here: https://delawaregreenways.org/trail/...d-canal-trail/

Going north from Delaware City, once you get to New Castle, there's a nice relatively new trail from New Castle to the Wilmiington riverfront. It passes over the wetlands around the Christina River and there's a little nature center just before you get into wilmington. More info here: https://delawaregreenways.org/trail/...markell-trail/
Getting from Delaware City to New Castle via rte 9 shouldn't be too bad. There's a wide shoulder that's a designated bike route.

jamawani 

I've biked the C&O when it was a muddy morass and when it was a magical moment.
Although the section out to Great Falls is the best maintained,
March is more likely to be on the muddy side rather than the magical.

ericoseveins

Oh neat, my wife dj'ed the closing reception one year and it seemed like a pretty good time. Re: rides, I haven't seen anyone suggest the Anacostia River Trail yet and that's pretty nice, takes you out to Kingman Island. My commute takes me down 4th St NW through the Mall and it's really peaceful riding down there in the morning, looking over at the Capitol on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. I then go over the new Frederick Douglass Bridge, which runs right into the Anacostia Trail. You could take that out to Kingman Island and all the way out to Bladensburg and Silver Spring/Wheaton if you wanted.

I've only ridden once through Delaware, I went up through Havre De Grace, MD across the Susquehanna and then headed down to Rehoboth, although I cut south well before Delaware City. People drive very fast out there but OTOH it was very flat and there are wide shoulders on most of the roads. It's pretty decent riding out there, at least relative to intercity roads in other states.

indyfabz

BTW…ACA just released maps for a new route that includes mileage in DE. Might want to see if it could be useful. I’m not familiar enough with it to comment.

Here is the route page. Looks like it could be of some assistance:

Delmarva | Adventure Cycling Association

soreribs

I can't post a link since I haven't made 10 posts....I used to be on site back in 2008-10. Site revamped so I have a new user name and account. Old name need2wrdyemore..

Anyhow....Google....."Chestertown Lions Delaware.....Bay to Bay Ride." Check out the maps of the various route options 26, 50, 84, 100 miles. You don't need to be registered to access links, although it says you do...

You can start in Betterton MD. A very small town on the Chesapeake Bay. Or, start in Chestertown, MD, take the maps and modify the route and distances to your own taste.

I ride the 84 mile loop in June. It's very hot then and can be windy as the area is flat. In March it can be chilly and even more windy, I suppose. Cars seem friendly to cyclist during the organized ride. Chestertown is both scenic and historic.... There's a few small, laid back towns along the route in Delaware. Thy will provide you with a nice place to rest and maybe even an Eastern Shore feel....

Have Fun.........I plan to solo the B2B loops a few times before June, so I won't look half dead during the ride....Pickle juice!!!!

autonomy

Last time wife and I were in DC we almost brought our bikes but the weather promised to be too rainy. I really regretted it as we drove to the Mt. Vernon estate and thought that one day we shall return to do the Mt. Vernon bike path. There are some great views of the water and greenery. The C&O path looked like fun too, at least from what I saw in Georgetown. We ditched our car and got around by Capital bikes while around the Mall area.
Random bit of info: on the drive back to Boston the temps dropped about 40F about halfway through New Jersey.

For some reason the https version doesn't work and bikeforums forces the link to https (get rid of https:// in front if it doesn't work):
bikewashington.org/routes/all.htm